As some have mentioned, The stock market crash caused the collapse of fur prices, but the effects were not seen immediately. I think it was the first international auction that season when reality set in. In those days without internet, information trickled out it bit more slowly.
My partner and I had a fairly large collection of coon, all put up, and were shopping them around the local buyers. The offers were not good. We stopped at a buyer we new fairly well, and he said he could go through them but we weren't going to like the offer. As we were loading up to leave he mentioned another fur buyer (his competator) that was still paying well for coon. We thanked him and said that we might check him out. He replied "I don't mean tomorrow, I'd go there right now". And we did.

Yes it was not fun selling good fur for low prices but the crash gave me the opportunity to pickup about what is 70% of my local trap line that I trap today. Yes trapping most of these last 30 years has not been really profitable for me but I enjoy staying engaged with the outdoor environment and wildlife. This last run of lower prices has bought about even more overall total change to the wild fur industry than that crash did. We talk about and criticize our meat processing industry for having 4 major companies with a lot of foreign ownership controlling 50-80% of the poultry, pork and beef processing. At this time I would be happy to have 4 firms heavily involved in wild fur.

Bryce

Also right around this same time MTV station started the first anti fur commercials! News casts of native Alaskans killing seals and then the ball got rolling downhill, coupled with the crash of 87.

Back in 1987 the NJTA had 2 fur sales one in December and one in March. I had about 400 coons, half of which I had fleshed and stretched by the time of the December sale. Averaged about $22.00 dollars at the sale. The other half I sold at the March sale for a little over $6.00.

Sold red fox for 70-90 $ , mink 45, rats 6. That was the good old days . Money was worth something back then.

The only thing that saved me in '87 was a October seperation and eventual divorce....
I had trapped every year since 1976 and was fully geared up, but the big "D" knocked me off my game.

Looking back, it all happened at a great time...Fur went south, and my X went north.. Lol.

Heck I remember selling bobcats and coyotes for 6 bucks it was all about rats beaver and mink there were no coon or fox in Wy to speak of. Things flipped and it was all about long fur and buyers could not get enough. Now no fur is worth money and I doubt it will be again. Supply and demand and public animosity toward fur. everything is going up except fur. People need food water and a home fur is a luxury and governed by money and status they dont want it anymore. Unless China and Russia get in the game its over.

the crash was bad but a few years after I could not sell fur at all, had 37 coyotes' that the buyer would not make an offer on . the ones that I sold were 6 dollars, all put up

Got a lot of my land access late 80s and early 90s, and hung onto all of it. Most enjoyable thing for me was VERY LITTLE competition at that point. In the boom, stakes and wire at every bridge. After that, I parked and walked into fields and creeks and it was oh so peaceful.

I recall December of 87 I had a batch of fox and coon ready to go at our local chapter 7 fur sale.. No saled the fox for like a $20 bid and the coons for quite a bit less than that.. Said no way would I sell for that and shipped to Canada.. Got a few dollars out of 140 odd coon and 40 some fox at the end of the day.. Got checks for two or three years for a little bit of nothing.. Back when that should have been a pretty nice payday and we really counted on it.. Bad memories.

I didn’t start trapping till ‘92. I remember selling Texas coons for $1. One year I think I averaged $4

It was nice being able to trap for 10 years and not needing to worry about things. I hauled supplies for Melvin at M&M furs in the summer and built snares that I sold to him.

Old Mel was the first person I ever bought supplies from. If I remember correctly I met him at the national convention in Mason City IA. I used to stop and get supplies going from WY to IA, enjoyed his spring beaver hunting stories.

I'll go along with Bernie's date as i would'nt have been setting yet However my coonhunter neighbor told me his group of hunters were not satisfied with their first offer so they were going to anpther buyer in a couple days Got there guy wouldn't even look at them

Pretty much I seem to recall that the 87 crash is when the European market for fur died. Then we were being told that as China opened up we would be selling megatons of fur as soon as the Chinese had enough income to afford fur garments. Which seems like slowly did kind of eventually come true in fits and spasms.

I think I had my best average ever on a batch of 237 beaver sold at an OTC sale in '93 or '94 at $38

"In1991, the European Economic Community (EEC) passed legislation that will impose a
fur import ban on 13 species of furbearers from countries that continue to allow those
species to be harvested using leghold traps, or have not adopted internationally approved
humane trapping standards by January 1, 1995. The 13 species affected by the import
ban include eight species harvested in Alaska: beaver, coyote, land otter, lynx, marten,
muskrat, weasel, and wolf. "

I believe this process started around '86?