Good write up Swamp Wolf. Really enjoyed your reminisces.

My evolution kind of started when prices started going down in the late 80's. I learned I had to catch more fur to make the same amount of $$$. To do that I had to learn to skin faster and get better at putting up fur. No country carcass buyers around anymore. Over time I also learned that marketing my fur was just as important (or more) than catching it. Every year I'm looking for my best options and also learning to take full advantage of all the side products each species has. If I get $20 for a beaver pelt I'll usually end up with nearly another $20 with all the side products.

I think back in the good old days when coons were $25 - in the south and a lot of folks were actually making a significant portion of their living trapping - a trapper also had to pay attention and not get too hung up on one thing. Everyone around me was targeting coons, beaver, and cat. You could hear coon hounds running every night in four directions. The only time you were the first to place a trap on a section of creek was the first day of season. You could walk a steep, high ridge three miles back into the mountains and someone was trapping back there. I made over $10,000 in a season by concentrating on nutria - in the late 70’s. I lived in a tent for three months and traveled from water body to water body. Yes, folks had trapped there, for coon and beaver - but were cussing when a lowly nutria got in a set and ruined it. $5 for a nutria instead of $30 for a coon or beaver was a non starter for many. I paddled into areas that were difficult to get to. I lived in a tent so I did not have to worry about the drive to check traps. I averaged 30 nutrias a night - plus caught some beaver, coon, cat, possum, and skunks along the way

I, too, now concentrate on coons, possums, and skunks to reduce nest predation on my own land. I can set five dp traps - easily - in the time it takes to set one dirt hole. But, I still cant help myself - I have to set a couple traps for cats just because they were always my favorite catch.

WB,
I know the following isn't quite what your were asking ,but your thread made me reminisce a little.

1970s to mid-80s: Fur trapping is great (and with an excellent fur market) & pay job trapping is unheard of around here. There were 6 or more fur buyers within a 60 miles radius of me and 2 or 3 more than ran truck routes weekly or bi-monthly. Road-kill furbearers do not lay long on highway.

Late-80s: Less fur trapping (fur market weakening). A few newly constructed fox pens are buying foxes....$50/fox

Early 90s: fur market pitiful. Local fur buyers all gone. Pens preferring mostly coyotes. Paying $75 each.

Late 90s to early 2000s: fur market decent for a few species, but must be put up fur and ship to big auction houses, except for one lical buyer about 120 miles up state from me (Jerry Lee.) Hearing about landowners willing to pay for good trappers. Coyote & fox live market is keeping southern trappers alive. $50 reds, $35 to $40 greys, $100 coyotes.

2010 & 2011: fur market is very good, especially otter, foxes, bobcats, coon here in the South (2nd highest I've ever enjoyed in my lifetime.) Coyote live market is still rolling...$75 to $100 each. Several large landowners very willing to pay for a good trapper. NAFA begins to bite off more than it can chew.

2012 and a few years after: fur market declining. Live market still pretty good. Live coyotes $50 to $75. Very little fur trapping in the South. Very limited outlets to market southern fur. I stopped all my live marketing...tired of it. Too much bickering over perfect feet by the old houndsmen codgers that run the pens.....smh!

Mid-20teens: fur market bad. Ditching all southern coon and beaver. Sending dried otters, cats, and foxes to several different buying outlets (low prices received, but I cant make myself pitch cats, foxes, and otters.) Live market slowed. Some pens offering less than $50/coyote. All my work is pay predator jobs...paying pretty good ($200 to $300/per day with lodging provided and 10 to 14 day minimum runs.) No problem for me to stay busy all with numerous predator jobs and now beaver work.

Late-20teens: Fur market still low. Paid predator & beaver work is easy to get. Both large and small landowners willing to pay for a good trapper. Paid beaver jobs becoming very common...year-round. Groenwold begins making fur buying stops in the Deep South.....I'm assuming due to increasing beaver felt market.

2020 to present: Fur market not impressive, but still alive. Beaver interest increased to 2nd highest I've ever seen in my lifetime. GFWC making numerous buying stops all over the South...giving us deep South trappers an easy outlet to move our otter, bobcats, and foxes, too. Coon interest still pitiful. Paid predator work and beaver jobs are literally everywhere down here for good trappers with the knowledge and equipment to do them right. Coyote live market prices have increased back up to +/- $100 per coyote at a few Georgia training enclosures.

Here we are!