| Well when I got back into trapping the prices were at an all time high with China and Russia locked in a bidding war for our wild raw fur . That was 2013 well prices dropped a bit in 14 and totally crashed in 15 . Many reasons for this with the uptick in fur prices back in 13 a lot of mink ranches opened up providing cheap pelts of uniform size and color . Mink can be used as a cheap substitute for sable , muskrat,beaver basicly all of the brown furs . When the crash came last year these ranchers pelted out all there stock and flooded the market with these cheap pelts making anything brown in color plument to historical lows . Russia who was the biggest buyer of raccoon pelts has gone thru an economic train wreck and has trade sactions due to the actions in the Ukrane and the value of the rubel is worth about 30 cents to our dollar .There are over 1 million coon pelts in cold storage up in the auction houses up in Canada .The country fur buyers also may have another million plus pelts in storage . This means that coons may not sell this year if so the largest and the nicest pelts will be taken for lower than low maybe 5 bucks for xxxL . China who bought most all fur is also in an economic downfall I find this hard to believe as just about everything we buy is made in China . Beavers are always a tough sell as the pelts have to be sheared to make a decent garment and the Chinese have not mastered this technique as of yet . Talking about beavers a good beaver the largest of the large wich grade out as a supper blanket will go about 8 bucks . The mountainmen got more for there beaver back in the 1820's then now And that's actual dollar to dollar price not what a dollar was worth back then . They say the upturn is on the horizon as the cheaper furs clear the auction houses and are made into garments . As the mink ranches close up and we get colder weather overseas and more fur garments are sold the fur will go back up again . The good news is that coyotes are in big demand for trim goods hoods , cuffs and collars but only the pale westerns in ultra prime condition will bring the big bucks .Bobcats with nice white bellies are in big demand and xl primo prime cat may fetch 500 but those cats are only found in the west . Here in the east we may get 100 bucks for a nice cat . Here in PA we are only allowed to catch 1 with a special bobcat permit but in NY they are unlimited . I would like to take a trip up to NY for a trapping excursion maybe at Christmas break as long as there is not much snow .This year I am going to target Coyotes only and will start 2 weeks later the red foxes I catch will be released as well as all coon I may take a few gray fox as I have not ever caught one but I will probably get it tanned . I will also go after my bob cat again this year as well as fisher again these are limited to one each hardly worth the effort with todays prices . I am here to tell you I am a trapper and trap for the love of the game and love being out in the woods in the fall and winter that is all for now I will post again when the season gets rolling . BORN AN AMERICAN BY MY PARENTS BORN A TRAPPER BY GOD . |
The great furcrash of 15
Posted - 08/29/2016 : 10:25:26
