selling furs

[Ybone]

What is the best bet, selling to a local buyer or shipping to the Canadian auctions. Hadn't trapped in many years but decided to go after some muskrats this fall.

[swampman]

That is the million dollar question it is always a gamble.Often when you sell is as important as where you sell. I dumped mine a week ago the price on rat's dropped around a dollar in the last couple weeks and I was sitting on to many to gamble on another drop,it may cost me down the line but have been burned before. if you do sell to a auction house I would get them on the next nafa sale in feb. I would'nt wait till the spring auction. one thing I like about selling local is if you don't like the price you can take them home you don't have that choice at a auction house plus you don't have to wait for your money. You can sometimes make more at auction no doubt but I dont like having no control of my stuff after it is shipped. good luck which ever way you go

[HC Eye Hunter]

Swamp man said it right. The decision is yours whether to sell or not at the local buying level and once you furs are sent to auction you have no control over the fate of your furs. I sell locally and I have been happy with the prices. I am not sure, but I do believe there are other fees involved when sending to the auctions like commisions and shipping so you best check into those questions before commiting to the auctions.

[crappiegetter]

In my opinion selling to the local guys is a better deal. I've been learning how to trap the last few years and went out on my own this fall for the first time. After looking into shipping up to Canada or selling to a local buyer I did as my friend who taught me does I sold local. kinda nice to do so, buyers can tell you bits of info that is helpful for me being new to the scene of trapping. Info I found out was I had an accident with one of my mink and the wire on the trap put a hole in it, if not for the hole it could have got me 45 bucks for one buck mink. Buyer said it was one of the biggest mink he saw so far out of 680 mink he had already.

[HunterLee]

i ship, i feel i get paid better, but i do end up waiting for the money, which don't bother me,

For a someone just starting out sell local and ask for help and pointers, but if you put up good fur shipping is the only way to go.

I just feel sick knowing that for all the years i sold green, or in the round of 5 bucks a critter i could of made 5 times that. But it takes time to put it up also.

[crappiegetter]

Yeah I could have shipped but I really didn't feel like going through all the extra work to do so. All the time I spent trapping and skinning logged a lot of hours for me. Opener a friend and I took the whole week off we were on the lake 5am till 6 or 8pm most days. long time to set and clear all the traps.

[swampman]

I will agree that over the long term auction houses will proabably give you a better return but not evry year or all the time, timing can be very important. you have to keep a ear open to what is going on in the market and usually just play your gut feeling. the last time the rat market tanked I sold mine before christmas for 6.50 nose count (all put up) the guys that sold at auction later that year got burned big time as did many dealers. My neighbor still has coon sitting at auction from over a year ago some sold some did'nt. I know alot of big number trappers that don't ship to auction and some that do there is'nt a right or wrong answer.

[HC Eye Hunter]

For me most of the time there is not enough time in the day for me to get all the skining and stretching done so the local fur buyer is a blessing. I do put up about a 3rd of my fur or I put up as much fur as time permits. With that being said, I think I will give NAFTA a try next go around on my finished fur.

[swampman]

HC eyehunter, your right about trying to finda enough time to get it all done. I got lucky last year and found a guy only 10 minutes from my house who has a fur handling buisness. I take my rats to him at the end of the day and he skins and bags them for me,freezes them and I put them up when I get done trapping. he puts up my coon and mink as I don't have any boards for them and I hate skinning coon anyway. he does a nice job and is very reasonable saves me a few hours at the end of the day, more rest for me and I figure I have that much more energy for the next day. Getting old I guess.

[Ybone]

I decided to sell to a local buyer a few weeks ago. It was fun to be trapping again after not doing it for many years. It was a nice leisurely line but was able to sell 72 rats for $5.50 each and a mink for $18.

[johnsd16]

Info I found out was I had an accident with one of my mink and the wire on the trap put a hole in it, if not for the hole it could have got me 45 bucks for one buck mink.

Sounds like your buyer is into a little [PoorWordUsage]'ing. Hate to break it to you but there aren't any $45 buck mink out there, at least not in many many years. Most guys have tricks they tell you about "whoa, well if you fur didn't have _______, I coulda given ya twice as much, but as it is I can only give ya $xx".

I hope you did ok overall, but that $45 mark is about twice what the highest prices on mink in the country have been this year.

Antics like this are what I came to expect from the guy in Danbury, WI.

[crappiegetter]

well if I had a picture of that mink I could prove it was a really big one, and yeah I figured he was trying to b/s me I'm not that dumb. But it still brought in 25 for one mink. When the buyers jaw dropped when I took out the mink I knew he wasn't lying that it was one of his biggest he saw last year out of what he said he had seen. And you are right I haven't heard of prices being that good in awhile. I did okay between two of us when we sold we totaled 1500

[swampman]

it sounds like rats are on the upswing again after taking a slight dip in the last month. looks like anybody with rats on the next auction may do well.

[johnsd16]

That's awesome crappie! Sounds like you guys did well overall. $25 in the country is great on a mink. Maybe a rach mink escapee or a descendant of one, they get about as big as YOY otters.

Wish I had time and a place to go after some under ice rats for a week or so. Prices look like they'll be great for a short time here.

[walleye101]

That's awesome crappie! Sounds like you guys did well overall. $25 in the country is great on a mink. Maybe a rach mink escapee or a descendant of one, they get about as big as YOY otters.

Reminds me of selling to Oshman & Son's down in Mankato back in the day. The buyer down there had the same old mink he would drag out every time, "Pretty nice bunch of mink there boys" then he'd drag out the monster mink about the length of your leg, "now if you had a bunch like this one here I could really pay up."

[jigginjim]

I'm glad buyer's will buy fur green, as I don't have the room to put up furs. Would like to get info on putting up furs to get the best price. Furs for taxidermy is totally different then furs for sale. Taxidermy furs don't get stretched, as they get tanned, which brings them back to the original size.