Makes sense what you say I worked for a fur buyer in mid 70’s. I saw him pull some super shady deals. One was to send one of his buyers with a 100 #2 red fox posing as a trapper. The unsuspecting buyer graded them much higher than they were and paid a $65 average when they should have been $45. His lack of true expertise cost him a bundle in the end. My boss was so happy he gave all of us in the shop a $100 bill. A $100 in 1975 was a lot of money.

What I want to know Is how they split a cow hide.

I'm sure we've all been ployed a time or two.

I saw the same thing. In the late 70s, early 80s, a lot of new buyers popped up. They got a line of credit from the bank, and started buying. Some were coon hunters, others were trappers. But few really understood fur grading and buying. One buyer got his hands on some southern rats, pawned them off on another buyer. Same thing with off colored, flat and Sampson fox. The real tip off should have been that these collections came from multiple sources….with different people putting up the fur. It should have been obvious to the buyer that they didn’t come from one trapper.

That video of the hides being fleshed, made me wonder how many arms and hands had been fleshed by the same machine.

In the late 70's bar owner turned fur buyer said he would pay $25 for any coon. I loaded up the early blue/slaty and dinks and dropped them at his place. A month later he was no longer buying coon.

Wonder how gfw fleshing machine work exactly an other automated stuff

Imagine a band saw horizontal instead of vertical. Knife edge instead of teeth. Table under the blade and it can be adjusted up and down below the blade leaving a gap for the desired thickness. Feed rollers draw the skin through the blade, part of the skin comes out the backside from below the blade, part of it comes out from above the blade.

What a world 8 seconds to flesh a beaver. I wonder what Jeremiah Johnson would think of that. I don’t like it it just seems wrong. I vote we make those machines illegal and while we’re at it also make fake chicken nuggets illegal to.

The reality of it is no one would process their own beaver if they really believed the were only getting $3 each for the process.
You could test the process by taking 20 beaver to the truck. Get the offer and then decline. Take the beaver home and board them. Now get 3 bids on the finished goods. Just sayin

If a trapper lives in an area with high quality beaver, the hardest part of the process is marketing.

I've put a a lot of beaver. 65 inch beaver will take approximately 65 to 70 nails.

I also worked for a fur buyer in Medford WI in the mid-late 70s. Those were wild times in the fur industry. We bought mostly dealer lots in the Midwest, and from a few trappers who walked in the door.
I'd be curious to know the town the fur buyer you worked for was.

Google "Alibaba" and on that website you'll see all the various kinds of fleshing machines for sheep/hogs that don't destroy the fur side.

Not so excited about 30 dollar averages for good beaver in 2024? It wasn't that exciting 30 years ago either.

30 years ago?

1994?

Decent ROI and time. Not so much now.

That wasn't my point though. I'd never intentionally, directly, sell to someone who says my green beaver are only worth 3 bucks more on average.

GFW likes to buy green and frozen because he nearly always gains at least one size over what he grades them at and lots of times two sizes. So it’s really costing the trapper more than $3 by not fleshing/stretching.

Eeyup

I think you broke the code!

I’m selling a bunch put up and 6 frozen I know how big the frozen are so I’ll see how he sizes them If he cheats I’ll walk and go to other buyer. I might go to other buyer first and walk then compare Groon price. We’re trying to decide between the to buyers so how else do you know. Of course that dosnt mean next time it wouldn’t be the other way around. It’s always a game if you’re after best price.