Remembering old Charlie and other fur buyers from

A while back I was amused with the story in Fur fish game about a southeastern fur buyer they called old Charlie. No one seemed to remember that his last name was Winters. I was wondering how many of you remember some of the old time fur buyers from the boom era. Because I spent over 40 years buying fur in my shop and on the road I met a lot of buyers from New York to the Carolinas. As a youngster I sold my fur to a local dealer by the name of Harold Adam. He was in the Hamburg Pennsylvania area and bought fur for several decades. Something I will always remember was that I bought some of the last muskrats he processed. Does anyone else remember this man? He owned a hardware store and sold Valspar paint along wth the general run of hardware. Who do you remember from way back when? John

Oh I remember Charlie he was third generation buying fur. His son helped him in skinning but did not want to take over the business. As a kid it was great going their and seeing what he bought that day. Sometimes there would be hundreds of muskrats on the floor. He sold O.L. Butcher lures and I bought traps from him. He was always a fair man to deal with. He taught me how to skin Muskrats and raccoons. He had a list on the wall dating back to the 1930's of the prices paid for Muskrats. I can still smell the wonderful aroma that was ever present in his shop. If memory serves me right rats were around 5 bucks during the depression. I was told many a farmer saved their farm by trapping Muskrats. Never sold any fur to Harold Adam but I did buy some old skunk stretchers from him when he stoped buying fur. In the 60's there was just about a fur buyer in every other Township. There was Harold Batdorf in Womelsdorf, John Eby in Gap and Blimeline around Mohnton. There was another guy over towards Kutztown which I can not recall his name. It was good times miss those time. The only thing I don't miss was all the trap thieves there were back then.

Bud Stewart of Fenton,Michigan.The same man who today is remembered for his hand carved fishing lures.Funny thing,I've seen many stories over the years about Bud and his lures,but never mention his fur buying.He bought thousands of 'rats over the years,his nickname was the "rat man".He was a tough old bird,but fair.Going into his shop at the heighth of trapping season was an experience you remember the rest of your life.Lots of things going on all fur and trapping related,you were in heaven.Too bad we took those times for granted,never thought there'd be a day it'd all be gone.

Irving Polikoff, Poughkeepsie, NY

I remember Fred Fowler, Bill Schaefer, Don Doney, Bill McConnell, and Bridlestein in Honesdale PA. Ken Connelly in Schoharie NY. I can still picture all their places and, yes the aroma to a kid. One fur buyers wife was making apple pie and flipped thru a stack of rats and went back to kneading the dough no hand washing!

Did anyone know/remember Irving Hollander?

Yeah, I remember him nittany, plus John slaybaugh in aspers, plus Al holencek

I sold a lot of fur to Harry Smeal from Scribner Nebraska in my early days then later on to his son Bob. They wrote "The market, our guess" for The Trapper back then.

When the color grade started on Coon Bob caught on quick but Harry said it was BS. Harry was basically retired but watched the shop on Wednesday nights when Bob had bowling league. I wasn't a fan of the color grade either so I sold a lot of Coons on Wednesday nights back then.

I remember Charlie Winters John. My dad took me and my brother to see him, and to sell some muskrats to him back in the late sixties. My dad used to sell rats to him back in the day and Charlie had some interesting stories to tell. If I recall correctly his shop was somewhere in the Reinholds area.

I had forgotten about about Charlie, including his last name, until read the article in FFG. i wondered if it could be the same guy so I tracked down the author, Craig Egolf and ask him. Craig wasn't very helpful and it seemed like he had never met Charlie although he wrote about him like he had.

I remember Charlie telling me how young trappers, my dad included, would sometimes rub stovepipe soot on their skunks in an effort to trick him into paying more. Back then the less white on a skunk the more valuable it was. I think it's opposite that today.

I don't think very many fooled old Charlie.

Mark Morris. Louisiana, Mo sold to him in the 80s. Also big in fishing nets

Their were two guys buying near Kutztown. I sold to both of them. The only one I remember is a guy named Baumbach (sp). We called him Mountain Boomy. He had an old truck with a cap on it and would park at the beer distributor in Kutztown (now called Duffer's but different owner back then).

Boomy was a character. Sometimes he'd offer an Oreo cookie and shot of whiskey before dealing on your furs. He always had a truckload by the end of the night.

I sold a lot of fur to Bill Henry in Freeport Ohio back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He had two or three barns full of coons and rats. The basement of the house was full also. Always paid me cash.

Ezra Vincent Chippewa Falls WI. Hour from home but was straight shooter and fair. Never forget in the early 80's I took my first fur in. I walked into his basement shop and on the back of the door a beautiful jet black fur. I checked it out and said what is this. Ezra say's cat! I say what kind, he says house giving $6.00 a piece. If ya catch any bring'em in. I was like oookay! LOL

My first fur buyer was a taxidermist in Elmira, Oregon by the name of Schmid. Sold a lot of nutrias in the round. $3, $2 or $1 depending on the size.

He also said if I caught any nicer looking house cats to bring those in too as he had a market in England for them.

I sold alot of nutria rats to George Yarbrough in Peck, LA. He had a large operation there and bought fur all over. The other buyer I remember well was Robert Lord in Gilbert. He bought out of his house because he couldn't get around very well anymore. Great memories of both places. I also sold to several traveling buyers over the years, but there is just something about being in a fur shed or someone's kitchen and going over fur and telling stories. Mr. George let me use his nutria boards and Mr. Robert sent me home with a dozen #2 Northwoods, those were the first coil spring traps I ever put my hands on. Those old time buyers helped alot of kids get started.

I sold to many also including you John. Does anyone remember Joe Glova from Harvey's lake? As a kid I used to get a ride to his house and sell a few pelts every year. Don't forget Nick Wyshinski from Berwick. I always enjoyed going to his shop.

Stan Krofick in Latrobe

John Epler, great post. You brought back a lot of fond memories of fur buyers.

One funny set up as a fur buyer was Ron Julian Reeder, Sunbury, Pa.
This was in the time frame of bell bottoms and the movie 'Shampoo.'
Ron was a women's hair dresser. His beauty shop was called 'Julian's'. A swanky, high priced place.
In the back alley was a sign, Reeder's Raw Fur. Lots of fur when in the back door along with sales of lures, Fox pee and Skunk juice.
Ron later sold the beauty shop and continue to buy fur from his home in Hummels Wharf.

I ran into a old buyer i sold to as a teenager a few years ago while getting my oil changed, didn't know him and he didn't
know me but as we talked i asked his name and he said Raymond Fowler and i started laughing, told him id sold to him
back when and where and he said oh you were one of those kids that would bring fur every two weeks when id stop at
the old sewing plant and i said yep.

I had no idea back then he was buying for Duke, later to be known as Duke Trap Company! After the boom he became
a baptist preacher, lol. I learned last year he had passed away.

Yes fond memorie's of meeting up with the fur buyers who came through town. Ronald Marchant was the main one and
i saw him several years ago as well coming out of a store. I imagine he bought more fur than anyone else in the state for
alot of years. Could trade a big coon hide for a dozen 1.5 coils he would carry in his truck, how i got most of my traps back
then.

No one will ever know what impact those guys had on trapping by providing us kids an outlet for our fur as well as teaching
us about fur handling and such. The trapping world will never be the same again without them.

The Irving Hollander(Sp?) I mentioned earlier was a big time buyer from New York, he would buy fur from the local buyers. When he was in the area buying from the local buyers he would go to a farm house near where I lived. That farmer would call trappers such as myself and have them come to his place at a certain time when Irving would be there. It was always quite an experience to sell to Irving as he had a good sense of humor. I remember one time I was there I had a red fox that I almost ripped in two when I turned it. When I presented it to Irving he said I can only give you $10 for the fox as is, if you would have sewn it I would pay $50. A friend that was standing nearby told me I should ask Irving's wife (she was along) to sew it, so I did. She said she would be glad to sew it for me. When she finished Irving gave me $50 for the fox.

Hovis, Obrian, Drahos, Ryeshak were "some" of my earliest.
One had a coyote tied to a dog box, first I had seen and didn't see the next for decades.

Allen Wice from Little Colley, PA

Great point. i trapped into my late teens before joining the Army. i didn't get back into it until twenty years later when my daughter expressed an interest. John Epler was our first buyer. He always treated us fairly and had good tips to share with us about fur-handling.

We both took our Cable Restraint Certification classes at John's shop.

I remember buying the last six or eight American-made Schrade Old Timer Improved Muskrat knives that he had in stock after we heard Schrade was no longer going to be making knives in the USA. I still have a few new in the box.

I sold to a guy named Red in Acme PA back in the 80's. No idea what his name was. His place was called Red's Bait shop and trapping supplies.

Lincoln Barbour bought a pile of fur over the years in NC.

Elka that may have been my Wifes' Grandpap. What town?
Edit never mind just re-read. My skills are dulling lol.

I too need to thank John E for his handling tip$ over the years on the old Pa forums.

The buyer near kutztown was Sylvester Dietrich. He bought fur at Leesport farmers market every Wednesday night. We bought some fur from him in the late seventies but most of his fur went to Harold Batdorf in Womeldorf pa. It is sad what happened to Irwin Hollander. He was great to deal with as he would always make sure you would make money selling to him. Sometime in the eighties when the southern coat type raccoon was all the rage in Europe he bought several million dollars worth of them. He shipped them to a tannery in Purto Rico where they proceeded to distroy nearly every one of them bankrupting Irwin. John

John, thanks for the info on Irwin, I didn't know that. I guess I always thought he retired and moved to Florida. He was great to deal with. I remember my buddy had a grey fox and Irwin asked him how much he wanted for the pelt and my buddy said $15, Irwin said I'll give you $18. My buddy was shocked because he actually thought he would only get $10.

There is quite a bit of useless knowledge like this in my febel old mind. I will try to post more about these old guys and see how many memories I can jog. As a buyer I was privy to a lot more info than the average trapper was and some of it was darn interesting. John

John,

This is a great thread, You are at the top of the list of fur buyers I've met throughout the country.

One of the most colorful fella's I had the pleasure to deal with was Pate, (first name ?) from Batesville, AR. He was an icon at the MS Trapper's fur sales for years. The Perrot Brother's from AR were also a regular at the MS Fur Sales. Actually, just attending the MS Fur Sales was an entertaining experience!

When you sold fur to Russ Cumberland, from Northwest Trapper's Supply in Owatonna, MN, you had to be at the top of your game. If you met his very specific criteria for fur handling, you were rewarded handsomely. He loved those huge "Red River" mink.

I'm sure you remember Ferris Dissinger, from Pine Grove, PA. He coached and mentored all of us when we were Teen Agers.

Yes ,Ferris still stops by to pick up supply's from time to time. He has been a very good friend for many years. I remembered yesterday that there was a buyer in New Tripoli by the name of John Hammerly who bought fur at Renningers farmers market in schuylkill Haven after Harry Adam stopped buying there. He was a buyer for Adam. He was there a few years before Harold Batdorf took over. John

I lived in Central New York during the Fur boom and sold
fur to Charlie Centner in Manlius, Bill Centner in Pennelville,
and David Perrigo in North Syracuse.

Went to college in the Finger Lakes and
sold to Stuart North in Clifton Springs,
and Bill Strassner in Rochester.

Around 1977, I discovered the OTA Auction in North Bay, Ontario
(Ontario Trapper's Association) (Now FHA) and never looked back.

Doubled my money selling in Canada vs. In-country NYS buyers.

Good memories.

walleyed

Does anyone remember the name of the guy who was buying fur in either eastern niagara or western orleans county in the 90s?

My first fur buyer was Roland Hurd at Smyrna, Del

Sold lots of fur and deer hides to Gerald Castner over in Stillwater, New Jersey

Anyone have pictures of passed fur buyers?

Dutch Elsasser was my favorite fur buyer (are you with me?)
Here's Dutch pictured with Phil Brown

Magee Fur Co. in Eolia, Mo.

Jack Veirs over at Fayette Mo. Roy Duncan and Frank Brown of Marshall Mo.

Some of the buyers here in the catskills, I've sold to over the years were, Lenny Katz, Stanley Alpanalp, Joe Kristoff and Tony Krum... Warren Krums son, still sell to Warren... Jim

Russ Cumberland and Earl Cain come to mind in SE MN. Many a trip to there shops back in the 70s and 80s.Life flies by so fast nowadays.

I started trapping around 1963 and my Dad would take the furs up to Clark Missouri when he was buying feed and sell them to Truesdell Brothers Elevator. I still have some of the tickets from those days. I sold 100 muskrats to Viers in Fayette Missouri for $100 dollars before Christmas in 1970. I spent $85 of that money on a Ithaca model 37 20 ga. for my then girlfriend now wife of 47 years. After that I started selling to Bill Proughet in Bridgeton near St. Louis. I sold to him and visited with him for many years until he passed away. He was a good friend and I miss him. He bought furs in his basement and you could smell the skunk odor from the street. I think of him every time I pass a road killed skunk and it brings a smile.

I don't know most of the buyers mentioned by others but I suspect most if not all of these men encouraged and coached all of us beginners to be better trappers and fur handlers. This isn't happening with the scarcity of fur buyers these days. There is a huge amount of information available now in books and online now for the beginners and experienced trappers. And thanks to the efforts of Paul and his Dad, it is available to all of us here at Trapperman.

Ludy Sheda from Chelsea,IA. I really enjoyed looking around his building. Interesting guy for sure.

I never sold fur to Dutch.just bought supplies from him.Always felt I was treated very fair.Let me correct that ;he did buy fur from me at a couple fur sales. Growing up 1964 [12 yrs old] my dad took me to Nick Wyshinski in Berwick..their were muskrats every where and everybody trapped.Today Nick is living in a healthcare facility on Front St in Berwick..everything was sold to pay for his bill in the nursing home.I guess due to covid I can't gain admission to visit him...Lots of young people got motivated to trap after visiting his shop in those days..wow where have the country buyers gone? a time gone by.......

Does anybody remember Vic Taylor from the Shinglehouse, Pa area? I never sold to him but I'm friends with his son. Apparently he was a pretty big buyer in the north-central PA area. He sold truck loads to a buyer in New York.

He was also one of the largest deer skin buyers in the eastern US.

He owned and operated Trapper Vic’s Restaurant in Shinglehouse.

Going to Ludy's was an adventure in itself! Those were some great times! Used to take the kids and they'd come out with who knows how old bags of candy! Hahahahaha Could spend hours looking around his place! One of a kind for sure

Here is another one from PA. Jesse Asper from Aspers Pa. When I was an agent for NAFA I would stop at Jesse's place to pick up fur. He was the oldest living active fur Buyer I knew. I would be there for a couple of hours and he would tell me stories from the past. I always enjoyed hearing the stories. Someone should write a book on these fur buyers before all is forgotten.

Do any of you New York guys remember Ira Newman? I ran into him back in the seventies at the Broom county fair grounds when the had fur sales there. That man had the biggest hands I have ever seen. He would pick up a bundle of xxxl muskrats and all you would see was the noses and the tail ends. His hand would cover the rest of the skin. He was a colorful character road around in a little red station wagon as I recall. Joh

Lugnut, I sold a ton of fur and deerhides to Vic Taylor

I sold all my fur to Earl Cain 70's thru the 90's. Nice thing was after you got your check you could make the short trip to Mauer Brothers tavern in Elba, cash your check, and have a few beers.

John, you making me feel old. I do remember Sylvester Dietrich with his 1 front tooth, Mountain Bummy Brumbauch who lived in Niantic and was a character with his wild roots and herbal medicine, old man Roth who was in Limerick Pa and had his truck at Zerns every saturday night in his raccoon coat, and the best was Wilmer Kline. There was a buyer who knew fur and my father and I sold lots to him. Dutch was a good guy as well, I do miss him.
You brought back some good memories.

Dick Schultz in LaCrosse Wis. where Wiebke is now. Always paid in cash and I sold in the round, sold 6 rats in '67 for .65 cents each. In '78 sold him almost 9,000.00 worth in Nov. while working full time.

Yes I too remember Wilmer Kline very well we were good friends for a long time. I bought fur out of his shop on Saturday mornings for several years after he quit buying. Sold him thousands of deer hides. We had a good business relationship for many years. Does anyone out there remember Dick Eisenhart from the Bethlehem area? John

Wasn't it Charlie Seager and Bill Seager in Manlius and Pennelville respectively? I believe Charlie Cetner was in Kirkville...

How about Bob Lauver from McVeytown, Pa. Good guy

Growing up in NW pa sold lots of fur to Elmer Smith of Lincolnville, Ted Janosik of Waterford, and Alan Wise of Little Cooley, each one of those fur shops was a real experience. Gilbert Thorton of Albion back in the heyday and later Charlie Sargent of Albion, Shinin Times for sure. Bob

I remember Dick Eisenhart he usually bought fur at the District 10 sale he was a good dealer as well. I do believe he sold his fur to Zander in NJ.

Hi John
I got started trapping in my 40s. A couple buddies and I would go to johns place to sell. We brought the handful of pelts we each had. It was a big deal for us. We stopped down the road for breakfast and headed up the hill to see John. Always loved the smell and all the fur laying around. John would always spend way more time giving pointers then buying our fur. Thanks for everything John
Rob

I sold coon to Ira at Springville fur sale maybe 79 or 80.....21 coon 665.00 if memory serves me right..wife and I had a great Christmas that year!

Speaking of springville does anyone remember Johnny Bowen from that area? He was always at the deistic nine Fur sale.john

How about this name from near Shickshinny,PA ...Buffalo Cimbala...spelling could be way off....and Joe Travelpiece..near Berwick

I think you are referring to buffalo mills whom I never met. Joe and Deb were nice people and good friends for years sadly we have been out of touch for a few years now. Joe made one of the best fox lures ever poured into a bottle. It smelled like the body odor of a red fox. Too bad it all fell to the wayside.

Like Hern said, Bob Lauver from McVeytown, Pa. was a good guy. He bought a lot of fur from me in the 60's & 70's.
If I needed supplies, I went to Ft. Loudon, Pa. to Stanley Hawbaker. He also treated me good.
To bad we don't have men like them now days.
But one thing, we have the memories and that can be good.

the memories are all good for sure!

A fine man, I really hated to not see him at convention. Have you ever tried his lure?

Anyone remember Gilbert and Leo Thorton ? They had Northwest Fur Exchange out of Albion , PA. I started selling fur to them in the early 70's, and ended up with a job there for most of my high school years. Quite a thing to see, as a young kid during the days of high priced fur. We were mostly targeting coon, and the old timers back then were not nearly as helpful as now. When we asked about how we might catch some of those high dollar Red Fox, they would tell us to not even try, those Fox were way too smart for us boys to catch. LOL There were a couple other local fur buyers in that area, Chuck Sargent, and George Knapp.

Good old Bud. Worked for him when I was a lad for two years. We had no idea all those fishing lures he had laying everywhere would be collector's items some day. If I had, I woulda traded my muskrat skinning labor for lures instead of a buck and change an hour.

Thanks for the memories Buck.

Blessings,
Mark

i remember. Back then, if you were not lucky enough to have a family member or good friend show you the ropes, you learned by trial and error. There were very few resources available to a beginning trapper.

According to the old-timers, you had to be some sort of a trapping God to consistently catch red fox and a newbie shouldn't even try. He'd just educate the fox and make it harder on the real trappers. LOL

In the early 70's I bought the book "Pennsylvania Trapping and Predator Control Methods by Paul Tailor and about wore it out. I still have it.

Made my stretcher boards in the high school wood shop based on the info and dimensions in that book. lots of kids and teachers wanted to know "what are the miniature surf boards for?"

The first buyer I sold to was "Skunky" white in Gilbertsville, NY that was in the early 60's , sold to Clifford Ryan when White sold out to Charlie Glezen(sp), then we started a fur auction in Oneonta met lots of buyers, Ira Newman, Ray Schedivy, Pete Smith, Jimmy the Greek, we had several from Europe. Saritsky (sp) from NYC one guy came had a white suit on can't remember his name owned a whole block in the city Sam Levine and him got arguing over the beaver ,never got so much for a string of 'em! High times for sure! Ken Connely bought fur in Schoharie lots more but can't remember all of 'em

Forgot about Ray and Pete. Who was the guy from Tupper Lake that usually bought beaver. He had a glass eye.

Ed Schell?

Bob, yes ,you got him...Ed Schell. He seemed to really know beaver.

Ed wasn't any slouch. He knew what he could move. Bought a lot of otter too.

Terry Perrigo from Tupper lake? Dave Hicks from Granville, Tom Gebo must still be going

I saw Gebo at NYS Flea market, still selling tanned fur.

Bill Boyer from fredericksburg pa and Ike boyer from annville pa Ike was my great uncle

I didn't know he lived in Niantic, that's only about fifteen minutes from where I live now. My wife finally remembered the name of the old beer distributor in Kutztown (before it was Duffer's). A month after I ask her she says, "Was it Sokol's Beer Distributors?"

That's where we'd meet Brumbach certain evenings during the week to sell in the round.