Musty - I understand your disappointment in prices.

But I don’t agree with your statement about lack of buyers. I count 11 listed plus I know of at least one more.

Eleven buyers at a fur sale in St Marie’s is pretty darn good. I can remember sales with only 2 or 3 buyers. Just saying.

I did a little more digging
9 cats no sold
18 coyotes no sold
1 beaver no sold
3 muskrat no sold
all otter and marten sold

There were no buyers that wanted raccoon or nutria. The craft market was disappointing and the one buyer that buys a lot said he was full and didn't want a lot of items. Many of the skulls, beaver tails, muskrat tails and such went unsold and/or very cheap. My turkey wings and tails brought less then half of last year. It is what it is. There were several wolf skulls that were bid at $75.00 to $85.00 that went unsold. 5 wolves averaged $223.96, high was $282.13 and all sold. I will post more as I get it.

is this a sealed bid sale I assume?

yes

George is gonna judge his competition as any good buyer should. He will pay accordingly. He also is in touch with the market daily if not many times a day as are most volume buyers. Not sure who all of these buyers were but I see a few names I recognize. Also prices tend to fall in the country latter in the season. Happens every year. Buyers get full and the competition is less.

I think there are to many state trapping organizations trying to make a buck. Idaho has 3. If they would consolidate and split their sale profits depending on numbers of members the prices would be higher. But they never will. If you think the buyers don't have high expenses think again. Every sale they attend decreases their profit margin.

The problem with one sale is Idaho and many other states are big states. I can't drive 10 or more hours one way to sell 3 to 4 hundred dollars of fur. By having one sale you are excluding many small hobby trappers. A lot of areas no longer have local fur buyers. We can mail some of the items but I enjoy getting together with other trappers and the buyers. I have been doing this long enough I know many of them(buyers and trappers) and enjoy talking to them.

Slick pan- the sales in Idaho are sponsored by 3 different organizations. In 3 different parts of the state.

Blackfoot - Upper Snake RivernTrappers.

St. Marie’s - Intermountain Fur Harvesters

Glenn’s Ferry - Idaho Trappers Association.

3 groups - 3 opinions - 3 egos.

No one in north Idaho wants to drive 600 miles one way to a sale in Blackfoot.

Not arguing. Just stating a fact. Been there. Done that!! If Idaho was a square state like Oregon, one central sale would be much easier. Just saying.

I'm on the wrong coast. I'm thinking about catch and release next year! LOL

I hear your pain Musty. I don't know how many times I went home from a fur sale with a sour taste in my mouth...but a bunch. At least in the last few years if the K. Falls sale didn't work out I could meet up with the FHA agent and consign the fur that i didn't get decent bids on. That is now over since George Brady passed away.

Nancy ,
Montana is a big state there is one organization and one sale. The real problem is not the distance but the fact the organizations want to be separate and not combined which is just stupid.

Slick pan - I agree about the 3 organizations in idaho that can’t get along. Been that way ever since Upper Snake Trappers split away from ITA.

I agree that Montana is a big state but it is also a regular shape (sort of). Livingston is a central location (sort of). Due to the shape of Idaho, there isn’t really a central location - Glenn’s Ferry is sort of central. I know you may not agree but location does play a factor.

But EGOS are the biggest obstacle.

I would just like to point out our president(Bernie), his wife and sometimes other members go down to help the ITA with their sale. Rusty and his wife come up to help with ours. We have multiple members that belong to both organizations. We mutually support each other.

^^^I remember Delbert did the same.

Yes he and Rusty started it.

First pic on here is my pile of marten and I’m happy with the prices I got , and I’ll say this Westside (coastal ) cats on a great year are $75-$90 so being and the end of the sale season I woulda sold for $50 to not take them home . At the Washington sale every beaver was weighed for hatters . Musty I know you put up great fur too

I don't know about the upper Snake trappers association, but Bernie (Intermountain fur Harvesters President) and his wife Michelle go to Glenn's Ferry every year and work the whole sale as hard as anybody. The IMFH sale has always been small with limited buyers, and I have never sold at it for this reason. Even though Saint Marie's is only an hour from me. I sometimes feel bad about this after getting to know Bernie and Michelle because they are great people who really work hard. But they just can't consistently pull the buyers to provide the competition for the high prices. To be honest I had very seldom been happy with a local auction until I started selling at the ITA sale in Glenn's Ferry.

I was surprised to read that list of buyers, I had talked to a guy or two that were there and they said they saw few buyers there, Jerry Taylor and Eric Salzsman weren't buying furs much and the guys I talked to only mentioned seeing two fur buyers, so apparently the others weren't out grading furs on Saturday when they were there. They did say there was quite a bit of fur there for what is traditionally a small sale though.

Quite a bit of fur came from Washington, and I think this is going to happen from now on as most of us are going to be shipping furs over or bringing over ourselves

Rebekah Lieb and Shelby Barnes were two other buyers and I do apologize if I am missing anyone.

I do not know the entire reason behind different locations now or who helps who. I can understand the distance for meetings and local trappers try to support local sales but in the end if trappers don't get top dollar for their fur they have to do something different. I don't think the association is paying the members the difference in price they would receive someplace else.