Yep.They should have.

There is a guy in Lafayette, La that makes custom felt cowboy hats using nutria. His work is quite impressive, I’ve seen his hats first hand.

In my opinion, the most valuable part of a nute is the meat. It’s delicious. I consider it as good or possibly better than rabbit. Packaged, whole rabbits aren’t cheap, and they sell quite well here. I feel that $15 per packaged nute, $20-25 per large nute on a retail level is absolutely worth the price.


If the meat market were to happen to become mainstream, I think a person could move some nutes. In Louisiana, there is a $6 bounty for nutria caught within registered, designated bounty program areas.

The late Trapper Dick Baxendale would always have trouble with folks looking for muskrat meat after the season was out. Since there was no closed nutria season, he pushed nutria meat on them after muskrat season. It took off like wildfire. He couldn't catch enough to keep up with the demand. That's saying a lot since we are lousy with nutria.

I've eaten nutria but prefer beaver.

Many hat companies used nutria felt.

M1911 WW1 US Army Stetson Nutria Wool Felt Campaign Hat





Also, there is a company making nutria dog treats, Check out Marsh Dog.

I miss trapping nutra rats, sold the fur and also sold the meat to alligator farms. Just like coons, there were times when the meat brought more than the fur.

ttzt! Thanks for sharing that. Purty dang cool.

I really dont think we can generalize about what happens when supply goes down with fur. If there are good substitutes, its possible users will just go elsewhere. But each fur species could have different market drivers and influences. I really dont have much of an opinion on that other than to be sure that Im not sure.

I hope I did not come off as saying big beaver producers are the problem. I’m actually glad some can keep costs low enough to make a wage. I just know I cant do that around here. And maybe I was a just plain wrong that trappers cant make a wage catching beaver in this market, and therefore wrong that everyone downstream is making money while trappers arent. However after that hatter market thread, I do get the sense that only the best numbers guys in the best population areas can do it, or the ones like boco who can keep costs super low.

It wasn't you. Some guy called BP part of the problem. As long as he is doing it for income, how can he be part of the problem? He is not supplying below production costs and making an acceptable wage to him. ADC guys are making money and if the market will pay you to just skin and freeze a beaver for $10 you probably are making some money there and are not part of the problem. It is what it is. That is as high as harvest will go from a business sense for the hatter market.