Check out these beaver from an old timer who traps the lower Columbia. Stretched round, beautifully scraped and nail holes 1/4” apart. This guy takes a lot of pride in his work.

A note of explanation about bobcats at OTC sales. Cause people get confused easily!!!

The State of Oregon has 2 different trapping areas for cats. Eastern Oregon and western Oregon. The divider is the cascade mountains. East of the Cascades there is a 5 cat limit. West of the cascades, unlimited cat tags. There is a significant difference in fur quality between eastern Oregon and western Oregon. And the tags are different.

Cats are divided into 3 categories to give a better idea of value. Here is the breakdown -

Bobcat - these are pelts from every state except Oregon. You will have Idaho cats and New York cats and Texas cats, etc. All lumped together so the average doesn’t mean anything.

Bobcat - eastern. These are cats from eastern Oregon. They are NOT cats from the eastern US. These eastern Oregon cats are better quality and bring more money. Any cat that has an eastern Oregon tag on it goes in this group.

Bobcat - western. These are cats from western Oregon. They are NOT cats from the western US. These western Oregon cats are lesser quality and bring less money. They tend to be browner/redder than eastern Oregon cats. Ant cat that has a western Oregon tag goes in this group.

So when you see “bobcats - eastern” averaging $300.00 or more dollars don’t get excited!!

Dang that old boys beaver put up is flawless. Those edges are perfect.
Thanks for the cat explanation wissmiss, was wondering about that.

But to further the cause of chaos and confusion, Oregon now sells two distinct cat cards. Western Oregon with 15 allowed per card (unlimited card sales) and “All- state” which is the five spot card eastern Oregon trappers have to buy. One card only per trapper. BUT! You can trap cats from any section of Oregon with the all- state card. So my four western Oregon cats on this sale have the green eastern Oregon tags!

Well that will put a divot in the averages.

Very sad. In 2013, I had 815 ‘rats at this sale. Ray Driscoll was high bidder at $10.87 per rat. Ahh, the good old days.

Interesting that you would comment on this put up. When I trapped beaver, which I do not anymore that was the way I put them up. Guess I am old also.

Proof positive Slick. Don’t worry, happens to the best of us.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we’re all hanging around waiting for results. Have had nice conversations with various Trapperman members including “Beavercager”, “Bflobo”, “Supercub” and probably others. Antigov this morning.

Got a Top Lot award for my attempt at a feet- on otter. ( Thanks mud)!

Hey Nancy, saw Sky who now has kids running around and has grey in his beard! Lol

Sky - what can I say. Probably shouldn’t post it on the forum. But on a scale from 1 to 10…………..wow.!!!

Any idea when they will be posting results. Trying to plan when I might expect a phone call.

Just got a call from Don Nichols. Sale is wrapping up - nice and early. I’m sure peeler and other old timers remember being there at 2 in the morning. LOL

Putting those all-state tags on my cats has paid off! $172 avg for ugly western Oregon cats. See pic. ( top cat $288 one on the left)

Sometimes that's all it takes. Know of people that sent Mississippi coyotes, beaver, otter and cats with someone up north who then shipped them to NAFA and they graded the same as the northern critters, lol. Seems sometimes they don't bother looking at the fur at all, just the mailing address.

The chinese are buying most of the crappy cats. They don't have a lot of taste. Anyone that eats crab shell gotta tell ya something.

You can imagine I was thrilled when a craft buyer gave me $100 each on these two otters.

Hope you did well on all your goods BP
The craft market has been a real saving grace when it comes to a suffering fur market.
I skinned all of my coyotes complete and It brought me about a $ 15 over the average Wyoming coyote price at the WY sale.

lol see, even a broken clock is right twice a day! That bodes well for what I’ve sent to Idaho. I’ll have 9 like that there next weekend in Glenn’s Ferry.

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Got a Top Lot award for my attempt at a feet- on otter. ( Thanks mud)![/quote]

BP, too bad you aren’t doing it that way no more. Lol

Don't wreck going on home trying to count all your money, lol. VERY nice put up fur!

Any pics of the Top Cat ? Did bflobo win the fur handler award ?