Ok so this year I’m looking to recover the most money I can from trapping.(no I’m not selling my gear) and I know you can put up the fur flesh stretched and dried and castor from beavers and the essence from skunks. What else do you guys harvest from the animal to make the most of each animal and also to get closer to breaking even?

Skulls can be sold raw for a few bucks a piece depending on species

My market consists of skulls, leg bones, feet, baculum and glands. Just like striping down an old car, there's not a lot left when I'm through.

If you don’t mind my asking where do you sell the bacillus leg bones and feet?

If you eat the beaver you catch or any other animals, that is a huge savings on your grocery bill. If you don't want to eat, or more likely your family doesn't want to eat meat of those animals you can sell it to meat markets if legal or to lure makers.

Don't forget, gotta cut the expenses as much as you can as revenue-expenses=profit

If you are a confident trapper...charge for your trapping services.

I sell to an outfit in Lincoln NE who deals in all sorts of oddities. There are lots of options but be careful to know the laws both in your state and ones your dealing with or you can get yourself into big trouble right quick like.

I sell to an outfit in Lincoln NE who deals in all sorts of oddities. There are lots of options but be careful to know the laws both in your state and ones your dealing with or you can get yourself into big trouble right quick like.

Yea uh confident I don’t think I’d say that

Go for the money fur, bobcats and coyotes.
Putting up the fur gets you best prices.
Nothing wrong with getting a few hundred for a bobcat and $60-75 for coyotes.
Our put up has gotten us a primo price from buyers and decent at auction in this mess.

I think maximizing profits on the trapline start well before the critter is caught.
Depending on the critters targeted, many times trapping out of a car saves a lot on one of the biggest expenses.

I for one trying not to spend any money on anything this year. My past 2 seasons haven't been very productive to say the least. So I have plenty of baits and lures left over. Other than that I'm trying to find ways to spend as little as possible. Like my water line run out of canoe so I have more money for gas for canine line.

That kind of fur doesn't exist in Arkansas. At least not very often!!

Ain’t that the truth

This is true. I think we have to adjust our thinking.
I have several married kids and they are always talking about earnings, how much someone makes. I always tell them that's only one half of the equation. I currently earn less than I did at certain parts of my career, but I have more savings and cash on hand, because I have eliminated all debt, I've reduced my spending and conserved my resources.

While its good to think about different/new markets and ways to maximize what you can sell, don't forget the other half of the equation. How can you reduce expenses? Where can you cut costs without sacrificing quality or your catch? For example:

1. Can you make or supplement your bait/lure inventory at a lower price than buying retail? Can you trade for some of these items?
2. Can you make your own equipment instead of buying it at retail?
3. Can you organize your trap line to be more efficient? Avoiding dead end lines and instead using circles; setting up small lines that you can check going to or from work; etc. On my cat line, I use WildRiver enlarged pans with corn cob grit glued to them. It may sound small but I not only don't have to keep coming up with new pan covers, but I never have to go looking for them, or forget one after I've climbed to the top of a rim to make a set. All those little things will add up at the end.

The most important factor in maximizing profits on the trapline starts with avoiding dead end lines and using circuler routes and gang setting for various species where possible.

Also letting your traps work-extended checktimes means checking a lot less empty traps.This goes along with gang setting and always extending the lines,breaking new trail into some new territory by thinning sets when the catch starts to drop off in the areas trapped.Basic line maintenance and line management.

Trap everything.

Lots of ways to save or make a buck. Some that I do...
PIcking walnuts or gathering dead oak leaves and boiling in that is free vs buying dips, dyes, or paints. Use a wood fire to boil the stuff too.
I save lots of meat cutsand trimmings throughout the summer. Make a great fresh bait for dirthole sets. Same with fish parts, great coon or coyote bait.
Skin anything worth selling. Don't bother at all with damaged or small goods. Put up good stuff to maximize them too.
Keep your trapline efficient. Short trips back and forth to vehicle, and then use that extra time and get more land along your existing route. More good stops, more fur.
Save glands and droppings, and use those for lure next year. Beavsr and rats save the meat for predator bait. Sell castors. Sell skulls. On badgers your can sell claws. Talk to taxidermist and see if he has interest in anything from you. He may want whole animals so freeze according to his instructs.
One year I got a couple bucks each for a couple dozen coon tails. On coon where hide was damaged or rubbed, the tails were generally still good and a local lady bought them skinned, salted, and frozen from me. She tanned them for some craft stuff she was making. Turned a pile of worthless rubbed and damaged coon into $2 coon and for about $24 it was well worth peeling and splitting the coon tails only. I ran into her earlier that summer at a farmers market and I dont even remember what she made out of them maybe hat bands with tails but I saw them hanging in her display and i just asked if she needed a few more tails this winter and she said yes and asked for a couple dozen. Found a little market just because I stopped and asked. Have to get creative sometimes. Thought wow wouldn't take too much effort to tan a few coon tails. Might be fun novelty to sell for a hat band or key chain attachment.

One should operate as efficiently as possible whatever the prices for the pelts are. That way one can glean some profits in average to good years that one can use to keep the line operating during the down years. The idea that I need to buckle down during the lean years so I don't lose as much is the mindset of many who struggle with running at a low cost when there is money to be made. For those that have variable costs based on prices, remember what you did when prices are really low and carry that same method when prices are better and you will have profits that will help stabilize a very unstable commodity. Some people are asset accumulators which means they have and own a lot and spend freely but many times build little net worth. Net worth builders learn to operate at low cost or low cost per unit but intuitively know which investments will give them the best return.
Over the last years of lower prices I have found that running hard and fast with more traps over less area catches more fur at a lower cost. The trick for me to make a small profit would be to quit when the gravy runs out. I typically run more of my line and that lowers my profit but I know that I am doing that and it is a choice.

Bryce