Trap fur when its prime,or coming on to prime in your section.Slightly early fur is much more marketable than later fur.Fur coming on to prime has good colour and good guard hair coverage,but lacks in weight.
Later skins (overprime) have heavy underfur, poor colour(faded),and sparse guard hair(loose and open).

Our red fox season goes until March 15th, which is ridiculous fur wise... ours are close to being done now. Two months of open season to go with basically zero fur value. Our greys hold up until about March 1 usually, but the reds are just killed and wasted... OK I guess if you just want them dead and gone.

Muskrats and beaver, keep the rat glands and beaver castor. Find a buyer looking for hatter beaver and you should be able to skin and freeze , also keep the tails of the bigger beaver.

Found this fur primeness chart in another forum.

1.) Link: https://www.trappersreport.com/story/Fur-Primeness-Chart

2.) IPFS secret code: QmVByBceLciJ6yVtM5YS58EiccfgD6611CBWzz5mjctkGT


Notes:

- Note: I (also) put the image on the "Interplanetary File System," think..."torrent." So maybe, if Google doesn't have a way to kibosh it, it will last as long as we are on this planet. Meaning: We can still find stuff when they tell us, "no soup for you."


Original Source:
- http://nytrappers.proboards.com/thread/19346/fur-primeness-chart

Coyotes here are looking rough.I quit 2 weeks ago.

That chart's for Minnisota.

I know but... it was in a NY trapping forum. If anyone has a more NY-appropriate chart I will Gladly use it.

The truth is that even in one given area different animals will be in different shape. You can catch a double on otter, one singed, the other perfect. Double on fox/coyote, one rubbed, other perfect. Double on rats, one bit up, the other did the biting and is perfect.

If its legal and you want to trap, trap. In a good market all will sell for a decent penny. In a lame market..even the best isn't gonna do all that great.

That is true. Some fox here are starting to break down, two of my last ten were slightly rubbed, one was pretty bad. The rest were in great shape. I caught a beautiful, thick-furred female this morning. But, IMO, it's time to pull the line tomorrow.

Exceptions to everything... I caught a badly rubbed female Mid-December and another young female w/ absolutely no guard hair, just short wooly underfur... at least a month before the female should even started rubbing... and I think the wooly one never had any guard hair to start with... exceptions to the norm.

Exactly! If you are not trapping for a living, what difference does it make ?