Anyone have any insight on the castor? Sold for $9 lb and seems like market is at least $20-$25 several adds looking on the shed. I would think maybe just all shells but 25# offered seems like a normal average. Just curious if anyone had inside info while I wait for my check/ summary. Thanks

Maybe it was wet and sloppy. Not dried. Just a guess, especially this early in the season.

I sent all my castor fresh frozen not dried

Not many trappers skinned, fleshed, washed, stretched and dried poor, or rubbed quality coyotes this year, the word on "NO MARKET" has been out all season, and last.

Makes sense on the castor. I always kind of wonder how buyers determine how dry castor is. I am going to weigh some fresh and track the shrink this spring just for giggles as I never thought to sell it fresh. Might be better to sell it wetter.

JBS, properly handled castor should only lose about 20% of its fresh weight at most. I do squeeze out most of the liquid castor prior to drying.

Castor should never be presented at auction in plastic. It rehumidifies and gets wet and sloppy. Btw, two big lots of nice castor at the Prineville sale went for $30/lb.

Buyers can tell what properly dried castor looks like. It only take a 4-7 days to get it there under proper conditions.

Thanks BP.
That makes the MT sale price maybe $12 if all of it was fresh. Must have been a lot of poor handled and shelly castor. Why would a person sell it fresh vs dried? I only sold it one time, I read up on storage and handling and hung castors in my shed for probably 10 days and then put them I seeled plastic In the freezer. Collected about 3 years worth and thawed it and put it in a paper sack. I beat the sale average but also only sent the fullest castors having ground the shells for bait.

I appreciate all the info everyone contributes, I got into trapping about 5 years ago and after catching most of what mt has to offer, missing spotted skunk and fisher, swift fox, I am getting more into fur handling and marketing of fur.

JBS, the most important thing probably is who is at your sale. If you don't have any castor buyers there you're sunk. Earlier this season I sold 10 lbs to a lure maker for $40/lb. If i'm not mistaken there are several other lure makers paying that including Paul.

Back on the handling side of things, is it is fine to put castor in plastic to freeze (after an initial drying) for any length of time, even years, but after you take it out it needs to be dried again for another 24-48 hours to get it dry again as it will thaw out wet even when it went into the freezer dry. Present it at auction in a cardboard box or paper bag but let the buyers get a good look at it.

A note about drying castor - it is possible to over dry castor. Over dried castor will be discounted in price.

Castor should NOT be dried until it is rock hard. Properly dried castor is soft and pliable to the touch. It is not wet and sticky and it does not squish when you handle it. Should kinda feel like Silly Putty or modeling clay.

Once castor is properly dried, it can be stored in a freezer to stop the drying process. When ready to sell, take out of the freezer a few days before .