Washing Coyotes

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Willy1

New member
Do any of you guys have any hot tips on drying the fur on coyotes that have been washed . I think I have the perfect remedy in using the wifes clothes dryer . But if I do that I think it is going to mean splitting everything 50/50 , she will only stand for so much .
Thanks
 
Please give us a little more info on how you are drying them in the dryer. when a tannery drys furs they do so in a tumbler with sawdust. if you want to use a dryer take a plastic bag or two and put some hardwood sawdust in them. you don't want these to break or come undone as you will end up with a dryer full of saw dust. now take your wet washed hide and dry it as good as you can. one method is to take your hide and lay it out on a towel. now roll the hide and towel and squeeze with all you might. or blow it dry with compressed air. then take your damp not wet hide and throw it in the the plastic bag with the sawdust and keep as much air in the bags as possible. then throw them in the dryer with NO HEAT and tumble dry. never us heat to dry your furs. good luck with the wife and the 50/50 contract. remember get it in writing. hope this helped
Sportingly
Cracker
 
I guess we all do things a little different. We've washed most all of our coyotes here for years. Now we use a little detergent and a scoop of oxi-clean in the washer. Then we just toss them in the dryer with heat until dry. Then they are fleshed and stretched. You will have to clean out the hair out of the tub of the washer and in the dryer you will probably need to take your vacume cleaner and clean the hair,dust and dirt that collects in the dryer tub also your lint collector will be full each time. Using heat has never been a problem for us here. If you want to see how it is done Craig O'Gorman has a video on putting up coyotes and his number is 406-436-2234 and the hours are 8:30 to 5:00 mst.
 
itrap4u
Thanks for the reply . I was just kidding about using the wifes dryer , but I do have a spare one that I am setting up in my shop . You said that you dried them then fleshed them and stretched them . That is exactly what I wanted to know . I was going to do it that way but didn't want to damage a bunch of prime coyotes . Can you put a bunch in your dryer at a time or are you limited to one or two .
Thanks Again
 
I know a few guys that use a leaf blower,and they swear by it,keeps them good with the wife.I just hang them after getting them as dry as I can,by squeezing from the head down,and a couple good snaps like snapping a towel,then put a fan on them.
 
I'm for fans and tumbling.
I have never heard of drying them with heat. That's not to say someone doesn't do it, but I sure don't agree with it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
What kind of time is a guy looking at to let them dry that way . I have had some hanging in my shop for about a day now and they still seem very damp . I am scared that they may start to rot on me .
 
I do 4 or 5 at at time. There is a dial on the dryer that controls the rate of dryness. I put it on medium and it is no different than washing and drying a load of clothes. I know you know this but fur side out. The skin side will be moist and the fur will be dry or dry enough to flesh and stretch. Tumbling in saw dust done at the auction houses and tannery's is not done to dry them to the best of my knowledge anyways. It is done to clean excess oils and dirt off the pelts. They look great after they are tumbled but they are tumbled when already stretched and dried. It would seem to me that if you put a saturated coyote pelt in with saw dust and no heat that you would end up with wet saw dust and I can't figure out how that would dry the pelt.
 
Willy1, I stay the heck away from anything that puts heat on a raw hide. You're just asking for trouble doing that. In time, it will get you in the butt.

I wash mine the old fashioned way - in a large tub of water with detergent/ shampoo - then rinse in clean water. Most of the time, I just hook two fingers thru the eye holes and swing them around to get a lot of the water out of them, then pull them onto stretchers where I give them the once over with a leaf blower. Mine is supposed to create a 200 mph wind and it blows the water right the heck out of them. Once the bulk is gone, I flip them flesh side out, flesh, stretch on the stretcher until "dry" then flip fur side out. Back comb them against the grain with a fur brush and leave alone for a day. Next day, hit 'em with the leaf blower again and "POOF!", they fluff up like cotton balls. Just my way of doing it FWIW, and the wife doesn't mind me using my leaf blower at all.
 
Haven't tried the clothes dryer yet, but I did use the spin cycle on my washing machine to sling the water out of a yote hide recently. Worked real well and the hide was just slightly damp. There wasn't too much hair to wipe out of the washer, but I'm guessing you might play havoc with your pumps and filters if you did this real frequently. Are there any washer repairmen who might advise us on this practice?
 
What we did was get a cheap washing machine from a garage sale. Hooked it up to run on just cold water. We then washed 4 at a time with no detergent. We also spun them dry, but since this was just used for coyotes we could spin them as much as we wanted to ensure they were as dry as we could get them. If there was any hair left in the machine we just plucked as much as we could by hand and the rest combed out later. I think we got the machine for $25.
 
I repair washers and dryers. Sooner or later, your pump in the washer is going to seize up from the hair. As long as you notice it and turn the machine off, You should be able to disassemble the pump and clean it out. I have to do this alot from the stupid custodians washing their mops in a washing machine instead of a bucket.
If your using a dryer to dry the hides, Sooner or later the hair will get into the "fire box/heat box" and boy is it gunna stink. If there is enough to actually catch fire , it will go out quickly , but will more than likely blow the thermal fuse/thermal cut off , which will have to be replaced. Probably under $10 from an appliance repair shop.
 


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