Hey Slick! George Kortum was weighing beaver at our sale yesterday! LOL I can't complain, he paid good money for mine...I was a little nervous that with somewhat lackluster FHA results I might get hurt.
beaverpeeler,
You made the right move on not shipping beaver or otter to FHA. I think the buyers and sellers commissions, CITES fees, packaging fees, tumbling fees, etc. are really starting to drag FHA averages down WELL below many of the larger state association auctions. Glad to see OTC pull off another successful auction!

I'm glad some shippers seem happy with FHA's auction, but I was honestly quite "underwhelmed ", and they will not be seeing any of my fur again this year. I've sold George K. large batches of marten years back, and he always paid well above auction prices on them. I think in this new day and age, the larger overseas buyers that have contacts in North America have figured out how to bypass all the auction fees, which in many cases they can pay less than at auction, with the trapper STILL receiving MORE, since FHA isn't taking 20% or more of the value as "their" share. Country buyers don't take anywhere near as high of a percentage of the value as "their" cut. Guys like George and other state association auction buyers, have specific demand for some items for their own direct manufacturing needs as well, in which case they will often pay well above FHA returns.

Good deal, and happy to see buyers/ sellers at both FHA and OTC seem to be pretty happy, and nice to see an upward trend on some species!!
