viscacha/marmot/bobcat fur

[Guest]

Hello.

 

Do any of you have any experience with the following furs?

 

viscacha, marmot, bobcat

 

Viscacha is a cousin to the chinchilla, but the ones used in the fur trade are plains viscachas, not the mountain viscachas which resemble chinchillas.

 

Bobcat is known as cat lynx in the fur industry.

 

I wonder if bobcat fur is as soft as lynx fur.

 

Tricia

[Guest]

I have a buckskin jacket lined with Bobcat and I've recently had a chance to gererously feel a wide variety of both bobcat and Lynx pelts at Ungar Furs.

 

Bobcat is generally 'thinner' than Lynx butr certainly as soft and lush.

 

Bobcat makes a great jacket lining ant it's [one of] my favorite jackets.

 

I'm about to get another hooded lambskin jacket lined with a used Lynx [still in very good condition] so I'll be able to report and show the results.

 

Having several othe Lynx I can say the same is true between the bobcat lining and the other Lynx.

 

Marmot is an animal I see every time I go up on Mt. Rainer. They are essentially tame. I think they would make a wonderful coat. /being in a National Park there's not much I can do about that however.

 

 

OFF

[Worker 11811]

Marmot must be different out west than what we've got in this neck of the woods.

 

'Round here, we call them "woodchuck" or "groundhog". Folks from Punxytawney call them "Phil."

 

I have never thought of using them for fur. Most people I know just use them for target practice...

Edited August 21, 2007 by Guest

[Guest]

A true Marmot is NOT a Woodchuck even if a woodchuck COULD chuck wood

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot

 

This is Rainier Cuck;

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Hoarymarmot.JPG

 

Dinner time;

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Marmota_caligata_3460.JPG

 

I've talked with him many times on my hikes

 

He gets upset whenI talk about fur coats.

 

This is his buddy Craggy;

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8b/Hoary_marmot2.jpg

 

Bad attitude Bill from Glacier;

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Pdphoto_canada_41_bg_061904.jpg

 

Their elusive Eastern Cousin Woodie;

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

 

 

 

OFF

[Worker 11811]

Ah! It seems the woodchuck is a species of marmot. Therefore a woodchuck is a marmot but a marmot is not necessarily a woodchuck.

 

In these parts, woodchucks dig burrows in farmers' fields. Livestock step in the holes and break their legs, thus having to be put down, resulting in economic loss to the farmer. Tractors and farm equipment are damaged when they get stuck in the holes. Woodchuck burrows undermine barns and buildings, causing damage to the foundations. They are prolific breeders. If there are too many of them in an area they can do a lot of crop damage.

 

Basically, they are similar to prairie dogs in many respects, although they aren't NEARLY as prolific, they can do very similar kinds of damage. They can be hard to get rid of.

 

You can't dig up their burrows. You'll just make the holes bigger and do MORE damage to your crops, livestock and equipment.

Poison is a suboptimal solution. If you have livestock or other beneficial animals in the area, poison, being nonselective can kill more of THEM than the target animal.

 

Often, the best solution is just to shoot them. (Hence, the joke.)

Some farmers will actually PAY people to come and hunt woodchuck on their land. Most of them, if they have a woodchuck problem on their land will be GLAD to let you hunt on their land as long as you do it safely.

 

I've always thought of them as undesirable varmints and never considered them as a fur animal. Do mountain dwelling marmots have nice fur? I've always thought of woodchucks as "course and scraggly".

 

If you think they're good for fur, you can come out here and we can go looking for some woodchucks to shoot. I've got plenty of "hardware."

Just buy your own ammo and clean your own kills. 'Cuz, I AIN'T cleaning those smelly things!

[Guest]

I think hte mountrain air and snow is good for their constitution and pelt.

 

The ones I've seen wopuld certainly make a fine coat.

 

Take a close look at Rainier Chuck's coat. He's big too

 

 

OFF

[Worker 11811]

They look a lot bigger! Almost DOUBLE the size!

 

I'd be their diet has a lot to do with their coat but, since all species of marmot are true hibernators, I wouldn't think they develop much of a winter coat.

 

But marmot coats look nicer than woodchuck.