Local guy this spring caught 273 beaver in 10 days and sold all in the round to Carlson fur buyers for $20 average. That’s $5,460. Factoring inflation those same beaver during the 80’s s fur boom would be $88,000 in just ten days. You young trappers can only imagine what that fur boom was like. Of course he would have never caught 273 back then because of fierce competition but the smart trappers knew how to walk deeper and cut the road huggers off. A little history to chew on.

I trapped coon during college break in the 80s and made way more than I could on a minimum wage job. Heck I would take now the prices paid back then without adjustment for inflation.

I can remember getting as much as $40 for a large prime coon back then.

The 80s have been gone for 40 years.

Bought my first brand new pick up truck with trapping money in the early 80s.

Back in high school had over 100 coon at 40 a pop plus 70 dollar reds and kids laughed at me but we’re working at McDonald’s for 2 bucks an hour lol

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That's the key word right there. Trappers today have no idea what trapping competition, pressure on the resource and theft was like. It was unreal in many areas.

Yea it was a blast, i lost 22 fox traps in one day to theft! And your correct, i did ALOT of walking back then.

I was a senior in high school back in 1979 and skipped school the first week of trapping season to try my luck. Sold my furs the next Saturday morning and when I got home my parents met me at the door wondering why I wasn't at school that week. Showed them the check for $2500 I got from my furs that morning. That was more than both my parents made in a month combined. Where could a young man make that kind of money honestly back then when mnimum wage was only $1.25? Nothing more was ever said about school.

All through high school; I took the 1st week of trapping season off to catch fur! I went to the principal, and he said if I got a note from my teacher that I was up to date on schoolwork, I could take off.

I was a newly-wed in the 80s. Paid many bills, bought Christmas/birthdays, bought a good used truck, bought a new Honda Big Red 250....I could go on and on....what a great time to be a trapper!....even in the deep South.

Only other time this southern fur did almost as well was 2010-11. Had a couple very nice 5 figure fur checks from NAFA those two years.

Not sure what you mean by that but my body tells me that louder than you. Most of my traps I bought 50 or more years ago and from a guy who passed long ago, Swede Israelson in thief river falls. All good memories. It was 71 or 72 fox were $12 and then each year exploded into the last fur boom. They say every generation has a fur boom. I’m not holding my breath for the next one. Maybe you 12 year olds will see it unless the Lord returns first.

Ya,you are right.
But from my perspective, it was one of the greatest times to be a trapper.
I know, because I lived it.
I am today, because I participated in those years as a young man.

Rock on,I was glad to see you southern guys do well then!

Wait Wait wait......


How many foxes did it take to buy a new 4x4?

You can't have a glory days recall without that metric.

100 fox at $75 = $7,500 a new pick up was $4,500

If it takes him 10min to rough skin them, that’s over 45 hours of skinning….lol. Need the freezer space to keep the carcasses from spoiling.
$20 round is pretty crazy price!

I asked the principal and he denied me saying that if he let me off to trap then he would have to let everyone out yet it was alright for deer hunting. Monday morning I some how managed to get sprayed by a skunk and the teacher sent me home. Problem solved.

Back in 1995 and 1996, I worked with an old trapper named Festus. Back when prices were good, he trapped for 4 months a year, in Ohio. He took the other 8 months of the year off.

Keith

What Phil said above: "I am today, because I participated in those years as a young man."

More fitting words have never been spoken!