WINNER!!! - Guess the high bid on this cat and ...

mike metz with a guess of $1365. High bid was $1371.43

The bid is in no more guessing please. I’ll post the bid and the winner as soon as I figure out who it is.

UPDATE: Well we have way more cats and coyotes at the sale than expected so it has been extended to tomorrow afternoon. Kinda crazy for everyone here but overall it should be a good thing.

So I’ll just let the guessing go another day since I won’t learn the high bid until then anyway.

... I'll send you a 1 ounce bottle of the lure of your choice from Dobbin's Products. Closest over or under wins. If someone guesses the exact bid then the prize becomes a 4 ounce bottle.

Details - It was taken in early February in southwest Idaho. It measures 45" from nose to the base of it's tail. It was skinned by a taxidermist for a possible rug or mount. Can't see the the front feet because they are inside. It will be at the Idaho fur sale tomorrow.

Contest will run from now until the bid is read at the sale tomorrow afternoon. When that happens I will say so and then I'll figure out who won.

If you want to change your guess please just edit your post instead of creating a new one.

Edit: If Paul guesses and wins I'll send him a bottle of lure from the maker of his choice.

$850

$1,120.

$685

$375.00

$420

$1000.00

$470

$950

$488

$500. If at NAFA, it would have been $800

432

$415

$750

485.00

$650

700

575.00

$525.50

429 bucks

$827

$725.00

410

$850.00

$863.00

$460

$300

$325.00

$400

$537

$1210

$445.00

979.50

462.00

450

$625

308

$910

710

$540

$448

642

869

900

860

888.88

625.00

$690

$778.

$930

$ 425.00

$555.00

$ 777. 75

$801

$588

$380

$666.01

$ 885

$966

$380.00

$762

$922.22

I'm going high, but know nothing about cats. $1350.01

$652.00

$795

600

$705

Zim

$390

620.50

$245

743.00

$975.00

587nice cat

Whatever ya get, congrats, that's a nice lookin cat!!!

475

$270

595.00

$547.35

1,175

1,234 dollars beautifully animal

1027.32

475

So we're guessing on the top cat right? Or both?

Top cat $643.72
Bottom $365.75

$496.53

Good eyes Adam, definitely looks like two different cats. My guess is top one sells for $977.25

They appear to be the same cat (looking at the markings) Amazing what lighting will do to the grade!

$730

Thats the same cat. compare the spots.

$533.88 The first pic looks better than the 2nd

$288.00

$262

$786

$610

That darn Zim grabbed the bid I was going to enter....guess I'll throw a wild one out there. $1631.00.

Same cat different light. And when it was on the board the fur was pretty much laying down but the pic in the sun it was all fluffed out.

Sorry for questioning the cats, lighting makes it look totally different. Thanks for doing this, it makes it fun. Very nice put up and cat

$435.00

745.00

800.00

377.67

Thanks 10bands. What a difference lighting plays. Sorry for thinking they were different.

I was looking at the spots and though they have similar spots the color in the middle drastically changes and some markings look different.

I go with my 2nd guess $365.75

$352

190

$389.65

253.47

$1385.00

$377

375.49

424

$308..88

452.02

If I win donate it to the ITA.

485

$491

667.22

$1132

Good luck!

777.77

$542.86

1237.42

777.00

$877.50

$1030.00

$455.00

Nice fox. 403.77

637.50

$850

$388

$391

$825

$777

its not the lighting its just the way it is brushed. top picture the fur is parted down the middle and half brushed up and sideways. the bottom picture the fur is lying naturally.

680

$655

325

$893.50

$635.50

$470.00

676.50

$755.00

$910.00

351.00

237

$363

$845

514.00

$364

618.50

$720.83

$598

Some buyers will bid a little higher if they know there is a contest on the price of that particular cat.

794

$835

847.38

654.23

$550

833

$783

$760

$891

473

$678

650

$712.50

$477

$919

$1365.00

I'll use a price is right bid. 1.00$

Well we have way more cats and coyotes at the sale than expected so it has been extended to tomorrow afternoon. Kinda crazy for everyone here but overall it should be a good thing.

So I’ll just let the guessing go another day since I won’t learn the high bid until then anyway.

Hope everyone does well. Especially the east cost coyotes.

Well so much for that short harvest theory on coyotes

Glad they extended it. Gives the buyers a chance to proper evaluate the pelts.

Do you have numbers as to how many cats and how many coyotes?

Who is there for buyers? Probably most every body. LOL

$913

$391

Around 1700 coyotes and just over 300 cats.

1112$ US

$1073

$365

That is an amazing number of coyotes for that sale. How does it compare to last year? Also, were there many out of state coyotes shipped in for this sale?

$685

$475

It is a long story, but some of my Maine coyotes are there.

446

500 balones

January this year there was 961. Last year two sales had 951 and 504. I'm not sure about out of state numbers but there were people there from several states.

what's the buyer numbers like compared to normal??

$765.00

Buyer number seems about normal but I'm not sure of the total number. The fur room got too crowded so they kicked us all out so the buyers could work in peace.

man do i wish i was there.

The first cat pictured I'm guessing 285, the second cat with the casty belly I'll guess 85.

They're the same cat different light.

As already stated, a lot more fur showed up than expected so the sale spilled over to today. 1700+ coyotes and 300+ cats!
Couple pics from early yesterday...




The more the fur came in, the less room they had to lay them out. Notice the piles up against the wall...




Hoping 10bands can keep all of us at home up-to-date on how things are going today.

I don’t recall ever seeing that many critters crammed into one room.

They need a better set up,and hang the skins like the big auctions.

Sometimes the state auctions just have to deal with the room they get donated to them Boco, not all auctions just have a regular place to do the auctions,

Then add on the adjusted amount of fur showing up it tends to constrict movement. On top of that everyone likes to see how much interest in seeing "their lot" and you have a very congested area.

I know what you mean Grit Guy.When the OTA (fha) started back in the 1950's they held their first sales in the hotel in Huntsville.

it has nothing to do with light. its the way the fur is brushed. top pic its brushed backwards and sideways. bottom pic its lying natural. the grade will be off the way it looks in the bottom picture

For sure, lots of people are going to be surprised at them large bids, and be glad they are not buyers LOL

$399

Hanging furs requires special racks for hanging. This is an extra expense a state Association can't afford.

Plus, the western buyers are used to grading fur displayed like that. If you think about it, put fur on a table saves several steps. You don't have to take it off the rack and hang it back up.

A larger facility would be nice but options that are affordable and not booked for other events aren't easy to find.

I remember a WSTA sale at Grotto Hall in Spokane Washington where they had so much fur, some of it was in piles on the floor. At 2 AM, you gave the pile a kick and wrote down the price. LOL. Sorry for the hijack.

827

The ITA had hanging racks several years ago when the fur quantities were like this. Not sure what happened to them. $819 is my guess on the cat.

Looks orderly to me. Just needed more room and more tables. People need to call in a week ahead of the sale and reserve. Organizers will then know who and how much is coming. Will know how many days are needed and tell the buyers what to expect.

I see, the second picture makes it look like it has essentially not much of a belly. If that's truly what it looks like I wouldn't expect any of the high numbers some guys here are quoting. For your sake I hope I'm wrong but I'll guess 125, (maybe).

Waggler - I think you are way low. Probably at least 4 times what you posted.

The belly looks way better in the first picture. The back is blah. Nothing to write home about. And yes, the back fur is I,pirtant as well as the belly. When you pay big prices for pelts, you aren't going to through half of it away.

It's 230 in south Idaho. I'm thinking they are probably getting ready to wrap things up and post bids. And the excitement builds. LOL

When the Ontario trappers sales started getting bigger in the 1950's,they realised that the hotel was too small,and knew they needed a bigger venue.For a few years they rented a warehouse in North Bay,but as sales grew even more they realized they needed their own building,and that is when they built the facility at 1867 bond street,the home of FHA today.
Some of these small western sales could grow into something bigger if sales consignments continue to grow.

Doubt that will ever happen Boco, these western auctions are primarily state oriented, they are not proven to share fur and like to have their own auctions. Some what of a friendly competition for each of them against one another, there are even problems with a couple states when different Trapping Associations have auctions close together due to traveling times and other larger auctions in different states. there has been some talk of a couple folding into a large one, but nothing ever seems to come from it.

There are some who no sale and go to other state auctions, but usually end up selling for close to what they were bid the first time.

Now if all western auctions banded together and had a very large auction on a regular basis there might be some interest generated by more buyers, though I don't think that will ever happen either.

Most auctions out here are dependent on access during the season, some years there are not hardly any cats, or dogs due to access, however the last few seasons cats have held high pretty well making harvesters some good funds where limits on cats are high or non-existent. That also helps the dog pelts increase which is a side bonus for most this year as well.

I would watch for that to change some what after high prices this year !!

$382

$450

$363.21

$556 is my guess

The bid is in no more guessing please I’ll post the winner as soon as I figure out who it is.

One last one
How about not as much as you wanted?
Jk hope it went for more then you expected

Eight hundred fourteen dollars and 37 cents

$1371.43 and the winner is mike metz with a guess of $1365.00. PM sent. I hope that was as fun for everyone else as it was for me.

Thanks. I was hoping I didn't win so that I could keep my luck for Powerball Weds.

Thanx for the fun . I was only 1000 or so off .....lol

I see why you didnt rug it now

I wasn’t able to write everything down but I counted 23 cats over $1000 and there were more after I stopped writing.

Top cat was $1665
Top coyote was $188

Shout out to 10 bands! That was a lot of fun! He also kept me informed on the auction because I couldn't be there. Dang good guy! Thank you sir!
And congrats to Mike Metz!

Wow. Pictures can be deceiving !

Thanks for posting !

Congrats to you and the winner, surprises me as the second pic really down cast that belly, I'd of never guessed it would go over 5 bills with that belly, even as large as it was.

Just shows that pic's are not the way to judge fur, glad that's over with, now back to a James thread !!

Congrats to you and Mike

Thanks 10 bands that was a lot of fun. Glad you got that for your cat.

That was fun. Thank u sir

I smell a rat! I'm pretty certain ol' Metz paid off a fur buyer on this deal to get that bottle of lure!

The rest of the story...

First of all this wasn't my cat. It belonged to a friend of mine who heard about it from a friend of his. It was on a ranch and coming into the yard in broad daylight after whatever was there. Chickens, pets, kids, whatever. It would show up and sneak around where it shouldn't be. The rancher told my friend about it and said when he could he was just going to shoot it and toss it. My friend said wait a minute and went down there to check it out. He thought he'd call me to see if I wanted to try to trap it when they saw it out the window putting a stalk on the dog that was chained in the yard. My friend leaned out the door and shot it with a .22.

The pelt went 45" but it weighed only 20 pounds and had worn down canine teeth and you could hardly see some of it's molars. A really old tom apparently near the end of it's days.

He wanted to know if I'd help him sell it and what it might be worth. I told him it had the size to sell high but the rest was all about color and quality and that was up to the buyers. He decided on an $800 minimum because he'd be happy to keep it and mount it if he couldn't get a lot for it. Some eyebrows were raised, including my own, at that minimum but that's what he wanted. We all got a nice surprise. Well all but Mike Metz I guess since he was only off by $6.

Apparently the family on that ranch doesn't have much extra so my friend is going to surprise them with some part of that check. Between that and the fact that I got to handle and put up what turned out to be a fantastic cat pretty much made my day.

Man I was close, I had 1350.01!! Thanks for that it was fun following the Post!!

Boy, this one fooled me. The buyer was a Rookie or a real good Shaker. Good job 10bands for helping out the people who were dealing with this predation!

"Pictures can be deceiving" isn't that the truth (as I'm wiping egg off my face).
That second picture which looked like a very casty belly sure didn't do that cat any justice. Congratulations!

Cool story to the cat. Nice put up and congratulations on a excellent price, sounds like an all around good situation!!

I with w

Its wow I guess its eye beholder .
I am most definitely in bewilderment on this cat .
Camera must not have done that cat no favors. All I can say is great job.

Thanks 10bands!

Do the rest of us get participation trophies?

Inflategate! lol

thanks for the good time 10bands and good guess mike.

Yes participation trophies for all. But you have to guess what they are.

Coons pricks

Congrats,thats a great price for one skin.

Im gonna say it was the stretcher!!!!!! Good job!!!!!!!

I noticed that too, Otis. In fact, the ones that were Top Cats at that sale, looked to be on that same Stretcher.

I’m sure I wouldn’t have got 45” on a standard board. I actually had a stranger call today who saw the pic on a friends phone and wanted to know about the stretcher. I think you’re about to get an order.

The top cat was from Rifle, Colorado so you’re probably right.

That stretcher will make you money

Holy Cow. My wife's cousin lives in Rifle. Guess we ought to take a vacation out there next season!