Here is an idea that may give a lot of people the answers they want, doubt it will settle any bickering. With the technology, and I know both auctions have it or can get it fairly easy, list the averages for each species for each grade. You would have an average for selects, I's, II's a combination of I-II's and so forth. It wouldn't take much to set it up and when the auction is over print it. Most people need to realize and remember that the "number" is the easiest thing to manipulate in the world. But until that happens it's very entertaining on here come auction time.

If it sells is it really junk fur?

Exactly
And we could run our own averages, and ones that do not want to know can carry on. Perfect

If it sells below my production cost, yes it is. I got a whole forest full of top grade junk fur.

Most of our seasons start to early & end to late. For some guys quantity is more important than quality. With fisher & marten if I start on opening day in Northern Maine I will catch some grade II's. If I wait a week or two no II's all I's or better. I hear guys talking about low value coyotes. I personally would never skin & put-up a fur that I thought was not at least a II grade. Every year I catch coyotes that stay in the woods after dispatch.

What you see as a grade 2 hide nafa might not. Seem like on a down market a lot of fur has the tendency to go SDG on one and sell cheap.

I try to sort them out, but I do get a damaged every now and then. I do not ship any that I feel are damaged.

I've been In this game for 60 years and I still can't grade coyotes. LOL

Last year we were told we don't know how to grade our fur.
Now I read we should grade out our low quality skins.
I predict that next year, many of us will not care what we are told lol.

Glad I have an ok job to fall back on because you guys make it sound like I won't get rich trapping...

You and dang near everyone else on the planet. I've put up yotes that I thought weren't worth a dollar that later sold for over $50.00 and I've put some up that I thought were pretty nice and they end up Sec III. I think this is why the auction houses deal with so much section III fur. I think it has little to do with people intentionally sending junk. Let's face it, how many of you would spend 20-30 minutes finishing a yote for a buck, or a coon for $0.50? Probably, not too many, but a lot of folks can't judge what a 5o cent coon is VS a $4 coon. When I was finishing fur, I had guys bring me all kinds of junk. Shot up coon, mangy yotes, etc... I had a lot that ended up on the pile unskinned because it was going to cost the customer more for me to put them up than what they are worth. That said, these section III critters have, absolutely, no affect on the overall market. There is and always will be an abundance of section III stuff and, relatively speaking, a shortage of good quality skins.

90% of us haven't a clue when It comes to grading fur. And the other 10% are only guessing. And are right about 3% of the time. LOL

I was given some dog hunted coon. I did more culling this time than many others combined.
I hear you about grading coyotes. Seems All mine are mutts.
I process wild fur, not perfect farmed fur.

Where does the cheap labor at nafa fall in that?

Star you have worn them down I think lol

The cheap labor at NAFA don't grade any fur. They un load bar code sort as to size. And do the other menial tasks that peons do.
And I have no Idea what their paid.
But they DON'T grade FUR.

The royalty thing in Canada...is each species the same, or some more than others? Jeez, property tax on wild fur??

So what happened to the low end market? Did all the people and Chinese are real people, quit buying low end fur for the craft market? Funny how section III fur still moves even today. I don't buy section III fur to make money on, but I do buy it to satisfy my customer. my trappers and hunters will be the first to tell you that if you don't buy my low end stuff, I will go to a buyer that does. I like my customers and will keep my customers happy. I also been in this skin game for over 60 years and have bought and sold fur for at least 45 of those years.
I personally don't see how we can't buy and sell low end fur. The auction companies don't like section III fur because they can't make big bucks selling section III fur anymore. Let the market improve so that a good sized pelt will be worth a ten dollar bill and the auction companies won't say a word about handling our section III fur. It is all a money thing even though our company that we own says it isn't about money but about the fact that low end fur is dragging down the good fur market. How in the he can low end fur that doesn't compete with upper end fur drag down the fur market. They both have their own place in the market or they used to until our company decided they don't want low end fur at this time because they can't make money. There will be a time that they will want to handle low end fur again.
Jim Gibb, you say you been in this game a long time and I know you have and I say that I have as much respect for you as anybody in the business. I can say you and I are friends but I been in this game as long or longer than most of you older guys have been. I don't understand the way you guys talk anymore. One of the worst things we as trappers and fur buyers and people in your line of work Jim, and I know you are a teacher in our trade, can possibly talk about is not using our resource to the fullest degree. It gives us a bad name with the people we fight with every day and those people are the anti trapping people.
I don't know what to think, I scratch my head and say, what are you guys thinking about.

Well said Mr. Wolf.

Sometimes sec 3 fur sells very well and high price.But not today.Some years I sell sec 3 goods and I want to know the avgs separate from good fur so I can make that decision.