I know there are different factors depending on where you live that determine this but would some of you please explain when the land and water animal's fur in your area becomes damaged due to weather conditions and should no longer be trapped. For example in the mountain west coyote and fox tend to break in the rear do to snow and ice. Thank you.

In my area mid to late Feb for fox and yote. They get pretty rubbed out on the hunches. Laying in the wet snow it freezing them getting up pulls and damages the guard hairs, plus they start breeding. I still chase the yotes like to keep their numbers down as low as I can.

I normally chase otter till the end of the season, end of March and have not noticed any fur quality issues. Rats I dont bother with in the spring, those jokers are always bit up.

The coyote and fox break here anywhere from mid January on depending on the winter conditions. We can not trap wolverine or lynx. The reason I ask is because I see wolf, fox, and wolverine still being trapped in Alaska. I do understand the under ice beaver and muskrat because they are all bit up so try to get them late fall to early winter. I do not see a lot of people under ice trapping.

We have a huge state with different terrain, temperatures, snow and weather conditions. Our regs reflect that and for the most part are spot on when it comes to fur quality deteriorating.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/...DC06347179ACC900CDEF117C4CF/trapping.pdf

I will offer one example: Here in southeast, we have multiple opening and closing dates for different species. Some open November 1, some November 10, others December 1. Then some close February 15, some the last day of February, some mid-March, others in April.
I was once of the mind to at least generalize the opening day for most, and would have helped the trappers here get more fur to the early auctions.
However, at least here, the earlier seasons would have resulted in somewhat less "prime" pelts. It is very arguable that that would result in less value to the trapper, as historically, the first auction brings the best prices.
That is a whole 'nuther thread.

Making money on fur requires quality fur and good numbers. It is entirely possible that you can make more money catching early fur in numbers some years. Likewise, some years fully prime fur but possibly in less numbers might net the bigger fur check. The number of days you have traps working will likely effect fur income.

I was guilty of it early on not understanding but for the life of me I don’t understand why anyone traps lynx before Jan 1st ANYWHERE in this state. I cringe at all the red/brown cats pictures I see. I started to figure it out back when cats were worth $300-400 each and I was getting docked by the auctions for dark cats. Now, I don’t set a cat trap before Jan 1st and it’s incredible the difference in the color.

As far as fox, been trapping them 40 years now from Palmer to Cantwell to Shungnak and now Glennallen. I would definitely shut them down state wide Feb 1st. Seen way too many rubbed, stinky, chewed up from fighting fox the whole month of February state wide..

I agree Steve. Especially about the cats. On the other hand I don't think there is much danger of over harvesting reds like could be done with cats.

I recall back in the late 1980's when reds were bringing over 150 average. I trapped them right to the end of February even though it was easy to see they were breaking down.

On the front end, I could never understand taking a red before Christmas.

Charts got fox fully prime by DEC 1. That's lower 48. Wrong?

Here's a Feb. Coyote, I just put up.

You Judge him. I only get to see mine.

With all the different places to sell fur, I would not favor limiting seasons to supposedly "fully prime" times. I Ike giving trappers/fur hunters choices. Used to snare fox around Nome. Opening was Nov. 1. You could see the skin side show they weren't prime but not so much on the fur side. Again, catching numbers early in the season helped with the overall income. I was selling to one taxidermist and he was satisfied with everything I sent.

I agree. Not advocating for changing seasons. Just leave it up to individuals to decide when is the best time to harvest in their specific circumstances.

Its all about percentages.when fur is coming on to prime,some will be good earlier than most.Same as when fur is going off prime,some will be good later than others.The longer you go the more animals will grade late ll's.The odd individual can still be good very late.
Even during peak prime some individual animals will be ll grade.Individual animals taken in the same place at the same time may also be at different stages in the priming cycle.A lot of things besides photoperiod affect fur quality.

As far as value to the fur trade,an early ll is more valuable than a late ll.

It is definitly not cut and dried-but you definitly up your odds when starting later and quitting earlier if you want a higher percentage of l's and selects in your collection,as long as your fur handling is good.

HFT AK -Looked at the regs and I see people trapping latter and this was my reason for the question.

Some season examples:

Zone 1-5 coyote April 30

Zone 1-5 except 2 wolf the season closes April 30 , Wolf-Unit 9 Jun 30
Unit 10 Jun 30 .



Boco- I agree



White17- I agree its up to the individual but if you are looking for the best quality fur and price I would think the trapper would want to stop when the fur would see damage due to weather or other conditions.

The reason coyote is open until the end of April here is, basically we have very few coyotes, and the few that are caught are taken in wolf sets.
Second, the Department would likely prefer we don't get an abundance of coyotes.

Slick pan, the seasons are set for management not just fur.