Hides

[Craig-TX]

Back in the 70's I made some good money hunting and trapping for hides. A decent coon would bring $15-20 and a big boar coon would sometimes fetch as much as $25. Other hides brought more or less depending on the type, size and condition. Most of the hides sold down here were on their way to St. Louis if I remember correctly.

The PETA crowd seems to have put a dent in the fur market but I've been wondering, anybody on here still selling hides? That was a sweet deal if you were young and energetic in that you could be handsomely remunerated for something that was fun enough you would have almost done it for free.

Craig-TX

 

[rgv4]

I remember those days, we would sell our hides to Lindsey(? Sp.) out of Alto, Texas. That was a big thing when the hide man would come to town. We always liked those big ole black riverbottom coons, they would bring alot more money than those yellow hill coons.

I don't know of anyone anymore that traps. There's such a big deal made about real fur these days.

 

[redwhiteface]

There are some folks here that coon hunt. They will occasionally bring me a good in tact coon that I will use in my display window in the shop. Other than that they shoot them out and let the dogs do their thing.

 

[J Baxter]

My brother and I are the last trappers in my area and we are not big time. We have about 10 dozen traps. Coons bring 3 or 4 bucks a piece, beavers 5 - 7, mink 8 - 10, otter around 50, bobcat around 25. I rember those days not to far in the past where 4 coons would bring a week's wages. I sure miss those days.

 

[txshowmom]

Who so you sell to?

 

[J Baxter]

We've got fur buyers scattered around. They take the green hides and dry them. Then they take and sell alot of them to order buyers.

 

[hillbilly]

Coon hides arn't worth skinnin in Missouri.
We used to do alot in the late 70's.
I went to sell with the Wilson boys [RUFF] once.
There hides were poor and didn't get much for them [summer coons]
They gripped to the trader about needing more money for beer.
He told them he would give five dollars for there dogs hide,
[big husky, family dog]. They took it out back and shot and skined
their dog for $5.
I didn't hang out with them Wilson boys much after that.

Hillbilly

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Thats sad.

 

[Craig-TX]

Believe it or not, in the 70's when hides were bringing top dollar you could get $2 for a housecat, or $3 if you skinned it. The old boy we usually sold to would dock for bullet holes etc. and was very picky about skinning being done properly. He had a bunch of wetbacks that would skin animals all day long every Wednesday. They skinned to spec and they were incredibly fast. Anyway, even in 1970's dollars it wasn't worth a buck to skin anything. And there weren't any stray kitty cats running around either.

Craig-TX

 

[Caustic Burno]

Believe it or not, in the 70's when hides were bringing top dollar you could get $2 for a housecat, or $3 if you skinned it. The old boy we usually sold to would dock for bullet holes etc. and was very picky about skinning being done properly. He had a bunch of wetbacks that would skin animals all day long every Wednesday. They skinned to spec and they were incredibly fast. Anyway, even in 1970's dollars it wasn't worth a buck to skin anything. And there weren't any stray kitty cats running around either.

Craig-TX

Remember those shinning times Bobcat was worth over 150 trapped 100 with bullet holes. Coon and coyote brought good money also. Used to pay little sis Muratic 2 bucks to skin.

 

[Editor]

I have some great memories of hunting and trapping when I was a kid. My whole family would go out on coon hunts. Like you said, we could get $15-$25 /coon. Some nights we would bring in 10-20 and most of the time my Daddy would let my brothers and me split the money. We would freeze them whole and the fur buyer would skin them himself when he came around once a week to buy furs. He also told us that he would give us $1 a piece for all of the armadillos we could bring him. Evidently, he could sell them in his area for food. (Yuck). Anyway, we caught several hundred of those things before the man asked us to stop bringing them in. We saturated the market pretty fast!!! But it was fun while it lasted. My brothers and I made a lot of good spending money back in those days!

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

I have some great memories of hunting and trapping when I was a kid. My whole family would go out on coon hunts. Like you said, we could get $15-$25 /coon. Some nights we would bring in 10-20 and most of the time my Daddy would let my brothers and me split the money. We would freeze them whole and the fur buyer would skin them himself when he came around once a week to buy furs. He also told us that he would give us $1 a piece for all of the armadillos we could bring him. Evidently, he could sell them in his area for food. (Yuck). Anyway, we caught several hundred of those things before the man asked us to stop bringing them in. We saturated the market pretty fast!!! But it was fun while it lasted. My brothers and I made a lot of good spending money back in those days!

Is there such a thing as Bad spending money? All money spends good :lol: