So about this time of year, there seems to be a steady stream of emails and texts flying around -- "What do I do with my fur? How do I organize it for the auction to get the best possible price?"

My state association sale is well known for its fancy western cats and while organizing and lotting your cats a particular way won't overcome rabbit backs, sow bellies, dingy fur, or the lack of spots, it will help a potential buyer see your fur in its best possible setting, and it will make the buyer's job much more pleasant, which may translate to a buyer that is willing to reward your effort.

I know there is an entire psychology about lotting fur (i.e. organizing it to present at the sale). This includes putting top quality fur with lesser fur and thus "forcing" a buyer to purchase your lesser fur in order to pick up your more valuable grades. Some trappers feel its entirely a waste of time and a buyer is only going to pay what the buyer feels inclined to pay, regardless of how you present or organize your fur. I suppose all of those theories work from time to time. For example, if the market is hot for a particular color/clarity/size/type of fur and you happen to have just that, combining it with a lesser quality fur may sometimes encourage a buyer to pick up both items, but I really doubt the buyer is going to pay you more for both items collectively that he/she would for each item separately . . . but who knows?

Grading bobcat fur is a very technical thing and is a talent that is acquired over long periods of time and after making lots of mistakes. It is beyond the realm, or interest, of most trappers. However, one thing you can do, is try matching your bobcats into pairs or triples. I'm certainly no bobcat grader but with some patience, good lighting and attention to detail, most trappers can come close to matching similar cats so they are more attractive to a buyer.

Like I said, I'm no expert but here's how I go about it.

First, get a table and mark on the table from 32" through 44" in increments of 2". That way you can just lay your cat on the table with its nose at one end, and where the base of its tail lines up on the pre-measured mark, that will be its length. Here's how I do it.




Each piece of blue tape represents a two inch mark beginning at 34" and going through to 44." If I catch a cat over 44", I throw a party, sing and dance, and then carefully put it in a pile all by itself because it probably won't happen for another 5-7 years.

Now take all your cats and measure them from tip of nose to base of tail on your measuring table and then stack them in piles according to size. Like this:



At this point, you need real good light (my garage has horrible cat grading light so I always do this on a sunny day in the back yard).

Once you have organized all your cats by size, now turn them belly down and organize them by the patterns on their backs. Cats with similar backs go in the same piles, and they all stay in their length size piles.


Once you have them organized by length and back, flip them over to show the belly. Obviously in this market the belly is more important than the back, so now we start mixing and matching by belly. In my state's sale, I can have lots with as few as two cats in a lot, so my job is to match pairs. Again, I'm not a cat grader but if you work at it, you can learn to match up pairs of cats -- whatever their grade or quality -- just putting together cats of similar length and similar color/density/clarity/spots, etc.

Here are some cats that I think are similar enough to go together.


After a while it can be kind of fun mixing and matching and comparing different cats and you'll soon recognize patterns in your collection of cats. For example, my cats are generally smaller than cats caught further north, but they generally have lighter bellies (good) and they have sort of a light honey color fur along their flanks and backs. After a while, you'll get most of your cats paired, but there will probably be an odd duck or two -- cats that just don't match up with anything. At this point, you have a decision to make. You can play the "I'll-put-it-with-a-good-cat" game, or you can find another nonconforming cat that has different qualities or problems. For example, if you have a rabbit backed cat with a good belly, you might have to pair it with a cat that has a better back but a weaker belly. Its a guessing game.

Once the cats are all organized, I use a piece of twine to tie them into pairs until the sale so they don't get all mixed up again. Once they are all lotted, its nice to just sit back, look at them, and know how much satisfaction you can have from knowing your fur represents a lot of hard work. It doesn't matter how many or how few, or what type of fur you catch, you owe it to yourself and the animal to present it in the best possible light when it goes to market. Good luck and may all your fur bring top dollar.

Good post Laz. Do you ever get any "blue" cats down there. The true blue dun backed cats are few and far between here but they are sure pretty.

I don't usually. They seem to be more common in the middle of the state.

Nice looking cats!

Nice collection Laz, I once read where Mercer gave a similar description or cat grading a couple of years back!
Great pic's. Don't get to see a lot of pics of cat collections throughout the season! Congrats on a good catch.
Oli

Nice,Laz.Well explained.Thanks.

We all live in Mercer's shadow . . . .

Good stuff Tracy. Appreciate you sharing.

Thats whats nice with not catching many cats.......dont have to grade many. 3 cats, 3 singles done haha. Awesome post! I'll actually need to grade this season.

Excuse my ignorance but what’s a blue cat?

A " Blue Back " bobcat has literally a blue hue to the fur I've only caught a couple like that but I'd like to have a bunch of them, they also at times have a wide well spotted belly .
They also seem to be large tom's but back in the days when I had fairly good bobcat trapping area's I caught mostly larger sized bobcats and very few kittens or sub adult bobcats.

I wish to hear how a real grader judged cats every time I talk to one I hear different things. The only thing I hear in common is wide white belly. The back or spotting is never discussed nor how heavy the fur is I sure see the difference but still think Im getting a snow job.

Danvee:

"Snow" job . . . "white belly" . . . I get it! Good one.

Actually, while I can't speak for any of the fur graders you've had experiences with, I can offer a little bit of perspective. The first perspective is that a cat is not a cat is not a cat. What I mean by that is if three buyers show up to look at your cat(s), they can have at least three perspectives on why they want to buy it. Most cat buyers operate on orders they receive from garment manufacturers. With regard to bobcats, some want cats to make "belly coats." That is, long, white, clearly spotted coats (often floor length) using only the best of the best cats. Other buyers are shopping for "jacket" cats -- cats used to make shorter, less expensive jackets that appeal to a wider variety of users. And finally, some buyers are looking for trim cats -- cats used merely to trim a coat that is primarily made up of the fur from another animal, say mink or fox.

So, when a buyer looks at your cat, the back of the cat may have little or no relevance to what he or she is looking for, while the next buyer may be intensely interested in the back of the cat, given the use that buyer intends to make of the fur. What I try to do in my lotting, is match similar cats together, so regardless of what the buyer is looking for, at least the buyer doesn't have to sort through a bunch of cats to see how many cats will work for him or her when it comes to the buyer's needs.

Very tracy , nice collection of fur too. Thanks for info, good luck at sale.

Makes more sense the way you explain it and think I will stick to the auctions FHA has always done me good.