# Houghton Lake Fur Sale April 2017



## 2 Kids And I Trap (Jan 5, 2010)

Who is planning on attending, and anyone in need of a lot number please give me a call. 

You can find my number in the upcoming event section of the mtpca.com website. 

Jon


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

We're going. always a great time at the Playhouse. Should be lots of beaver and rats.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

I'm bringing some raw skins for tanning, anyone needing something special for craft and garment, etc.. can PM me. Most species available.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

Loaded and ready to go. See everyone in the morning. Looks as if its gonna be a good sale.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

Had a much larger than expected turnout. Good sale. Thanks to all involved and everyone that participated. Mainly beaver and rats, a fair amount of ****.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

Results are up on MTPCA Facebook page


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## James Dymond (Feb 23, 2002)

furandhides said:


> Results are up on MTPCA Facebook page


I don/t do facebook


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## K-zoo (Jul 19, 2008)

From the MTPCA FB page.


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## K-zoo (Jul 19, 2008)

The greased raccoon price is a typo. It should read 28 **** at $2.00 a piece.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Skunks are worth 40% more than ***** when you look at avg price.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

James Dymond said:


> I don/t do facebook


Good to see I am not the only knuckledragger who Does not do the face tweety thing
Someday maybe I'll have my daughter show me how it works but for now i'll stay in the dark ages


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Thanks Kzoo

I never did get my beaver finished. I guess I'll get them out this fall when it cools off and finish them off. 
Looks like good castor prices this spring. Hope that continues to improve as well


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## James Dymond (Feb 23, 2002)

Sold eleven rough skinned beaver to Groenewold yesterday for $160. Jim


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## Johnson103103 (Jan 5, 2013)

Sold 262 rats yesterday for a 4$ average.


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

James Dymond said:


> Sold eleven rough skinned beaver to Groenewold yesterday for $160. Jim


I look at the sale sheet and have to ask myself, WHY would anyone put-up a beaver for $3 and change???? Correct me if I'm wrong Jim but didn't you sell a **** load of greased beaver to Roger a few years ago and you posted a photo? I've always sold through NAFA which required me to finish my beaver but in hindsight and though I learned a lot putting them up, I should have sold greased and spent the extra time trapping and putting-up coyote!!


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## James Dymond (Feb 23, 2002)

I think I took Roger around 60 or more but also some castor which I got good money for at the time. The only reason I trapped any this year was I wanted some for coyote bait for this fall and I saw that groenewold was stopping at Indian river. Some years I had to go to the UP because he didn't stop here. Also I guess I have a #2 hat. Trapped for a week a lot of water and the killed deer made for an interesting time.


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

James Dymond said:


> I think I took Roger around 60 or more but also some castor which I got good money for at the time. The only reason I trapped any this year was I wanted some for coyote bait for this fall and I saw that groenewold was stopping at Indian river. Some years I had to go to the UP because he didn't stop here. Also I guess I have a #2 hat. Trapped for a week a lot of water and the killed deer made for an interesting time.


My property owners aren't very keen about me using road-killed deer OR beaver carcasses to draw MORE coyote onto their properties for me to trap.LOL. When I field-skinned coyotes I got the jaundice-eye from several property owners about leaving piles of coyote and fox carcasses for the same reason. Needless to say, I no longer use bait piles for my coyote trapping BUT beaver meat is an EXCELLENT bait chunked or carcass.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

What keeps surprising me, is the fact that we keep having this Spring sale where no beaver show up. 150 beaver at a sale, and a half dozen buyers. If you're a beaver buyer, tough place to go to add a few to the pile. Really, it's not worth it. 150 beaver is the catch of a good beaver trapper or two, not sale numbers.


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## wicklundrh (Mar 18, 2014)

My take on the numbers is that there seemed to have been some pretty "shotty" knife work being done. I am also referring to scraping as well. I get that we have a few less than desirable pelts from time to time but, when you have a low bid that altimately drives down the overall price (on more than one species) it makes you wonder. 

I have seen small sales go the other way too though. If you have a good finished product, you tend to claim top bids and more offers at the smaller shows because there is less overall quality to choose from. Assuming the buyers are there. Otherwise, you get lowballed to death


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

I guess that the assoc. should whittle down the number of sales, to a point where you attempt to build a larger offering at fewer events. Small offerings keep away the really large buyers, most certainly. They also keep small buyers looking for specialty items away, as they feel that there will not be enough of a certain item to be worthwhile attending. If it wasn't for several trappers that brought large rat numbers, the sale would have been a bust. Go through the numbers on species count. There was nothing there.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

N.Y. State had their Spring sale same day. 641 beaver, 277 mink, etc.


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## BigJoe. (Jul 6, 2015)

Good points on the sale/sales. Roger, please bring these points up at the convention in August. We can ask for input from other buyers as well since some of them will be there. That along with trying to please the membership, maybe the MTPCA will adjust fur sales. 
As of right now the position of fur sale director has been vacated by Jon stepping aside for family reasons. This information should be shared by all those who participate in fur sales.
With a down fur market and lower catch numbers than a few years ago, adjusting may need to be done to meet the needs of both buyers and sellers.


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## furandhides (Jul 3, 2008)

Take advantage of the free auction postings in ALL the trapper related mags. Promotion of the sales, especially now, is a must. From what I've seen the past several seasons, two sales might work. The pre Christmas sale is always a winner. One sale at the end. We used to have more fur at one sale than we have now at all the sales combined.


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## wicklundrh (Mar 18, 2014)

Isn't it just like a bumpy road! The market goes down so as a result, the catch numbers go down. Then, their isn't enough supply to meet even the down market demand so the market up ticks. Then, because fewer people trapped over the last few years (due to a down market and low sales numbers) there are more critters. So, more critters are caught, which brings more furs to auction, which then means more supply than demand, which once again tips the scales. 

Sure do wish that those of us at the end of the line could somehow impact those numbers. Unfortunately, if furs are not brough to market by one guy or business, it leaves the door wide open for someone else.

Sure is a evil cycle isn't it! Thank the lord I trap for the love of it and the understanding that what I am doing has a posative impact on the properties I manage. But, the market does play in to my mind as well. It impacts the number of traps I may set out to catch those nusciance critters.


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