Yes PA had very limited beaver trapping in the 60's and 70's You could only have so many sets out and they restricted you on trap sizes and trap location in and around the beaver dams And you needed to get any you caught tagged by the PGC .And that $900 would have gotton you a lot more than 3 baskets of groceries at the local store .

Dont like to reminisce it makes me feel so old, those were my golden years

Well I have been told that life begins at fifty Thay guy was lying ! And you only have two choices You either get old or the other option is to die young .So call me old man all you want .It is a title you only earn one way A s for me i I am proud to have it and I hope to keep it for many years to come

Best prices I remember as top price:

Coon $40.
Rats $8
Weasel $10!
Mink $25 male $15 female
Beaver $45
Otter $180
Possum $4

Those were the days!

After bragging up his cat man do for yrs Ive since learned he wasn't well respected in ks back in the boom days. Wonder if he is the one making his line of lures still

There were a lot of Greenhorns that had zero trapping experience but wanted to participate in the 1970’s Goldrush- thanks to their participation we have to live with a lot of restrictions and regulations that unfolded as a result of non-target catches- dryland body grip changes as one example.

1978 to 1982 was good prices. I sold my first mink for 53.00. Muskrats where 6.00. I was 14yrs old at the time. Fox where 100.00. Raccoons where 50.00. This was MN fur

Good times! Probably why I won't trap for slave labor prices.

Despite there being high prices in the mid-1970s and early 80s here is a valuable lesson I learned from Ron Scott, a fur buyer in Richmond, Indiana at the time.

Shortly before Christmas in 1978, another local trapper and I, traveled across state lines to Richmond to sell our furs at Ron's place.
We had to wait in line, as there were at least a half dozen other trappers there before us.

When it came to my turn, I marched up to the table and laid out my furs, which consisted mostly of red and grey foxes, along with a pile of raccoon and about 30 mink.
I stepped back and watched as Ron went through my furs, moving this one here and that one down there and so on.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ron approached me with a piece of paper that he had written his offer on.
I could have died on the spot !

Ron had graded my furs and written his offer of. . .so many red foxes at $70, so many grey foxes at $50, etc. and it dropped straight down from there.
All the red foxes I had counted on being $70, now were $40, $30 and $20 fox.
The greys went from $50 to $30 to $10.
The raccoon and mink were the only items that held firm.

While I did have some top-dollar skins, it was only a fraction of what I had.
The money I had counted on ended up being less than half.
I was crushed.
I turned to my buddy, feeling devastated, and said, "I think he's trying to cheat me. "
He, being older and wiser said, "You don't have to accept it and you have the right to ask him to explain his offer."

So, I walk up and ask Ron, " Why is your offer so low ?"

He turns toward the table, picks up a red fox, and asked, "When did you trap most of these foxes. . .Early November ?"
He knew the answer.
"Do you see how long the guard hairs up here on the neck are? ", he asked
"These are number one foxes
These are $70 foxes".
"Now look closely at the pile of foxes next to it", he stated

And then he proceeded to go down the line. . .

Most of my foxes were caught early to mid-November, when the season opened on November 10th
Some in early December and the smallest number after December 15th.
So, in other words, the majority of skins I had to offer were early and not worth top dollar.

But, that's what you did back then. What everyone did.
Wait to trap and the guy across the fence, had already trapped your fur.
It was a 'dog eat dog world'.

Up to that point, no one had shown me how to grade fur.

I got a first-hand lesson up close and personal that night.

It cost to get an education



***Decades later I ran into Mr. Scott and thanked him for teaching me how to grade fur.
I from that point on, started after Thanksgiving.

Yes Many flash in the pan trappers got a star at that time .And they where bad for all trappers and the sport of trapping .Beyond the illegal things that they where . doing the down right stupid things that ended up affecting the many good trappers I always said I would rather trap and have competition with 10 good trappers than 1 bad trapper At least most good trappers would not interfere with what you where trying to do . And there where a whole lot of ba dtrappers during that time

For comparison from 1980 prices to now....

A 1980 $40 raccoon is $143.84 in 2022 dollars

$70 fox would be $251.72 in 2022

$8 muskrat would be $28.77

$250 western bobcat would be $899

I think bobcats might be the only thing that have sort of kept up over the years

That is the one thing that the value of a dollar at that time was so much greater than It was not just that furs where selling at unheard of prices It was that you could buy a new truck or a couple new guns and still pay expense for new gear and gas money And at the time wages where still less than $2.00 an hour many places .I started working in 1972 and my starting wage was 2.35 an hour .That is 18.80 a day and my weekly take home was $82 .00 Two foxes or 3 or 4 racoons was equal to a weeks wages No wonder everyone decided to trap But it was not as easy as most thought And it required a level of dedication than most did not have

thats why a lot of young guys think their getting a good deal now they have no clue that fur was a big part of guys income back then heck a lot of them cant even add 2 and 2 any more its sad now days

High fur prices bring out the "Rif-Raf". I know what it is like to have all of my traps stolen in one night! Takes all the fun and profit out of it.

$145 coon seems like more fun and definitely more profit even if u lose some traps and fur.

Yes there was certainly a down side to the prices at that time I was not immune to having fur and traps stolen .And it was very hard to deal with because most often as not it was others that called themselves trappers that where doing it

Never worried must about theft, cost of doing business. Reset and carry on, a $40/coon bought a lot of traps.

I didn't start till 1982.

Pros and cons of that era,that I was lucky enough to be a trapper at the time.Bought my first brand new vehicle with trapping money then. 1981 Chevy Scottsdale Pickup Truck. $6000 cash,,, fur money. Fur prices were fantastic.Good luck seeing any road kill as they were picked up right quickly.One problem was,,a lot of bone heads saw the prices of fur,,and thought it was a get rich quick scheme.So there were lots of idiots roaming the country side at the time.Also,,lots of trap and trapped animal theifs.Some called them "Johnny Sneakums" back then.I had my own choice names for them. Another thing was,,with the high coon prices,,every body and their brother had a coon dog.Lots and lots of traps set in the woods PLUS Lots and lots of dogs running the woods,,,was not a good mix.I think that's when trappers and dog hunters started their little fued that sort of continues today.One good thing was because of all the theifs,, that's when I learned to "blend" or "hide" my sets so only the animal could find them.I still do that today.Also,,all the weekend warriors that bought lots of new traps thinking trapping was an easy get rich quick deal realized they knew nothing about it,,and that it was a lot of work.They tried it for one season,,then I bought a mountain of traps for pennys on the dollar.Lots of Blake & Lambs. Those were some good times for sure.P:S:,,I started trapping on my own in 1969.I now own a Nuisance Control trapping business.

I started in 79 -80 before I could drive. The crash hit in 87. As a teen, it was a good lesson in the supply and demand, and seeing how a world economy works.

The most recent fur boom of 2010 -2013 was short-lived but crazy. My NAFA red fox list went from a high of 122.00 for my best red down to 6.00 for the worst. 47.00 average. Most of us started October 21st that year; knowing that early PA reds were still going to sell. China could not get enough of the reds. It's all over now....