Coyote Pelts - to keep or not

After the first of the year I hope to have a lot more time to coyote hunt. Prior to now my time has always been sporadic and limited. I've never tried keeping a pelt. Also, I never figured they would be quality enough to fetch any sort of price that's worth the bother. [Considering I haven't skinned and stretched a pelt since I used to run a trap line in high school 45 years ago the 'bother' of getting back in practice might be substantial. ] But recently I've heard processing the pelts might be worth it. I live in Allen, just north of Dallas. What kind of prices are coyotes fetching for different conditions and level of processing? If I do it, I wonder if I should get some frames for fleshing and stretching, do I just flesh them and freeze them, or do I just skin them and freeze them if the price difference isn't worth the effort of going through the whole process.

The more I think about it, it's been so long since I've processed a pelt that I might as well be considered a noob. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

I used to just skin out a couple foxes and coyotes each year to have tanned and let the little kids play with them. They used them for their stoles and neck warmers playing dress up. Had more fun than you can imagine. Now they just lay around the trophy rooms in various piles.

they make great man cave decore

I doubt if they bring much, after seeing the quality of the coyotes up north, most of these Texas coyotes looked like they had a case of the mange. But I haven't looked for a price of pelts in decades.

If I were to trap and hunt fur to sell these days, to maximize profits I would send the hides off to be tanned or take to a local tannery (lewisville has one I think) to be professionally tanned. Then sell them locally, on ebay, social media, to people who work leather for a hobby, and to resellers. Nicer animals I would look into freezing whole to sell to taxidermists. Finished skulls sell really well. One would need to explore any special licensing, etc. Any of that kind of stuff I see in the antique mall I sell at, moves fast and for mucho money. Selling raw fur, I would have to live really close to the buyers stop or have a whole lot of nice furs to sell, otherwise the small proceeds would easily be lost to fuel and time.

compared to what Texas/southern furs bring when compared to western/northern furs,
i couldn't see investing in any fur stretchers, fleshing knives, a fleshing beam, scrapers,
etc. , or even putting in the time to properly case skin any of these vermin invested
varmints in this part of the world since my time is the most valuable thing I have, and
I can't get any more of it at any price.
the varmints you kill/catch make good bait for other varmints, or you can have the better
ones mounted for personal enjoyment. if you sell anything you have to have a trapper's
license, and there are other regulations to follow such as having bobcats tagged, etc.

or like josey wales said ". .buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms. . ."

We feel for you all. Our furs bring a nice return if handled properly.
Petska has their Oct. price forecast here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink....12&id=290518320967434&__tn__=K-R

Our prime coyotes need to have the guard hairs intact so harvest before snow cover is best. The Jan ones will be pretty but not bring the highest price. Our cats are well worth the time and effort, our medium female from last winter brought a $250 offer but we kept her to get tanned, hoping to catch a couple next month and see what they offer this year. The bobcat fur should be shipped this week from Moyle Mink and Tannery.

We do have fur buyers around other than Petska and they pay good money for properly put up furs, coyotes and bobcats especially. Our trapping mentor sent some great Wyoming bobcats off to the fur auction in Canada before he passed away a few years back and got in excess of $1,200.00 per dried pelt.
We're about to put in the effort for the next month or so and see what we can catch. Snow is our limiting factor though, for the roads and sets. We only have so much wax dirt to use.

yessir. it's a shame when the glands are worth more than the furs, but what can you do. . .

the varmints here have been let go too long, and they're wearing out the fawns and
small game and pets. some are also trying to re-establish the wild turkeys, and for me it's not
really any choice between having turkeys or letting varmints run willy nilly.

https://www.rpoutdoors.com/furprandtrin.html
These guys have a Texas route and pricing as of December 15th.

Wow, those prices are bleak. We at least are getting some value on our heavy furs, even a coon will bring a little money if finished.
We're past prime on coyotes so any we take will probably get tanned if clean enough.
Wonder what they would pay for someone that brought some furs down? We'll be down in Early March for our hog hunt, could bring a put up coyote or cat maybe for them to look at.

yep, that's putting it nice.
nothing for a coon or skunk or possum ? $5.00 for a fox or a beaver ? $18.00 for an otter ?
thank you but no thank you. i guess if you have a place with water and beaver you might
make a few dollars for gas from selling glands

you can donate them to a taxidermy school

Get a hold of Petska Fur on facebook. They are looking for good southern coyotes right now due to ours being rough shape by now.