They can be used as in-tact hats since they arent quite as heavy. Kinda like when they used to call southern coon, "coat coon".

Alot of shrugged shoulders about what the felters were buying last season. I still say desperation because they couldn't fill their orders....here's a $40 beaver from the 2nd FHA sale last year:

Watch the clip BP,Phil said in the educational video that damages like that (holes and bites) are irrelevant for felters-as long as the pelts have HVY or SEMI quality.
There is another section Sniper posted above that explains why the underfur of the beaver makes strong felt.
But I guess there are guys on here that know more than a long time respected fur broker and grader like the late Phil Patterson

Back when we had a viable fur market there where 50plus coat manufacturs in Montreal,

Today,would be luckey to have 5 left now.

When we had that manufactoring base most of the heavy shear-able beaver when to that market.

In todays fur world only a few thousand are needed for that use now.

Back then the hatters had to take the third section goods and the flatter type beaver for their needs.

Today the hatter market is 95% of what all beaver are used for.

Colour, bite marks don;t matter for the hatter trade.

Underfur is what is needed and now they can buy the best beaver for this use.

Last season was the perfect example of no supply and a big jump in demand.

The demand continues the question will be when we reach the supply as most trappers are a year behind the market trends.

The trappers that believe summer skins with no underfur are suitable should process and ship to auctions or fully disclose to local buyers if selling green then report back here on price differential.

Why? Because that is all they are good for. Don't kid yourself our "hatters" are worth more.

They are only worth more if the buyers are paying more. Yes they may have heavier under fur and be better suited for the felt process, but if you do not get a premium for them in the hatter market are they really worth more?
From what gibb is saying even some shearing beaver are going into the hatter market. That is a sad thought to me.

Sad but true. If the hatter buyers can pick up heavy beaver at similar prices that is a bonus for them. They are buying all they need to get the underfur they need. One way to look at it is if the low grade beaver they are taking off the market are providing less underfur it means they have to buy a lot more of them

Must be making a lot of those type hats because many thousands of these hatter beaver are being bought.

I did watch the clip. The beaver I showed not only was holier than thou but pretty flat to boot. Hard to see that from just leather side pic but look at the rim.

Who's kidding who here? I got $40 tops for skint and frozen last March...avgs in mid 20s. May not be that high this March. If your hatters are worth more then why are ya'll not commanding a price that is much higher than a flat Georgia beaver?

You northern beaver trappers do realize that us southern beaver trappers do not control the beaver market and we cannot help that you're not being paid what you think your heavy beaver are worth, correct?

Nobody is stating they know more than the guy on the video. But, we're getting comparable prices for these pelts (flats/damaged) as many are for the prime heavies.....all things considered, such as commissions, shipping costs, prep time costs, etc factored in.

Swamp, please just help everybody out by burning those southern goods...you're going to kill the market!

Lol

Is it just me or is there a sense of aggravation (or maybe confusion) as to why flat beavers are selling almost as good as those northern fur balls?

I have about 90 pelts. If I knew it would help out those confused northern beaver trappers...I'd burn em......not!

Heavy beaver sell for more than semis and semis sell for more than flats,
It depends on who you sell to.
Of course if you sel to someone who doesnt grade your fur there will be no difference.
But once they get graded out by the middle man then he will be the beneficiary not the trapper.
A fight in the auction room for one sale that drove up the price of lesser beaver due to high demand and lack of supply doesnt mean anything.
Same as when the dumb chinamen were paying the same for sec3 otter as they were for sec 1 about 15 year ago for a sale or two.
It is an expensive lesson but they learn once the goods go thru the pipeline and they are schooled.

I will say that I feel when the bottom falls out of the hatter beaver market, it will be as hard as any drop we have ever seen. When heavies are going to the hatter market there is only one market. It was the same thing with the coyote market. We would have a half a dozen or more buyers and they were all selling to the same guy. Some directly and some indirectly. It does not work for a buyer to bid against himself.

I believe it will go up for a while yet before the inevitable drop.
Anyone who has been in the game a while,and has studied the history of the fur trade over its 400 year exixtence in North America knows the nature of the beast.
The full benefit of the drastic shrinkage in the ranch fur market has not yet fully materialized in the wild fur market but soon will be.
Once some other negative geo political obstacles are mitigated a further benefit will be realized.

No, it's not you. These northern guys are down right butt hurt that southern fur is bringing comparable prices to their vastly superior northern fur.