Differences in fur quality in same general area

[17kiss]

Just got back from largest fur dealer in Pa. as ususl Jerry gave me some helpful insights. We were talking about fur quality and prices. He started pulling fox from different counties , same end of state. amazing the difference between one county to the next. these were all caught about same time.There were different characteristics between the franklin , Cumberland county areas to the York and Lancaster areas . adams county seems to have a totally different coloration also. That is just in southern end of state.Also found out that my area was way off production wise , which goes along with my feelings. Nice to talk to a fellow who handles fur from all over and hear some of his opinions.

[trappnman]

I notice this also.

Some areas have good fur- some areas have poor fur- and as you noted- they can be 20 miles apart.

I think some is genetic for sure. I trap one valley that seems to have a poorer coon. Every year I trap this in late Dec to now- and I alwyas get a few that are the size of big kits and have very poor (thin) fur-

I am assuming it is a genetic strain back in that valley. Not all back in the valley are like that- but the strain is there.

I have seen this with bob tails also. While you can get a bobtailed coon occasionally almost anywhere for a varity of reasons- I have one area that always gives me a couple of bobtailed coon each season. Coon with tuffs for tails and just a nub of a tail bone. To my eye- the bones never look damaged- they look natural- plus the regularity of the coon there with bob tails lead me to believe it is genetic.

I think habitat also plays a trole. Coon from the hills and coon fro mthe marshes seem to have differnt colored coons, to a degree. That is- a lot more yellowish coon in the marshes than the hills. Food could be part of this habitat equation. Muskrats for example in the marshes- haver much thicker, heavier and darker pelts than creek rats a mile away. And this held very true from year to year. Back in "the olden" days- a fur buyer would wiggle the rat pelts if in doubt- a cracking sound meant crick rat and the pelt was put into the "paperback" pile.

Back then- paperback rats were held in low regard- and now I never hear the term.
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Canines it has to be genetics. In a general way- I see the coyotes getting better here every year. In fact, my furbuyer commented on this a few weeks ago- saying "remember when you hardly ever got a good colored white bellied yote? and now most of them are"

And specifically, I had one area this year where I got an adult female and 3 of her pups - and they were like peas in a pod- heavy silver/black/brown backs, white silky bellies.

Beautiful yotes. I got a double of a male/female littermates one day there- and those 2 were as pretty a yote as I had ever seen. I actually considered letting the female go.

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I'd be interested in hearing Jerry's thoughts on the subject- he must see 1000's of fox- did he have any conclusions?

[17kiss]

Steve , not much more than to say that is the way it is. He did say he can ususally tell where a fox came from at first glance. He was doing deer hides so only stayed about 40 minutes. The man is a machine.