Green Belly or Black Belly???

One of the buzz words with carcass coyotes is green belly!! Green belly is the result of the stomach acids of a dead coyote eating through the stomach wall thru the leather side of the belly and causing the fur to fall out. Oh and I forgot to mention it smells really bad too!! While green belly looks and smells bad it isn't the end of the world however there is a risk to the fur buyer when buying carcass coyotes so if your fur buyer suspects green belly just know they are making sure the fur won't slip after processing. After skinning countless coyotes I still haven't come to a conclusion as to why some coyotes have green belly and some don't. The only thing I can come up with is they just ate a meal and are digesting their quarry!!

Not only will green belly cause fur to fall out around the stomach area it will sometimes start moving up the side of the rib cage. When this starts to happen chances are the fur will start to slip and discounts will add up rather quick to the price of fur.

What is black belly??

Black belly isn't really a technical term in regards to grading coyotes. However if the leather side of the skin is black I would almost guarantee the fur will slip and the skin will be worthless.

What causes black belly?

Usually the main causes of black belly are carcasses that have been hanging too long in warm temperatures, pooled blood from massive shot trauma and the freeze and thaw effect.

For the most part if you practice good common sense carcass care after the harvest the end result will mean more $$$ in your pocket.

Until next time...