The following was posted by Wiggler(If I remember right) in another thread.........

"according to greg schroeder of nafa, it doesnt matter if its blue or not. he says he doesnt dock anyone for blue skin, its all about the looks of the hair, not the underside.
just repeating what he said, so dont jump on me. he says catch all the coon as soon as your season opens. blue skin or not, if the fur is nice you get top dollar. i wish he lived around me so i could sell to him."


Is this what everyone has seen with their fur buyer?
If so then how soon does the fur start to look good enough in lets say Nebraska?

he dont dock on blue coon?

sned me his address!

sned me?

yes, sned me is the private club word for send when your really excited and trying to be the first to make a responce!

You knew what he meant! LOL

the leather is the same year around, if they are looking at quality of that it don't matter if its blue or not, but blue leather means fur isn't too is best potential yet. so folks wanting the best fur, will think twice about buying it.

now this is my thoughts; and words from a friend who has someone in the leather industry.

whos this greg fella? if he dosnt dock i can get him plenty of GORGEOUS raccoons here come november first...

If a large coon still got a little light blue on the hide and the fur fill out for the most part in will go in with the good ones. But for the most part i would'nt depend on making money on blue coons.

Our red fox and coyote stay somewhat blue here till later on in winter but the fur looks better then our Feb. coyote and fox.Some buyers will not and some will take advantage of a blue hide no matter how good the fur is fill out.

If I sell green, very rarely will the buyer even look inside the pelt to see if it's blue or not. I believe what Wiggler said about quoting Greg S. because all that matters is fur that they grade not the leather. It all tan's the same. But don't get me wrong, not all blue coon will have great fur. So don't go out and think your early coon are going to make you the best money. They won't!

Coon grader at NAFA.

one of my fur buyers/tanners says they same thing. He dont want alot of them in a lot, but he knows that it is hard not to catch 1 or 2 a year. Heck my bro and i caught our 2 blue coons after thanksgiving last year. We wait till the 2-3 week of November to set so we dont get them like that.

Most of the coon in SE Nebraska are ready when season opens Nov. 1st. Boars will usually have clear or light slate colored skin, kits dark blue and females somewhere between the boars and kits. My buyer does not pay any less for put up blue hides then he does for cream skin so long as the fur is the same. Bring in a flat haired dark blue/black hide and of course it's worth less then a fully furred one. IMO it's harder to put up a blue hide because the skin is thinner and it's easy to get down to hair roots with just the dull side of the knife.

the blue color is the first thing the buyers down here look for

This is some very good information. Thanks the posting.

It was always my understanding that it's the prime of the fur that matters. I thought that a blue hide meant that it MIGHT NOT be in the best of prime.

I could be wrong.

at the local fur sale in ky, blue is not good. The fur is price is reduced

I've sold to 4 or 5 local buyers and all docked for blue.Heck I'd start earlier if it didn't matter.

well, im just repeating what THE coon buyer in the US told us at the michigan convention last weekend. he said... and i guote, "i dont give a darn what color the skin is, i dont want the skin, i want the fur". he said its all about size and color of fur. if you guys have never seen him at a convention before and have the chance, DO IT! you will be amazed at what he tells ya about handling fur.

I heard him say the same thing wiggler. But it leaves me with a question, if it doesn't matter if it's blue or not, just the fur, why put it up leather out? If all you care about is the fur, you should see all of that and not the leather, right?