I don't understand the not wanting green fur? There is a lot of green fur sold here most do as good as dried. I don't like the all grades go to gather thing. If that's the way it's done why not just ship to nafa?

Man, I hate it when somebody who sucks as bad as he does is right.

Naïveté.

I'd buy all the green beaver for .50 cents.

Heck he got .60 apiece for ALL his hides . I would have finished the hides and then spilt what they brought.
To me I see one thing they could do and no one could complain. STOP lotting everything together regardless of the species. Give me a break !! A green bobcat is worth more than a green rat !! But not how they do it in WV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you want to lot it as species then people take what they get . Green sel 1 coon same as 2-3 what ever . Then the buyer is buying a grab -bag of fur like you do at tackle shops trying to get rid of 15 year old worms !!!!

Bam problem averted ..............

Any auction without a no sale option is all the BAD parts of the big auctions with none of the real draws and positives.

Bad being the fact you have no control once the bag is gone. Good being the possibility a buyer will buy a whole lot or string to fill a larger order AND will have to compete with many other buyers . No one will ever convince me any buyer attending NAFA or FHA sales attended the WVTA sales! So that benefit is gone.

Green hides should be sold by specie. The way WVTA chose was/is perfect for something like this.

Like VAWolfer, I’ll never attend any auction like this.

it is what it is,,someone to lazy to put there fur up,,what do you expect,wvta will no longer take your green fur if I have anything to do with it,,and I know the two that is causing trouble here

If he hadnt got screwed he wouldn't be on here complaining

Yea, no green fur and no outa staters! Jan and the people who work hard at our auction deserve better from what I thought was a good group of people on here. Did you here about this on CNN? I hate what happened, but it’s not WVTAs fault. Yea, a no sale clause, if the prices are low that year, the buyers just as well not show!,,.,,.,..,

I don't understand it. 90% of the fur sold at the Mississippi auction is green. MS is much further south than WV is.

SPECIES #SOLD AVG $ TOP LOT
Beaver 145 $6.90 $13.50
Bobcat 103 $29.40 $57.50
Castor 27.54# $39.75 $48.00
Coyote 22 $3.61 $9.00
Deer 1 $1.00 $1.00
Gray Fox 45 $9.29 $12.50
Mink 3 $2.50 $2.50
Muskrats 9 $2.06 $2.50
Nutria 15 $0.84 $1.00
Raccoon 561 $1.60 $3.25
Red Fox 22 $16.73 $20.00
Skunk 18 $9.17 $11.00
Otter 79 $23.28 $35.00
Possum 37 $0.16 $0.25


So ONE average, junky, tawny, non-spotted green bobcat from the deep south brought MORE than 3 bobcats, 19 coyotes, 13 beaver, etc etc or whatever the original post was?!?!

Had he sold his more northern fur in the deep south Mississippi fur auction, nearly ALL green fur... he would have made... $259.07... over 10x what he did in WV.

How can anyone not understand why he is so upset?

Since our sale is almost ALL green fur, if he'd have sold his fur down here he would have averaged....

$6.16 per pelt.........versus..........$0.60 per pelt.

Yeah, I'd be upset too.

Have we heard from any other trappers that had green fur on this sale in West Virginia?

Was Trapper123456 the only one selling green fur? I realize that not every trapper is on Tman but there certainly should be some one else that had green fur there or knows of some one that had green fur there.

It would be interesting to see what other groups of green fur sold for. Was the OP's lot of fur an isolated incident or did all green fur sell at these levels.

There is no way you can please everyone at a fur sale believe me I know from running one for a few years now. The thing about a local sale is the buyers have orders to feel the trappers have prices they would like to get and the shippers are there to just pick up. My job in the hole sale is to make sure no one gets screwed over not that everyone is happy with what they get that is the person's or the salers responsible. I will say this it is the trappers choice to put up his or her fur but it should never be someone else responsible to sale that fur on a State or local level why because of what we are hearing here.

The way our sale is run is to give the trapper the option to sale ship or take it home. If the buyers want fur they have to pay for it because they are more buyers there wanting the same fur and the NAFA truck is out side if that sealer want to ship it. Now the buyers do not like the NAFA truck setting out side and it is my understanding that a lot of sales don't allow the truck any where near the sale. That's fine but who are you helping the buyers or your members our sale if you sale it's 3% if you no sale you pay 5 dollars and if you ship you pay 5 dollars. This is the minimum we can charge and most years this dose not even come close to paying for the building we do this some raffles to help pay the rest. Do we have the best sale around or is it better than any other sales no a sales success is based on how happy the members are with the sale and note I said members because that's who the sale is for everyone else is just there as a guest and has no right to say how a sale is to be run. If you don't like the way your sale is run go to the state association meeting and let your voice be heard and get the members to vote with you all you have to do is be a member or run for a office to make the changes. Or you can always come to the D1 sale and we will treat you right that's just a shameless plug.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the NAFA truck sitting outside isn't going to take fur that is green or frozen on the carcass. That's what this entire post is about -- not the finished fur.

You're right Jan. Green hides are always going to be a lottery. I've sold that way- didn't like it either. I'm guessing buyers going to Mississippi's event know most is green and plan accordingly- bring a trailer with a freezer or 2 maybe?

Plus, I don't pay to ship if I meet the truck on pick up day. If I wanted to ship last Saturday at the VTA sale I would have to pay 10.00 if I read the form right. Don't make sense to me that I pay for a service that is free on every other pickup. Is that to discourage shipping?

I know the Assn is losing money renting a hall. (Ask Ed Crebs about the guy who helped offset the costs the last year in Fishersville.....) I understand that, but charging to ship, I don't know. VTA now goes to a private farm for its event given the poor prices and therefore commissions. Maybe that is an option to reduce costs and overhead until prices rise and income for the Assn goes up as well.

Hey guys, I had a pretty busy day yesterday doing a euro mount on a Texas dall sheep for someone else. Those horns though...lol. I can see that my post has gotten some more attention, and some new faces. So I will take the time to address it.

Guys, I have no problem with a fur buyer making money. I would not want them to buy my fur so they could lose money on it. It's a business and I understand that. But what happened to me on March 4th was imo highly unfair. When someone can pay around .60 cents a hide and do it with a clear conscience that's saying something for sure. I feel as though the Wv association could have intervened on my behalf and gave me a chance of getting my fur back.

Here's an example:
Someone tells me they want a snake hide tanned and ask me what I charge. Well this is a regular guy that works down at the mines I tell him $30 bucks. Then there comes a man wearing a nice suit and a tie and was wanting one tanned for his buddy down at the golf course If I know he is willing to pay $100 bucks and I no for certainty that no one will ever know what I charged him, guess what I would say? 30 bucks. If a Kid walks in and and his family is really poor and I can tell they don't have much I will tell them it's on the house, just don't tell anyone else. That's just how I am. I do not want to do someone wrong and I don't want to be done that way either. I would rather someone do me wrong than for me to do them that way though.

Bill,
I am the one you speak of who is "causing trouble". It is my understanding that you don't think much of my post and I can see why. If you can find it in your heart please allow me the priveledge to sell my green fur at your auction next year. Believe me, I can't just go anywhere and average around 60 cents a hide. But please keep responding though, I want as many trappers to see this post as possible. The view count is probably around 2900 views. As the old saying goes, "it is what it is".

D-hall,
I sincerely hope that everyone takes heed to your suggestion, "no green fur and outta stater". Please remember this guys. However, it seems that the Kentucky and Virginia auctions are willing to accomodate all of us "outta staters".

Yote-trapper,
Thank you for taking the time to do the math. That number is around what I figured I would get out of my fur. I might could have drove all of the way down there and back and came out better unfortunately.

As an aside...where are you doing taxidermy where you couldn't put up hides?

I am doing skull mounts at my home. I also tan hides inside my home. When I say in my home I mean in the kitchen and bathroom. I actually skin my animals in someone eles's huge garage that is uninsulated, therefore the animals won't dry very fast and run the risk of slipping. However, the prices I received for my green fur is extremely underwhelming and just to let you know this post is about green fur.

Snipperbbb, you must be different kind of person to try and justify what happned to me. You may have some skin in the game or are buddies with one of the buyers. Maybe something like this will happen to you one day and you can see how it feels. You have been commenting on this post from the beginning. Maybe it makes you feel good or maybe your are a special type of person, I don't mean the good kind of special either.

This has been an informative topic, and it's been a pretty good exchange of ideas, questions, and responses. I appreciate those involved with the sale taking the time to explain how and why. How an association chooses to run their sale is up to it's members. The sale is for the trapper (members). We require you pay membership dues in order to sale at ours. Anyone who legally obtained furs through hunting or trapping is welcome. Even out-if-staters. In fact, we would like to see trappers from neighboring states attend. We do suggest putting up most furs so that better prices can be gotten. Exceptions are otter and cats. These tend to sell better whole frozen (in the round). Our association has considered allowing the NAFA truck, but our members decided against it.

I don't believe boycotting the sale in-question is an appropriate response to what happened. If the OP did not understand how his fur would be sold, or that there was no minimum or No Sale option, then he took his uninformed chances. If he did know, then it was an informed chance. He took a chance. The results sucked regardless. BUT, it's not the association's fault that I can see. It's also not the buyers. Without a minimum or a No Sale option, the buyer is not compelled to offer more. How you choose to sell, where, when, all are your choices as the seller.

This is a great example of what can happen when selling. It was a relatively inexpensive lesson to learn. And, despite the possibility that some may avoid this particular sale in the future, there will be those that are learning about the sale's existence through this thread, and they'll likely attend. Hopefully all benefit. I hope the OP is able to put-up his fur in the future and find a selling situation that suits him better. If Don Wolf was in my state, I'd make it a point to visit him. Just to get an honest fur buyers opinion and helpful suggestions.

Disappointment and hurt feelers are the biggest issue. Gonna have to face the fact that whether you're in it for the money or not, others are. Don't jump into a business situation expecting the other guy to protect your interest. It rarely works that way.

I dry my furs just fine in an unheated she'd/garage like hundreds if not thousands of other trappers. As long as the humidity isn't high slippage isn't an issue. Your maybe only 30 miles south of me if your drive is 3 hours to glenville, as that would be my drive if I wanted to visit there again.

I doubt the volunteers who work these sales are going to miss you anymore than you will them.

The next time you sell stay until it is sold and don't expect someone else to give up their time to protect your interests.

Sounds like you dropped it off and split without asking about the rules of the sale and that's on you.