Severely overdried castor value?

I have some castor that I took out of the freezer last winter to sell right before covid hit and I kinda forgot about it. It's been hanging over a box and is DARK and hard. Never had this before as I usually handle it good, so I have no idea what it's monetary value is (if any) compared to nicely handled castor. It was about three pounds worth "semi-dried", as in I would have been paid for 3#.

If it's not worth selling, what's the best way to rehydrate it to grind up for beaver lure? Soak in prop glycol or glycerin for a while? Or just a little water probably? This is a new problem I have thankfully never had before and don't plan to have ever again! Happy trapping! ScottW

I don't know, because I've never sold any like that but if I were to guess it would go as #3 castor or shell castor. Still pretty good money in today's market.

And of course it could be ground and gliserine added (plus whatever else you like) to make lure.

Not sure but i think i read somewhere that Paul Dobbins likes his castor that way and he grinds it into powder and uses to his perspectives in lures..... dont quote me but memory jogs me bout this.

Has anyone been quoted a castor price lately? I've head It's down to around $65.00 a lb.

$140 at the last FHA sale.

32 lbs averaged $81 on this last Friday's OTC sale.

Last I heard was 80 to 85.

Funny you say that Lee, I seem to remember the same thing from a discussion WAY back! Backbreaker is very similar in color to super dried castor. Happy Trapping! ScottW

Send it to the fha sale and I bet they dock you a drying fee.....

I've always dried mine real good before freezing. Seems to sell good. Wonder what Groney is paying??

LOL, don't get me started on that! Sold to a country buyer for years, straight run true weight payment. One year I end up having to ship the castor instead of in person. I get the check in the mail and realize I was shorted like 25%…........"oh, well that was the adjusted weight for drying"......after a long discussion I still hold a slight grudge and haven't sold any castor to them since. He had always told me to hang it and flip once to get the whole outer shell dry then freeze it. Then take it out about a week before selling, thaw, and prettyuch repeat that process and you'll get straight weight. Happy trapping! ScottW

Just received a check at $85/lb or $11 per beaver. That's more than most guys will skin and sell the hides for.

Couple months ago he was paying top $75, but I saw him buy from a guy and graded his down for being over-dried and only paid $65.

Some of my smaller casters really get dry and quite hard, never had a complaint from my buyers.

That's because they're not overly concerned with dinky shell castor as it contributes very little to the overall weight with a normal run of castor.

Thanks for all the input folks! I might experiment with trying to make some lure different than I'm used to. Might call someone and see what they might be willing to pay! Happy trapping! ScottW

I just ground a couple pounds of what you are talking about. I’ll add a cup or two of 100 proof vodka to it and let it tincture for awhile, then open the container and let the alcohol evaporate, add beaver sac oil and mix to a paste. Then freeze and use as us for beaver or ingredient in other lure

I think I'll use that recipe and get it ready for spring beavering! How long is "a while? I've never been good at tincturing.......I still have castor soaking in grain alcohol that I started 20 years ago! Happy trapy! ScottW

Still needs to tincture a little longer Scott. 22 years is the minimum.

Awesome, thanks! And to think my wife says I'm really good at starting too many projects and not finishing enough of them in a timely manner! Happy trapping! ScottW

I've gotten away from drying them at all before freezing. Harvest and pack into ice cream buckets. They pack nice and snuck wet then when you plan to sell dry them all at the same time all to the same dryness. Dry enough to look dry but heavy enough to max out at a sale. Always sell private and in person at a trapping workshop and wait until you've got an audience. castor marketing, lol.

I sold some last weekend to weibke furs in Lacrosse for $80/lb

I have some from the 80s , grind it with a cabbage salad grinder and mix with glisirin.

So new guy question here..... How do you know when it is ready to freeze? Ive had some hanging in a cold pole barn for a week. Ive heard 7 days but I'm sure temp has a big role in that,

A "buyer" thought that he was going to steal my castor at an auction a week or 2 ago. I had almost 8 lbs. just weighed about 5 minutes before mine hit the auction. The buyers wife, that's right, his wife weighed it and wrote the weight down and initialed it with her initials. When he got to my table, he took it to the scale and weighed it again and said, "just a little over 7 lbs." I knew right then what he was going to try to do. There was only 2 buyers at the auction and the other buyer had already told me that he was not going to buy any castor. That left the one "buyer" as the only bidder. He offered $200 for the almost 8 lbs. of castor. I immediately yelled NO SALE. He then started trying to tell me that the castor was wet. I had dried it for about 10 days, then froze it, then thawed it out and dried it again for 4 days. After the sale he told me that it needed to dry for 30 days before his buyers would take it. That's ok, it will freeze again. It ain't eating a thing in my freezer.

Rickey

Seems like the prices are all over the map, when it comes to buying dried ground Castor. Why is there such a huge mark up in the retail price compared to what it sells for at an auction ? I understand marking up for retail sale, But, some of the retail prices I have seen, are a HUGE mark up.

Canvas, the main market for castor is international and is what drives the market. Lure makers need to mark things up at least 50% to turn a profit.

Doubletrigger, most of the buyers I know of want castor to be semi-dry which you can achieve in just 4-7 days of a good drying situation. I typically find that I lose most of my weight the first three days.... then it just very slowly drops.

I also work out of a cool pole barn. I hang mine on a line and after a couple of days flip it to keep from having a soft spot in the cleavage. After it is dry to the touch go ahead and freeze it and when ready take it out and dry it for up to a week to be sale ready. Currently I use a dehumidifier and fans in a small drying room. Under these conditions I have beaver pelts dry and ready to take off the board in 48-72 hours.

Chopped and ground some of it last night, went amazingly well although tedious. Gonna see if they have any grain alcohol in town today. Might try just mixing a little with glycerin and see how that turns out just for kicks. I chopped it up with a tin snips and ground in a blender. Happy trapping! ScottW

Hahaha!

$75/lb straight across the board if dried

I am at 80 dryed

Just paid a young guy I know $60

He was told it was too dry.

92/lb at the OSTA auction this weekend. Some was a bit drier than I wanted and some shells but prices were decent.

Is it worth planning on using any I tincture for this spring (or, within a month) if I'm just putting it in the alcohol tonight? Guessing I'm cutting it to close and this can be for the future. Happy trapping! ScottW