When is the coyote fur prime in West Washington (start to finish)?
I've trapped them starting the 1st of Oct a number of years. They will be a little flat until about the 20th. There is variation though. The pups stay flat longer and their bellies are thin until well into November. The adults though look pretty good by the 20th or so.
When they go out is another story though. It depends a lot on the weather. In a dry year they may stay good into early January. In a wet year you can get rubs in the middle of December. By and large I figured they would be good 'till the end of the year.
What happens is they get matted on the back from the rain and then they are pretty much worthless. Lot of variations though. I've caught culls in November and good ones clear into March. Those are the exceptions though. If they get into pitch or get a wound the fur will go south in a hurry. Then you have the ones with mange you catch and have to toss. Really gets discouraging at times.
