Hi all-

With the crappy market, and because of a few other reasons, I’m thinking about storing my marten (this year and last).
Y’all know the best way to do this.
How long will they keep if hung in cool dry conditions, after being stretched, fleshed, and dried?
Thanks, merry Christmas, and tight chains to everyone!

Dean Wilson told me to keep held over fur in the freezer. Been doing that way ever since.

Send them to nafa. You will never have to worry about them again!

Stretched dried,in a fur bag in the freezer.
Keep your freezer defrosted,in case it goes out your dry fur wont be sitting in water and spoil.

Thanks. Might have to make some room in my freezer. Heck. I might even vacuum seal em,

I was also considering getting a few tanned, in hopes of selling locally.
Do you know if I do that, and they DONT sell locally, does Fur Harvester accept tanned fur? If so, does tanned fur sell for any more money?

Thank you!

As a general rule FHA does not accept tanned fur from Trappers. They do accept some tanned fur from manufactures and brokers. Usually in good size lots.

Even if FHA did accept tanned fur from Trappers, that would be a bad choice for the trapper. Most likely would get less than raw price. I’ve bought tanned fur at both auction houses and in some cases paid less than tanning cost.

There is a decent market for tanned fur in the tourist trade but unfortunately marten is not one of those skins that does well. A lot of folks don’t know what a marten is (folks that live in cities and vacation on cruise ships). Additionally, the price you would put on such a small pelt is not a good value per square inch when compared to beaver or coyote or fox.

Your best bet is going to be selling on the raw fur market, whether it is this year or 3-4 years from now, when properly stored in a freezer, marten pelts should carry over well.

Yes

That's your best bet by far, it's gonna be a few years for the marten prices to come back. It may even still be headed down more this year.

I have done this and saw no difference next to my “fresh” marten in sale prices. It is a sensible strategy, IMO.