Fur Handling Tips

[mark]

On cats the belly is where the money is on most of them.If you have a good spotted white belly you want to show off all of it you can.length is fine but you need to get all the width you can exposed also. The proper board is the key. You may be able to stretch a size small cat up to a size large cat, but you wont show off all the white and spots on the belly. What im trying to say is length aint everything, in cats anyways. You need the right amount of width to go with the length. From my experience for what its worth.

[Warner5]

Funny this comes up. With the garmin its like a whole new world watching what the hounds are doing chasing a cat. It answers alot of questions but on the flip side it also seems to bring up new ones. Al, I have noticed here in our neck of the woods cats that are dogged once a week or more dont line out very often, if they get some breathing room on the dogs most of the experienced cats seem to spend their time twisting and turning through the nearest hell hole on their way out of there on route to the next hell hole.

But I have noticed a couple times already this season some cats that dont see dogs much will put the dogs in a bad place. A 15-20 minute lose where the dogs all shut up and search hard and wide to pick the cat back up, or there all hung on a bluff or river crossing. They will get him going again lined out moving very straight for our rough terrain almost like its got a plan headed back to its home turf. But like you said this dosent work out very well for most of them. Sometimes its pretty telling, dogs moving so straight and fast a fella starts to wonder just how coyote broke his dogs really are. Luckly the cat tree's, then a hunter can reassure himself he knew it was a cat the whole time. Sorry to hi-jack the fur tip post, but fur tips sink in best with a few cat story's thrown in. Thanks. John.

[al baldwin]

Mark, sure you & a lot of others know more about stretching cats than I. And know the proper rule is make the board to fit the cat. But, also seen some cats that were streached wider than necessary. Ten years working in a fur shed you would have seen a lot. I had never heard of the borox trick. Thanks Al

[mark]

Al

I read my last post over and i came off like i was disagreeing with you. I wasn't at all. I have just seen alot of hides that were stretched way to narrow so they could get that 36"+ length. Im talking like a 4-5" wide cat. It ends up looking like a snake.

[CRA]

After reading this post I would like to add a few tips I have learned throughout the years. There is some good information in here and im sure I will probally repeat some already mentioned. Mark, I can tell you are a great fur handler and the more posts I read of yours the more I know you are a great cat hunter and houndsmen.

This is the way of dispatching a cat that I have found that offers the cleanest way without getting blood all over the hide. I do my best for a head shot. There are 2 reasons behind this, one the cat dies instantly without suffering and you have a lot less risk of the cat hanging up on a limb high off the ground or wedged between the forks of a tree. Second is it isolates the blood to just the head area. What I do is as soon as the cat hits the ground I place a freezer bag over the head of the cat. I immediately tie the bag off with either a rubber band or electric tape. This isolates the blood to only one area and will save you time during put-up by keeping blood from slinging all over that white spotted belly that is so valuable. I normally skin at home because I’m always in a hurry to go try and catch another. I have skinned a lot at the tree if it’s a long walk back to the truck and I don’t want to carry the extra weight of a dead cat. I have also skinned a lot of cats on the tailgate of my truck. I have a heavy duty choke chain that I anchor to a tie down in the bed of my truck. This chain grips the cat tight and the tie down offers a solid anchor for pulling the hide down. Always skin a cat with latex gloves on or some form of protection. Cat’s claws can cause infections on humans and they also carry other blood borne pathogens.
I have found the best way to get the dried blood off the cats hide is to wash the bloody area where the blood is at, prior to ever skinning the cat. Example, if I shoot a cat and isolate the blood to just its head, when I skin it at home, before I ever skin the cat, I will rinse water over just the area that has blood on it and wash the blood out with Wool Lite. I will then dry the area off with my shop towels and let it air dry. This way I don’t get the leather side off the cat hide wet.

A properly shaped cat stretcher is the key to getting the most out of your cats. You should have 2 different sized stretchers for cats. One larger sized stretcher and one for smaller sized cats. Over stretched cats will cause the hair to appear thinner. Stretch for length and then width. No need to ever go wider than 9 inches. Don’t over stretch a cat! If it’s a smaller cat than take your lumps on it at the sale. Remember a fur grader sees thousands of cats a year and it’s very hard to sneak something by them. One of the biggest deductions on cats is due to poor fur handling and improperly stretched cats. Remember first time appearance is everything. A fur buyer is normally going to give your cat hide a quick look and know about where it came from and know what he’s willing to pay. Make sure your cats are clean and properly stretched.

Good cat stretchers are adjustable in size. Remember all cats are shaped and sized differently. This is the reason I like small and large sized stretchers. I call them adjustable spread stretchers. Any softwood is good. I prefer redwood or cedar stretchers. Basswood is soft when it’s first milled but after it ages it gets very hard and is a pain to get push pins into. A good cat stretcher should be a minimum of 66 inches in length and not more than 5/8 of an inch thick. It’s a good idea to have an abundant amount of stretchers on hand.
If you live in a dryer climate you can get away without having to flip a cat hide. Just rub Borax to the leather side of the hide paying close attention around the armpits (front legs) and head area. In humid regions it just takes too long to dry that way and you risk mold growth starting. If your hide gets too dry leather side out don’t try and turn it. Get a shop towel moist and wrap it around the dryer areas of the hide to add moisture back to the hide so you can flip it without tearing. Cats are very thin skinned and can be torn very easy. A well handled properly stretched load of cat hides can sure offset some of the expenses of hound hunting.

An old clothes dryer makes a great fur tumbler. Just make sure you dismantle the heating element or put it on air dry only. I put my hides into my tumbler while they are still semi limp. Inside the dryer I add Sawdust, Borax, Corn Cobb Grit, and a small amount of paint thinner. The cat will come out of the tumbler looking like new money after you blow it out. The white will look like it’s bleached. The hair will have a super shine to it. After you take it out of the tumbler take it outside and use your air compressor or shop vacuum to blow off the hide. After the hide is cleaned I place it back on a stretcher to finish drying.

When fleshing a cat use either sawdust or borax to help with the grease. Borax is better because it helps prevent mold growth. But some buyers are against Borax because it throws off the PH levels at the Tanneries tanning solutions. If your buyer is against Borax on your hides just use Corn Cobb Grit and Saw Dust it will give you the same results.

If you are just fleshing cat and fox there is no need for an expensive fleshing knife. Expensive fleshing knives are super sharp and just not needed for these varmints. An inexperienced fur handler with a super sharp fleshing knife can make a mess out of a thin skinned hide.

There is so much to cover about this subject that it could go on for some time. We can still cover proper skinning techniques (example straight cuts, following color lines), skinning tools needed to make your job cleaner and easier, fur grading, lotting cats together, fur sales, different ways to stretch to add value to your hide, fleshing, fleshing beam sizes and set ups, how to remove pine pitch or juniper sap from your hide, ideas on set ups and so on.

Here is a Bobcat Fur Sizing Chart
28-30 Medium
30-32 Med Large
32-35 Large
35-39 XL
39 plus XXL
A bobcat being sold to the fur trade is measured from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. Remember to storage your put-up fur away from mice, rats, bugs and allow plenty of air flow.

[Unreal_tk]

Very nice informational post there CRA, those cats look excellent. You've covered some good points. We have access to a tumbler but have not used it to date. I've never thought of using a sack to help limit the blood, I will have to keep that in mind. Ill have to get your number one of these days and get more detailed information! Woolite, I have not used that to wash a cat. Ill have to try washing before skinning.

[al baldwin]

CRA excellent post & nice job on the hides. I tried tieing a bag over those head shots. But seemed most every time as i was skinning the cat, trapped blood would break loose & create another mess. Those are some nice looking streachers. Can one use too much borox? Thanks Al

[twist]

Another real easy tip to keep front legs open to dry is use a plastic coat hanger, take and snip both rounded end of the hanger about 4 inches back on both top and bottom ( this will give you 2 long u shapes that are flexable) take these and put rounded ends in front legs once its turned fur out. It makes legs dry easier and also dresses up the hide some what as front legs will look consistant. Fur buyers like the belly between 6-8 inches and every fur buyer I have ever sold to goes by length of cat yes the belly is what they are after, pretty hard to make one of our Montana cats look like it doesnt have much hair on the belly, as we have some of the nicest cats out there along with a few other states. One has to use his own judgment on stretching for lenght as if it where a thin haired cat I could see this being a problem. Al the way I use the borox is a lite dusting of it and go to rubbing you will see it start to work, shack that out and put another lite dusting on and do the same. You will know when its done as the cat will brighten right up after a few minutes. Andy

[Unreal_tk]

A tip I got from Mercer Lawings video with Andy's tip is to use a dowel or smooth piece of tubing of some sort and put down thru the arms when using those clothes hanger halves. It keeps the legs where you want them, and also gives added air circulation in a spot that needs all it can get!

Does anyone here freeze there cats and later skin them ? I've done this and its a royal pain to thaw a cat out later. Any suggestions about it ? I also have skinned cats and froze the hide (when doing so always make sure not to have any flesh visible because it can freezer burn)

[mark]

The fur industry is very unpredictable at best,there are many different sizes,colors,hair lengths,density,etc etc across the USA. The high dollar great basin cats seem to get all the attention(and rightfully so) but there are markets for every other type of cats out there too. Do the best job you can putting your cats up and if you take them to a sale separate them into lots according to size and color. That will allow a buyer who has a market for a lesser type cat to buy them without having to pay for a high dollar cat that he doesn't have a market for in the same lot. Sometimes the small country buyer will pay more for the lesser cats than one of the big time buyers will. I hope this makes some kind of sense.
CRA,thanks for the kind words, but I'm just a guy that has had a passion for bobcats for alot of years and have learned about everything from the school of hard knocks. I am fortunate enough to be in an area with a good cat population that allows both the dogs and i to get a lot of practice.

[Arkansas Frog]

back in 2000 and o4 I washed every thing I skined in Woolight,got that from Craig O"Gorman
Now he was a Wolfer,Big Ego but could produce.

[Bluebill]

Allot of great information.... Here are a couple of questions... Should I be cutting the lower jaw off my cats or letting them shrivel up? How far should I be skinning the front legs down. I used to leave the claws on but I read on the NAFA website that they want them removed since they can cause tears when tumbled. How much time should I spend fleshing the head area? I don't have the benefit of a local buyer in northern Colorado so I haven't had a lot of feed back on my fur handling. I'm also looking for a buyer if anyone could suggest one in southern Wyoming or Colorado.
Thanks guys.

[newby]

Someone told me to cut the back legs off at the hocks and take the front legs off at just above the highest claw...what do you guys think about that? I've seen some UBS skin them all the way to the pads...just don't want to screw up a hide.

[twist]

Leave the front legs around 2 or 3 inches long is just right, back legs right above the pads is fine. Andy

[FullCryHounds]

Bluebill, have you considered coming to the CTA auction out in Hugo in Feb? Thousands of furs and lots of buyers from all over.