![]() Some blame early-season snow in Canada and the western United States, which made it harder for trappers to get out. He handles an average of 10,000 coyotes annually, though the numbers are down for western coyotes this year. “They’re heavy, so the hair stands up for the trim, and they’re pale.” “The coyotes that we have here in Montana are probably the best coyotes in the world for trim,” Hughes said. He sells to operations that create trim strips, which sells to garment makers. Hughes will pay trappers an average of $75 to $105 and as much as $120 for a western coyote. “It is the one bright spot in most of the country,” says Dave Linkhart, of the National Trappers Association. To trappers, coyotes are one of the few money-making animals, along with bobcats and a few others. Farmers view them as chicken poachers, and suburban residents see them as threats to their pets. Coyotes have been spotted from the streets of Los Angeles to Manhattan’s Central Park. The hot market for coyotes comes as trappers deal with recent economic slumps in China and Russia, competition from ranched fur and the intense ire of animal welfare activists, who consider the popular steel leg-hold traps particularly cruel.Ĭoyote trappers see themselves as sportsmen helping control populations of a ubiquitous animal often considered a nuisance. Toronto-based Canada Goose did not respond to requests for comment. North American Fur Auctions was similarly optimistic in a November web posting, saying the trim business continues to be in full fashion with Canada Goose being the major taker. “Basically, it’s just a coyote trim ruff that goes around the hood of all those kinds of coats.”ĭowney suspects the bull market for coyote will continue. “Canada Goose is always the name that people relate to, but there are so many other brands that make similar coats,” says Mark Downey, CEO of Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. Over the years, more celebrities and their fashion-conscious followers began donning the parkas, which now can retail for more than $1,000 each. “They like the white-belly coyotes, something like this, the whiter belly,” says John Rutherford, a trapper and hunter, showing a lush, long-haired coyotes.įur experts say the uptick in coyote demand began with Canada Goose parkas, with their distinctive Arctic Circle patch, a brand that went big in 2013 when model Kate Upton famously wore one over her bikini on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit Issue. At one such auction in a VFW hall in the upstate New York town of Herkimer, tables were piled high with the furs of hundreds of muskrats, beavers, fishers, mink, red fox, gray fox, otters, bobcats and coyotes. Fur is sold at big auction houses in Canada, by individual fur buyers across North America and at local auctions near where the animals roam. Late fall and early winter are the prime trapping time, when coyote coats are at their fullest, but a lot of the selling happens in late winter. “Coyotes are hot,” says John Hughes, a longtime buyer at J and M Furs in Roundup, Montana, “and it’s all due to the trim trade.” The top price at a recent Colorado auction hit $170, a 40 percent increase from four years ago. A good western coyote, prized for its silky, light-colored fur, can fetch more than $100. Coyote fur pelts are in big demand to provide the lush, silvery or tawny-tinged arcs of fur on the hoods on Canada Goose coats and their many global imitators. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |