Bobtail coons

Hello all,

In my few weeks trapping experience, I have caught 3 coons. All were males. 2 had bobbed tails.

Does this ruin a pelt?

How might a coon loose its tail?

This is Texas. We get our winter a day or two at a time a week or two apart, so I doubt they froze off.

OBTW, old mini marshmellows with blueberry jello on them and bacon grease smeared on the dp did the trick.

I don't know what causes that. Usually it's old boar coons that lose half their tail. It's like the tail atrophies. I've never heard a plausible explanation for this. And, it doesn't hurt the value of the pelt.

They have been fighting.

Nope. That's not the answer. I've skinned bobtail coons that dint' have a mark on them. And I won't believe that the only injury they received in a battle was a bite on the tail. I've caught a couple that still had their tail, but is was dried up, atrophied so to speak, and ready to fall off soon. It's as fi they have lost blood flow to the last half of their tail.

Knowing nothing,my 1st 2 coon catches were bobtail males. My next catch was a male with a tail. That's when I posted. Now I've caught 4 more; 3 females and a male. 1 female was larger than the other 3. All had full tails. I'm keeping logs so sample size may bare out something else but Hal is supported so far. Big old coons loose their tails sometimes.
Kinda like sometimes, some people go bald at some point. Happened to me at 20.