All ready for a road trip...

John Fraser

John Fraser

Well-known member
The fur that is. I'm dropping it off tomorrow for the May NAFA auction in Toronto. After we got a picture my oldest son, Ben, helped me measure them and stack them again, leather to leather and fur to fur. We're going to set traps this afternoon at one last beaver spot. Then our season's all over on April 7.

Hope you all are enjoying spring!

March312012003.jpg

 
Nice job John. I love to see them all put up like that.

I was discussing fur with a buddy up in the UP of Michigan recently and he said the local buyers up there don't want beaver hooped or dried in the flat like that. They all want them fleshed but still green. I don't understand it but I suppose some trappers don't put them up correctly and so they get a better product overall by buying green. Yours look very good. Congrats on a good season.
 
Pete,
The truck that comes through expects the fur to be green. It just seems to be common place especially in the spring in the UP. I have put up plenty of them and still taken them to the truck. I have found the pay a good price for them put up then again I take my time and do it right. If I was not offered fair price I would simply ship them out the next day to auction. So putting it up has its advantages.

John,
thanks for posting up. I discovered the power to my shed failed and the freezer stopped running. I lost all my fur this year. Its not the money it would have brought its the waist that makes me mad. I should have put them up sooner. 75 muskrats and some beaver. What a shame.
 
Brandon,

I always put mine up too when I trapped. It was the satisfaction of doing it right and I always believed I got a bit better price. It was interesting that the only time I heard that the price was the same whether you put them up or sold them green .......... was from the guys that sold them green.

Too bad your freezer failed. One time I went into the fur shed in the spring, after all my fur was sold, and smelled something a little "off". Turned out a muskrat I had set aside to thaw/dry before skinning had slipped behind a stack of lumber and was never found. Not fun to clean up that mess.
 
Thanks Pete. Although beaver are a lot of work to put up, I do get a sense of satisfaction when they're all done. Although the price difference varies between green and put up, you're usually better off with fur that's been put up. I haven't sold any green fur yet, but I may if I catch any this week since time is getting short to get them to an auction.
 
Brandon,
Sorry to hear about your freezer. I know many people that have lost game, fish, and fur to a freezer that died. I dread the day that it happens to me.
 
I just love those beaver pelts. I've never trapped, but I love looking at the pictures of beaver trapping and pelts.
 
John, that is a nice picture. It has been many moons since i set a trap but still enjoy reading the exploits of those that still do....thanks for sharing
 
Congratulations on your successful trapping season, John. Out of curiosity are furs beginning to escalate in price?
Al
 
Thanks guys.

Rick: The pelts on the bottom are in the 2XL - 3XL category. Many of them sold for between $40 and $60 dollars at the last NAFA sale.
 
Al: Yes, the prices for fur started to come up in the spring of 2011 and most species have been continuing to rise.

I started trapping in 2008 when the prices were very low. While it is nice to get more money for them, I'll still be trapping when the prices go back down. It's just enjoyable to get out and really get to know the animals and their habits. Plus with the beaver I get to help out a lot of landowners with flooding issues. Several of the landowners are the same people that have let me hunt their property.
 
Good looking pelts John...I have my last three on the boards drying now. It will kill me to take them off, that means trapping season is officially over. Well, it's officially over now, but once the fur is gone is when it's really over. I'll be shipping mine to FHA (North Bay of course) on the 10th if I remember correctly.
Good luck on you're last sets of the season.

By the way, my daughter and I are heading up your way again on Thursday to do some hiking/climbing over in the Keene Valley...I've been waiting a long time for this trip. I can't wait. I'll be back up again at the end of May for some turkey hunting too. As always, you're welcome to stop by camp if you can make it over.

Steve
 
There was a great article in the WSJ a couple of months ago on fur trapping and the pelt market. John, do you trap fisher or marten?
 
Good luck at FHA. I sent some fur up there in January. I was really happy with the rat prices.

I caught two more beaver today. One was at a castor mound I made and the other was at one of their own mounds.

Keene Valley, sounded familiar but I had to look it up. The high peaks are a beautiful area. I got to do some hiking and camping up around Mount Colden when I was in college. Are you camping out there this weekend?
 
Greg,
I have not trapped fisher or marten yet, although I would like to give it a try. I believe the only marten season in New York is in the Adirondacks (a couple hours northeast of here). Fisher are open in northern and eastern NY, but not here.

Fisher numbers are growing throughout the state and we may have a season in my neighborhood someday. This winter a co-worker hit one on his way in to work. I also heard a rumor of one being caught about two miles from my house.
 
John-I didn't look close enough at your location and was thinking you were in the Adirondacks. I have wanted a sable hat for many years, but it is just nt in the budget, and thought fisher would work just as well, so I figured I would ask you. The guy I rent my duck shack from is a trapper, mostly muskrat. I enjoy seeing his furs and seeing what he has caught lately. He recently sold his rats and I believe he told me he averaged $8 apiece.
 
Thanks John I know very little a bout Beaver trapping so your posts are mOst welcome. I gain a lot but your posts and the replies of others.
 
Yes Greg, the price for muskrats has been good. Does that duck shack double as a trapping shack/bay shack? Having a place like that out on the marsh would be cool.

It's late in the season and many guys are in the process of selling their fur. But if you go to the NY Trappers forum, there may be guys in the northern or eastern part of the state that could hook you up with some fisher or marten pelts. If not this year, maybe next year.
 
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