First of all thank you Paul Dobbins for approving my membership. I have read almost all of your Dad's books and watched some of yours and his dvd's. I really like the books were he talks about experience's on the trapline.
Please take time to read this long post. Especially if your a young trapper from Ky.
Hey guys, how is everyone doing? I would like to say that I am not one for drama but I figured I would make this post and hopefully it will save someone from the aggravation that I have went through the last couple of days. So here it goes.
I went to the fur auction in Glenville Wv on March 4th. It cost me around $40 bucks in gas and took me around 3 hours and 15 minutes one way. As you can see in the pic below I had 19 coyotes, 3 bobcats, 13 beaver, 4 coon, and 3 muskrats. (I had vehicle problems this year and couldn't trap like I wanted.) When I was unloading my fur someone was bragging on how nice my coyotes were. When I got there I filled out my consignment sheet and headed back home. As it was a long trip. (Pictures at end of post)
I was anxious to see what I got out of my fur so I called a member Of the Wv trappers association. He was very helpful as he answered my questions through phone and email. You know who you are, thank you. He called me back and he told me "Don't be mad" at this point I figured it wont be too bad but not all that good. He told me I got $25 dollars out of all the fur listed below, thats right $25 bucks! An average of around .60 cent a hide (green hide) Obviously I was shocked. I have sold a lot of fur and have never had this problem before. It had nothing to do with my skinning as I have skinned and sold a lot of animals in the past. We don't have nice fur like a lot of other very lucky and fortunate trappers but we work with what we have.
I asked him why this happened. He told me it was because of Ky cities tags which makes no sense whatsoever. My county is connected to West Virginia So I don't see how my fur was any different from their's (North east Ky.) So I asked for the number to the guy that bought my fur (Danny Stutler) and he told me it was because I had green beaver and no one wanted to put them up because it was so much work, which is not very believable. I don't encourage wasting hides but at that price he could have thrown the beaver away and made an absolutely huge profit margin. I have put up animals before but did not have a good place to dry my hides this year. But I think I will have one next year if nothing bad happens.
Don't waste your time feeling sorry for me, I know you take chances when you go to a auction. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes it eats you. But please let this be a warning to all Ky trappers please DO NOT SELL YOUR FUR AT THE WV AUCTION! I feel as it is very unfair to Kentucky trappers. Stuff like that makes people wonder why they even trap. If that unfortunate event would have happened to a young trapper they may would have quit trapping. I for one want the tradition of trapping to last as it has given me alot of enjoyment. I am glad it happened to me instead of a kid or someone else who depended on the money. Trappers need to stick together as we are a dying breed.
P.s If you look at their numbers on their website that tells the average, lows, high's, etc...that is completely false. Their possum average was higher than what I got out of my bobcats and coyotes. If you know any young Ky trapper please spread the word. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Good luck to all of you who are shed hunting and getting ready for turkey season and picking morels
They also took their $2.50 for commision.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.