Excellent job

Nice.

We’re those mine they would be tanned and mounted on the wall just like that.

Those are gorgeous.

Osky

It seems that prices have kind of tapered off on the high end cats that last few weeks. I think a lot of the western buyers took note of lackluster movement on that type of cat on this latest FHA auction. The last western sale of the year at K. Falls saw dropping prices for the good ones.

^^^^^ not sure I agree with that as no good cats were in that last auction unless they were last years leftovers.
Better cats will be at the next auction and I bet bring decent money but not the prices of 3-4 years ago.
Best bobcats are caught in Feb and March, not by Jan for the 1st auction.
We will see though as we are sending 3 bobcats up for the next auction, one is of the quality posted, 2 others are iffy.


Beautiful cats !! Nice work on the put up.

Very nice!! Great job on the put up !

There are some dealer lots of older high end cats there. I've heard that from more than one source.

Dont waste your precious time on catching 20-30cats BP,when you could be trapping hundreds of high dollar beaver.
only takes 10 beaver to avg one good cat,should be able to surpass that daily without much effort in good beaver country.

^^^In absolute agreement there. Maybe someday I'll even be smart enough to follow that sage advice. For my section of cat it only takes 2-3 beavers.

I caught a few cats from texas creek area this season.
I will post some pics of them when i get them all tumbled and ready for pictures.
we had a good season for pack rats and rabbits and the cats were moving really well in that area.

yes the two middle cats are the best of this group.
I play the overall average game for our fur.
I always hope my top end cats will carry my bottom end for a good average.

All in cages?

yes cage traps
we have a handful that were called in.
97% of cats were cage trapped

I personally think cage traps are a great tool for selective harvesting of bobcats, gray fox, red fox, swift fox, badger and ringtails
and of coarse work great for cologne coons (skunks) and raccoons.

I dont think they are a great tool for fur trapping st all. Lots easier to haul 50 foot traps instead of a cage. Same with carrying 2-3 up into the rimrock or something.

you are correct when comes to weight.
I target lots of rim rocks, we spend alittle extra time to see how the cats are using the rimrock and catch them at base of rocks next to trail or if have access from top we set the bottom and top.
we run anywhere from 35 to 60 cages depending on area., we have got used to cages and love them. its a big back saver having our kids help.

That-a-boy shepard. Instead of whining about the hand dealt to you you've figured out how to still get fur in your shed.

What cage would you consider your best, all around cage?

I'm a true believer in mercer cages, he builds a quality cage that holds anything
Have caught a bear cub, and one lion in them. They rounded the cage out but didn't get free and cage was
Easy to square up and reset.

I also have a bunch of schroeder cages that are well built and will hold a rhino.
They are fall door and great when need to really hide them on public ground.
Only negative I can say and only a tiny negative is they are heavier then Mercer's cages.

I love mercer cages for easy of use. Only down fall I ever had was trapping a horse pasture
And horses would jiggle the door off and walk around with trap door so had to play where the
(This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) is my door game till I finished trapping pasture. I assume the lures and salt from urine caused that issue.

I even have a few havaharts I purchased at garage sales that I have modified a bit and use them on
Public land where heavy human traffic and chance they will steal or destroy the cage.
Losing a mercer cage will cause a day or two of anger and anxiety worrying about rest of cages.