I know everyone was excited to get the results and we hurried as much as possible. My fur sale computer lady left the sale and caught a plane for Indiana for work early the next morning so she has been crunching this in her hotel. We had to adjust some results due to buyers miss entering readings so the master sheets that were handed out weren't perfect. That is exactly why when people get master sheets they whip out their calculator at home and then swear something is wrong with our averages. Well the master list is obsolete. A few coyotes were mistaken for cats on bid sheets so changes have to be made. I just got back to my house with the last load of fur sale items. We still have unsold items, items that didn't meet minimum and items that people bid on that never paid for and picked up. All of these items add a lot of headache and drama after a sale. The 48 hours after a sale are by far the worst part, including the 30+ calls I had in past 48 hrs. asking questions about the averages or price of the furs..
A big thank you to all the volunteers, fur buyers, staff and trappers. We had a great sale and it was dang near as big as last March and I bet the dollar amount was almost the same. Trappers were happy and everyone was very grateful for the work that goes into the sale. The cleanup crew kicked butt and I was still putting out fires and the tables were all loaded into the trailers.
Alan Steele (Groenwold) was the top cat buyer (volume wise) followed by Western Montana. Alan wrote us a check for $130 grand and only bought cats! George with Western Montana bought a lot of the top cats including several over a grand and one that was $1450. Jake with Rocky Mountain bought the overall top cat from Miss Rodeo Idaho Lydia Miller for $1508. Eric Hansell also picked up some nice cats. The garment and crafters really pushed the bottom end of some of the bobcats as well. Beaver averages weren't quite as high as I thought but then I talked to a lot of folks that had a lot of October and early November caught beaver in their collection. One guy had all September and early October beaver from his ADC work and still averaged over $22. Coyotes are still a disappointment, we had some lots including mine that were over $40. I thought otter would be a little higher as well. Racoon is still a disappointment but a lot of them were stale goods. Check out the top opossum, nutria, badger, racoon and beaver prices. That's were crafters really shine brightly and leaving tails and feet on really pays off. When you see nutria average $5.60 you think that is really high but a lot of those he left feet on or did them in the round. A lot of activity in the fox market as well.
In the breakdown below I pulled out all the skulls (which sold crazy high), antlers, tanned fur and misc. other items because so many folks said it cluttered up the averages. We did sell thousands of dollars in feet, skulls, teeth, shells, feathers and other misc. items so I am not dismissing these things either. Also, the marten and mink averages and high bid are not perfect. I had my fur sale lady break out western and eastern red fox. She also split out NM, AR and eastcoast cats into a southwest section of bobcats. One lot of marten was mistyped by a fur buyer and we ended up throwing ranch mink and wild mink together by accident.
Thanks
Rusty Kramer

Item High Bid Average Offered Sold % Sold
Badger $101.00 $30.71 34 34 100.0%
Beaver $72.22 $27.88 472 451 95.6%
Bobcat SW$775.11 $259.87 117 115 98.3%
Bobcat West$1,508.00 $391.94 529 524 99.1%
Civet Cat $33.00 $33.00 9 9 100.0%
Coyote $54.00 $21.43 529 519 98.1%
Fisher $45.05 $30.17 25 25 100.0%
Fox, Cross $55.10 $38.25 3 3 100.0%
Fox, Red(East) $27.00 $18.51 194 166 85.6%
Fox, Grey $35.00 $26.79 70 70 100.0%
Fox, Red(West)$35.10 $21.91 114 114 100.0%
Marten $113.40 $46.85 121 121 100.0%
Mink $42.50 $17.43 110 110 100.0%
Muskrat $7.01 $3.55 1250 1250 100.0%
Nutria $14.43 $5.59 28 28 100.0%
Opossum $34.00 $4.21 26 26 100.0%
Otter $67.58 $58.47 82 82 100.0%
Raccoon $16.00 $5.58 248 248 100.0%
Rock chuck $12.00 $12.00 2 2 100.0%
Skunk $29.00 $16.45 81 81 100.0%
Squirrel $6.38 $3.22 43 43 100.0%
Squirrel Tails $2.40 $0.78 38 38 100.0%
Tail, Beaver $2.96 $1.42 249 249 100.0%

Idaho is lucky to have you sir. All too often a thankless job and they owe you gratitude Rusty.

Sounds like a very good fur sale, I know prices are lower over all.
But I'd be happy with them.
Can't beat them Bobcat prices huh

Those are better than I’ve been seeing at my local auctions. I’d send there but shipping would probably kill any profit for me I’m sure…….

Thanks Rusty. You and your team are to be Commended!

The atmosphere at the sale is so much better than other auctions I've attended. Lots of smiles and helpful people. It adds to the joy of trapping to know you can deal with good honest down to earth people when selling time comes. Thank you

A big thanks to Rusty and crew. I was very happy with my prices, even though it was the first time I haven't beat the sale average on cats in twenty years. I knew going in I probably wouldn't because I just didn't have the quality of cats, lots of muddy bellies this year and nothing I could do to improve that. Once I perused the sale I knew for an absolute fact I wouldn't beat the average, the fact that I came close really made me happy.

great job rusty and crew

Just received my fur check. Thank you ITA and buyers!

$34 opossum!!!
Really though, those are pretty good prices overall.

$34.00 possum most likely had some extras. Like tails and/or feet.

I received my check today, what a great sale! It was also alot of fun, great demos,and people.

It was nice to meet some folks on here and also to put faces with names of some people in the industry I have heard about for years.

Thanks Rusty and everyone else who worked so hard to make it happen! Hope to be back next year!

Glad you made it tizit. Enjoyed talking with you.

The possums were put up like beavers with tails on. Kinda cool looking. There may have been an couple cased with tails on too.