# MTA/MMIT Clare Fur Sale Results (Big Surprise)



## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Roger & Guys,

It was great seeing such a fine group of local fur buyers hang in there with us to the very end. Roger, thanks for being such an active and upbeat fur buyer at all our auctions.

(Roger, it was fun watching the last few muskrat go across the auction block, with you in the center of the buyers wheeling that wooden yardstick. For a brief second, I mistook you for the auctioneer, rather than the fur buyer. 

It was very clear that you definitely were not going to let any of those last rats get away from you. And with each smiling little wink of your eye, the final bid and auctioneer's gavel would fall in your favor, as yet more rats ended up in your pile of furs.

I truly hope you have had a good fur buying season this year, even with all the turmoil in market.)

I am as surprised as all the rest, regarding the mixed lot of stretched and dried squirrel pelts. It appeared that the bulk of the pelts were grays and blacks, with a few fox squirrels.

Yes, they were well handled, but I had no idea that there was a market for squirrel pelts, other than Red Squirrels.

I did talk to the father of the young man who put up these squirrel pelts and he told me that his son did it just for practice. Well, he was well paid for his efforts in putting up these 50+ squirrel pelts. My hat goes off to this young man for showing us what youthful enthusiasm combined with hard work can bring. 

One other lot of furs, really stood out in my opinion. It was a season's catch of raccoon by a trapper from Newaygo. I got to talk to him and his wife about how well his furs were handled.

He admitted that he spends way too much time putting up his furs, but enjoys doing a top notch job. I believe he is an electrician by trade, so I can just imagine the outstanding job he must do in training his wire runs, if his electrical work is anything like his fur handling!

Congratulations to Scott, from Newaygo, for showing us all what superbly handled furs can look like, coming from the hands of master fur handler. I glad to see that his raccoon collection took the top dollar at the sale. Just wish the fur market had been a little more robust, so his extra efforts could have received an even higher financial reward.

Mike from the U.P. also came a long ways to sell his collection of stretched and dried skunk pelts. He got, I believe over $7 each and was happy with the results. Now he wishes he had put up more of them. There is always next year, so keep after those skunks!


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Can someone post averages for the auction.


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## unregistered55 (Mar 12, 2000)

I was there with 2 of my grandkids. After about a dozen lots sold and I saw how low prices were, I was fearful that a few of their pelts wouldn't even get any bids.  Thanks to the "charity" of Paul and Ralph, everything was sold. Kudos to Paul Strasel for getting the sale started...for the second time in 2 years! :lol: The auctioneer didn't show up at all last year and was an hour late Saturday. Jeff is a former student of mine and lives right down the road from me so next year I'll call him the morning of the sale and tell him to get his hide over to Jay's on time.


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## wild bill (Apr 20, 2001)

CL-Lewiston said:


> Can someone post averages for the auction.



probably be tomorrow till becky has them figured out. i think the averages will be a little lower on some. rats seemed to hold steady and the rest depended on the put up.


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## fishhogster (Mar 6, 2007)

dad took his fur and didnt sell any of it they buyers kinda treated him like sh**. he put his rat up and they gave him a price of 3.00 for realy good rats and he sad no then one of the buyers wanted to buy them on the side dad said screw you you had your chance. after that he pulled his fur and watched there were some guys didnt even bring there fur in cause of the prices. and he watched a few take there fur right back out the door. hes going to ship them to canada. he said it was one of the worst sales hes ever seen and hes traped for over 30 years.


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## David G Duncan (Mar 26, 2000)

Fish,

I am sorry to hear that your Dad had a bad experience at the Clare Fur Auction.

It is possible that he was one of the first lots to go up for sale. If he was, then this could possibly explain why he was disappointed with the price.

I know it is hard to keep cool under these circumstances and pulling his muskrats was no doubt the right thing to do.

In years past, when the market had taken a dip, and fur buyers were starting the auction bidding out at extremely low prices, we would allow the trappers, with the first few lots, a chance to run their fur across the block again in the middle of the sale. Normally, they were able to sell at a better price, once the bidding levels had been established.

This option might be something to consider at future auctions, should a similar situation arises.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

I didn't see anyome treated poorly. Only two guys pulled. One guy had several bunches of green **** he didn't sell. Your dad run his **** first, the offer was what it was. He was upset and didn't run the rats and beaver. Most everyone sold. Mike Kain was the pickup for NAFA, and I was loading alongside of him. He just had a few bags on, he didn't pick up much of anything, other than the 300 rats that Paul wanted $5 for. I didn't see any buyers trying to buy "out the back door". If that was the case, you should have reported it to the fur sales manager. Don't try to paint the picture that the sale was a sham, and we were a bunch of crooks. It is what it is, and I feel most everyone there understood the situation we're all in. The **** aren't gonna bring any more at NAFA, if they sell at all. Its tough times in the fur business, and its gonna take a few years for things to straighten out. We're just a small part of the poor, failing world economy. The **** market can and may go down to a buck or two. Thats just the way it is. No reason to bad mouth someone cause you didn't get what you wanted. I've sold fur many,many times for a fraction of what I thought it was worth. Thanks to all you guys who put the sale on and to the trappers that attended.


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## Wizard3686 (Aug 30, 2005)

To the guys who helped put this on and was there. Do you think we could get a break down on what the highs and lows were along with the Avg's


Thanks 
Rob


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## Joe R. (Jan 9, 2002)

Descrip................#hides.........avarage.............high..........low 
badger.....................1................$10.00...............$10.00.......$10.00 
beaver....................44................$15.80...............$41.00.......$3.50 
coyote....................46................$9.82................$20.00.......$2.50 
deer hides...............3.................$1.67................$2.00.........$1.00 
fox - grey...............16................$16.03..............$25.00........$1.00 
fox - red.................17................$15.82..............$23.00........$4.00 
raccoon...............460................$7.17................$14.25........$0.25 
green-racoon........50................$3.01................$7.50..........$0.25 
muskrat................799................$3.04................$5.00..........$0.25 
opossum.................39................$1.80................$3.90..........$0.10 
skunk.....................31.................$6.94................$8.50..........$3.50 
mink - female...........9.................$4.83................$7.25..........$1.00 
mink - male............17.................$7.25...............$14.00..........$1.00 
squirrel................53.................$3.90...............$3.90...........$3.90 
weasel.....................6.................$2.58...............$4.00...........$1.50


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## gilgetter (Feb 28, 2006)

Not a bad sale at all.the better fur made a good price. IMO that is as it should be. the more you put into your fur the better you do at sale time.

Nice to talk to you at the sale.If you get any time, and you want to fish erie or the river, Im ready. later gil.


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## B's Nest (Mar 24, 2013)

wild bill said:


> im still in shock at what them squirrels sold for.[/QUOT how much did the squirrels sell for/


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## Mister ED (Apr 3, 2006)

B's Nest said:


> wild bill said:
> 
> 
> > im still in shock at what them squirrels sold for.[/QUOT how much did the squirrels sell for/
> ...


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