We are stuck in quite a rut with the coon market. $2 to $3 finished coon averages at FHA. The same green averages with GFW. Some country buyers don’t even want them, and if they do it’s a dollar or two. Yet trappers keep trapping coon and putting them on the market, then find it shocking that their coon bring $2. I’m fully aware that the coon harvest is extremely low because of the market, yet many 10’s of thousands of fresh coon enter the market each year. Apparently enough coon are being caught to satisfy the market.
How about………..don’t trap coon, or maybe I should say, don’t target coon until the market improves.
I get it. Coon are most trappers bread and butter, but it’s time to change our ways. Surely there are other species available to trap.
I live and trap in coon country. I never set a coon trap last winter. And I water trapped all winter.
I’ll always trap, but I will not trap coon until the market improves.

If you aren't resourceful enough to sell more than the fur then I agree, don't trap them.

But additional to the fur there is also the skulls, meat market, possibility to tan and sell etc. If you are getting less than $10 a coon it's your fault.

Chicken salad, my friend

or trap corn and chicken thieves to keep ground

or trap nest raiders to keep game birds

it's not a waste to trap and not spend the time on fur if it is for other good reasons

It's a trappers job to manage all furbearers, value or not. If I see crop damage and abundant sign I skim the population to keep them healthy and to help the farmers out. Opossums, skunks too.

Are the farmers paying? Hate to say it but until society feels the need for trapping whether that be in fur or damage control prices will stay low or worse trapping will be banned.

Not sure if this is the place for it, but what are the ethics of trapping with no intention of harvesting the fur? Main motivation is ADC work. But just feed em to the buzzards?

Is mouse or rat fur harvested when people trap those?

Buzzards got to eat. A pelt worth $2 equals no value. Similar to the value of rat, mouse, and cockroach pelts.

$2 is no value? You must have never eaten vienna sausages lol

the "cost of production" or cost to trap one is MORE than the value of the coon right now. To trap them with the current market environment is to lose money.

Lots of guys have hobbies which lose money, golf courses everywhere fro example.

If you think you are making money on coon, you are fooling yourself.

Put the time spent in at a local factory for $15/hr or so and you would be Money ahead.

How much did you spend it time and gas, bait, lure, etc to make the $2 though?

I will keep doing it for wildlife management reasons and because I enjoy it. I never put up numbers like you guys up north but coons were always a decent way to offset my losses. Now the losses are just larger. I even made the bad business decision to buy more coon traps this year. Genius.

I told my wife she is going to get a coon bedspread from this year's catches. Maybe a hat too for each of the kids.

Lets see...I run a river line that is a 5 mile round trip from my house. Setting one day, and then two checks on the weekend puts me at 15 miles total, so lets say 1 gallon of gas.

For bait I grind up leftover catfish trimmings....free. I guess I buy some fish oil. A pint is $6 and will last me two weekends.

For traps its hard to put an expense as I will still be catching coon in them in 10 years.

So now our weekend river line cost is up to about $10 plus whatever you figure for trap cost.

I'll catch 25 or 30 coons, a couple beavers, maybe an otter. I'll get at least $10 for all my coons because I'm resourceful, but even if I'm lazy and only sell the fur its still worth it for me to take them out of the traps.

Sure, I'm not making a pile of money. I'm an engineer Mon-Fri and if I worked 10 hours overtime every week I would make more money than river trapping. But who the heck would rather work more when they could go trap?

Idk, I guess I'm one of those crazy ones that actually enjoys trapping? Who woulda thunk it...

The game commission and farmers dont work for free, Im not either....No meat market here, skulls only go so far and the last time I tanned fur it was break even for me.

We gripe when the market is loaded in bad price times.
When prices rise we gripe about money trappers.
The pattern is, we gripe.

Because I love fur. All fur
Is there a better reason?

The things I tell my 4H class to help them understand the need for trapping is to give them the following examples.

Take a coffee container of corn and put that on the ground in a single pile with say 40 chickens around and what do you have then? Do that every day like that and what would be the results over time? Aggression, weak VS strong a negative impact on that group of animals. Apply less chickens to the flock less stress impact issues.

Now spread that same feed across a larger area and less stress and a heather flock all around same chickens same amount of feed better outcome.

To better improve the flock remove the extra roosters and non layers for better results and a healthy flock.

Critters benefit from population control just because prices are low that has nothing to do with the need for trapping really, you cannot stockpile animals on a regular basis long term.

Many States have no limits on some species yet they never run out year after year. Mother Nature has more of a impact over trapping on population over time.

I don't think other species pelts are going to be in high demand. Maybe some coyotes.

I never charge anyone and I trap ADC for free to promote trapping most folks are on the fence or believe the lies being told about us. Show them the need they fall on our side of that fence.

I have more land then I can trap here always have. I give away 100s of carton of eggs to landowners and others those eggs come from “that trapper guy” plus I’m giving not just taking always. Really here trapping is seen more as a giving action vs a taking move because of the need for it.

Marketing if done right can fix the low price issue it’s a matter of supply and demand quality sells is you find a market your golden then.

I trap them on my farm and a friend's place to keep numbers down and the population healthy. Reducing the population of coon, opossum, skunks, coyotes, and fox the last few years has directly resulted in more quail, rabbits, less predation on my chickens. Also less loss in the garden. Haven't sold any in years other than beaver in the round and not even that since I discovered they are tasty. I do have a freezer full of hided that need put up and sent off to be tanned. I will attempt to sell some, give some as gifts, and keep some. I'm not a big trapper just a hobby guy that dose not do it for money. I have a great job that supports my farming and trapping habits. My farm at least generates some income. (INCOME IS NOT to be mistook for profit yet unless you include the tax benefits)

A few years ago before I started trapping again I found 7 dead coons on my farm. I guess distemper. I got 6 ears of sweet corn off 2 plantings 12'x30' no cantaloupe and lost chickens at least twice a year.

I started trapping more than just the problem animal. 2 years back I caught 14 coon on my farm. Last year only 4. I harvested all my corn and only lost a few cantaloupe this year. My opossum and skink cat c h also went down. Red fox and coyote catches went up just a little.

Seems to be working for me.