Urgent Fur Market News from local website

[cathryn]

 
was looking at some of the fur buyers sights here and came across this from a local buyers website. thought some of you might be intrested. heres his current price list s well.


Urgent Fur Market News

Updated: December 15th, 2008


The fur market is down from last year...but we're still buying. Be sure to check out my "fur pricing" page for more details.
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The first major fur auction of the year was held in Denmark on December 13th and 14th. Prices were down approximately 20%. Until further notice I will not be raising the prices I am offering for wild fur. Check back in mid January for more updates.
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Below are the prices I am currently offering...


Coon:
Top Grade Pricing: (Top grades have good fur and 1 or less holes)
Top: $15
Average: $7

III grade pricing (NOTE: Most early coons and dog-caught coons will get a III grade)
Top: $10
Average: $5
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Gray Fox:
Top: $20
Average: $13
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Muskrat:
Top: $2.75
Average: $2
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Red Fox:
Top: $15
Avgerage: $10
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Coyote:
Top: $15
Avgerage: $6
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Beaver:
Top: $18
Avgerage: $13
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Bobcat:
Top: $40
Average: $32
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Possum:
Top: $2.50
Average: $2
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Skunk:
Top: $4
Average:$3
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Mink:
XL Male Top: $12
Females Top: $8


http://www.windyridgetrapper.com/index.p...b3b6cbb917f8a95

[KySongDog]

Interesting.   I am not a trapper.  How much time does it take, on average, to get a coon, fox or a coyote (in the round) ready for market?      Skinning, fleshing, stretching, etc.   Just curious.   It doesn't seem to be a lot of payback for all the work involved.  But I could be wrong. 

[Frogman]

Those prices sounds about right.  A trapper friend of mine offered me $7.00 each for the two Grey foxes I shot earlier this Fall.  They were tore up kinda bad from the .223 60 gr. V-Maxes. 

Jim

[cathryn]

you arent gonna nake minimum wage if you figure in all your time spent trapping and working up your fur.

the real work starts after the animals been caught  and you start to put up their fur. thats why alot of guys that trap, imo, sell in the round or green  because putting up fur is time consuming and labor intnesive if you do it right.

i takes easily three days , if you figure in drying time,from start to finish, to get a hide ready to sell.

most people have between 45-to an hour in a coon to get it onto a stretcher. fox and coyotes dont take us as long to do but still the same amount of time on average to dry.

beaver take most people alot longer.if you can clean skin them like jerry can you save yourself a lot of time when youre putting them up.

trapping isnt something people would pick just as a money deal if theyre doing the whole process start to finish because you have to love what youre doing,imo, to spend so much time and effort doing something that hourly doesnt make alot of money.

there are alot of people who selll their fur green wh are just in it for the money, they pull down big number but dont process the fur till the end. just my .02

Jerry and i combined have caught 676 animals so far since October. weve caught 400 in WV lone. he had over 300 in Wymoing.

by the time hes done trapping mississippi he will have caught, skinned fleshed and dried over 1000 pelts.

[Coulter]

It ain't about the benjamins...otherwise there wouldn't be any trappers left out there. I hear one of our local buyers is paying $8 for coon. I usually ship mine up to Canada for the auctions. I might tan a few more than usual this year and offer them at various shows. If I can offer them at a lower price I might be able to sell a few here and there, but after figuring in equipment expense, gas, bait / lures, my own time, putting the fur up, etc. I am way in the hole even if I do tan and sell.

Steve

[KySongDog]

I didn't figure it was a big money making thing.  Sorta like turkey hunting I suppose.  Its a LOT cheaper to go to the grocery and buy one but not near as much fun.   

I don't even want to think about what the price per pound might be.   

[FinsnFur]

So were not going to be able to depend on our fur harvesting skills to pull us through these hard times.

Good info cathryn, thanks for posting it.

[cathryn]

So were not going to be able to depend on our fur harvesting skills to pull us through these hard times.

id say that pretty much depends on the extravagance of the lifestyle you choose to live.

if we filtered out all the fluff in our lives and stuck to our true "needs" then i think most of us would be surprised at how little we actually need in life and even more surprised at how much wee be able to live without if we had too.

if you raise our own grains  and vegetables and harvest wild game for meat and had a few checkens and a milk cow youd be set and able to live a pretty cheap, albeit it basic lifestyle. my grandpa and grandma lived that way for years.

they only bought the staples from the feed store, flour and  sugar and my grandmas one splurge..cofee.

i used to love to go up and milk the cow and gather eggs, theres just something about the country and farmlife.
i once told me boyfriend that in stead of a diamond i wanted a milk cow, 2 dozen hens and a rooster. i meant it then and i mean it now.id be content. he thought i was nuts,lol.

and id want the house to have a porch swing. 

[KySongDog]

and id want the house to have a porch swing. 

...........and a high speed internet connection.   

[cathryn]

LOL, naw i could live without that...dial -ups all i got now and i survive 

[Tikaani]

As much as I enjoy trapping and being out there, at those prices I would pull all my steel and take up another past time.  One marten brings 95-110 dollars, so even when not serious it still will put a little money in your pocket.  I have to ask what to you target, I would think skunks and possums are incidental catches. I do admire your fortitude for staying at it.

Hunt hard, die tired
John

[cathryn]

are you in Alaska?


i target coon almost exclusively because we have a bunch of them. tog caught over 200 in WV so far this season. we've caught right at 100 possum but at 2 bucks each thats nothing too sneeze at.

Jerry is really a big beaver trapper and traps and puts up 4-5 hundred consistently every season.
he also catches pine marten out in Wyoming  and thats why i was asking if you were from Alaska because other than last year his Marten consistently bring 50-50 bucks.

the key is to trap in volume.  someone just fooling around should never expect to make much over expenses.  you have to trap hard to make any profit.

that being said. wed trap even if we weren't gonna turn a profit cause we love it.

this year we dint expect to get expenses back  at the sale but they'll hold the fur and sell it in a couple years.

we have enough put back we can ride out a few years of no sales and we may have too before its all said and done.

[KySongDog]

Jerry is really a big beaver trapper and traps and puts up 4-5 hundred consistently every season.

Who is Jerry?   

[cathryn]

my BF and trapping partner.
he used to trap with charlie Dobbins, he knows what hes doing when it comes to beaver.