Shine.. No. But catch them yes. Haven't forgotten either lol.

The problem is only a few states have the quality they want and yet people from all over will trap coon and then wonder why their prices suck.

Exactly

I remember Groeny saying catch all the blue coon you can last year early on.

We went from heavy coyotes at ceiling,advancement expected in semi's, to tariffs and no good, to wanting coons on top of the extra 20% tariff.I don't drink kool aide.Perhaps taking the interest from semi heavy coyote.

I plan on trapping coon and mink like always to begin with. I have several guys lined up to come and take instruction here on my line but will be taking fewer this year than in the past. Coon trapping is a bread and butter product here. If you want to make money trapping you really need to trap coon even at lower prices. I have made money by sheer volume during these trying times in the fur industry. I am looking forward to a price increase and so are my students. Can't wait to see some big pictures from them this season. LLL

Boy howdy, some of you guys are hard to please.

higher prices bring everyone out of the woodwork. Though we all could use them it is nice not to have people stealing equipment and horning in on the trapline

Heck. I might even dust off a dozen traps this year.

Here I believe I can make it work with just a mild increase in prices or even at last year pricing, even if coons went up to $40 (not that they will before the negative ones say I'm predicting that) but some would complain they were not $45 then! LOL Oh the drama.

Some make it sound like adding sets to a line that your already running will bankrupt a guy somehow really how? So I get a few coon or skunks every check and my gas plus more is paid for that day along with the yotes and badgers I'm after. The ones being negative about any idea of making any money on coons must not plan on going after them then for whatever reasons they have. Why ruin it for the rest of us it's not like they care about us it's our line we will run them as we see fit never had any season full of guarantees that I can remember in past years it's all a crap shoot.

We have plentiful amounts of skunks and coons here and big ones to boot I don't see how that will hurt me in anyway but I might lose some sleep skinning some more.


Don't see how everyone will be hammering coons in areas that have poor coons as that's not what the market is looking for so why would they? If they want the many XXX plus coons I have them here and plan to go after them, the skunks I have markets for about everything skunk you can think of so why not go after them?

I ask my buyer what the market is before the season starts to get an idea of how to plan for the season I suggest others do the same to see what to target in your areas.

Lawdog you going to sell as they come off your stretchers or hang on to them and sell them all in the spring? Around here unless you wait for weather where the high temp is a single digit, coons will be in coyote and cat sets. Good thing is the open country most of my coyote sets are in the coons are big. Can be a royal pain in cat sets. Better than possums but still time consuming to rebuild a set. I cant see running a straight up coon line. Got enough houndsman around here that kill a few all year round population has been staying pretty healthy.

I will roll and freeze mine no time to put them up during the season too much going I will pull them on the machine then straight to the freezer if they are worth pulling out of the freezer then I will if not they will be OK until we se what next year brings.

I'm mostly after the skunks for essence and the spotted ones for research they could have a big old rub spot or be summer caught and the price is still top dollar for research and the essence is pricey too on the little ones.


Main goal is yotes but a lot of nice skunk/coon spots are along the way so why not help pay some expenses don't plan to get rich but then I never did in the past! LOL

When money isn't the *primary* motivation for going out season after season you're not likely to be cynical about projected price increases, even marginal ones.

Money is the key motive when it comes to trapping. Yes a few say they do it for fun but where are those guys now? A ten dollar coon in the grease and I have five times the trappers in my area as when they are 6 or 8 bucks. LLL

Sounds like a bunch of whiney old women. Geez trap them or not . All he said was that there will be interest in them based on inventory. He never said look out 30 dollar coons a coming.

If we can't talk about prices before the season, what can we talk about.

No it's not. Trapping is the key motive when it comes to trapping. If making money is what you're after, become an investment banker, a hedge fund manager, or marry into a wealthy family. Trapping is a very poor choice if your dream is to make money.

And let's not get into the usual non sequiturs about trappers not caring about prices because one's primary reason for trapping is not the money angle. I care about prices, it's a fundamental part of trapping, just as skinning and scouting and preparing traps before the season are fundamental aspects of trapping. Not placing money as your primary goal for putting traps in the ground does not diminish anyone's worth or drive as a trapper.

Don't know anyone that ever got rich on just trapping alone maybe break even, lose a little or make a little yep, flat out rich year after year heck no!

The only real justifiable reason to take the life of one of God's creatures is to increase your chances of survival.

If it weren't for the money trapping as we know it would not exist. There are plenty of people that are out there making a profit and even a living from trapping even with the market we have now.

Trapping has always been primarily about profit going all the way back to the very beginning of settlement of North America. You think those mountain men were out there trapping for kicks? I figure that the whole "hobby" aspect of trapping is a fairly new aspect.

Once again, if it were not for the money, trapping as it is now would not exist. You would have Government trappers and a few NWCO's and that would be it.