Ya I didnt figure there was an off market value, just curious, thanks

Keep pitching those summer northern beaver and I'll keep selling these southern summer beaver as hatters. $20+/avg last March for skint and frozen.

Are yall embarrassed?

No,I wont put junk into the pipeline,will only hurt the price of the good ones down the road.
They wont go for hatters if there is no underfur.Someone else will have to pitch them down the line and we will all pay for it.
Its called averaging down,its what buyers do when they get stuck with junk mixed in.

I apologize to all you quality beaver trappers for my hatter sales of the past and those forthcoming in the future. I cant bring myself to discard these pelts when there is a market and skinning them is the only extra work needed on my part. Been doing it for a long while. Plus, there isn't much difference in a winter southern hatter from a summer southern hatter.....all have thin to no heft of the fur. Even the leather is white on most of them.

My few frozen southerns ain't likely to hurt the $$ on those put up heavy northerns.

You need to watch the vid on hatter beaver that nafa put out -they need underfur to be used for making felt hats.They discard the guardhair and leather-the only thing they want is underfur.
If pelts with no underfur are mixed with pelts that have underfur to be sold for hatters that is not ethical.

Round here fur buyers are sharp enough to kick out valueless fur before they buy it.

that is up to the graders is it not? If they do a proper job the buyer should get what they pay for, not?
I have no experience in the grading process.

Doesnt sound like it.Unless southern beaver have lots of underfur in summer.Northern beaver have absolurely no underfur in summer.except on the belly.

Then why would a fur buyer purchase these pelts as hatters. The buyer has held every pelt thats ever been bought from me. Who's fooling who here?

All my pelt sales for past several years have been hands on...not sent to auction. What I'm trying to say here is these beaver pelts have value and I'm sure your's do too.

Shoving them thru the pipe for a profit on the back of some poor sucker who will have to eat it.
You know right well that its underfur that makes felt.
See it all the time seen it with the otter when new players tried to get into the market as well as other fur.
Then they avg down to recoup losses and the trapper takes it in the shorts.

I ain't shoving nothing in the pipeline. I have a product. A buyer wants and is buying that product. The buyer is not a new player in the market. Your theory as to why these pelts are being purchased/marketed and processed for the hatter market is no doubt wrong.

Are you saying that I should discard these pelts that have a fair value just so other trappers can make better money on their pelts? I'm trying to understand your angle here, because I know that all the beaver you catch, even in the cold north are not top end pelts. You sell those, correct? No, I don't make fur garments out of my low grade pelts like you.

You keep sending no fur beaver into the pipeline,Im sure you and your buyer like the money.
Too bad the new players in the game have to pay for it down the road,and ultimately the trapper.
I wont do it its crooked and harms the industry.
Its the underfur that makes felt.No underfur-not any use for feltmaking.
Nothing wrong with making fur garments out of good fur that has repairable damage.

Then why is GFW buying it?

He is not the end user-he is shoving it down the pipeline for profit.

Hey Swamp if you can make a buck that is your business and good for you it's your fur to do as you please and no offense Boco but if you want to keep it out of the pipeline than pay him what he gets per pely and do with them as you please.

There must be enough underfur left for the pelts to have value in this market. They've been in business a long time.

I don't fully understand your viewpoint on this. Isn't making $$ on fur what we are all attempting to do? Including the buyers? They are not going to lose a customer by pushing/selling valueless pelts.

In the past I've noticed a couple other northern US and Canadian trappers on Tman having a similar viewpoint. I know y'alls fur is in a different league of quality than southern US fur. And it seems like yall would like it better if the lower half of NA didnt put any fur on the international market. That would be good for yall...eh?

Have you seen southern summer beaver hides? They do have underfur, without it, they could not stay waterproof in the water. There may not be as much as prime northern hides, but it's still there.

I've never seen a northern summer beav pelt. Surely they must have as much or more underfur in summer as a southern US beav.

Our northern ones have no underfur in summer except a bit on the belly.
Never seen a southern beaver winter or summer.Our beaver in summer are ugly.
They get rough looking and start shedding real bad in late may and by mid june they only got guardhair.
You can tell when the underfur is gone the guardhair gets all broken and twisted looking-the graders call it fallen timbers-there is no underfur to support the guardhair and it lays all directions.
There is a real good video put out by Nafa (flowage to fashon) explains what is needed for the felting process.
Might be able to find it on utube.

I trapped southern beavers for 30 years, and yes, they do have underfur. It's not thick, but it's there.