AZBIGGAME is right. Fur buyers will dock you for any noticable damage. With "greasy" pelts such as coon that are dried fur-in, any damage is obvious from the flesh side. Pellets don't do any more damage than tick bites but you will be docked. If coyote, fox and cats were sold fur-in our damage would be revealed and we'd be docked for our bullet and pellet holes as well. That's another reason why put-up fur brings more...if you do a good job with the thread they'll never know how the fur was taken. As a note: you only sew holes larger than a pencil...shoot a shotgun at a moderate distance and there's no thread work. Dennis Kirk has an excellent book on calling fox. He recommends shooting the front legs out of an animal too close for a body shot. Says a few pellets will still make the vitals and the animal expires quickly with any major damage confined to the legs which are cut off the pelt anyway.
Randy
