He looked at two prime buck mink of mine and I took them back, $5 for the two was not going to buy them, sold him 30 rats put up for 4.20 average, add in one damaged at a buck and it is 4.10 for 31 rounded up. One bad pelt sure changes an average.

To those that have gone to any of his stops ,were there a lot more people sellin to him than in previous years ?

I took a few rats to the truck back on Nov 15. There were 3 people there. I left right after I sold so I don't know how many folks showed up afterwards

Sold to him on Nov 30. There were 6 trucks. 3 with trapper stuff, 3 with deer hides.

I wont see their truck till March 6th so I am no help.

i think we had 4 people on our stop, one just brought deer, the others mostly coon. I was the only one with coyotes rats or beaver. I sell all my coyotes green, in my experience it doesnt pay for me to put the up, besides I hate doing it.

I haven't been to the rat wagon yet this year, but I kinda hope there aren't many more people selling. You typically need to be there a half hour early to be near the front of the line. Otherwise, you're gonna wait awhile.

Well how about a price break down.

Averaged $8.33 on green coon and $3 on put up rats. Had a lot of smaller rats. $15 tops on coon and $5 tops on rats.

This type of price hype drives me nuts, assuming they were two similar coyotes. I'd rather just be told I have two, early, $30 coyotes than to have the price split exaggerated. I don't care about tops, I am only interested in true averages.

I've tried to tell people that if they have a pile of coyotes that are all of similar quality and timeframe, but the buyer does this $60, $15, $19, $16, $18 crap, they are getting played to be free advertising for "top price hype."

Just my opinion. It is fun to watch honest guys sort fur who know what they are doing, its a great way to learn.

I agree on the wide spread from top to bottom. When I watched the videos it really did not seem to matter too much how many or few the $15 or $20 coons were the averages came to $6-$7 in the grease which is probably where the market is now for typical Golden Triangle coons.
What I did notice however was that the seller that had 74 put up coons the $20, $15 and $10 and $2 piles were the same. He was offered $9 instead of $7 and $7 instead of $5 for those two piles. To me that means he got offered $2 more for the average coon and no more for the best or the worst. Which means he probably did not average $1 a coon for all 74 coons for putting them up. If GFW were my only market I would not put up my coons. I would my rats. As to coyotes I may not as I am not a good enough grader to know a $40 coyote from a $20 or a $5.

Bryce

With a $20 top, those $6-$7 averages, on grease coon are bringing 30-35% of the top. If your coon are getting you 30-35% of the top, they must be a pretty poor lot of coon or the top price is a carrot / top lot where everyone gets one or two. Seeing they are the golden triangle coon you would think they would average more. I know my coon average closer to the top price. But I don't sell on the grease or to Groney.

That was an early eastern IA run and some of the sellers did not have any $20 coons so the average was not as far from the tops as it may seem, but yes there is still a significant difference between the better coons and the average coons. Those are better early season runs in IA then they would have been in WI where the season opens a couple weeks earlier than in IA.

Bryce

People liked to joke about NAFA's Top Lots, but it looks like Groney has the program to. Difference is he's running it like a participation trophy where everyone gets one!

But only one! Then he take 4 of your $10 coon and puts them in the $5 pile.

I wonder if they keep notes on individual trappers, or how well they remember a guy. Would be interesting to show up with a dozen coon, sell just the "top lot" and take the rest back (if he'll let you.) Then show up the next time he comes around with the 11 coon and see if there's a "top lot" in the group again.

You would be in the computer

If you guys spent as much time trapping as you do bashing fur buyers you might actually get a sizable fur check. I can't believe this is still going.

Fur is worthless right now, I'm doing everyone else a favor by not contributing to an already flooded market.

You're welcome.

2x to the above two post.