Any fur trappers out there?

mscher

Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
1,424
Never trapped pro (yet), but I do have to take muskrats and possums on occasions, on our small farm.

I hate to just bury them, if there is any market for the pelts.

Seems I heared that prices were up, since China supossedly buys them, but have no more info that.

Any info appreciated.
 

bucky7680

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
296
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

I grew up in Wisconsin and traped muskrats and hunted coons and skunks. Possums had no value as fur but I got $1 for a skined carcus from a friend of my fathers who grew up in the South. I sold my pelts to a local fur trader and made spending money. My mother still lets some local kids trap and hunt on our lake and land. My mother enjoys the look on the boy's faces when they get their first deer and Lord knows we have plenty of deer in Wisconsin. Get ahold of a taxidermist or a real sporting goods store and ask if anyone is buying furs. It is very inportant to make sure you skin the pelt properly. The price drops dramatical if it is done wrong. Are you planning on using leg or live traps?

P.S. A responsible trapper checks his traps at least once a day.
 

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

My grandfather trapped all his life. Check with your state conservation dept. They will often pay you to trap overpopulated species. My grandfather got $13 for each racoon. Although they specified that they had to be live trapped, after they were trapped, he was supposed to take them off the state park and kill them. He then would skin and sell the fur for another $4... That doesn't seem like much now, but that was back in the 40's and 50's, so that was pretty good back then.

He also trapped mushrats as he called them. He sold them whole because their oil is a valuable waterproofer.
 

Bass Man Bruce

Lieutenant
Joined
Jul 9, 2004
Messages
1,378
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

I ran a trap line in my teens (mid to late 60's) caught racoons, muskrats, fox and mink. Did ok and got some walking around money. Running a trap line is a LOT of work, and I agree with Bucky7680 that it should be done each day.
Can't say on the prices now though, peta really made them tank a while back.
I got 80 cents to a buck and a quarter for muskrat, 2 -3 dollars for racoons and 5 - 6 dollars for fox and mink.
 

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

Can't say on the prices now though, peta really made them tank a while back.


Fur prices probably tanked, but the conservation dept. should be paying the same or more.
 

Caveman Charlie

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
545
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

I grew up in Wisconsin and traped muskrats and hunted coons and skunks. Possums had no value as fur but I got $1 for a skined carcus from a friend of my fathers who grew up in the South. I sold my pelts to a local fur trader and made spending money. My mother still lets some local kids trap and hunt on our lake and land. My mother enjoys the look on the boy's faces when they get their first deer and Lord knows we have plenty of deer in Wisconsin. Get ahold of a taxidermist or a real sporting goods store and ask if anyone is buying furs. It is very inportant to make sure you skin the pelt properly. The price drops dramatical if it is done wrong. Are you planning on using leg or live traps?

P.S. A responsible trapper checks his traps at least once a day.

When we were younger we used to hunt raccoons then we would bag and freeze the whole animal and sell it to the fur buyer that way.


It's harder to do in my area now because we have so many local police that they are board and love to bust young people for silly little things. Example: our coon dog was a German Shepard. The last young person I knew who tried that few years ago got pulled over by the police and spent the night in juvie hall because the cop said you can't use any type of dog for coon hunting except a coon dog.When I was young they didn't care as long as you were staying out of trouble.
 

bandit86

Banned
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
531
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

It's harder to do in my area now because we have our coon dog was a German Shepard. The last young person I knew who tried that few years ago got pulled over by the police and spent the night in juvie hall because the cop said you can't use any type of dog for coon hunting except a coon dog.When I was young they didn't care as long as you were staying out of trouble.


what makes a coon dog better suited then a german sheppard? what is a coon dog?
 

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

A coon dog is a blue tick hound, and I would be surprised if there was actually a law against using other breeds... I smell a lawsuit. ;)
 

AK_Chappy

Lieutenant
Joined
May 25, 2003
Messages
1,357
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

A coon dog is a blue tick hound, and I would be surprised if there was actually a law against using other breeds... I smell a lawsuit. ;)

To properly put it.
A Blue Tick hound is a coon dog, not all coon dogs are Blue Tick hounds.
There is the Black and Tan, the Red Bone, and other breeds.
What makes them coon dogs is the fact that they are bred for hunting purposes. They have traits like the floppy ears that swish the air and stir up the scent. These breeds have historically been used for hunting other animals like deer and squirrels. However the use of dogs for hunting those animals is now illegal in most places.

AK Chappy
 

Caveman Charlie

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
545
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

Well, you have to understand our version of coon hunting (back when gas was cheaper ) was to drive around at night in the correct places until you saw a raccoon cross the road then jump out in the ditch and club it to death while the dog keeps it corned. The proper way to hunt coons is to get permission to hunt a certain grove of trees and then take your dog out there to tree the coon then shoot him. Police frown these days on kids driving around aimlessly all night. Besides every one is 911 happy and if you drive by there house they start looking at you. And, if you stop down the road to club a coon they can't tell what your doing. They just know you stopped so they call the police. The cops then have to get up and go out of the station house into the cold to see what the call was about. This makes them mad. When I was young the cops would have just told the person calling on the phone that if they didn't see a crime to just forget it and go back to bed. Now days there are rules requiring them to check out every call no matter how frivolous it may be.

Basically it's best to just stay home after dark.
 

bucky7680

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
296
Re: Any fur trappers out there?

Our family encourages young boys to hunt and trap on our property. At first they come with their dads and when they become High School age they are allowed to hunt by themselves. We believe hunting teaches a young man respect for his dad, the land, property owners, and the animals they hunt. Many young men have gotten their first deer, pheasant, duck or goose hunting on our proprerty. My mother gets more wild game now then when I lived on the farm, everyone gives her a share of what they get even after they have grown to be men and go on to hunt elsewere. In the 20 plus years that we have been alowing hunting on our land we have never had a single problem. Kids today have lost many things that we took for granted when we were young.
 
Top