coyote fleas

B

Buzzard Bait

New member
Ive been thinking of whacking a few coyotes ( when it gets to where I'm seeing them sort of regular it's time to thin the herd ) I want to skin them and send off the hides to be tanned. I can wear rubber gloves to avoid some of the fluids but I really don't want to offer a new home to the fleas. The deer I have field dressed always have some ticks but I never really noticed any fleas. The coyotes have lots of fleas, any ideas, since I'm not going to eat the thing I could spray it with bug killer raid or something. What are other's doing?
BB
 
Just put the hide in a plastic bag and tie shut in the field... Put in freezer until time to ship... Sounds good to me...
Brent
 
Simple fix. Get a spray bottle and fill it with rubbing alcohol. Spray the dude down all over and the alcohol kills them on contact for the most part. You might see a few survivors but they're dead, they just haven't figured it out yet.
 
I've skun a bunch of them and I've never noticed any fleas. I live in a fairly cool climate, and maybe that's why our coyotes are a pretty clean critter.

I hear folks talking on the forum about the filthy, stinking, diseased, flea infested coyotes, but ours are generally pretty healthy and hygienic.:p jd
 
Best time to hunt coyotes for pelts is Nov-Jan. By now, they have started rubbing in many areas.

Having shot coyotes for pelts, I can assertively state that yes, they have fleas and ticks. If you skin them hot, you will have the little buggers crawling on you. I used long gloves like the ones you can get from a vet supply store, or just handed the coyote over to a taxidermist "in the round", i.e. whole body. Some folks have good results with a trash bag and a can of Raid (spray the Raid in the bag, insert coyote, remove after an hour). But really, the worst part about coyotes is the smell, they smell like dead rotten animals. Once you get past that, the rest is easy.
 
fleas

I live in Arizona and about ten years ago I came home after hunting coyote. I had shot six or seven that day. Well about a week later I was reading the no news paper when I notice something hit the paper, like when the kids shoot a rubber band at your paper. Well after that my wife and I noticed an increase of fleas in our house. What a mess. I wrap them in plastic and sprinkle flea and tick powder all over them. My taxidermist likes it better than spray, it washes off easer. A friend uses the spray! Each to their own.
ed:eek:
 
The fleas in prairie dog towns are the carrier of bubonic plague.We get a few human cases of plague in No Colo.

For what its worth.
 
I hunted and trapped coyotes for several years to sell the pelts. I never once encountered any fleas nor did I ever get fleas in my home or on my dogs from the coyote pelts. I streatched and dried the pelts before selling them. For that process, after I turned the hides inside out, I had to flesh the pelt, and put the pelt on a stretching/drying frame.

BTW, now I tan the pelts myself. It's easy to do and worthwhile to do it. I learned how at Rabbitstick.
 
Last edited:
I guess our coyotes are just hygienic around here.

This brings to mind years past when I killed a lot more coyotes than I do now, and spent a lot of time around the fur buyers shed where THOUSANDS of critters were skun, fleshed, stretched, and dried. There was always dogs around, and we never used flea prevention techniques, and never had any flea problems.

I can only surmise that our cool, arid climate prevents the explosion of the flea population, and the incidence of fleabitus. jd
 
Bag and spray them. Work fast, you don't want the little beggars to figure out the coyote is dead before they are breathing Raid vapors.

Cool climate does not matter. I have found fleas on beavers snared under the ice. If you have no fleas in your area, be happy. Or look closer.
 
I used to trap fox in late winter and left them hang out side to freeze until I could skin them. Sure enough, when they started to thaw you could see the fleas moving around. I guess they go dormant for short periods of time. I caped deer out and froze the hide for a couple weeks and when they thaw the ticks start crawling around. It could be the same with fleas ?
 
We used to double bag them, and throw a liberal amount of flea powder on them, and skinned them with rubber gloves. Fleas carry bubonic plague, something you do not want to contract..:eek:
 
Not to drift off target - but everything in life has a place.

As to parasites - definitely want to be safe vs sorry. Rubbing alcohol sounds like a good plan if it works - I'll have to try that.

Have you noticed more / less fleas closer or further from populated areas? It might be hard to tell there but here in the 'big city' there are big differences between a city yote and one 100 miles outside town, both in health and size. Guess dumpster diving can pay off...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top