I know everyone thinks that getting averages posted instantly is the number one priority when we have hundreds of tables to unload, a quarter of a million dollars to sort and still hundreds of pieces of no saled items not picked up that I had to pack home. (Looks like a lot of donated castor, coyotes and cats sitting at my house right now) Not trying to sound (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) but the amount of people that demanded averages instantly and were calling at 6:30 am this morning for these was a little frustrating. We always wait a day or two to post averages, my computer guys are wore out. Myself, Missy and my 70+ year old folks were at the Fairgrounds non stop from Wed to Sunday night trying to put on this event. Over 11,000 items and several hundred trappers it takes a bit to go through everything. Setting up trappers ed classes, getting fish and game lined up, getting 16 buyers organized on coming, demos scheduled and facility lined up takes some maneuvering.
Everyone saw what coyote prices have done in Nevada and Oregon so that wasn't a huge suprise. I did see some nicer Idaho coyotes average in the low 30's. Mine averaged $41 in January so I didn't think nicer coyotes were much lower than January. Semi heavies and commercial coyotes were much lower than I expected which killed the average. We did have a lot of poor handled and southwest coyotes as well. Turmoil in Europe and oil prices has really hurt the overseas market of coyotes so everything is being bought on speculation. Heavy bobcats were still in demand but obviously lower than pre-Ukraine situation. Lower grade cats and fox I thought sold well due to the craft buyers. I thought otter, coons and beaver were very good prices especially with most of the coons being stale goods. People were disappointed in the castor and rat prices and I'm not sure what the story was there. Skulls sold well but I thought tanned fur was off some.
Groenwold, Western Montana, Rocky Mtn and American split on the better cats. The B colored bellies and lower grades were bought up by Bruce Barto, Don Clifford, Moscow Hide and Fur, Idaho Fur and other domestic users. I honestly believe we made the best out of a bad situation by having so many buyers buying up goods. I have never seen the fur checks split between so many buyers. The big 6 fur buyers bought plenty but the 9 domestic/craft buyers had some very large checks written too. I love seeing so many different buyers on castor, skulls and porky hair. Some craft buyers spent over $30 grand each. Horn prices seemed strong too with three horn buyers bidding.
I know some folks think I have the magic power to control prices and if I had that kind of power I would control gas prices too and maybe make myself a little better looking while I'm at it. All I can do is put on a heck of a show with great activities, pull in lots of fur and have a pile of buyers there to bid on goods. A huge thanks to the volunteers, it was better than any sale we have every had. A big thanks to my board for supporting me through all of this. I'll post a long list next.
Items Offerred Type Max Avg % SOLD
Badger 74 Count $58.75 $16.89 100%
Beaver 387 Count $42.53 $14.55 100%
Bobcat 918 Count $1,266.00 $216.70 80%
Castor 135.4 Pounds $133.32 $57.76 64%
Coyote 1788 Count $156.95 $14.66 91%
Cross Fox 4 Count $51.00 $45.56 100%
Deer Antler 175.8 Pounds $29.61 $14.85 99%
Elk Antler 285.7 Pounds $23.02 $15.46 100%
Ermine 79 Count $1.01 $0.42 100%
Grey Fox 161 Count $30.10 $16.45 99%
Marten 246 Count $43.00 $33.09 100%
Mink 55 Count $12.00 $7.27 100%
Muskrat 3410 Count $4.25 $3.00 71%
Otter 46 Count $80.00 $42.41 100%
Raccoon 390 Count $16.94 $7.00 100%
Red Fox 210 Count $64.38 $17.38 100%
Skunk 129 Count $25.67 $15.14 100%

Thanks Rusty

Thanks for the update Rusty.

Hats off to the Idaho Trapper sale
Gets bigger every year!!!

Rusty, As someone that has been in the auction game for over thirty years I know how hard it is. In this day and age of instant info, folks don't realize what is happening behind the scenes. You must have an absolutely fantastic support team to pull this off in 3-4 days, hats off to you and them and thank you for you evaluation of the auction and it's happenings.

That's a ton of fur that got looked at. Bet them buyers are tired too! (Hopefully not too tired to not do it all over again this Saturday)!

Looks like the vast majority of fur sold.Once again,some of those averages aren't bad at all,considering the market

Big thanks! Very quick results imo

Sure a big spread on average vs top on coyotes and cats. Even with some fur poorly handled and fur thats junk to start with, thats a big disparity.

Fifteen dollar coyotes? Guess that ship has sailed.

Forty bucks on otter is encouraging.

Thanks for posting. A few items did pretty well I thought.

I wouldn’t get too excited about the otter price. It could be the craft market buyers driving that price, especially if the pelts were put up with feet on.

I was curious about that. I use all the pelts I get here in WI (2 a year now) and I put them up with feet.

Those marten prices are actually pretty good for Cascade/Rocky mountain type marten.

That is normal. Actually there were a fair number of high dollar cats at the sale, top cat wasn't completely out of reason. But the buyers buying the top cat or coyote for those prices aren't buying that particular piece of fur so much as they are buying the advertising.

Did the beaver come from all over like some of the other species?

I sold my marten to a private buyer. I looked at the marten down there at the sale, either I have exceptionally nice marten for Rocky Mt marten, or those at the sale came out of poor areas. Anyways those prices made me feel like I got took, because I sold mine for just a couple bucks more than the sale went for, and mine had twice the fur of most of those on the sale.

Looks like beaver is creeping upward.

Not bad at all.

These were there. Not sure what they brought. All over 41” nose to skirt.

Skunks had a higher average than the coyote.... I remember last fall when the news the coyote market had nose dived there were several saying on here the western coyotes were still going to have value. Seems the Idaho sale was only a few dollars higher than the Missouri sale on coyotes.