Selling Alligator Hides Only

watergator

Have any of yall ever skinned your own gators and sold just the hide? I have Okeechobee North tags this year and I was hoping to get something out of them. I prefer to process my own instead of selling and buying meat back from the processor because I know how I handle my gators and I've seen how some other hunters handle theirs. I have contacted a few processors and taxidermists and they haven't been interested in just the hides.

I would also be interested in trading it to a private leather worker in exchange for a few small pieces made from the hides if anyone knows of someone like that. 

binellishtr

I know a girl who will make you stuff after it is tanned shes in okee. Id be interested in buying your skins after I take a look at them as well.

watergator

binellishtr said:

I know a girl who will make you stuff after it is tanned shes in okee. Id be interested in buying your skins after I take a look at them as well.

Would you or her buy them raw/salted or would I have to tan them first? Im not really interested in the tanning process, just looking to get rid of raw hides. 

4WARD

Believe there is a hide dealers list on the FWC page.
The price for hides is super low right now, don't expect much.
I'm going to take all mine to Sebring this year and sit on them.

binellishtr

raw for cheap and only after inspecting them

Chilly

I have a couple tanned hides id like something made from.  Tanned by American Tanning and turned out great.  finding the person willing to do it hasn't been easy as I expected

binellishtr

U can expect to pay 100.00 or more for someone to take your skin and make u a wallet. Everyone makes money off them except the person who harvests them. Its a net loss for cites tag holders who only harvest 2 a yr which keeps the commercial market happy

watergator

4WARD said:

Believe there is a hide dealers list on the FWC page.
The price for hides is super low right now, don't expect much.
I'm going to take all mine to Sebring this year and sit on them.

That is the list I have contacted people off of but the list is definitely not apptly named. That is more of a taxidermy/tannery list than hide dealers because none of them are interested in buying hides. 

I know the market is low but its better than nothing since I usually end up freezing them for a year and then throwing them out since I didnt do anything, or I just dump it with the carcass since I know I wont do anything with it. 

gatortrout19

Fyi, you're legally only allowed to sell a raw alligator hide to a licensed fur and hide dealer. I think after it is tanned you can do whatever you want, but don't quote me on that.

I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find somebody to trade a raw hide for tanned goods, as the market seems to be pretty low from what everyone is saying.  And as Benilli said, getting stuff made out of alligator hides ain't cheap, think of it as a novelty item or remembrance of a good hunt

watergator

binellishtr said:

U can expect to pay 100.00 or more for someone to take your skin and make u a wallet. Everyone makes money off them except the person who harvests them. Its a net loss for cites tag holders who only harvest 2 a yr which keeps the commercial market happy

I have noticed this, and as someone who only hunts for personal use I have written multiple times to FWC asking for the tags to have a recreational option to them instead of all being commercial. This would bring the price down for people who have no intention of selling the gators they harvest. 

4WARD

Prices never go down silly.
And they don't want hides because some are sitting on a couple years worth.
Take a kid gator hunting, suck up the cost and enjoy. Money spoils everything.

spangler

^Exactly!  Also, they should stop harvesting and selling our eggs, so long as demand for the hunts aren't being met.

More commercial over public interest being favored...

4WARD

spangler said:

^Exactly!  Also, they should stop harvesting and selling our eggs, so long as demand for the hunts aren't being met.

More commercial over public interest being favored...

You may just inspire me to go "FULL SPANGLER" on this one.
You are putting in the effort that I wish I could. I admire that and am enjoying watching you do what I should be doing.
In other words you are making me feel like an a s s. Keep it up!;)

cfth

A couple of questions statements to answer 

1.  Currently the wild skin market is as bad as I have seen. 

Unfortunatly the cost of tanning and making leather products are not affected by the market decrease. However the overall value of a tanned wild skin has gone down as well. 

In short there are are no easy answers currently. Now hopefully this could change but I don’t see it in the foreseeable future. 

2.   As for making leather products just shoot us a phone call as we can have whatever you need made. 321-632-8995. 

3.  Whoever was interested in hides shoot me a pm. I have plenty. 

huntsflorida

The hide market is being crushed due to production of farm skins. Farms are now producing tens of thousands of skins for the leather industry. They have also changed the grading process to a much stricter grading system. I'm one of the licensed hide dealers listed on FFWCC website. I'm not purchasing skins because there is basically no market for wild skins. There are a few of us working on a plan to try to save the wild skin industry in Florida. It's not an easy fix. The value of a wild skin will never return to previous highs. The only value of a wild alligator currently is for meat or if captured by nuisance trappers for use in canned hunts. The processing industry is getting ready to get much tougher due to up and coming regulation changes. Everyone in this industry is taking a hit from the nuisance trappers and public waters hunters to the processors.

huntsflorida

The eggs have nothing to due with anything. The eggs being harvested would be lost to predation anyway. Our alligator populations are expanding at a rapid pace even with all the harvests of eggs, hatchlings, nuisance, public waters hunters etc.  If the markets continue to decline, we are going to up to our asp in alligators.

spangler

Good to know!

Time to do away with $272 permit fee, since there's clearly no commercial value anymore.

H20dad

spangler said:

Good to know!

Time to do away with $272 permit fee, since there's clearly no commercial value anymore.

Took the words right out of my mouth. 

Funny how they are adding 1100 some odd permits this year after the state egg fiasco last year....

bunch of corrupt scumbags. 

gladesman

spangler said:

Good to know!

Time to do away with $272 permit fee, since there's clearly no commercial value anymore.

C    -    neah decided to skip it. Don't happen often.

watergator

This thread has gotten me thinking and confirmed that others had the same feelings on the commercial permit for alligators. I have always included a line or two in the post hunt survey about wanting a recreational permit, but with the prices and demand its time to start pushing this a bit harder. Below is the short letter that I have typed up to send as a rule change request to FWC. Feel free to use it for your own letters or suggest any changes. Also, if anyone knows of legislators who are sympathetic to hunting and may be willing to help with this then post them here.

*******************************************

Alligator farming has grown in Florida to be the third most valuable aquaculture species produced in the state. Farmed alligators typically produce superior hides and a consistent supply of meat, which has reduced the commercial demand for wild alligators. Also, because of the drawing format and harvest restrictions, very few, hunters are harvesting enough alligators to make a living out of selling wild alligators.

I believe that it is time to remove the commercial designation of alligator permits to allow hunters to pursue them as recreational hunters. This would align alligator hunting regulations with those of other native species, reduce the overall cost of entry into the hunts, and make it more available to general residents. Hunting guides, likely the only hunters that make a significant profit from alligator hunting, would not be affected by the change to recreational as there will continue to be hunters willing to pay for their experience, expertise, and equipment. Even giving the option for hunters to select a recreational or commercial permit at the time of application would be a move in the right direction.