Fur Auction

[CX3]

Went to a fur auction today in MO. 

Coons 7-18 Dollars.  Some good ones brought 22..skinned and stretched

Bobcats 48-190 dollars.  Some colored ones brought over 200.  Whole frozen

Coyotes averaged 20 dollars.  Whole frozen

I didnt watch anything else sell.  It took too long to get through the coon so I went home.  There was probably 6000?? coons there. 

[TeaW]

How much of that fur was put up (skinned and stretched)?
I had fur at the Fur Harvesters Auction ,coon averaged $15 and coyote $30 not much difference with your sale.

[Burlkraft]

Wow...

I haven't been to a fur auction since high school when I was trappin'

I got more for coon then!

[Jeff]

Same here.  When I was in school we were getting 30 to 40 for coon. Heck, we were getting 10 bucks for muskrat.  The local fur buyer lived on the opposite side of the salt river valley from us.  He was a big old guy in his 80's named Perry Steel.  He quit the fur business because of a robbery.  Somebody tipped off some black guys from clear down in Saginaw that perry kept large amounts of cash at the house on Saturdays to run his fur buying business.  They came up bush wacked him and beat him, then tied him and his wife up.  We found out when Perry and Dorthy didn't make it to church Sunday morning and someone went to check on them.  Perry lived, but it took all of the drive out of him.

[Norm]

I miss the trapping but don't miss the skinning and stretching.

I'd like to have a bobcat coat for Patty, she's got a coyote one that keeps all of the locals on edge.  :D

[Huntress]

I didn't start trapping till the mid 80's so I missed out on the 70's boom years. I still made enough money that my hobby paid for itself but the last few years have been tough. For a while I was getting all my fur tanned and selling it retail or made hats to sell....online, sportsman's rummage sales, customers in my shop. Last year even that slowed down so I sold a bunch of tanned fur and hats wholesale to a local 'tourist trap'.

Our local buyer retired long ago and has since passed. It's sad that young trappers don't have anyplace like that to go today to rub shoulders with the old timers and learn a few things.

This year I shipped most of my fur to NAFA through one of their agents. It'll go on auction in a few weeks....we'll see how that goes.

[clww]

Back when I was in school I ran a trap line and we also bought and sold hides at our general store. Muskrats were $5, prime Gray Fox was $40-$60, prime Red Fox was $75-$100, Coon was $15-$50 based on size, Mink was $25-$40, Beaver was $40-$100 on size. Bobcats were really freaky. It depended on color, size, blemishes, number and size of the spots. The more spots, the more money. The market changed by the day. I used to drive up to NYC with a pickup truck bed full in March and sell them up there, hoping not to lose my shirt.

[CX3]

All the coon was stretched, just about all the cats and yotes were not skinned.  I guess people buy them for full body mounts?

[TeaW]

I have trapped since I was a kid, muskrat 85 cents and coon $3.00 averages. There were good years but like most things they didn't last all that long.

[SwampDonkey]

Mom's uncle was a fur buyer and made money from folks bringing in fur to be skinned and stretched. He did that until he was about 80 years old, lived to be 90. The fart would skin a louse for it's hide and tallow, grandmother would say. An old tight wad. :D He could take a fresh road kill and fix it up for sale. Grandfather and I were going fishing one early morning and found two dead beavers on the hydro dam back in the mid 80's and we took the carcasses to uncle and skinned them out and fixed them up. Kept them in the freezer until the fall sale. One hide was $220 and the other $200, both full blanket pelts.  8) His career in life was on the rail road for 40 years as a foreman. But he and grandfather started as teens hunting and trapping  for a living, my grandfather was a guide outfitter.

[clww]

Swamp-we need more old guys like that around, especially these days! I'd bet I could got to the high schools around here and get a bunch of blank stares when it comes to skinning and trapping. Sad.

[trapper]

Huntress do you go to the WTA conventions?
Muskrats were pulled from the first nafta auction because of lack of buyers.
Will be offered again on tomorrows auction.  Wating to see if I should of sold all of mine to the buyer from Illinois.

[Huntress]

I used to go to Dist 11 all the time when it was down by Hank & Crystal's and I get to Maribel once in a while. Did the National last year and go to the State as often as I can. I might do a couple this year....got some basswood stretchers to sell.

[trapper]

just went to the fur auction (nafta) site.  The muskrats I had ther sold for an average of $5.91.  Everything I had up there sold.  Was hoping for better  going on forcasts that were made.  This was streached and dried.

[Dana]

I have a few questions. I skinned out a coon in November and left it outside. The other day I was going to work on rremoving the fat which has now turned kind of semi-liquid. The weather has been very cold since he was skinned but do you think the hair will fall out if I get him processed? I plan on sending him to Moyles. Also are you susposed to remove the tail bone out of the tail? If so how is that best accomplished?  Lastly how does one go about keeping the feet on any requirements on that?

[CX3]

Dana, its always best to stretch and scrape the hide as soon as you can.  But if it has been frozen, I dont see any problems with that, and the hair should not fall out.  Skinning around feet is very tricky, just take time and do it right.  If you get in a hurry, you will cut a big hole in the hide and you dont want that to happen.  I personally would just cut the fur off around the legs and not worry about skinning the feet out. And yes you need to remove the bone out of tail.  At this point, you probably will have to cut down the tail on the bottom side to remove the bones and flesh.  There is a tool that you can use called a tail stripper, that is very handy, but it needs to be used before the tail is cut off the carcass.  Splitting the tail should be ok, you can sew it back together later, and it should look fine.  Good luck

[trapper]

What cx3 said.  A plyers or vicegrip can be used as a tail stripper. 

[Dana]

Thanks for the info.

[Magicman]

I now have the county trapper on my place.  I have a beaver problem, so he has iron up and down the creek.  I saw some blood at the dam, so I guess he has caught at least one.  He has a market for the hides.

He caught a female that weighed 49 pounds last year.

[Huntress]

Here's the results from my NAFA sale....

XL coyotes went for $15. They were early season yotes so I can live with that price but they had one as damaged (there was no damage) and I got a whole $2 for it.

My female fisher sold for only $28. I'm sooo glad that I kept the male back...will sell it for taxidermy or get it tanned and sell as a wallhanger.

Coons averaged $21.40 with a high of $29. They were almost all 3-4XL but early season so I'm happy to get that for them.


Dana, you might want to salt dry that coon. The salt helps pull out the fluids from the skin and lock the hair in.

[chain]

I sold five otter last month to a country buyer...all for $135.00 in the green.. Five years ago a otter 'in-the-round' was $60-80.00 or more here. They say our otter not dark enough now :D

[Dana]

Huntress, I have both of the coons salted. Thanks

[Huntress]

Just be sure that they are 100% dry before you ship them. Bacteria (the cause of hair slip) grows in warm moist conditions.
Let us know how they turn out.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Tail Stripper

I used to boil all my traps in fresh cut Wild Cherry twigs.  Take a twig, about as big around as your thumb, and 4-5 inches long. Split it. Now put it back together and wrap one end, about ½" in from the end, and cinch it down pretty snug.

Now, with the animal skinned, except for the tail, put the base of the tail bone between the splits, put your index finger and middle finger over the stick, with the tail between your fingers, and pull the hide off the bone. Might have to play a little with pressure, but, don't squeeze hard. Just keep the skin from jumping in between the 2 halves of the stick.

Anything other than 'rats, or possum, I used that stripper. Never did get a beaver.  :

[CX3]

Thats a good tip for a tail stripper. 

I coon hunted with a guy once who used his index finger and middle finger to strip coon tails.  I tried it but Im not near big enough :D