Wow! Need To Start Trapping Again!

[Mergie Master]

http://www.nafa.ca/ (the old Hudson Bay Company)

The Feb 2007 sale breakdown in US Dollars:
Top Lot
coon 62.00
coyote 105.00
pine marten $115
beaver $120
red fox $90
grey fox $58
lynx $340
bob cat $700
Fisher $130
rat $10
mink $22
silver fox $42
cross fox$ 46
white fox $30
badger $150
skunk $17.50
possum$ no sale
sqirrel $1.60
ermine $9.50
timber wolf $450
wolverine $380
bear $270
**otter $100

** Special Notice Regarding the Otter Market
Herman Jansen reports that the problem between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government still exists and therefore Otter skins are not selling. People are reporting that it is not a matter of price, but that the Tibetans, who are the major consumers of these skins, are not willing to buy. NAFA will therefore have to re-establish new markets for these skins, a process which normally tends to take two years.

We would recommend that all of our trappers limit their Otter harvest, as prices most likely will be reduced over last year’s prices by more than half and maybe as much as two-thirds. It is NAFA’s intention to sell all the trapper Otters in the February 2007 auction at no limits, to establish a new market. Please be assured that NAFA will do everything within its power to generate the maximum amount of activity for this important article.

I quit trapping in the late 70s due to going to school and working cutting out my free time, and the prices crashed. My best 'big' bobcat ever sold for only $175, Top Lot cats were going for $700 this year!!!!

Of course my cats weren't Top Lot, we don't get Top Lot pelts this far South.

In the good years I was pulling these avgs (guess-timate):
Coons $22
Rats $4
Grays $25
Reds (big) $40
Cats $100

I didn't fool with possum, too greasy & aggrevating, or skunks, too much trouble. And possums were only selling for $1.00-$1.50. I don't remember what skunk were getting.

[Glenn]

The price for the Beaver, is that per hour or per session and what all does it include?

[CAMO SNOB]

Something is only worth what you can get for it. that being said, who buys this shit and where are the located??? [img]graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Mergie Master]

People and businesses all over the world buy it. Back when I trapped the textile industry bought the possum skins and some rabbit. They use it in mills to run the thread across, it doesn't build static bad and it's soft enough to handle high humidity ends (thread) without breaking it. Rabbit is also bought to line gloves. Furriers buy the nicer furs to make clothing and linings for clothing. Wolverine is used in extreme cold weather clothing like what mountain climbers, arctic hunters and explorers and people who work in those environment use because it doesn't frost up. They use bear for rugs and other decorative items.

Check the link above. The market is definately there. Has been for hundreds of years.

The prices I posted are what furs went for in the Feb 2007 auctions.

Btw, there are people up north in Canada and Alaska that all they do for a living is trap. The season is long and the hides get prime there due to the cold. A man with a good long trap line with a coupled of hundred sets can work 3 months a year and make over $40k a year or more. He can hunt and fish the rest of the year as God intended.

[CAMO SNOB]

I'll be skinning the frozen bobcat we've have for show in the freezer at the farm tomarrow.

[riddleofsteel]

A guy from Kentucky bought a 5.5 HP mud motor from me a year or so ago using money he made trapping. Apparently he travels to Canada each year and runs a trap line during the season. I held the engine for him while he was waiting for his fur check to come in from the broker that was handling his furs. According to him it was for $29,000.00!!