Any fur buyers on here?

[The Fish whisperer]

Hey fellas well with work and chores on the farm it's getting to be too much. Are there any fur buyers here or can anyone suggest someone to put up my coyotes and foxes? North of edmonton Redwater area. Thanks

[Marty S]

You must talk to Coy...
You must talk to Coy...

[HunterDave]

[HunterDave]

.

[Tfng]

Check with your local Hutterites if there is a colony nearby. 15 dollars is fair 12 is cheap and 20 is expensive.

If they want to go fifty fifty tell him to take a hike lol

[nube]

Originally Posted by TFNG

Check with your local Hutterites if there is a colony nearby. 15 dollars is fair 12 is cheap and 20 is expensive.

If they want to go fifty fifty tell him to take a hike lol

If they want $15 tell them to take a hike! Sorry TFNG but I think your logic is off here. $12 is not cheap and is very fair in my books. It takes 5 min or less to flesh a coyote. I wish I got paid the equivalent at my job

[Tfng]

Sorry Nube I was thinking carcass coyote. I'm paying 8 for flesh and dry, no washing. Which I think is reasonable.

Fish whisperer- have you already done the skinning?

[nube]

That makes more sense lol Jeez I thought I needed a new job just to pay for my coyote fleshing

[The Fish whisperer]

Originally Posted by TFNG

Sorry Nube I was thinking carcass coyote. I'm paying 8 for flesh and dry, no washing. Which I think is reasonable.

Fish whisperer- have you already done the skinning?

All the ones I have skinned are put up already. I'm not as fast as Nube obviously lol wow that's quick. I am just getting ready to set more snares and with my vacation coming to an end soon back to 60 hour weeks at work and chores I just don't have the time. But I want to continue trapping on my farm the coyotes are out of control.

[Tfng]

Originally Posted by The Fish whisperer

All the ones I have skinned are put up already. I'm not as fast as Nube obviously lol wow that's quick. I am just getting ready to set more snares and with my vacation coming to an end soon back to 60 hour weeks at work and chores I just don't have the time. But I want to continue trapping on my farm the coyotes are out of control.

Ok, I'll stand by my pricing estimate. For myself I can't flesh a coyote in five minutes. My garage is not insulated and I jimmy rigged my wall tent woodstove into it for a cheap heat source.

It depends what your time is worth to you. A professional is always faster at their job. I can fix a truck faster than a backyard guy and I get paid accordingly.

I figure if I can catch a couple extra coyotes instead of fleshing and babysitting a woodstove while they dry I come out ahead. When I have more time and a better shop I will do my own. I do a few here and there but only to try and learn. Any overflow is hired out.

[Tfng]

Originally Posted by nube

That makes more sense lol Jeez I thought I needed a new job just to pay for my coyote fleshing

Yup lol. He does a reasonable job, not great but good enough.

[coy coyote]

Originally Posted by Marty S

You must talk to Coy...
You must talk to Coy...

Nope not getting involved.

[nube]

Nope I can't do it in 5 min. but the guys that do are doing it that fast.

[bill9044]

Around my neck of the woods or fields most guys want more than $15. I was in a bind and tried a guy for $20/your and I wasn't happy with the job. Hair slippage on the ears and the skinning quonset was cool and my yotes were pulled off the board too soon. I wasn't happy. I voiced my opinion. If you are handing out cash for custom skinning go have a beer with them while they skin and board. Then make your decision.

[Redfrog]

Originally Posted by coy coyote

Nope not getting involved.

Retired already?

[coy coyote]

Originally Posted by bill9044

Around my neck of the woods or fields most guys want more than $15. I was in a bind and tried a guy for $20/your and I wasn't happy with the job. Hair slippage on the ears and the skinning quonset was cool and my yotes were pulled off the board too soon. I wasn't happy. I voiced my opinion. If you are handing out cash for custom skinning go have a beer with them while they skin and board. Then make your decision.

Pretty much.

[coy coyote]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

Retired already?

Nope. Just don't want to send someone to a skinner and the guy wrecks his furs. My opinion is you get what you pay for. The guys I know charge 20 to finish a whole coyote and are pros at coyotes,beaver, hell any fur bearer and do the nicest job. All went to the Mr. Wurz school at one point. Myself I started for Mr Saar doing 60 a week for 9$ a dog. From Dec to march. That's going back 18 years ago. Prices ranged from 80$ some years to 28$ top for coyotes other years. If you expect a decent job for under 15$ hive your head a shake. Is that all that coyote is worth to you. I do custom and sometimes I get into a bind and farm some out and I'm paying up to 22$ dollars. Do I have a problem with it no .

[bill9044]

The way I see it is you loose a lot of value in the fur handling. And also I don't like paying top dollar for poor products. I don't mind dishing out the extra $5 but if my sister who hates fur can board a better coyote than a guy charging $20. I'll pay the $15 and get a product that is better than the $20 one and know what I get. Like anything I guess you gotta shop around.

[braggadoe]

trucks warming up.......i have a hard time wraping my head around why a person would pay someone else to do it. unless a person is handicap. lots of talk lately, about how expensive things are, and how its difficult to make money.

unless your doing it yourself, you'll never become fast/good.

standing around drinking beer.....may aswell be doing it yourself and drinking beer at the same time. might cut into the computer time i guess.

a month from now, every one will talking about how much their fur brought.

hard to take credit, when some one else has done most of the job.

yes, i understand that if skinning time is cutting into harvest time.

not trying to rock the boat, just trying to understand.


trucks warm.good luck out there today!

[Tfng]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

trucks warming up.......i have a hard time wraping my head around why a person would pay someone else to do it. unless a person is handicap. lots of talk lately, about how expensive things are, and how its difficult to make money.

unless your doing it yourself, you'll never become fast/good.

standing around drinking beer.....may aswell be doing it yourself and drinking beer at the same time. might cut into the computer time i guess.

a month from now, every one will talking about how much their fur brought.

hard to take credit, when some one else has done most of the job.

yes, i understand that if skinning time is cutting into harvest time.

not trying to rock the boat, just trying to understand.


trucks warm.good luck out there today!

All good points Braggadoe. For the first auction I did 12 myself and hired out 20. I do all my own skinning and my times have been cut in half. I would still be considered slow at around fifteen minutes but I've made progress. I do feel a little guilty not doing all the fleshing I will admit. I did however build all my snares, forming boards and fleshing beam (built the beam incorrectly it would seem)

I don't see how a resident coyote line could be anything but profitable at today's prices. I bought what I thought were the best of the best for all my supplies and still expect to see a profit. Quality hurts once and I will be reusing most components next year.

If I did all my own fleshing it would certainly cut into my computer time. Who would keep things stirred up around here then though? I've learned a lot here as well so it's not a complete waste of time.

For myself I work two jobs much of the year and snaring coyotes is considered entertainment. I wouldn't do it on the scale I am to lose money though. If all I wanted was to make extra money some extra days at the shop would easily return a higher profit than my coyote line but I would not get the same experiences. Any profit will just be sunk back into equipment anyway. (I did promise the wife a portion for helping me)

I've been freezing my rough skinned pelts since the last receiving date. I haven't decided if I will send them out or do them myself. I did go buy a 6-7 inch fence post as Coy alluded that this was the most efficient way to flesh. It's far to big though and needs a serious amount of carving to get a coyote on it. I suppose it will come down to if I want to flesh coyotes or go pull some trout out of Cold lake.

[nube]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

trucks warming up.......i have a hard time wraping my head around why a person would pay someone else to do it. unless a person is handicap. lots of talk lately, about how expensive things are, and how its difficult to make money.

unless your doing it yourself, you'll never become fast/good.

standing around drinking beer.....may aswell be doing it yourself and drinking beer at the same time. might cut into the computer time i guess.

a month from now, every one will talking about how much their fur brought.

hard to take credit, when some one else has done most of the job.

yes, i understand that if skinning time is cutting into harvest time.

not trying to rock the boat, just trying to understand.


trucks warm.good luck out there today!

For me it isn't I can't do it. It's that I take a ton of time trapping already and it isn't fair to my wife and kids spending all night in the garage fleshing and washing as well. I am trying to keep things in balance.
If my average is a lot lower than the sale i will either find a new person to do my fur or I will just do it when I can and most likely won't get it into the best sales or will have to keep it over till the following year.

[drake]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

trucks warming up.......i have a hard time wraping my head around why a person would pay someone else to do it. unless a person is handicap. lots of talk lately, about how expensive things are, and how its difficult to make money.

unless your doing it yourself, you'll never become fast/good.

standing around drinking beer.....may aswell be doing it yourself and drinking beer at the same time. might cut into the computer time i guess.

a month from now, every one will talking about how much their fur brought.

hard to take credit, when some one else has done most of the job.

yes, i understand that if skinning time is cutting into harvest time.

not trying to rock the boat, just trying to understand.


trucks warm.good luck out there today!

I have a young family and a professional career. I happily pay $12 for fleshing and boarding. Also, I don't have a warm space to thaw frozen fur or dry boarded hides. I look at as an operating cost and when I consider the extra time I have with my family it is a no brainer. To each their own. I don't trap for "credit", I trap because I love the challenge and tradition.

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by drake

I have a young family and a professional career. I happily pay $12 for fleshing and boarding. Also, I don't have a warm space to thaw frozen fur or dry boarded hides. I look at as an operating cost and when I consider the extra time I have with my family it is a no brainer. To each their own. I don't trap for "credit", I trap because I love the challenge and tradition.

All good points by everyone,this is why this thread is the best,lots of friendly talk and some different opinion's,gives all of us a lot of material to base our on means of doing our own thing,Thanks to everyone for your posts,and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY'S,from Peter,Laurie and BABS our lab WILD LAND TRAPPING.

[braggadoe]

used to be(hopefully still is), taking pride in the put up. was a HUGE part of the tradition.

i foresee future opportunities for someone in the custom line cutting/bridge building business. maybe even custom "prebaiting".

can see it already.

[nube]

Come on Brag. Why do you have to put some of us down like that? I still do what I can and there is nothing wrong with living a balanced life if you don't have time to do it. If I was only catching a handfull of critters here and there it wouldn't be an issue but trying to pu up 100 coyotes with the limited time the sales give you it is tough. This is exactly what I was getting at earlier in the season about the timing of the sales and I got stomped on a little by making the comment. If the sales started in March I would be all over putting my own fur up but the fact is that most prices drop by then for the most part.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Reading some of brags post I'm not to sure anyone would want to spend much time with him. So he's got lots of time to spend in the fur shed lol!

[braggadoe]

no,no,no,no wasn't putting anyone down. i do spend alot of time in the shed. its one of the things i enjoy the most about trapping. that's why i can't figure the whole "pay someone else". putting the fur up, making great stuff from it. it all adds to it. the icing on the cake for me and my family.


seems your missing out on a very important part of the whole thing. if your not doing it your self. theres all kinds of excuses one can come up with not to do it. and sure there are some good ones. sure its alot of hard work. but what isn't when it comes to trapping.

again, not putting anyone down.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by bill9044

The way I see it is you loose a lot of value in the fur handling. And also I don't like paying top dollar for poor products. I don't mind dishing out the extra $5 but if my sister who hates fur can board a better coyote than a guy charging $20. I'll pay the $15 and get a product that is better than the $20 one and know what I get. Like anything I guess you gotta shop around.

This is the way that I think as well. I certainly understand how a lack of time, family commitments, etc, etc, would effect someone's decision to pay someone to put up their coyotes. When trapping trumps family then you ought to have a real hard look in the mirror.

What I have a hard time understanding is, if you do pay someone to do it, why the heck would you worry about saving $5 or $10 to get them done? If I had a choice of paying $12 to get a guy to turn a $100 pelt into a $50 pelt or $20 for a better handler to get me top dollar, I know which route that I'd take. I also agree with what Coy stated, sometimes you get what you pay for.

I do all of my own fur but I'm also retired and I have the time to do it, but the amount of time that I had to spend doing it was certainly a factour when deciding how many snares that I wanted to put out.

[nube]

My problem Dave also is I do not know anyone close by that I know will do a top notch job on them. And we will see how the guy I have doing it does. If he is right around average then I think I did o.k. If I get $10 under average then I guess I could have paid the extra $8 and made the extra $2

[bill9044]

Sorry for causing a stir... I was a little ticked at that moment. I was trying to convey that some custom skinners don't care about the end product. ( not every skinner but some ). And the best way I have found is to meet with the skinner and have a beer and a chat and show them what you expect and then agree to a fair price. I also know if you want a job done to your liking you do it yourself. But for the guys that put up all their fur and get that top lot pin it should mean way more. I know me and I'm confident that if I got a top lot and most of my yotes are custom skinned I would definitely be rewarding my skinner.