# selling pelts



## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

i was just wondering whats involved with selling a pelt. ****, muskrat, whatever. after seeing walkerdogss sucessful season, i was just wondering whats all involved from the kill to the sale.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

It depends on how you want to go about it, and your local fur buyer. Some buyers will buy in the round, which means you take the whole animal to them and they take it from there. That gives you the least money, but there's not skinning involved. Or, you can skin and then freeze, which they call selling them &#8220;green&#8221;. This increases what they&#8217;re worth to the buyer; less work for him. To take it further, the skins can be fleshed/dried properly and they&#8217;re worth a bit more yet to the buyer. Maximum profits are typically made by sending well put up fur off to auction, which is what the fur buyers are doing. The key being, *put up properly*. Fur that&#8217;s handled poorly isn&#8217;t worth much, if anything.


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

There's three ways but first you need a fur takers permit from the state. 

1. It's called in the round. That just the whole critter. You do need a fur buyer thats close to do it this way.

2. It's call in the greese. Thats when you just skin out the critter, roll him up, place in a plastic bag and freeze. Get some saved up then thaw out and take to a buyer.

3. Skin the critter, scrape the fat and grissel (sp) off then place on a wood or wire streacher to dry. 

There's a little more to it then that but thats roughly what it takes. The more you do the more money you should get. Been doing it for over 40 years and still enjoy putting up fur.

M.Magis,,, I see we were posting at the same time. lol


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

i had a friend many moons ago that used to skin out muskrats, put them on the strecher inside out and scrape the fat/flesh off. then he'd just let them air dry. i remember him taking them to market all at once. i used to go with him on his rat lines. i remember busting thru ice to retrieve the conabears/muskrats. i kind of remember how to skin them, ive watched him many times.

what i dont know how to do is find a local buyer? how do i go about that?


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Hey EZ, just go to the Ohio State Trappers Assoc. website & look up fur buyers. There are quite a few up north due to the wetlands, etc., so you shouldn't have too much trouble. The market is getting really tough right now for **** because there wasn't the freeze up that usually ends harvesting them & that was pretty much all over the country. Rats, mink, & fox are all pretty strong if you have them, as are really nice coyotes that are completely put up.


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## PromiseKeeper (Apr 14, 2004)

I cant wait to see the videos! I remember the days when I went to school smelling like muskrats


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

PromiseKeeper said:


> I cant wait to see the videos! I remember the days when I went to school smelling like muskrats


I used to go smelling like skunk.  Its a whole nuther smell when its actually ON you.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Yeah, they send you home for smelling like a skunk , too ....... or so I've heard !!!!!


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

Seems like everyones ripping on how a skunk smells. When I was a kid the old guy down the road showed me a few simple mink sets. Never told me that they have there own SMELL. lol
Skinned my first one out down in the basement. Never did that again. My god, you would of thought the house was on fire.
Heck, I didn't care. Smelled like money to me.


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## PromiseKeeper (Apr 14, 2004)

and the smell is why they are called MUSKrats.

I used to help clean them for a wild game supper at a local sportsman's club. The guy that showed me how to make them fit to eat was meticulous in taking the musk glands out of the front "armpit" area. They were actually pretty good if they were taken care of properly.


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## Bulldawg (Dec 3, 2007)

They just had a big fur auction in Brimfield two weeks ago . Guys came in from outta state and from southern ohio for it . There is an ad in the Dairy and Farm Newspaper with a fur wanted ad .


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## InlandKid (Aug 29, 2006)

Do you need fur takers permit for coyote? Whats going price for "green" coyote pelt

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## I_Shock_Em (Jul 20, 2008)

InlandKid said:


> Do you need fur takers permit for coyote? Whats going price for "green" coyote pelt
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


No you do not.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Green coyote pelts, except for extremely nice ones, are around $5. It really pays to put them up as they are rather labor intensive. Lots of coyotes are rubbed as well & most buyers don't even want them.


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## InlandKid (Aug 29, 2006)

How do you put them up? Like stretch them? I'm guessing skin them then scrape the flesh off, then what?
Sounds interesting to me, why not do something with them instead off just tossing them out.

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## walkerdog (May 13, 2009)

EZ....Like others have said go to ohio state trappers website and there will be a list of fur buyers in your area. I sell to Groenwolds, hes a travelling fur buyer. He also has a website with a date and a time when he will be in your area to buy. He usually pays better than those country buyers. Although im mainly a **** trapper as you could see from my pic, the market for them has really taken a dive. So groenwolds was picky on what he wanted and his prices were well below what i wanted so i held them. I am in the process now of putting them all up and send to NAFA's may sale. If put up properly shipping to NAFA or FHA is the best way to go. But of course they charge you commission.

My suggestion to you if your interested in trapping and selling furs is to join OSTA website or trapperman.com and read up. Tons of info and different tricks to catch your target animal to proper fur handling techniques to bring you top dollar for your catches. Good luck and if ya have any question feel free to send me a message.


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Inland,
Skin, stretch inside out overnight, then reverse them so the fur is out. Can be a little tough if you over dry them before you flip them. Not much need to flesh as those things carry almost no fat whatsoever. The classic grey color is the best seller & the more red they are, the less value ......... even though I think the red ones are much prettier.


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## InlandKid (Aug 29, 2006)

So case it when I skin it? And do I put anything on it when drying, a cure or something?

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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

walkerdog said:


> EZ....Like others have said go to ohio state trappers website and there will be a list of fur buyers in your area. I sell to Groenwolds, hes a travelling fur buyer. He also has a website with a date and a time when he will be in your area to buy. He usually pays better than those country buyers. Although im mainly a **** trapper as you could see from my pic, the market for them has really taken a dive. So groenwolds was picky on what he wanted and his prices were well below what i wanted so i held them. I am in the process now of putting them all up and send to NAFA's may sale. If put up properly shipping to NAFA or FHA is the best way to go. But of course they charge you commission.
> 
> My suggestion to you if your interested in trapping and selling furs is to join OSTA website or trapperman.com and read up. Tons of info and different tricks to catch your target animal to proper fur handling techniques to bring you top dollar for your catches. Good luck and if ya have any question feel free to send me a message.




ive got some traps and an area thats loaded with *****. probably even use frog for bait, if its legal??next season im going to give it a try. thanks for the tips.


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## stevecat (May 16, 2007)

EZ, the best answere I could give you is ,
if its a ****, skin it and sell it green
if its a rat (mucho easier to flesh) strech it, its worth the extra 1 dollar.
if its a skunk and you want to skin it, put it in a 5 gallon bucket full of water
and make sure its drenched and start to skin, keep dipping it back in as you go. (you wont smell as bad when your done) rubber gloves help!
also with a ****, skinning the next day is tough skinning, when the fat gets cool its a tough cut. if possible skin the **** while its still warm,(much easier) 
Fleshing a **** is in no way a easy task, its the greasest fat you ever came across. and in my opinnion is not worth the few dollars youll pick up at the buyers, hes the only one that will profit from your labor if you dont put a bunch of cuts in the hide from trying.unles you are real good at it..jmo onthat.
fur prep... youll find youll get a better price if you take enough time to comb it out first,..****, fox and coyote all pick up burs, mud, blood and poo.
after skinning hang the pelt and take a comb and start running it through.
when your done your pelt should look clean and will take a way higher price.

freezing.. after the fur is clean , start at the nose and start to roll the fur to the bottom .
use news paper to wrap it in, it will last a easy year without freezer burning and is how most folks I know and I do it


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

It&#8217;s best to skip the news paper. It wicks moisture out of the skin and hastens freezer burn. Wrapped properly (airtight) in a plastic bag, a skin will last multiple years.


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## BigDave (Jun 3, 2004)

Guys,
Make sure if you give advice you are giving LEGAL advice. To keep fur past the end of season you MUST notify the game warden and tell him exactly what you have in the freezer. They are in the process of getting the date pushed back to 30 days after season I belive to allow those that sell at auctions such as the OSTA autions or NAFA in Toronto Canada to get the fur they get towards the end of the season picked up or shipped out. The advice to sell green or in the round on ***** probably not the best as at the last NAFA auction I had 4 **** that sold for over $35 I can guarentee you wont come close to that locally.


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## stevecat (May 16, 2007)

Easy......easy .... Big Dave,your MOD day's will come soon enough,LOL.
Are you a FUR DEALER????LOL again
No one is doing anything illeagle or telling anyone to do anything illeagle.
Ive kept pelts for years and I can leagley, Because Ive been a taxidermist for neer 30 years.
so lets not ass ume that someone is hording furs for the second auction in May, We shared ways of freezing hides for even a long period such as M.Maris talked about. Ive never seen a freezer burnd hide EVER, not sure how long that takes but im guessing a while.. Oh by the way, will I see you in toronto in May??
LMAO


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## walkerdog (May 13, 2009)

2 suggestions.... 

1. I wouldnt use frog as bait. Been there and it doesnt work that well. Keep your trash fish this summer and chunk them up and use those. I usually make my own bait and it works great all year and freeze proof. (Mackeral + dog food + used vegetable oil)

2. I wouldn't roll and freeze or place them in a bag in freeze. To each there own but i have found if you roll them it takes longer for the center of the hide to freeze and you can develop green belly. Bagging them will sometimes hold in air and get freezer burnt. I always lay mine flat with fur out. They are froze solid within 24hrs. And takes about 4 hours to thaw once taken out to either flesh or sell.


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## stevecat (May 16, 2007)

walkerdog said:


> 2 suggestions....
> 
> 1. I wouldnt use frog as bait. Been there and it doesnt work that well. Keep your trash fish this summer and chunk them up and use those. I usually make my own bait and it works great all year and freeze proof. (Mackeral + dog food + used vegetable oil)
> 
> 2. I wouldn't roll and freeze or place them in a bag in freeze. To each there own but i have found if you roll them it takes longer for the center of the hide to freeze and you can develop green belly. Bagging them will sometimes hold in air and get freezer burnt. I always lay mine flat with fur out. They are froze solid within 24hrs. And takes about 4 hours to thaw once taken out to either flesh or sell.


Suggestions 

1. Trade Walkers in for Redbones

2. Turn Freezer up = no green belly

sorry just thought that funny ..TETO


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## walkerdog (May 13, 2009)

I want **** not deer or opossum, so i will stick with the walkers. Theres a reason more **** hunters use walkers than any other breed. 

Doesn't matter if freezer turned up or not, rolling hides will take longer to freeze in the middle, thats a fact. Freeze flat


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