I have never had this happen to my mink before. Will this downgrade the mink. I am grouping my furs for our local fur auction, and I am not sure if I should put this mink in with the other Large males. Maybe I should group it with the smaller mink, because of the mold or whatever it is.



Also this mink had a few scars that opened up while I was putting him up. There are 2 of them on it's back. I was going to group this Large male in with the females because of the holes. Am I correct in doing this.



Thanks for any help
Brandon

Doesnt look like mold looks like its grease related.Sometimes fat turns yellow when it dries out.

I can't really tell from the pic whats on the hide.And with all the damage that i can see it would not matter.
Do not mix it in with your females,they will be worth more than that large male. Keep good fur with good fur and bad with bad!!!

Yeah that might be right. It is below freezing where I have my furs stored. I'll bet the fat around the saddle turned yellow when it froze.

Thanks for straighting me out Ohbuyer

I would throw them all in one lot. Mink are mink and skunk are skunk. If you throw that damaged mink in a lot by its self all you will get is a little of nothing for it. Who is going to fight for it. If you have it with the good males they may pay you more for the damaged one to get the good ones. If you want to be able to talk about how much you best ones brought pick out the best 2 or 3. I would put that damaged mink by its self. It will hurt the average if it is in the good ones but help the total. Just my thoughts.

.........and you have been buying fur how long Mark?
When you try to hide bad fur in amongst good, or don't point it out by seperating it yourself I automatically wonder what else you are trying to hide.
Seperate it. It is what it is. Toss them together and more than likely it will drag it all down.

ttt

what a great way to have good relations with buyers. That is a good reason not to go to a auction and buy fur.

Mark, you arn't trying to hide anything. You are just trying to sell them. Get the buyer to buy them all. If you are buying at an auction or your door and you see a lot of good fur and right next to it you see a lot of bad fur / low grades, which do you make a real attempt at buying? Are you going to push the bad lot to make sure you get it. I would like to think buyers are smart enough to know every piece of fur is not a peach. What do you suggest some one does with the low grades if they arn't bought at the auctin? Do you like when some one walks in with nothing but low grades and says I sold the good ones at the auction. I am sure you would like it if all you had to buy or bid on was the cream. I have bought fur and still buy some. I work for Pacific in Mt and Wa back in the early 80's. This time of the year, Dec-Jan we would have $100,000 days buying at the door. I have gone to sales where we bought close to 1000 Mt coyotes, plus cats. I have seen some fur and seen about every angle of selling and buying.
Don, you think everthing should be pre graded too?

I am just telling you Mark, that when you try to hide something it makes the buyer wonder what all you are trying to hide and they may not bid on any of it.
Chances are, when you seperate your low grade stuff out so the buyer can see it, and knows you made an honest effort to not hide anything, he will take the low grade stuff as well, and pay what it is worth.
Don is right, trappers and hunters hiding stuff is one reason he doesn't buy at trappers auctions, and I don't buy at very many. In fact the ones I do buy at (rarely, but it does happen)the furs are graded when they come through the door and placed into lots and the trappers aren't allowed to touch their lots until after they go through.
If the buyer wants to lump a damaged male mink (for example) in with a bunch of good females, then let him, but don't do it yourself, he may not see things the way you do on value.
I have been at sales where trappers did the honest thing and took slightly damaged stuff out, damage that was really negligible in other words, and the buyers grab the piece and put it with the better stuff as well.
It just pays not to hide stuff. Sometimes you will get away with it, but it always comes back to bite you in the azz. Remember, you might want to go to that buyer or auction again.

Everything should be pregraded at trappers auctions. As Mark said, that is why I quit trappers auctions. If a buyer is paying a great price for fur, he wants great fur in return.
A bunch of fur that has damaged or low grade fur is not great fur.

I still don't think anyone is trying to hide anything. Trying to hide it would be putting a thin slice of meat over the hole. You are just selling what you have. If that damaged mink is thrown out you are telling them it is worth little and I don't want to drop my avg on the good ones. I don't care if it sells or not. When you get ready to sell, do you want someone to grade you fur other then the buyer? A buyer shouldn't need a trapper to grade the fur for him. Never worked a pregrade auction, other then what the owner did. We passed on allot of the low grades when sorted out. Why buy them, in my experince they are not the ones that move. Yes, every thing has a value. If you are buying and trying to make 10% for a number how much time are you going to spend grading $1 fur in hopes of making 10 cents. In a big sale you pass it over and keep moving.

Most everyone sews up fur out stuff like fox, coyotes and cats. Is doing that an attempt to fool the buyer?

No Joe. An observant buyer will see that more often than not and figure the damage for what it is. The "sewing" or "pinning/stapling" of holes isn't to hide anything, it is to prevent the holes from getting bigger during the drying process.

Mark, pregraded fur just cuts down on time. Buyers are going to grade fur at an auction more often than not. If they are pregraded, then the buyers spend less time sorting through a bunch of stuff.

Buying low grade stuff is part of the game, and 10 cents is 10 cents, it does add up. When I "pass" on something it is because it is either completely unsalvageable, or would just take too much work to save it. I have a bobcat out here in the freezer that is going back to the trapper for that same reason. Just too much work to justify fooling with it.

As Don said on another post, and I concur, you don't buy frozen stuff and that is what that case was. It stayed until it thawed, was found to be beyond anything of value, and will go back to the trapper.

I was leaning towards putting it in a separate group, I will talk to somebody there at the auction and see what they think I should do. I've learned so much about fur grading by selling at auctions.

Good for you Grinner. Do the honest thing and the buyers will do you right.
Do you by chance know a guy up there by the name of Sam Blount?

Nope, but the name sounds familiar, I swear I remember hearing it somewhere.

He is part of the Independent Trappers up there. He was a buyer in TN in the mid 70's and taught me a lot. If he is at your auction, find him, have him look your stuff over. He'll steer you right. Hopefully he is still living, he was getting old enough to fart dust the last time I talked to him.