a little reading for you Swam wolf
https://westernhorseman.com/culture/flashbacks/flashback-cowboy-hats/

what we dont realize is the meat market for rabbits took a real hit when they shut down the domestic mink market because of the by-product going there to feed the mink/ therefore the rabbit hide industry took a hit

Read the article, but no info there except about rabbit and beaver felt.

back in the day there was a large market for jack rabbit hides and 100,000+ went through the auction each time, these went into the fedora hat trade
maybe MJM was around at that time cause ND/ SD would send up semi loads from his region, these went down to Montreal after the sale

in the recient GFW clip in NC he bought several nuks and said they are testing the market with buyers

From what I understand the b’ver hairs have tiny barbs that bind together better than others in the felting process. I imagine the process has changed over time but I think that’s why b’ver was king during the opening up of N America

That Jack hide buying extended into MT too. Bob Young, who I worked for got his start skinning jack rabbits for Pacific Hide and Fur and ended up the Sr vice president of 32 branches. He was 9 when he started skinning for them. He knew the fur market. I got along great with him while I was working there. I made him a lot of money skinning. He treated me very well. They had $100,000 days over the counter when I worked for him in he early 1980's. He bought live badgers in the summer, and penned them and skinned them when they were prime. He told me he once bought bales of skinned coyotes for a dollar a bale and sat on them for years, but made good money on them. I am sure he has passed away by now.

Someone on here posted a picture of a rabbit drive in the 1930's consider that those hides were 5 cents but that bought a loaf of bread.
My grand parents told of community drives and they would herd them into willow thickets that has 100's of snares set, the first rabbit would start jumping around and the others thought it was a pre-Hugh Heffer party happening and joined it. 24 inch muskrat boards were used and fur inside. Winters when the grain was in stooks were the worst as the combine/thrashing machines could not get around on the mud roads.
Every lady and man had a fedora felt hat and could not go into a church without your head covered back in the pre-1960's.

Is a "nuk" different than a "nute"?

nutria
guess it is our northern drawl as we don't want them up here

They can get them a lot cheaper there. Probably have to pay $100 average to get 10,000 beaver trapped in Alaska.

Why you always whining about fur prices if you have been getting $100 a beaver?

Did I claim I was getting $100 average for beaver? I doubt Alaska produces 5000 beaver and I think many trappers are making close to a buck an inch now in varying marketing schemes. The further out and or under ice /snow ones will cost more to produce.

I was at a friends the other day. Several trappers were there. A pretty good batch of stretched plews. I got a good price for a western cat I had. The other stuff I saw sold for what I thought was a decent get a check now price. He bought the beaver by the pound. Bought antlers the same way on the same scale. I think he paid 9 bucks a pound for the brown ones. I dont remember his white antler price. Didnt seem like a tough grade for antler.

Wonder what that sounded like…a giant cacophony of mayhem!
From what I’ve read, beavers the best, muskrat & rabbit works too but beavers best for felt…..

on a side note, don’t bring up beaver at the Easter supper table. We were eating and talking about good wild meat. I said “apparently beaver can be really good. I haven’t tried it yet but I guarantee you I will!”
Brother-in-law spit out his drink laughing.
After so much beaver talk, the mind doesn’t go to the gutter anymore…lol

Check this out, the outdoor life site has a picture worth a thousand words.....


The Wild Jackrabbit Hunts of the Dust Bowl

Outdoor Life
https://www.outdoorlife.com › hunting › dust-bowl-ja...
shoshone jackrabbit drives from www.outdoorlife.com
Mar 15, 2023 — Many early media reports credit the Paiute-Shoshone with developing the jackrabbit drives. This is true enough based on archaeological ...

Jackrabbit Drives - Kansapedia

Kansas State Historical Society
https://www.kshs.org › Research › Kansapedia › Topics
Jackrabbit drives in western Kansas were viewed as a battle of survival between farmers and the rabbits during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the ...
Missing: shoshone ‎| Must include: shoshone

Around the Nation; Farmers in Idaho Snare 10000 More ...