Making a run up to Glenn's Ferry this morning. The cats are nothing. special. 36 to38 inches with average bellies. I'd be happy to get within 200 dollars of Fallon average on cats. What do you think? Fallon average was over $900.

You should do well, very nice put up.

Isn’t Nephi coming up soon ?

I think so.

Nephi is next weekend. March 10-12.

It used to be first part of February, right after Colorado.

Good job on the handling!

You should do well based on those past sales.

Actually, Nephi is now a mid-week sale because there weren't any weekends available when Utah made the move to have their sale in March.

Foxhunter, you have to get cat tags ahead of time, right? Could you have caught more cats if you wanted?

I'll say.

I'm pretty sure we could have caught more. We had 12 tags. But it was kind of a tough year for us. We only trapped 3 or 4 weeks because of scheduled surgeries and other obligations.

Guess I should have checked my calendar - I know it is the 10-12, just didn’t check what day of the week that was. Oops.

Wyoming had a mid week sale and it turned out ok.

Pretty fur, must be crafters at that sale cause ive never seen a coon turned, greasy as they are id not want one turned for tanning, got to be grease spots in the hide somewhere. Way they are buying those type cats this year must be a red hot market, imagine you will like the price you get.

I saw that coon turned also. And saw it was on a stretcher. Thought maybe it was "in the grease" and put on the stretchers to look nice for pic.

Hope you do well foxhunter

I was talking to one of the buyers this morning. Some interesting insights. He says that it’s completely the Chinese pushing the cat market. There are not enough cats produced to satisfy the need, hence the prices we’re seeing. He represents Groeny. There are some Greeks over here today also connected to Groeny.

He also thinks that Chinese will be into western coyotes in the next couple of years looking for a cheaper alternative to the cats.

You there BP? Find my otters and let me know how they look after shipping compared to some others.

Dropped the coon off at Moyles to get tanned. Fur side out is just a habit.

I’m here. How would I recognize your otters? How many? Feet-on?

Boy oh boy! A lot of cats. Latest count is at about 2500. I’m seeing cites tags from Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming etc

Supposedly only about 100 cats from eastern states. Don’t hold your breath about sale results. Bid deadlines are being extended and final results may not be available until Sunday evening.


Compiling sale averages will not be a priority.

Can’t get all the cats in a pic, but here’s some of them from today.

Yessir. Feet on and all over 40” nose to skirt. A lot of 4 and a lot of 3 really pretty ones. Probably the only ones with Maryland Cites tags. Only if you get a chance sir. I always worry how they look after shipping. I sent some black rats this year too. Case skinned and then a few skinned open with tails on.

Were you able to put minimums on them? I only mention that because unfortunately our big otter buyer could not be here because of health concerns.

I’m concerned I didn’t protect myself enough on my minimums. Didn’t know he wasn’t here when I did the paperwork this morning.

Hopefully there’s other buyers….

That would be typical of my luck lol…

Found your otters mud. Very nice looking, some of the best there.

I Spoke with Rusty about our plight and he is going to text the buyer to see if he wants to on- line bid on yours and mine. Tentative deal for sure but we can hope.

Ever see a cat with a belly like this? Tag says it’s from Idaho

Thanks BP. Like I said I always worry about how they make it through shipping.

Had to downsize the pic, but looking real good. Nice sized too.

lol yeah that’s them. I had them separated into 2 lots. The red zips were my cleanest ones. Both lots were all 2x 40”+. Had one too big for the box. I’ve got 2 here over 46” nose to skirt now.

Beaverpeeler, appreciate you keeping us posted on things going on there at Glenns Ferry. Did you ever hear a final tally on the number of cats?

Carl - is that a crappy cat or a crappy photograph? Looks all blurry to me.

Mud - are your otter all in one lot or did they keep them separate by the colored twist ties? Just curious. Thanks.

The colored zip ties let you know they belong together. mud had two lots.

Look closely at the “ blurry” cat. It has a pure white belly.
……so maybe bleaching a cat to get a whiter belly not a good idea?

Looks like the sale is finally over. What a marathon! Bid reading took like 4 hours. I haven’t heard anything about prices. I bet it takes them a week or so to post averages.

Still waiting on a master list to print. Only no sale lots have been shagged.

I was told the sold goods wouldn’t be shagged until Monday morning. Of course, it is now “Monday morning” in southern idaho!! LOL

Yep, technically Monday morning lol. I got my furs right at 1 AM. I haven’t looked closely yet at lots but at a glance prices were higher than I expected.

For me these two pics kind of sum up the experience this weekend:

Lots of cats (and other fur)....


And lots of waiting....

what state issues red tags?

ITA's successes with sales the last couple of years have made for some painful growing pains. It was definitely too much fur for a one day sale. I'm sure Rusty and gang will adjust things in the future so that it runs a little smoother for everyone.

We were supposed to have it wrapped up by Sunday morning...I didn't head out the door until 11:30 at night and w/o a bid sheet to know how I did on my lots. I did get my no-sells and all that taken care of of course before leaving.

Hat's off to the gang of volunteers that worked their fanny's off trying to get everything done. Hope Rusty and the office gang get some well deserved rest soon.

Good on you for staying so late to help out, especially with your drive home. I'm sure Rusty and crew appreciated it. I almost feel bad shipping my small amount of fur down there now, knowing how busy this sale was.

LOL, I wasn't helping out...just waiting to get my no-sells back to me so I could get out of Dodge....

On a happier note here is a fellow that probably most everyone on Trapperman has heard of but maybe not seen: Randy Shuff; an excellent leather worker who tans beaver tails and sells things made with them. I'm sure quite a few of us on here own one of his fine wallets.

But maybe you didn't know that he lives in Idaho marten country and is a heck of a marten trapper and fur handler! Check this out:


Top handled marten for the sale:


Plus just a heck of a nice guy, and his wife Sandi too!

Well then I take back everything good I ever said about you.

That's great about Randy. Definitely some nice looking marten.

Of course I wanted to get in on the action...buy a few rounds for the judges the night before and maybe anybody can get a fur handling award! Mud probably deserved it more for his sweet looking feet-on coastal Maryland otters, but nope....

Beaverpeeler for the win!

You bassturd….

Maybe Carl will mail it to you Mud!

Awesome job!

I'll put up a nice coastal Oregon rat on it and send you a pic. How about that?

Make it a nute, and it’s a deal lol

Carl doesn’t catch nutria that small!! LOL

Show us your otter and we we will vote on trapperman top lot between you and mud. Now just because you are holding the board seems like it could be a set up deal.

BP puts up a great otter. I’m sure he deserved it! If mine were even considered for outstanding lot, im flattered.

....BP master sheets were printed around 3 or 4 am i can look up your lots if u want me to look for you
...pm me your lot numbers

You da man BP!

That was a lot of cats. How many states had trappers with cats in the sale?

Hey walfur
I sent you a pm
Thanks Lope

Mud's:


Beaverpeeler's:


Mud had two lots, probably his best lot is mainly not shown.

Wallfur, I'll gladly take you up on that. I'll get out to the truck and look for my paperwork which is somewhere in there amongst empty coffee cups etc.

I know from the past that BP does as excellent put up on his otter. How many otter were on the sale?

"Good Grief!! Those 6 average cats brought over $1200 each. Never thought I'd see the day."

Congratulations! Glad to hear the high prices are holding well.

Beaverpeeler your box is full!

Popularity is a curse ya know? I'll see what I can do.

Awesome Foxhunter

So no sale results? Id not like that sealed bid way of doing things, no clue what this southern fur is worth from year to year. Be hard to put a minimum bid on anything cause you have no clue what's a fair price for it, except jumbo 30 inch coon, they are worth .50 to a dollar IF you put them up top lot style, lol.

DOn't expect any soon. Their IT person was headed out to the Netherlands Sunday evening. Even the master list wasn't printed until Monday morning.

I've volunteered in the back office checking sealed bids against minimums (OTC sales late 90's) and lots of times the high bid was waaaay higher than any other bid. Normal auctioning and those lots would have gone a lot cheaper.

.....minimums just protect you for example you have a cat that 100 dollars (maybe anther buyers offer) you can send to auction with 100 minimum if dont reach that amount they wont sell it. you dont need to put minimums on your fur to sell at western auctions and fur will be sold to highest bidder. like fur harvesters for example

I’m probably going to get myself in trouble with ITA but I’m going to jump into this discussion and say that there is something wrong with their computer program that they can print results the minute the last lot is cleared.

Rusty will tell you that they “have to check things”. before the final results are announced. I wish I knew what needs to be checked!!

Both Nevada and OTC (Oregon) have sealed bid auctions. Their computer program is such that sale results - % sold and averages - are available as soon as the last lot is cleared. The computer person clicks a certain button and the sale results print out. There is nothing that needs to be checked. The data is checked (and in some cases double checked) as it is entered. So everything is correct along the way and thus final results are in instantly available.

Why doesn’t ITA’s program do that????

Another interesting thing - why is their IT person scheduling a trip out of the country for the evening of the end of a sale?? They must have known ahead of time this was going to be a huge sale.

I realize the IT person has a life outside of fur sales but the sale date is set months ahead of time, in fact the date for the 2027 sale is probably already set - it is the same weekend every year. So why did they plan their trip for the same weekend???

Ok - I’m done talking. Let the hate begin.

Probably the same reason FHA does not operate the same computer program that NAFA was using before the collapse. I wish they did, but they don't.

If there are only a handful of lots that didn't make their minimums it goes a lot faster. In ITA's defense, visions of sugar plums danced through the heads of a lot of trappers with western cats and their minimums reflected that. Rusty had to go old school and read from the list the lots that didn't make minimum and see if the lot owner would say "sell or no sale". Just for cats alone I think it took almost an hour to go through. Then there was coyotes and all the other stuff.

Another thing is there was so much fur they wanted to give the buyers all the time they wanted. All the buyers except for two had their bids in by 9:00 am Sunday. The others were given until 3:00 but I think didn't even make that deadline. And nobody wants to get too pushy with Kortum, one of the biggest (lol).

There were a lot of folks who left early and therefore were not available to see what they wanted to happen with their lots. It was pretty chaotic.

The bottom line is ITA cannot try to move that much fur in such a short time. Hopefully Rusty and company will see what other western auctions do.

As Nancy knows very well, OTC sales used to go multiple days to handle volumes of fur like ITA had on this one.

I can only imagine the chaos with that much fur. All we can do is be patient to see the results. Perhaps Nancy, the IT person had a family emergency that came up and needed to go to the Netherlands last minute? We shouldn't assume this was a planned vacation.

Patience Grasshoppers

Remember selling to HBC and waiting for the check 3 weeks to get the results. Early 80s:)

Nancy, I don't know much about the system at all and I'm sure it can be improved upon. We had some mis entered bids that we didn't hold the furbuyer to ($100 single mink, $200 single muskrat and the program is doubling up our tied lots. We are working through those and they will change averages. Our computer lady (my mother-in-law) was 20 days after losing her son in an accident after the Jan sale and was ripped apart on facebook by everyone by not having the averages instantly afterwards. Now she left for a work trip (not a vacation) and she gets criticized for having to go to work? We had someone drive her directly to the flight that was leaving at midnight. She was working in that office for 18 hrs a day for several days doing a favor for her son in law. Then on her 8 hr layover, she facetimed us working remotely on entries. She is a safety inspector for a manufacturing company, so she has to travel all over the world for work, sometimes with not much notice. I'm not sure what other states are doing with their systems (we have given ours to Utah and NM) and I try to never criticize other sales. We had tens of thousands of pieces of fur, 1800 cats, 1,000 cats, thousands of rats, and piles of other fur and parts. Hundreds of trappers, thousands of lots and over 35 buyers. Yes, we will work on changes, and I can see us doing a bobcat only sale next year and sell everything else at a different sale. I'm not sure but we will fix it and make it better.
We have a bunch of bobcats that didn't meet the minimum, but folks had left because we are running over. The ITA is not going to penalize them because we were running late. Those folks have two choices; they can take the high bid offered and the ITA will try and sell the cat at another sale (if the price goes down then ITA eats that money) or I will deliver them their cats back. I have already had one trapper tell me he will sell all 12 of his cats for the price offered which changes averages and percentage of cats sold. On some of them he put a minimum set at $1200 a cat and offered $400 and still takes the bid which is a huge time waster but that is a subject for a different day. I'm sorry that averages aren't done instantly right when they sales are done but just doing the best we can. I'm not taking offense, just doing the best we can. I get folks that call and are shocked that I am at work and I'm not sitting in an office somewhere. We all do have regular jobs and not just fur sale staff. Not trying to be bitey with everyone, just doing the best I can.
Sincerely
Rusty Kramer

Also, yes, we pushed the deadline out a day. I couldn't sleep at night knowing the international buyer and Kortum wouldn't get through all of the cats. I wasn't going to let that happen. This sale is about raising money for the club and getting the absolute most money possible for the trapper's fur. When we knew we were running over the ITA bought a keg of beer and supper for all of the trappers for the inconvenience. I know it's a inconvenience on folks traveling a long ways but when you beg for consignments from folks and it runs 40% higher than you figured you just have to adapt....

It’s a thankless job at times Rusty but thank you to you and your staff there.

Just like NAFA and PT sales!

Thanks for taking time for the explanation(s) Rusty. I didn't envy you on Sunday. Hope you get some rest soon.

BTW, when do I get my money!!!!!!!



(Just kidding).

Except that you actually get paid.

I understand about what everyone is saying. My condolences to the IT lady. But if the Netherlands trip was planned, couldn’t a back up IT person been brought in and trained to help out.

I’m curious about pulling one of the major buyers away from grading to do a live auction of donated items. I know every one enjoys that auction. I know George likes doing it. And most importantly it is a fund raising for ITA. But the 2-3 hours he spent being an auctioneer could have been spent grading and figuring bids.

I am aware that George wasn’t the only buyer that needed more time. And I know some of the small buyers were upset that the large buyers got more time. But when you’ve got a sale with that much fur - maybe close to 2 million dollars based on asking prices - doesn’t it seem only fair that the buyers who could potentially spend hundreds of thousands of dollars are given extra time.

I’m rambling a bit here but ITA needs to make some major changes before next season or I predict they will lose sellers.

A good starting point would be for Rusty and the sales crew to attended the OTC sale in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the 20th and 21st. Perhaps they could pick up some points on making the ITA sales more efficient.

Yes, I am biased towards OTC. Yes, it’s been a number of years since I attended an ITA sale. But ITA MUST change in order to continue to be one of the major sales in the west.

that reply should have charged " consulting fees" wissmiss

Rusty, thanks for all you do and have done over the years. We will be patient and understanding (most of us anyway).

You're just proof positive that some people are never going to be pleased. You could have shown up and helped out, but you didn't. Hindsight is 20/20. The way oregon is going, won't be much need for a fur sale over there when they make everything illegal.

For what? Throwing stones from a glass house? Always funny when the ones who don't show up are the loudest voices to complain.

Hey sneaky, calm down man.

Nancy can be a little direct with comments, but mostly she is trying to be helpful with suggestions for improvement. Maybe a little frustration showing because she's a seller too. That improvement is needed is a given and Rusty will tell you the same.. Nancy put in her dues over many many years at the OTC sales and has a wealth of knowledge about how a sale can and should work.

ITA is ideally situated to grow in the future but you don't do that without listening to your sellers and buyers.

Nice to see that one of my haters has the courage to make his thoughts public. I’m surprised there aren’t more. Hey slickpan - where are you hiding???

Sneaky - for your information I have put in thousands and thousands of hours helping at trapper fur sales. And not just Oregon. Many sales I was one of the first ones there and one of the last ones to leave. How many hours have you helped at fur sales??

I'll vouch for sneaky helping out Nancy. He was there volunteering.

Growing pains.

The important thing is things are processed and the trappers are paid.

Those of us without skin in the game can wait a few days for results.

"Nobody is to important not to deserve a kick in the pants on occasion to get them moving".... "George Patton to COL. Gaston Bell" when third army was rushing to relieve General Anthony McAuliffe at "The Bulge" in Bastogne when McAuliffe replied "NUTS" to the German demand to surrender. Push any slowpoke......That said 49er is right, we'll all find out the results soon. I'm sure Rusty is on it, and nobody works harder. An all volunteer organization sometimes can move very slowly.

Rusty and ITA crew, Thanks for all the hard work and time you have invested.

wy.wolfer,
I agree, but it is pretty much a no win situation, if ITA cuts George off because he is fiddling around (I remember one year where he went to lunch instead of turning in his bids and Rusty had to send someone down to the restuarant and find him to get his bids) the sellers are going to be upset because he is such a big buyer and pushes the prices, and they will end up with less money for their fur. If they give him extra time and the sale runs over and they have to leave to go to work Monday morning, they are going to be upset also. Not sure of the solution, maybe start the sale a day earlier. I suggest running the grease and miscellaneous on Saturday and doing the long hair (fur out) stuff Sunday, with starting the sale a day earlier, but that would make it hard on the sellers that work all week, also.

To give George his due, this year I think he was going as hard as his health allows. Yes he took time off to do the live auction, but he needed the break from standing on concrete and he had his helpers going over numbers and catching up while he was doing that.

WissMiss,
I am absolutely not a computer person, I can barely get on here and post. lol So I hesitate to comment on computer programs, but I agree that it doesn't seem to work very well. Also it does not flag tie bids, so they have to manually go through and look at all ties and then get the buyers for a coin toss. They tried to alleviate that by having a meeting with the buyers and requesting each buyer end their bid with a different amount of cents. Looking at the results they may as well not have bothered, just at a cursory glance I could see four of the cat buyers with only two different ending cents. Although they specifically requested the buyers not to end their bids with .00 because that is the most common ending for all the random people that are eligible to bid on stuff that doesn't need a fubuyers license, or that buy a license there just to bid on two or three items they want to take home and hang on their wall. Again they may as well not have bothered, several buyers turned in their bids ending in .00 anyways.

Watching with baited breath

I sometimes scratch my head at what buyers are looking for. Beaverpeeler brought some admittedly red coastal cats with dark bellies, but they were well furred and well put up. And they were getting lower bids than flat haired, greasy, stinking, poorly furred and poorly put up Kansas and Oklahoma cats (which also did not have bellies worth writing home about).

I haven't seen any numbers, but just from what I overhead from furbuyers while shagging fur I don't think anyone who sent rats there is going to be doing handsprings of joy, but otherwise I think it was a great sale, with an unbelievable amount of fur, I know I was ecstatic with my prices. It has gotten big enough that there are going to have to be some changes though.

I like Rusty so I hope he does not take any comments I might have the wrong way, but I think the main issue on this particular sale was it was just way too much fur for a 1 day sale. I doubt buyers had enough time to evaluate fur as they would have liked. In particular, fur that was not cats didn't appear to get as much attention as a normal auction would.

Like Bearcat said, multiple days. OTC in recent years made sales two day affairs with cats on Friday and all other fur Saturday. We trappers knew this about a week in advance and could plan accordingly.

The ITA sale(s) have a lot to recommend them. I like being able to sell wet goods (skulls, feet etc) which is no longer allowed at OTC sales.

So a little better computer system and planning....like Nancy said: it would behoove ITA folks to check out other smooth running western sales. And of course, there is no such thing as a completely trouble- free sale for any of 'em.

LOL, bearcat...I was already bracing for bad news on my cats when I asked the Greek buyer Pavell about what he thought of them. One word "difficult". But I had the same thing happen last year with 8 of my section of cats. Showed them at Prineville and offers were very low (many under $50) Slightly better at K. Falls but I no-saled them there too. Sent them up to FHA and most went for over $300.

So luckily Frank (FHA agent) was there and we got them bagged up and I'll try my luck at the June FHA sale.

One more thought on the ITA sale last week. Had a lot of time to visit with various Idahoan trappers and they are a fine bunch of people. Especially enjoyed yakking with bearcat and Randy Shuff who I have been dealing beaver tails for years and was finally able to meet.

Sounds like I should be glad I only sent a sampling of the black muskrats to test the waters.

George isn't going to live forever.

ok, so Nancy wants to hear my negative opinion of her post. I am sorry to disappoint you Nancy but I don't have one. It's pretty clear that the Glenn's Ferry sale had way to much fur for one day. Nevada had 1200 cats spaced over two days. I am surprised that that the organizers were not more prepared to handle the volume especially after having larger sales in the past. As far as computer printouts for the sellers sooner, that also is something that could be improved. If the sale continues on the pace it has been somethings need to change otherwise the buyers and sellers will not be as present as they are now.

Good post Slick.

George isn't gonna live forever. But then, don't forget, none of us are.

To Rusty and the crew hats off for all the hard work you guys put in making
ITA one of the largest fur sale in the nation!!
It's easy for some to complain and compare to other fur sales
OTC only had 276 cats so yes bid sheets come quick
I talked to someone who said last year his check was dated wrong
and took a month to get paid that was why he was at Glens Ferry
this year so they have computer problems also
Where else can you take all the skulls and such to sell
Where else can you have 40 to 50 buyers looking at your fur
ITA has built a great sale and I am sure they will continue to grow
Just my 2 cents

I
Hear hear!!!! Brother Lope and to all who put in their time and effort into the best fur auction in the US.

In my defense I'm both a farmer and a trapper....complaining is in the dna!

Carl, I don't know why you would drive clear to Idaho to sell those cats when we have two fur sales in Oregon. I think the oil companies are doing fine without your help.

He's trying to fill up his "no-sale" punch card!

Good point. I had a lot more than cats though and ITA attracts more crafters than OTC lately. Plus I had a deal with Randy Shuff to bring all my beaver tails over. That paid for lot of my gas. Of course didn't know gas prices were going to spike right now. Start out at $4.40 gal in Oregon but in Idaho was paying $3.18

I hadn't been to a fur sale in many years until NAFA went under. Since then I have been to a few, and for the last few years I have helped out at the ITA sale. It started out by jumping in to cover for someone while they took a bathroom break while I was there checking in fur and slowly morphed into showing up before the sale started and staying until after it is over. Of the sales I have been to, ITA is undoubtedly the best for the sellers. They allow all sorts of stuff on their sale, and actually have buyers for it show up. This means a trapper can bring everything he wants to sell to one place. Furs, skulls, baculum, glands, horns, traps and trapping equipment, even mounts can all be sold. There are usually a couple bear and cougar hides, maybe a cowhide and this year I checked in a goat hide. If it is legal to sell, they will take it. This draws in the crafters and anybody can get a bid sheet and bid on things that don't require a fur buyers license. There is always some tanned fur if you want a particular animal to hang on your wall, and tanned fur doesn't require a furbuyers license. Or Fish and Game will be there at least one day, selling furbuyers licenses. It is like a snowball, the more stuff you have, the more buyers show up, the more buyers show up, the more sellers show up, the more sellers show up, the more stuff you get. And the more buyers you have, the more chances you'll have multiple buyers interested in your items, the more buyers interested in your items, the higher the prices.

Now of course some markets can be flooded, and some easier than others. The skull market seems easy to flood, for example beaver skulls went for just cents this year. I talked to the big skull buyer that always is there and he told me, "I will buy them all, but I can buy beaver skulls by the freezer load, so I am not paying much for them." He has years worth of inventory of them.

There have been many discussions on how to improve various aspects of the sale. It has grown quickly in just a few years to be the biggest sale in the west (possibly in the US but I know nothing about sales back east) and you can't expect it not to have a few growing pains, but Rusty works very hard at trying to have everyone, buyer or seller, leave satisfied with the sale aspect. This causes some of the delays as they don't turn fur away, both Friday and Saturday nights I was there until after midnight checking in fur, if you showed up and turned your paperwork in by the time on the schedule, we are going to be there until it is checked in, then when all that is done, regardless of the time, Rusty starts bringing in boxes of shipped in fur that arrived after the deadline, we did a whole truckload of boxes that arrived Thursday and Friday, then Saturday night we did more that his dad brought down that arrived Saturday. I'm sure he is still getting boxes showing up at his house. If someone is shipping fur to the sale, I highly recommend shipping early so it can be gone through and put out before the sale starts. And send a list of what furs you have in each box, how you want them lotted, etc. It really slows things down when we have to go through and see what you have and decide how they should be lotted. Leaving easily found instructions is very helpful, and DON'T forget your NAME! We had multiple boxes that Rusty had to have one of the girls google the address to find out whose furs they were, and at least one I'm aware of that had no return address on it.

I know nothing about computer systems, but that seems to be one of the biggest things slowing things down, if that could be expedited, it would be a tremendous help, next would be the buyers getting their bids in, in a timely manner. But you can only rush buyers so much, before they either don't bid on stuff they haven't looked at, or give lowball offers on a bunch of stuff they just gave a cursory glance to. That is counter productive.

I tend to help on the fur check side of things a lot, so I feel more comfortable commenting on that. Overall it seems to go fairly smoothly, just the vast volumes we have had the last couple years slows it down. Show up early and expect to be there a while. If you are new and don't know how to lot or minimum your stuff, we are more than happy to help you. But at least try to pay attention and learn. Have your furs and other items organized and know what you have. If you can put everything on the table in order and tell us what it is, it goes smoother. For example, if you have four lots of skunks, have them seperated, we usually delineate lots by putting zip ties through the eyes, one lot red, next green, etc. Not the lot zip tied together, we just have to cut them apart so the buyers can look at each hide to grade, but a zip tie through each individual fur. We had a few sellers who had done that at home, this was very nice. Run through all your skunks, then do all your coons, then all your coyotes, etc. Dumping a pile of coons, skunks and rock chucks on the table, with no idea of how many of each are in the pile or how you want them lotted slows things down. If you have a couple hundred rats, put them in cardboard boxes and write on the boxes how many are in each box. Yes, we have to count and verify, but if we come up with the same count as you, we only have to count once, and large lots of rats are going to go in boxes on the tables so they don't end up slithered everywhere. So you bringing them that way means we don't have to find boxes of the right size. These are little things that the individual sellers can do to help, any one of them won't save a lot of time, but they will make things run smoother and every little bit helps. We are happy to help, or provide suggestions, but if you know how you want your furs lotted ahead of time, having them organized helps. I know a number of sellers that have came to this sale (myself included) specifcally because they allow you to lot your fur how you want, and to have as many lots as you desire. Speeding things up by creating disgruntled sellers or causing them to take their furs elsewhere is not helpful.

Good post Bearcat! If all the sellers had read that and heeded your advice ahead of time it would really have helped. The ITA volunteers are second to none in terms of all the effort and time they put in. I've shagged a lot of fur on OTC sales over the years but nothing like what these guys had on their plates last weekend.

Bearcat 2. Thanks for that. Great detail and explanation. Again, great job done by all the hard workers at ITA.

Bearcat that is an excellent post. And I do need to apologize on my shipped fur. I included every detail I could think of and what Rusty told me to in a note in the box of coyotes and fox but just assumed you guys would run all the coyotes as a lot and all the fox as a lot. I should have specified that in the note though. I'll keep that in mind if I ship again.

I know nothing about the computer program ITA uses at their fur sale. It has, in my opinion, some flaws. Hopefully they are able to fix them before next season.

I would like to point out that ITA owns a copy of a computer fur sale program that is used by both Oregon and Nevada. It is very efficient program and easy to use. I think it would make ITA sales run smoother. Not sure why they aren’t using it.

Do you folks understand how much work and time goes into putting on a fur sale? These people worked there tails off. They don't get paid they are doing it for our sport and to stop the anti trapping people. I for one appreciate all their time and support for trapping

Yup. I understand 110% the work involved in putting on a fur sale. Been there, done that.

My purpose in posting is to offer suggestions to make the ITA sale better. There are ways to make it more efficient. Printing results at 4 AM is total BS.

I have now been to three ITA sales and I will say that their corps of volunteers is second to none,

Why do certain people have their shorts in a knot? Patients is virtue!

For me patience is never the issue. It is more along the lines of making sure that my fur has every chance to be seen and bid on by as many buyers as possible. If the event is over-crowded with fur for a one day sale did my fur get its best chance to be seen and evaluated? If it was a top end cat probably yes.... but I never will have that cat.

That said I know that Rusty and crew will be making changes in the future so that their sales will continue to be top notch affairs. This particular sale had too much fur for one day.

The results will reflect that as this thread helps offer an explanation.

The loudest critics don't even have fur that was at the idaho sale. Literally no skin in the game other than complaining

A shout out to Rusty and all the volunteers that make it happen. If it wasn't for them there wouldn’t be a fur sale or anything else involved with trapping.

Did you have some fur there?

Yup, she did.

But would it have mattered if she didn't?

Yes. Not sure that it is any of your business or of any ones business.

Is there a reason you ask??