How's everyone doing with Coyotes?

[HunterDave]

From the back of the ears to the base of the tail is what's graded. I tracked the grades of my Yotes last year and damaged heads and missing tails never effected the grades at all. If it's salvageable I'll try but I won't waste my time polishing a turd.

[H380]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

From the back of the ears to the base of the tail is what's graded. I tracked the grades of my Yotes last year and damaged heads and missing tails never effected the grades at all. If it's salvageable I'll try but I won't waste my time polishing a turd.

Polishing a turd .. good way to put it ..lol. I'll be done here by end of Jan . last 2 had a touch of rub and from what happened in last years NAFA sale where they said similar dogs were rubbed I wont waste any more that look like that .

[HunterDave]

To be honest I'm not 100% certain what is meant by the term "Rubbed". Is that where the guard hair is pulled out when a coyote lays in the snow and the guard hairs freeze into it and gets pulled out? I know how the quality of the fur deteriorates towards the end of the season with the under fur thinning and eventually the guard hairs start to break making them shorter. Last year I had two late season coyotes that looked "woolly" that graded Semi. I'm guessing that they were rubbed? Anyone have a picture for an example of what rubbed looks like?

I'm going to keep hammering away until I think that the fur is too bad to continue. It also helps to manage the populations and taking out the mange dogs helps to improve the quality for next year. I start later in the season to catch prime coyotes, that I can control. I can't control the quality of the late season dogs but I think that it would be comparable to XLY and ELY dogs in October. I'm okay with $50 - $70 late season coyotes if that's all there is to catch. No good for bragging rights for a high average but I'm more concerned with the bottom line.

To me it sounds early to be talking about rubbed coyotes but Trappers know their own areas. Happy trapping!

[HunterDave]

Shed was getting crowded so I took a load of fur in. Time to fill it back up. It's a full house tonight.

[H380]

Rubbed to me is when the guard hairs on rump and flank are gone and only gray woolly under hair remains , happens pretty well each year at this time when the dogs pair up and start mating . The ones Ive had arent really that bad yet but are on their way . Also saw my first gopher of the year yesterday , a sure sign that the coyote season end is close at hand ..Those semis you had last year , what did they pay ? Were they some of the mysterious $38 ones when the sale went all to pieces ?

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by H380

Were they some of the mysterious $38 ones when the sale went all to pieces ?

No, but I know which ones you mean. Those ones were graded Western Heavy and in that section of the auction (I had several in that string). The two that I had graded Semi and were on a different auction page under "Semi". I have caught a few like them in previous years, even at the beginning of January, where the short guard hair causes the underfur to become more exposed making them look wooly. I suppose that the next step would be matting. They were big, old adult male dogs with a thick, heavy hide that sounded like cardboard when you gave them a snap after drying as opposed to the wax paper sound that I like to hear. I have pictures of them and I'll post them up when I find them. Photobucket is messing with my computer and freezing my browser though.

These didn't sell at auction but were later sold under private treaty. Obviously, someone thought there was value in them and there is a market for them.

435407 XL-LGE I-II DK 3-4 18.00 23.82 23.82

547076 XL-LGE II DBR 1-4 40.00 52.94 52.94

The bottom line is $76.76 CDN or a two coyote average of $38.38. I'm okay with putting up fur for $38.38 per hour (approx) but given the value of higher quality coyotes, I wouldn't target them at that price unless that's all that there is to catch (ie end season coyotes).

[drake]

Dave, I mean this with all due respect....if you're willing to target "late season" sub prime coyotes what is your reluctance to target "early season" sub prime coyotes?....