coyotes

[antlercarver]

It has been 30 years since I did many coyotes, the question then and now is why do we keep the ears on the hide. I used to cut off the bottom jaw and front feet at the elbow. What do they use the tail for ?

[bill9044]

Marty would have the best info he has been to the nafa auction. But heres what i know. For the ears if the hair slips on the ears they down grade your yote. Lots of guys leave the cartilage in but they have to dry out completely then the hair will lock in before going to auction. I keep all my put up yotes in my non heated garage. So if cartilage was in it would freeze and then rot in the warehouse. I was told by a reliable source that the grader looks at the yote then tugs on the ear fur belly fur then the tail fur if hair slips it is down graded. So for the extra 3 min I take out the ear cartilage and have my skinner do it as well.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

It has been 30 years since I did many coyotes, the question then and now is why do we keep the ears on the hide. I used to cut off the bottom jaw and front feet at the elbow. What do they use the tail for ?

The lower jaw is still cut off and, although I skin (pull off) to the front paw that I cut off, I cut the legs shorter before I tuck them in, probably about elbow length. If the tail is missing you don't get down graded for it but IMO the presentation of the pelt looks better. I don't know if the tail is used for anything but if you don't lose money for not having it on, it appears to me that it's not used for anything.

[gman1978]

That's a good question. I am sure there are reasons for they way the buyers want the pelts. I caught quite a few stub tails last year and it did not seem to effect the price one bit.

[Marty S]

Ears, tail? Presentation, but you can mangle the ears and no problem, except for maybe the top lot. In the bounty area everybody has their ears clipped, some minor, some major, I just don't know if you'll ever see a top lot coyote that is missing his ears, maybe? Lots of time when a guy peels the cartilage off half the skin/fur from the back of the ear is lost. By top lot, I mean in feb and May sales when there are only 12 pelts and big money paid, not the sales where there's 50 in the "top lot" cuz they didn't really make a top lot promo lot for that sale.

The nice thing about people that peel cartilage out of the ear is that they are dry tomorrow. People that leave it in, and many, (most?) do end up with a rotten ear... BUT they do dry and when they are dried out they are inconsequential regardless of what somebody ever said or some grader! Just don't send coyotes with wet ears to the sale. We don't care how you send them, they go in a box but at the sale people have to handle them and it could affect your grade negatively if the grader gets a hand full of wet, rotten coyote ear. YUCK!!!

Read an article once where a guy cut his ears off and bragged about how many certificates he got. If you do this, do not have a hole bigger than a looney size, or you risk causing a slight into the neck, ruff as the users call it which is the most expensive part of the coyote pelt.