Old hunting photographs

[RayP.]

I would say the ring tail is racoon,other full furs are gopher or ground hog,smaller tails,mixture of gopher or ground hog and maybe fox and coyote thrown in,awful hard to tell from the photos,nature of those animals could account for use of a scoped rifle,(or maybe only rifle he had)muskrats usally have a naked tail,hence the nickname of "rats".jawag on my part.

RayP.

[Mike Haas]

I would say the ring tail is racoon,other full furs are gopher or ground hog,smaller tails,mixture of gopher or ground hog and maybe fox and coyote thrown in,awful hard to tell from the photos,nature of those animals could account for use of a scoped rifle,(or maybe only rifle he had)muskrats usally have a naked tail,hence the nickname of "rats".jawag on my part.

RayP.

RayP - Due respect but the smaller are "Muskrats". The "Musk" gland was located near the tail just a "Beaver's" musk gland is.I've trapped several thousand and saved the "Musk" to "bait" embankment trails. (Stinks bad"). Hence the name!!. You always trimed the "Rat-Tail" off before drying; hence no tail on the pelt'
Same reason you'd save Fox Urine (bait/terretorial marking). Gopher skins had no value and groundhog had even less. No "warmth" value in either unlike "Muskrat" fur which was used mostly for gloves. (Small "rats" = kids gloves - large "rats" = adult gloves.
As to the rifle - the scope on that rifle isn't something one would use for "Fur Purposes" and I still think it looks like a scoped Springfield 1922 M1/2

[A. F Medic]

You have one photograph were two hunters are standing on each side of a buck. I don't know the hunters but I may be able to find out. It says that the photo was taken by a photographer in Corry Pa.

That is just a short distance from me and I have heard of the photographer by hanging around some of the antique shops there Also, Corry is a real small town.

[RayP.]

RayP - Due respect but the smaller are "Muskrats". The "Musk" gland was located near the tail just a "Beaver's" musk gland is.I've trapped several thousand and saved the "Musk" to "bait" embankment trails. (Stinks bad"). Hence the name!!. You always trimed the "Rat-Tail" off before drying; hence no tail on the pelt'
Same reason you'd save Fox Urine (bait/terretorial marking). Gopher skins had no value and groundhog had even less. No "warmth" value in either unlike "Muskrat" fur which was used mostly for gloves. (Small "rats" = kids gloves - large "rats" = adult gloves.
As to the rifle - the scope on that rifle isn't something one would use for "Fur Purposes" and I still think it looks like a scoped Springfield 1922 M1/2

Never seen a skinned "tailess"rat,didn't know you cut tails off,my youngest son practices taxidermy on small critters,only seen them with tails on,my brother's father-in-law used to skin all the ground hogs/gophers he shot along with racoons,fox and coyote and nail the skins to his barn wall,needless to say they didn't last long with no tanning,etc;don't know why he saved them,some times he just hung the whole fox and coyote on the fence along front road(I've seen that done a lot around here),I just took a wild guess from what the pics looked like to me.

RayP.

[Mike Haas]

Never seen a skinned "tailess"rat,didn't know you cut tails off,my youngest son practices taxidermy on small critters,only seen them with tails on,my brother's father-in-law used to skin all the ground hogs/gophers he shot along with racoons,fox and coyote and nail the skins to his barn wall,needless to say they didn't last long with no tanning,etc;don't know why he saved them,some times he just hung the whole fox and coyote on the fence along front road(I've seen that done a lot around here),I just took a wild guess from what the pics looked like to me.

RayP.

RayP - No offense meant; just an explanation being given. In the mid to late 50's a "Muskrat" skin , fleshed off and stretched would bring 35cts to 50cts depending on color and time of year. Carcass/meat would bring 05cts to 25cts. I used to sell sell them to Dealers on the Eastern Shore of Md and believe it or not in Washington DC.
In the late "1970's" Good Red Fox Fur was selling for $85.00(average $50.00) and a good "Coon" would go for $45.00(average $28.00). Good large "Black (Musk)Rats would bring $6.00. Gray Fox would bring $100.00 if you could catch them but they where very rare where I trapped.
There was a hellva lot of work involved in the trapping, skinning, fleshing and stretching the hides but for the "1970" prices it was worth the effort. Now the market for a "prime Red Fox" is about $15.00. That's about $2.50 an hour once you fiquire everything into it; before fuel price to boot.
The Fur Business is now kinda like keeping your own Cow for Milk. The "Juice" ain't worth the "sqeezing".

[RayP.]

RayP - No offense meant; just an explanation being given. In the mid to late 50's a "Muskrat" skin , fleshed off and stretched would bring 35cts to 50cts depending on color and time of year. Carcass/meat would bring 05cts to 25cts. I used to sell sell them to Dealers on the Eastern Shore of Md and believe it or not in Washington DC.
In the late "1970's" Good Red Fox Fur was selling for $85.00(average $50.00) and a good "Coon" would go for $45.00(average $28.00). Good large "Black (Musk)Rats would bring $6.00. Gray Fox would bring $100.00 if you could catch them but they where very rare where I trapped.
There was a hellva lot of work involved in the trapping, skinning, fleshing and stretching the hides but for the "1970" prices it was worth the effort. Now the market for a "prime Red Fox" is about $15.00. That's about $2.50 an hour once you fiquire everything into it; before fuel price to boot.
The Fur Business is now kinda like keeping your own Cow for Milk. The "Juice" ain't worth the "sqeezing".

Mike,I can remember years ago when fox pelts brought some pretty good money,there was a fox hunting club around here that used to have drives about once a week,they didn't do it for pelt money,fox was a problem(along with weasel)a lot of chicken(egg) farmers,game bird,exotic birds(peacock), guinea hen,breeders and a large chinchella breeder,they would get 10 to 12 fox in a good month,they hunted an area of about 2mi. by 2mi. per hunt over a range of about 30mi. by 30mi.,hasn't been any fox around here to amount to anything for quite a while,no bird breeders like used to be,but for some reason we are starting to have a coyote problem,been seen in town,apparently garbage feeding now.
RayP.