Wow Trumby! How much do the pelts bring down there?
These days they are averaging around $16.00 with top quality going up to $25.00.
Back when I was shooting professional, late 70's I was averaging $28.50 with top quality going up to $45.00.
The animal liberationists brought the market down to it's knees. They of course have no idea the damage they reek on Lambing and native bird life. (They don't only eat Rabbits. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />)
The fella in the pictures was skinning in under a minute. I was never that good. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Calibers are still the same with .17cal Remington being the preferred cal. I was using a Sako .17 and a backup rifle in .22mag for close up shooting.
Skinning isn't that straight forward as you need the head and tail skinned and pegged out to buyers requirements.
It used to take me around 2 minutes to skin a Fox and about 10 minutes to peg one out. I later bought a staple gun and was able to peg out much faster.
My last sale before quitting was 540 skins at an average of $28.50. I was managing a cattle station at the time so had the luxury of staying home on the nights in high winds when the .17's were ineffective on shots out to 300 meters.
Cheers, Ian.