So I had a strange experience today. I'm in Santa Fe with the wifey on vacation. We went downtown to some fancy shops, and walked in a fancy hat store full of $400-500 dollar hats. They had a display on how cowboy hats are made, with a large piece of felt on display. A lady asked me if I needed any help, and I asked her if their hats were made from beaver felt. She excitedly told me that yes, their best hats were 100% beaver, but their lesser hats were a blend. I mentioned that I trap, and catch a handful of beaver every year. I said I get something like $8 per beaver, and joked that I must be on the wrong side of the fur trade. Her face got real sad, and she said "those poor critters. It breaks my heart to think of them getting killed just for their fur".

What the heck lady?!? You just got done telling me how proud you were that your hats are %100 beaver. What kind of disconnect must this lady have to be anti-trapping yet sell hats made of beaver fur?

Way of the world. People lose touch with reality, if they ever had any, when they live in a city.

But honestly that’s pretty hilarious.

Santa Fe is a trip in general. I try to avoid it as much as possible lol. How long are you here?

If you like Sugerland they are performing tonight at Sandia Casino about 45 minutes south of Santa Fe just before Albuquerque.

You should have told her that you also eat them.

Went out to eat once with some friends. There was another couple along that I knew, but not very well. This woman was telling us how terrible it was to kill animals to eat, and then she ordered prime rib for her meal.

True story.

She probably thinks that beaver felt is like wool - you shear it off and the animal lives to grow another batch.

I'm quite sure she doesn't understand the felt making process, even though there is a display on how cowboy hats are made.

Just like big city kids don't understand where hamburgers and chicken nuggets come from. LOL

Adam m, we leave tomorrow around noon. Santa Fe is very........interesting, we'll say. But we did an overnight in the Pecos Wilderness, and that was awesome.

Thebeaverguy, i mentioned that we eat them, that they taste like grass fed beef but better, and that seemed to gross her out, so at that point I just kind of meandered away before things got even weirder

You will notice that the Anti's can't see past the end of their noses on their best days, cause and effect escapes them!

Bummer. Yes it is, so is Taos. Pecos is beautiful with good stream fishing. I'm glad you got some mountain time in.

it baffles me how antis can even walk up right! As backwards as they acknowledge the simple things

One of my favorite Aldo Leopold quotes:

“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”

Went into the Alaska Fur Traders store in Jackson Hole, WY is Summer and was shocked to see $14,000 to $25,000 Bobcat coats, Coyote coats,etc. and a very professional sales lady that seemed to know her product line and a little knowledgeable about harvest methods. Bet she had to educate a few uninlightened urban pavement dwellers this summer. I think we would all make more money if their were more like her in the Fur trade.

A lot of those big city kids are fifty years old. Talked to a truck driver last week like that. Part of stupidity is not being able to follow the disconnect.

Makes you appreciate the perspective of the women on Trapperman. Most of the rest use emotions to run their lives, not logic and critical thinking!

I recently got into it with a vegan, and the thing that bothers me the most about these people is when you ask them that one simple two part question:
What brought you to this, and how long have you been living this way of life ??

None of them will ever tell you what brought them - because they are not wired to answer such questions - they can only provide links for further brainwashing.

I had someone ask me recently about the WILDLIFE MONITORING lettering in the windows of my Jeep, and I thought for sure I was going to have the wrath of not one but two anti's !!
I mean, this was the stereotypical young married couple, with money... the nice new Subaru, with very fancy expensive kayaks on a very fancy expensive trailer.

To my surprise, they were the first to admit that it is the hunter and the trapper who knows more about what is happening with our wildlife - because they are the ones who see it.
This to me was very refreshing and gave me much hope.

Anti's refuse to hear any kind of reason, or take part in any kind of conservation which might provoke them to think about - or God forbid - rethink their views.

But - sometimes they do, and that's an amazing thing to see.
Especially once they realize they have been lied to [by the anti-groups, etc....]

I feel sorry for the animals I trap. Does that make me anti trapping?

I feel real sorry for beaver that died for 8 dollars.