IFH fur sale St. Maries, ID

Intermountain fur harvesters sale this weekend in St. Maries, ID. Who's going???
I'm hoping to get off work early enough to make it there to check in fur tomorrow night. Should be a great sale!

Hope the sale is a good one! Seems as if both Idahos,Montanas and Wyoming were very good.

Nevada and Utah had good sales too.

Not sure about Colorado, since they don’t publish results.

3 more western sales then the season is over.

16 March. St Marie’s, idaho
23 March. Klamath Falls, Oregon
30 March. Blackfoot, idaho.

Any one at the fur sale today in St Marie’s, Idaho?

Hopefully they have a good sale, though it will be quite a bit smaller than last weeks sale.

Can’t wait to see some pictures.

Williams Arizona today, wish i was there!

Colorado had a successful sale.

I don't know about cats but everything else was on par

I'm here today. Looks like a decent sale, I see the same big buyers that I normally see in Glenns Ferry. The fairgrounds here is a much better location than the community center in Athol. Grease fur and skulls are in one building and the clean fur in another. Probably 500+ beaver here and a lot of well handled huge coastal otter from Washington. Not much for tanned fur.

That's a lot of beaver. Kind of surprised that they got that quantity in. I think they only expect about 200 beaver for the OTC Klamath Falls sale.

Yeah, there was a guy at our Washington rendezvous last weekend consigning fur for this sale. I know he brought a lot of WA beaver and some otter.

Dissapointing sale.
I only averaged $30/ea for my beaver. Most of them were XL's and the quality was great. Easily the nicest bunch of beaver I've ever caught.
Sold one otter for $62, so that was ok.
Had a buddy with some cats get some insulting offers.

I wanted to throw a bid out on a tanned wolf. Asked the lady for a bid sheet. She hands me a piece of notebook paper and says to write the lot# and bid with my info on it. I did and returned it to her. Turns out my bid never made it into the auction. Shady to say the least.

I am definitly not going back to an intermountain fur harvesters auction ever again.

Sorry to hear that musty. I know you bring top notch pelts and handling to the table. Better chalk it up as a learning experience. At least all your eggs weren't in one basket

Could you post pics or location of your buddy's cat and what the offers were? What was high cat? Seems odd all the same buyer's and your beaver averaged less than the other sales? What was your numbers, sizes and grade?

Sorry, I don't have pics of the cats. They are washington cats, definitely lower grading, but well handled and decent looking. High bids for them were $50 each.
I had 30 beaver, probably 4 mediums and the rest were large to super blanket, very heavy prime beaver.

Oh well, that's how fur auctions go. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Last fall Cathryn posted some good advice for beaver producers. That was.....sell early and often, the felters are beginning to have enough skins stacked up that they are feeling more comfortable with their inventory and would like to see prices they are paying go down. Pretty normal at the end of the season.

Still better than going back to ten years of $12-$13 averages.

I think it depends who is there for buyers. If you get George Kortum in the room beaver averages will increase at least $5. The OTC sale may have similar results this Saturday because it's happening the same time as the FHA sale and some of the buyers will be there.

What happens at a small sale with just a few buyers does not reflect the health of the beaver market imho.

Who were the buyers?

I am sorry you weren't happy Musty. I would suggest you give Bernie a call in a couple days and voice your concerns but let him recuperate a couple days. Buyers were Western Montana Fur, Mineral Springs 1, Fort Benton 1 and 2, Fort Okanogan Hide and Fur, Dave Campbell, Stan Sweet Furs, Porcupine, Austin Bouhilder, Line of Bull, Macks Traps and Trapping Supplies and I am probably missing a few. Here is a few of the unofficial results I got
171 cats $587.13 high
115 coyotes $53.15 high
233 Marten $61.12 high
66 Red Fox $21.34 high
453 Beaver 61.04 high
86 Otter 76.50 high
380 Muskrat $5.37 high
28 Mink $10.56 high
89 Skunk $26.95 high
These are unofficial results, as soon as the official results come ou I will get them posted.

Sounds like a very good collection of buyers. At least 4 major buyers in my opinion.

Will be interesting to see the averages. Top prices are nice advertising but don’t really mean anything.

Will be interesting to see what happens at Klamath this upcoming Saturday. Klamath used to be a three day gang buster sale, but not these days.

Oh yeah, I hope I don't come off like too much of a negative Nancy. Beaver prices are still much better than a couple years ago and I'm happy for that.
George Kortum bought my beaver again at this sale. He gave me almost $5 more per beaver back in January, and they definitly weren't as nice of fur. I agree with you BP, probably the lack of buyers kept prices down. And with the big sale in glenns ferry last weekend didn't help either.

Musty - I understand your disappointment in prices.

But I don’t agree with your statement about lack of buyers. I count 11 listed plus I know of at least one more.

Eleven buyers at a fur sale in St Marie’s is pretty darn good. I can remember sales with only 2 or 3 buyers. Just saying.

I did a little more digging
9 cats no sold
18 coyotes no sold
1 beaver no sold
3 muskrat no sold
all otter and marten sold

There were no buyers that wanted raccoon or nutria. The craft market was disappointing and the one buyer that buys a lot said he was full and didn't want a lot of items. Many of the skulls, beaver tails, muskrat tails and such went unsold and/or very cheap. My turkey wings and tails brought less then half of last year. It is what it is. There were several wolf skulls that were bid at $75.00 to $85.00 that went unsold. 5 wolves averaged $223.96, high was $282.13 and all sold. I will post more as I get it.

is this a sealed bid sale I assume?

yes

George is gonna judge his competition as any good buyer should. He will pay accordingly. He also is in touch with the market daily if not many times a day as are most volume buyers. Not sure who all of these buyers were but I see a few names I recognize. Also prices tend to fall in the country latter in the season. Happens every year. Buyers get full and the competition is less.

I think there are to many state trapping organizations trying to make a buck. Idaho has 3. If they would consolidate and split their sale profits depending on numbers of members the prices would be higher. But they never will. If you think the buyers don't have high expenses think again. Every sale they attend decreases their profit margin.

The problem with one sale is Idaho and many other states are big states. I can't drive 10 or more hours one way to sell 3 to 4 hundred dollars of fur. By having one sale you are excluding many small hobby trappers. A lot of areas no longer have local fur buyers. We can mail some of the items but I enjoy getting together with other trappers and the buyers. I have been doing this long enough I know many of them(buyers and trappers) and enjoy talking to them.

Slick pan- the sales in Idaho are sponsored by 3 different organizations. In 3 different parts of the state.

Blackfoot - Upper Snake RivernTrappers.

St. Marie’s - Intermountain Fur Harvesters

Glenn’s Ferry - Idaho Trappers Association.

3 groups - 3 opinions - 3 egos.

No one in north Idaho wants to drive 600 miles one way to a sale in Blackfoot.

Not arguing. Just stating a fact. Been there. Done that!! If Idaho was a square state like Oregon, one central sale would be much easier. Just saying.

I'm on the wrong coast. I'm thinking about catch and release next year! LOL

I hear your pain Musty. I don't know how many times I went home from a fur sale with a sour taste in my mouth...but a bunch. At least in the last few years if the K. Falls sale didn't work out I could meet up with the FHA agent and consign the fur that i didn't get decent bids on. That is now over since George Brady passed away.

Nancy ,
Montana is a big state there is one organization and one sale. The real problem is not the distance but the fact the organizations want to be separate and not combined which is just stupid.

Slick pan - I agree about the 3 organizations in idaho that can’t get along. Been that way ever since Upper Snake Trappers split away from ITA.

I agree that Montana is a big state but it is also a regular shape (sort of). Livingston is a central location (sort of). Due to the shape of Idaho, there isn’t really a central location - Glenn’s Ferry is sort of central. I know you may not agree but location does play a factor.

But EGOS are the biggest obstacle.

I would just like to point out our president(Bernie), his wife and sometimes other members go down to help the ITA with their sale. Rusty and his wife come up to help with ours. We have multiple members that belong to both organizations. We mutually support each other.

^^^I remember Delbert did the same.

Yes he and Rusty started it.

First pic on here is my pile of marten and I’m happy with the prices I got , and I’ll say this Westside (coastal ) cats on a great year are $75-$90 so being and the end of the sale season I woulda sold for $50 to not take them home . At the Washington sale every beaver was weighed for hatters . Musty I know you put up great fur too

I don't know about the upper Snake trappers association, but Bernie (Intermountain fur Harvesters President) and his wife Michelle go to Glenn's Ferry every year and work the whole sale as hard as anybody. The IMFH sale has always been small with limited buyers, and I have never sold at it for this reason. Even though Saint Marie's is only an hour from me. I sometimes feel bad about this after getting to know Bernie and Michelle because they are great people who really work hard. But they just can't consistently pull the buyers to provide the competition for the high prices. To be honest I had very seldom been happy with a local auction until I started selling at the ITA sale in Glenn's Ferry.

I was surprised to read that list of buyers, I had talked to a guy or two that were there and they said they saw few buyers there, Jerry Taylor and Eric Salzsman weren't buying furs much and the guys I talked to only mentioned seeing two fur buyers, so apparently the others weren't out grading furs on Saturday when they were there. They did say there was quite a bit of fur there for what is traditionally a small sale though.

Quite a bit of fur came from Washington, and I think this is going to happen from now on as most of us are going to be shipping furs over or bringing over ourselves

Rebekah Lieb and Shelby Barnes were two other buyers and I do apologize if I am missing anyone.

I do not know the entire reason behind different locations now or who helps who. I can understand the distance for meetings and local trappers try to support local sales but in the end if trappers don't get top dollar for their fur they have to do something different. I don't think the association is paying the members the difference in price they would receive someplace else.

idaho will be having 5 sales this year and that is a good thing for trappers. with only 1 sale the buyers would never be able to grade the volume of fur that coming in resulting in low bids or no bids at all. also buyer has to load and haul the fur after the sale. trailers will only haul so much. trappers are recieving top dollar for there fur now. when is the last time you got 1424 top cat and 412 dollar sale average on cats?FHA i dont think so. western state sales are a good thing the way they are..period!!! takes alot of time and effort and hard work to put on a sale.A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO DONATE THERE TIME AND EFFORT TO PUT ON THESE SALES! thanks to all the trappers and buyers that attend and support sales.money raised from these sales goes to protect trapping and trapper rights. take a minute and let that sink in!

The only way the buyers get full, is if they are having trouble moving the fur. They will sell it as fast as they can, not sit on it. If you are talking the felters are full, it would be a pretty small market, for a dozen trapper sales to plug the market. Maybe the felters are bocking at the price of beaver? Maybe the country buyers are learning they can not move the beaver as easy as they thought they were going too.

Jake, glad to hear you did good on your marten. You definitely had some great looking fur there.
The guys that sent over all those otter did really good too so that was great to see.

Wallfur - you mention the large volume of fur at the 5 Idaho sales. I assume ITA at Glenn’s Ferry has the largest volume.

Any idea on how much of the volume is actually IDAHO fur and parts and how much comes from other states?

If only IDAHO items were sold at sales in Idaho, it wouldn’t take 5 sales to handle that volume. Not saying that should happen, just pointing out a fact.

agreed nancy and i do know how much fur came from other states. but that is with all sales not just idaho. location plays a big part in that as you have mentioned earlier post. i support all sales not just idaho and attend the sales in differant states. trappers should not be divided by state lines were all in this together. 5 sales in differant areas of idaho are to accommodate all trappers from all states. one of my favorite sales was held in ely nv but that sale is long gone so i will support sales no matter what state they are in just pointing out a fact.

I’ll speak for myself and maybe a few others and we appreciate being able to sell furs and associate ourselves with the associations and fellow trappers in Idaho it helps us a lot from Washington

I enjoyed my trip to Idaho to sell fur for the first time ever out of state. It was great meeting Musty and others that were just names before. For me, my main loyalty is to myself so I sell wherever I think I can get the most $$$ for my fur. That having been said, I've been selling through OTC sales for most of my life and if all things are equal they will always have my main support as a trapper.

I think the associations are greedy. They want to make money for their own association at the sellers expense. If the seller is unhappy about prices to bad for them is the way I think they see it. It's the associations job to get top dollar for their consigners if they are gonna have a sale and if they cannot do it they should not be selling just to benefit them selves.

I wonder how many sales you have put on? Do you have a smiley face guarantee at you sales? It is a lot of work and expense putting on a sale. From what I have seen when you get a group of buyers together bidding on fur, sellers that are disappointed with the price are looking at their fur with rose colored glasses or they do not know what the market is at the time of the sale. Or both. What buyers would have showed up that didn't, if there would have been more fur? One thing is for sure, not everyone one is going to be happy. You seem to be a prefect example of that. Were you at the sale?

I am wondering what you think we do with the money we make? We use it to put on trapping and wolf trapping classes which are required to get a trapping license in Idaho. We donate money to fight the antis lawsuits that are trying to end trapping. We go to fairs and other events promoting trapping. I don't know of any of us that get paid and few even break even. I guess if you don't want to support the trapping associations don't attend the sales and events but don't come crying to us when you lose your opportunity to trap.

...slick pan would you like to buy my fur?at what i think its worth?lol..where do you sell your fur or do you even have any? any suggestions how to make the sales better? associations dont set the price of fur all they can do is show the fur to the buyers, anything beyond that they have no control over. i am not personally involved in putting on any of the sales nor do i speak for any assiocation but i am thankful for the poeple that do. but i do spend several thousand dollars per year supporting various sales. again a big thank you to those poeple who do put those sales together. your time, effort, hard work and your personal money thats involved does not go unnoticed. thank you! your unselfish work goes a long way in keeping trapping alive for EVERYONE not just the ones that support the sales.

I get to set minimums on my fur. That way I control not getting burned . I have no problem taking my fur back and find a new better option, even if it takes years. I read on here that furbuyers used this strategy at NAFA?

Amen about the minimums. In other words we have multiple buyers looking at fur but still have control on whether we sell or not. I now I used to ruffle feathers fairly often (OTC sales in the old days) when I would not accept what i thought were subpar offers that didn't meet my minimum. Then they would get sent up north.

yes minimums are a great thing and i do use them also. i never had any state sales frown on me for taking fur home but seen buyers that were not happy.but in the buyers defense i have seen alot of trappers that think there fur is worth more than it really is but thats ok to,there is always more options. i normally dont send good fur north because they dont allow minimums.once you send fur north all controll of your fur is gone!

"I wonder how many sales you have put on?"

I been involved in Fur Sales since I was 12 and I will be 69 this year so I think I have more qualification to speak than most of you .I helped put that sale on at 12 years old. I am very aware of what happens at them.

I am not crying about losing my opportunity . Individually with and without associations involvement I have done more to protect trapping than most of you.

"slick pan would you like to buy my fur? at what i think its worth? lol..where do you sell your fur or do you even have any?"

Pretty rude since you do not know me or anything about me.

The problems with minimums is they cost money to apply them if you do not sell your fur. Why would you put minimums on an item like beaver if you know from all the past sales there is a strong market ? The problem with Musty's beaver prices if they are as good as he claims is the people who put on the sale did not draw the correct buyers. George bought the furs for less than paid in the past because he knew he less competition.

There are a few beaver trappers in north america that don't consider a strong hatter markdet a strong beaver market.

The markets ebb and flow continuously on fads like the Stetson and the coyote trim parka. Beaver market is gaining momentum, when will it end is anyone's guess.
I'm hoping the Chinese have a coon skin coat craze, or a muskrat trim bikini fad soon. Or possum lined gloves to be all the rage in 2025.

....my apologies...thats a impressive list of credentials you have listed!

You hit the nail on the head ! For us to run an association (WSTA) it is tough and thankless for the most part AND how is the association fault if you didn’t get top dollar ? The buyers are there but you can’t force them to pay a high price for something that isn’t worth that said price it’s business some years we win some years they win

The "correct" buyers? How do you do that?
An association can set a date and location, then let it be known to all. Hopefully the date works for the "correct" buyers, I guess.

Slick Pan who are these "correct buyers you speak of that were not at the sale? There were buyers there that have a lot of years buying behind them. I don't see George holding back if the fur was worth $5 more on a sealed bid. There were quite a string of buyers at the sale. You never did say if you were at the sale, are you basing the tempo of the entire sale off Misty's report? What was the sale average on beaver?

I do understand Musty’s frustration he puts up good fur done right then you see fur put up that’s laughable and you get the near same price , it’s frustrating but it’s part of the gamble

I haven't seen any averages yet when I do I will post them.

There is a fairly strong market out there if one can find an honest buyer that is hungry enough to do the work and is willing to pay the price.

How deep it is, is another story.

By chance did you weigh your beaver hides before you sold them?



That a result of a hatter market. Put up becomes less relevant.

I been biting my tongue but can't any longer.
--Greedy associations? We are in the middle of a federal grizzly lawsuit. Even though we are only paying 1/3 of the bill it is still draining our accounts. Fur sale is our biggest fundraiser.
--Too big of egos to merge organizations in Idaho? I personally nominated and encouraged the leaders of the two other Idaho groups to run for ITA director positions. I personally have stood on the platform of merging all groups into one organization since I ran for the President position a decade ago.
--My wife and me were at the St Maries sale from start to finish. I have attended every Upper Snake sale since I became president as well.
--I won't apologize for non residents bringing or shipping fur into our sale. Almost 20% of our membership is out of staters and they have just as much right to come to our sales as anyone else. Just like Idahoans are welcome to go to a out of state sale.
--I'm sorry our March sale was too big. We are looking at solutions on fixing that problem by next year.
--By the way, due to requests from buyers and trappers we will be having a clean up sale on April 27th. Consignment only. Hoping it is a quick 4 hr sale.
--Very proud of our volunteers and so I do get defensive of them.

Rusty

absolutely! keep doing what your doing rusty.

Rusty,
When I mentioned greedy associations I was referring to the smaller Idaho associations having their own fur sales when they could combine, get better prices and figure out how to split the proceeds accordingly. I was in no way referring to the Glenn's Ferry sale.

"I personally have stood on the platform of merging all groups into one organization since I ran for the President position a decade ago." As it should be.

What happens in Montana as far as laws and regulations are drafted using Idaho's. In Montana the association is not strong enough to stand on it's own. They did nothing that I am aware of when our wolf trapping season was delayed because of the antis going to court using the grizzly bear as a means to stop wolf trapping. The Montana FWP also did nothing to stop that.

One question-why as a trapping organization,are you spending time and money on a hunting issue?

we are all in this together...united we stand divided we fall

As a trapper I want my association to protect trapping,not draining the funds for hunting issues.
Hunting orgs have way more money than trapping orgs,and often work against trappers interests.
Hunting lobbys have been responsible for lots of snaring and bodygrip restrictions and limiting trapping seasons in some cases.
Some trapping orgs have been taken over (or attempted to be taken over) by hunters claiming to be trappers.

what hunting issue? Probably an ESA issue?

I tend to agree with your statement Boco..^^^^^

In the 1980s I was the only trapper (I was in my late teens...18 or 19, I think) at several state-sponsored meetings coordinated by fox and bcat houndsmen that were attempting to have a limit put on those species for the trapper....so they would have more to run with hounds.

At one of those meetings I thought I was gonna have to fight my way out of there. None of those "hunters" were friends of trapping back then.

the grizzly lawsuit is not about a hunting issue

swamp boco is one of the biggest cheerleaders for canadian trap restrictions AITHS he seems to like to be on both sides of the fence...wants all fur certified

We have less trapping restrictions here then you have by far.thanks to those Standards and our trappers who initiated them.
You poor buggers not only have trapping restrictions you have actual trapping bans.
Time to give your head a good shake.
What is truly laughable is that because you were against certification you killed the goose that laid the golden egg,talk about shooting yourself in the foot,lol.

....lol.... more BS

The grizzly bear lawsuit would effect trapping where there’s grizzlies as you wouldn’t be able to trap wolves in those areas and I think it would effect cat and coyote trapping as well so as trappers we do have a dog in the fight

could someone post a link to the Grizzly bear lawsuit in Idaho ? I would like review it.

Thanks for that info Jake.
A good reason to fight to allow trapping to continue regardless where the bear thing goes.

Exactly!

If you google Intermountain Fur Harvesters 2024 sale results you will get results and averages for our sale.

https://idfg.idaho.gov/article/fg-d...arding-wolf-trapping-and-grizzly-bears-0

Boco,
We did not get involved in any hunting ban but have gotten involved in others (coyote killing contests, thermal hunting proposals, wolf hunting seasons) and will protect/support/ect hunting issues if it something to help our allies with or if it affects furbearers or/and predators. We knew the ramifications if this grizzly ruling got pushed through so we officially became intervenors along with FTA and NTA a couple years ago. This shut down early wolf seasons in 88% of the units that harvested wolves last year. We lost 82 days of early part of the season and 31 days at the end. Thats all I can comment about at this time.
Rusty

St. Maries Fur Sale Results.

Beaver 437 offered, 100% sold, Avg - $ 29.80 High - $61.04
Bobcat 171 offered, 95% sold, Avg - $ 194.80 High - $ 587.13
Coyote 114 offered, 86% sold, Avg - $16.80 High - $53.13
Marten 233 offered, 100% sold, Avg - $ 51.60 High - $81.69
Muskrat 370 offered, 99% sold, Avg - $4.18 High - $5.40
Otter 81 offered, 100% sold, Avg - $59.30 High - $76.50
Raccoon 74 offered, 77% sold, Avg - $5.19 High - $ 9.10
Skunk 92 offered, 100% sold, Avg - $17.65 High - $26.95

It looks like there were a lot of satisfied trappers at our St. Maries Fur Sale! We have a great bunch of volunteers at the Intermountain Fur Harvesters and their work and commitment is very much appreciated.

I have seen a lot of talk on this forum in regard to our Fur Sale in St. Maries, I would like to clear a few things up. In regard to Musty's post and him not being happy with what he was paid for his beaver, I do not understand this, because he had a minimum on all of his lots and the high bid exceeded them, so where is the problem? In regard to the tanned wolf, the high bid was $312.00 it did not meet the asking price and the seller took it home. There is nothing "Shady" going on at the Intermountain Fur Harvesters Sales. These are all sealed bids we do not and cannot have control over what a buyer bids on each lot. For clarification we had 18 buyers at our sale, 8 were large buyers and 10 were smaller buyers, and we appreciate each one of them.

As far as EGOS go there aren't any! The IFH, ITA, USRT and the F4WM all help and support each other at our Fur Sales, Trappers Banquets, F4WM Banquets and NTA Rendezvous.
And we all do this for one reason, UNITED WE STAND DEVIDED WE FALL!!

With Support and Respect for all Trappers,
Intermountain Fur Harvesters President, Bernie Nelson

P.S. Hope to see you all at the NTA Western Regional in Glennsferry, Idaho May 31 - June 1, 2024.

It is good to see you on here Bernie. Thanks for your post.
Ted

Yes, thanks for the post Bernie.

Musty,
I talked to the buyer who I'm sure bought your beaver. Anyways it was a lot of over fifty beaver from your area. He said he didn't know they got beaver that good over there, and bragged up your put up. (I seen it, excellent job. I wasn't at the sale, but I would expect he was telling the truth when he said they were the nicest put up beaver on the sale). He was very surprised he got them at the price he bid, he expected to be outbid by one of the bigger buyers. Just for the info, quality and put up can matter, those beaver aren't going to the hatter market, he has an outlet for a small number of quality beaver each year, he had already filled that order this year but your beaver were nice enough he bid on them to hold over for next year.

Bernie makes an excellent point about minimum bids. When we think things are going really well on prices we sometimes drop our guard in that dept. I know of a lot of trappers that put nominal or no minimums on their lots. You do this at your own peril. When I put minimums on my lots I'm always hoping that the bid will be higher (much higher).... but it is the magic number that I will sell at and not feel ripped off.

Mostly because the Anti types are tying the two together. That's the short version.

Boco, Here's a better description of a PART of the problem/issue. Just read the article and you'll understand a lot more than meets the eye.

Its all hokey, a grz could pop a wolf snare breakaway no problem,
No need to restrict trapping because of grizzlies.Definitely fight that BS.

“We’re very disappointed in this decision,” Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks said. “While wolf trapping seasons will change to comply with the order, we’re considering our legal options to reverse a decision we believe is wrong based on the law and on-the-ground reality.”

Must be nice to have a Fish and Game Director willing to step up and support sound responsible wildlife management in your state. We could use more like him.

Being a retired grizz guide, I noticed that these critters come in different sized packages.

A few cleanup comments that probably aren't needed...I sold and bought at IFH, as well as the recent FHA auction.

Buyers; just because there may have been plenty of buyers, that doesn't mean there was competition for everything. coming back from FHA, an auction that occurred just a short time after IFH, I can say anything over 30 for decent sized, decent felted, western beavers is a good price. And those buyers aren't weighing up there. They only see a 6 beaver sample of 50 or 200 beaver anyway. The good news is, your beaver aren't going to price really low. Bad news is that it isn't going through the roof, either. If you got big money for western beaver, it was exceptional and isn't going to the hatter market. Just like those Eastern Black Blanket heavies at FHA.

Speaking of FHA, they are grading beaver for garment, just like they always have. if the buyers this year are buying for felt, they can figure it out. Well put up fur will always give you options. Or, if you're like me, is just happy all my self-damaged beavers found a home as well! I just wish I could buy one weasel there...

I'm buying for a different reason than Kortum, even if we were to compete for the same item. I may have a customer that REALLY need something. He, on one species may be using his money, on another, be buying for a broker, for another species, for an individual. No one else knows. If you want to know, I suggest consulting the Magic 8 Ball.

Same with cats. I probably would have made decent money if I would have been at Klamath or Glenns Ferry instead of at Lacy, WA. But with no real competition, and possibly no demand, my decent cats got real low bids. The buyer was likely banking on no competition. I no saled them and am sending them to FHA-again, a roll of the dice. Saw this happen up at FHA, where the auction house did so to protect the trappers from the buyers.

Lastly, these sales are human institutions. They can always be improved upon. Many folks on here know each other or know personally those of whom someone is talking about. May I suggest, especially in these times, even "amongst ourselves" on forums such as these, if we see issues that we believe are serious, we address them to individuals and privately and be careful with accusations, especially of entire organizations.

OK, really lastly, we're working on purchasing George Brady's (my father in law) shop. Once that is done (hopefully) I can commit to being an FHA receiving agent. This doesn't mean I'll be spending my entire winter on the road, but it will be something. Now I just need to find a home for the 10 gallons of coyote buttholes George had me save.

Figured I'd get on here and say a few things.
I spoke to Bernie a couple days ago. And while I don't agree with him on the error printed in the paperwork at the auction, it was wrong of me to get on here and spout off about it. I apologize for that and don't mean anything bad towards the intermountain fur harvesters organization.
Anyways, just wanted to say my bad. Hope y'all have a great summer and maybe see you around