I meant exactly that. It was 40 years ago.

Laverne passed away in 2005, almost 20 years ago. When he moved off his place in the country I attended his auction, that most of been in the mid to late 90s. Man oh man time flies.

This guy never froze a beaver nights were cold and he had a cold floor in shed. He piled them up for 10 days and sold them all at once, all 273. I’m selling to Carlson on Friday beaver , coon Otter and a bobcat. Never sold to him before but friend says he’s beating Groenwalds. We will see.

Me to. Also, $70 for a red fox.

Geez it wasn’t that long ago. When you’re living it, it seems normal and like it will never end. Same with population booms. Man, savor those times!

A nice comparison. If only the prices were better now.

The fur boom of he late 1970s and 80s was long-haired fur. Before that, mink was king. I knew a guy named Norm Johnson, I think he was from Hampton, Iowa, or somewhere in that area of northeast Iowa. He sold his mink one year in the 1940's and bought 80 acres of farmland with the proceeds. That land is worth $10,000 an acre today.

Do that math.

My personal fur boom was 2012-2013, my senior year of high school. I ran a coon line on drowning rods and took every wednesday off school to check the line. 3 day check and moved to fresh ground on the weekends. We froze up the first week of december that year. Ended up averaging mid 30s at nafa.

That was my first year running a decent size line and set a goal of 100 coon. First check I had 45 and in 3 checks I already had my 100.

My fur boom story in the late 70's early 80's was I was as a little kid walking beside dad and convinced him to set a 110 for me so I could walk up the creek and place it by myself! What a big day!!! Man it took some convincing and I thought I was big stuff walking away with it. I didn't get very far and it somehow got stuck on my forearm. He thought mom was going to have his rear end. lol.

Lets say that was 84. He died in 04. So remember that kids, spend time with them while you can.

I remember Dad trapped for Xmas money back then. It was out of a white 70s Ford van with a suicide side door before they had the sliding minivan door ones and he had cardboard spread out on the metal floor in the back and the coons piled up back there. There was a green bench seat that didn't match anything bolted down back there for me. The ditches actually had water in them back in those days. I'm not sure I understand why that is. Prob just the main tile feeding that creek I'm thinking about I guess. Pretty sure its broke down now. I wonder if that is common, there being less water in ditches which sounds stupid to say b/c they tile everything now and those run to the creek right? Maybe the water just gets off faster now I suppose.

Those were the days.

The stock market crash in Oct 1987 put an end to the fur market boom I trapped in the 70 and 80 also The problems all trappers faced at that time was trap and fur thieves . It was a time when you could make some money but it was not always let the good times roll .I started to drive in 1970 and gas was 28 cents a gallon sometimes less The 1974 oil embargo pushed the price over 40 cents a gallon Remember how the sales of foreign motorcycles jumped at the time Nearly anyone that decided to buy a bike was put on a waiting list Some time further along gas prices creep up to 80 cents a gallon The world was a different place than but we where getting good money for our efforts And through it all I learned how to be a better trapper When the market crash happened it was not that the price went down it was more of there was no market Fur buyers closed their doors and many of hose doors never reopened .But by about 1995 some prices had begun to make it worth the time to get some sets out to catch some fur When the prices increased a bit more those who where prepared where able to gear up and trap like they had never done before Like Phil Brown and others said the experiences that had earned before made them ready to strike when the time was right .In my opinion the most observant people in the world are trappers The see and look for details that many never even knew existed And that ability makes them strive to succeed And the desire to attempt to e succeed. Is the real reason most of us trap Yes the price of the fur has to be at a certain point But even those of us that spent to last 50 or 60 years working a trap line is we still feel like a kid on Christmas morning when checking our line As we approach each set For me I have spent a lot of time catching coon And yet when I see a large well furred coon with really good markings it still gives me a sense of satisfactions thar nothing else does This has turned out to be a very good post Thanks to al that commented

In 78 I trapped coyotes 3 weeks, I caught 92 coyotes, I averaged $96 I went and bought a brand new 78 chevy 4x4 pickup for $6500. In 84 I trapped hard i sold 350 coyotes and the theft was terrible, I lost another 50 on top of that. I knew who was stealing the most of them, tried to get the game warden to do something but he wouldn't. The guy stealing was known as a bully and tough guy.
Our youngest son was born December 6 in 84 we didn't have any insurance i sold enough coyotes to pay the hospital bill. I kid my son that we paid for him with coyotes

Those were the good old days.
Fisher 200 bucks,marten 100,lynx 700 Beaver 50,With tops much higher than that.
And the Canadian dollar was the same as the yank dollar.
Could buy a new elan skidoo for 5 marten,lol.
Could buy 3 beer at the hotel and a quarter tank of gas for the buick with a 5 dollar bill.
case of 24 molson export ale-5 dollars and 25cents.
On the other hand the railroad was paying $1.10 an hour,lol.

Since we are telling stories, here are a couple:

I think it was 1980 or 81, my wife says she needs some money to pay bills so I took 100 finished muskrats to Tostenson's and sold them for $7.35 each. With that money she paid two month's rent, the electric and phone bill, bought some clothes and two carts full of groceries, and still had cash left over.

The first year I quit my job to trap full time, I averaged $1000 a day for the first two weeks of the season, which was more than I was making per year working in Quality Control at Winnebago before I quit. (I was making $6.35/hour.)