Boco, you beating your head against the wall with this crowd and it’s gonna start hurting soon. Pushing cheap low grades through with winter grades does not make summer pelts have equal value for the end user. If trappers really thought summer pelts were the cats meow they would be scraping and stretching for maximum return. I’m thinking your prediction of a flood out will be sooner than later. I doubt SW is the only trapper catching summer beaver and chunking in the freezer.
Good grief guys! Not a single trapper, including me, believes summer beaver are the "cat's meow". And we sure as heck ain’t gonna start scraping and boarding them. But, some of us are gonna sell them as long as there is a buyer....get over it!
This discussion started with Boco saying summer beaver had no underfur, was useless for felt, and therefore had no value. He is wrong and seems to be aggravated because a trapper is selling those beaver into the beaver felt market...somehow damaging the livelihood of the current market.
There are not as many summer beaver trappers saving the pelts as you think. It's not even a blip of the total southern numbers.
What you're referring to as "cheap" low grades found a niche in the current market with averages similar to your Virginia beaver and almost as high as many Canadian beaver. The only ones beating their heads against the wall are you and Boco...wondering why this is happening.
I will keep selling them as long as there is a buyer..... instead of pitching them. Skinning is easy and I gland them amd remove tails anyway. If this beaver market is so fragile that a few flat, thin-furred southern beavs can disrupt it, then yall need to buy more coon, fox, or coyote traps. Better yet...yall need to be getting them while the gettins' good.
I've poured a lot of "cheap" southern fur into the pipeline over the years, for decent prices, but I've never "pushed" any thru the pipeline. The buyers did that. I just returned home and cashed the fur check.