What bearcat said.

The kind of buyers that come in to a tagging or parking lot buyers at association sales are sleaze bags in my opinion. Those kinds of sales deprive asssociations the funds that benefit all trappers.

Now, having said that; I have sold some fur in parking lots. But after the auction when my minimums were not met and our association collected a withdrawal fee in these cases.

I wouldn't agree with you on buyers at a tagging, some are, some aren't, but showing up there to attempt to buy furs I don't see as a sleazy manuever, no more so than buying them at your shop from trappers that bring them to you (most will offer you less than they would at an auction, either way. But if they show up to an auction and there are no other buyers that they know are going to bid on the furs they want, many will lowball offers there, which I consider sleazier). Buyers that try and buy in the parking lot of association sales (before the sale, after the sale is fair game) I agree completely are sleaze bags, and I know some have been banned for the practice.

Cat buyers go to tagging to buy fur. It been a practice for many, many years. I believe that trappers should support their associations if they consider it something they wish to join. I don't always agree with all association practices. What if they are not a member? They can't consign to fur sales. What if they recently caught fur and can't attend the association sale? Many reasons why they might sell it at the tagging's. That being said I believe you can still get your cats tagged at Fallon during the fur sale time.

I may have misunderstood “tagging” events then. We don’t have such a thing in Oregon. I assumed it was a preamble to an association sale.

This sale was mind blowing. The bobcat market just doubled over night. More then doubled. And it was already the highest priced fur in the world.

So what is going on? Is this the new standard or was it a one time thing, an aberration? One has to look deeper to try to figure out what is going on. Did one buyer get them all or was it competitive among several? What does this mean for eastern cats? Other types of furs? Marten prices have quietly doubled as well. How will game depts react? How crazy will it be for next season in the western states?

Other state auctions are coming up soon. It is going to be interesting.

-John Sullivan

I know exactly how my state will handle it, they will drop the amount of tags you can get, seen it almost every time some one
goes crazy and pays a huge average.

One or two cats won't do it but continued averages thru several state sales will bring a much closer look at total harvests, you can bet on it, and most already know this fact in western states where the most money is spent for spots and fur on cats !

Sorry, I meant to say sealing. The CITIS seal that required for selling bobcats

I believe it is actually CITES isn't it?

I believe it is actually CITES isn't it?

Yes on bobcat and otter

Hey John, I wasn’t there, but I’m pretty certain that George and Libby didn’t get them all. Maybe someone could shed some light on the Buyers that were active.

I made the mistake last year of presuming that George had bought most of the Utah sale cats. Turned out not to be true. Can't remember who beat him out...might have been buyers buying for Pappas.