FurHarvesters Auction results are posted now

Like many have speculated; Mark Downey even came out and said "hard decisions" have had to be made this past year to keep the last remaining wild fur auction alive.

But that things are improving and prices and clearances of this last sale reflect that...blah blah blah.

What stood out to me is the stark contrast of sable averages (which looked pretty decent compared to past years) and otter which averaged $16.50

There is a lot of different sections of otter making up the auction house collection.That is why the auction avg doesnt mean much.You probably need to go to the warehouse and see what they collect to grasp that statement.
The top price of $60 is what caught my attention.

Their Christmas money cost me $20 a marten. Ho!Ho!Ho!.

I went through the fur I sold. The local dealers in this are paid a higher average then what I sold on this first sale. All my coyote and fox were not caught early all about the time they should be, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They went for lower then I expected. I think I go back old school and sell local next season.

Looks like rats did pretty good, eh?

Rats and beaver did ok. The long hair seem to suffer a bit. IMO

I don't see beaver doing very good.

Cats did horrible, not only did I average almost double their average this year on mine, but I sold five for more than their top lot. . . lots more. Coyotes look decent and squirrels were hot. Marten weren't too bad. But really the only thing I seen the buyers went nuts on was squirrels.

I'm not sure I'll ever send a single scrap of fur up there ever again. As of right now I have no intention whatsoever

Auctions are an option. Some fur I sell here, some fur I sell there, some fur goes somewhere else.

Fisher and otter....ugh.....The only shining item,is Castor and rats

Plus they sold less than 1/2 of the beaver offered

There was lots of competition on wolves, black bear and wolverine. Wild silver fox andnarctic fox were a bit crazy too.

10 months later...

LOL

Not again.

Who you selling to locally? If you don't mind me asking.

Well she had a good run 600 year old industry. Start lowering that coffin.

Mark said "hard decisions"
that translated in banking terms, is sell something to pay off dept, plain and simple term
We thank you Dirt for holding up the fort. You are not on Marks IGNOR icon, like some 220 others are.

There is one thing that this forum is doing is moving him to get results out in the media even faster
Look at the posting of coyote averages, it was within 20 minutes of closing that sale.
But remember it was only the average of the first page of the offerings, forget the other 30 some odd pages for a true average.

It does appear that FHA management is listening and trying to get information out more timely. Trapper accounts updated during the auction, news releases, etc. I see that as a positive sign.

But they sold 60% or over 5000 of what they had and avg was still $16. Was 60% of their collection crappy pelts? I think not. The $60 top was just that...a top lot of probably less that 20 pelts.

I never checked what sold high end or low,but I bet it was lower end stuff skewing that number.
definitely a big light at the end of the tunnel after the FHA sale for northern trappers.

The top lot of otter brought $61 and there were four in the lot. The next highest string was 61 otter at $51. There were a few in the 30's and 40's But plenty in the 20's and under. I did not see any thing that looked good on how the otter sold.

The sold catalog came out in record time. You are welcome. Next thing I would like them to try is have last receiving dates after sales. That could either be good or bad for their bottom line.

But they sold 60% or over 5000 of what they had and avg was still $16. Was 60% of their collection crappy pelts? I think not. The $60 top was just that...a top lot of probably less that 20 pelts.[/quote]
The top lot of otter brought $61 and there were four in the lot. The next highest string was 61 otter at $51. There were a few in the 30's and 40's But plenty in the 20's and under. I did not see any thing that looked good on how the otter sold.
[/quote]

Checked the sold catalog
Just what I figured,a lot of the good otter unsold.
Mostly what sold was stale goods(singed)blue ll's andsmaller sizes.
Even considering the collection that sold,the price is about double from recent past sales.Looking good down the road for sure.

Good larger beaver sold well too and for good price.
A slt grade will cost you half.
Beaver trappers need to buck up on their handling skills from trap to freezer to avoid that.

In my case, beaver cause themselves to be a slt Auction grade. Of course it should cause a beaver with less than 10 percent fur loss to be sold for 50 percent off. That is just reasonable.

I agree, but I won't blame FHA on that. Every buyer I've ever known drops a beaver with any bite marks particularly in the square between the legs, by at least half. I can fix a case skinned hide so it looks like it was perfect 95% of the time. Can't do much about hiding flaws or sewing in a beaver that is stretched round.

The. LRD for the July sale is April 30 around here, just saying

As for the Christmas cheque’s, it silenced the “fha is going out of business” crowd full stop

Smart business

Are you saying they want coyotes? They used to do the same( extend the date) when they wanted marten.

A lot of folks complain about FH lack of communication - no one answering the phone, not returning emails, not explaining things on Tman - but they are very much aware of what is being said on Tman. Several of the upper level management follow Tman. They don’t comment on Tman but they pay attention. Even Herman Jansen at NAFA followed Tman.

They don’t post on Tman for reasons I stated in a previous post - no matter what they would post, it would only start an argument, so why bother.

Obviously squirrel’s

The coyote market is finished

Buyers did ( or do ) this because it isn't normally 50% off on slts at auction. That is how they make money. This 50% drop is a reflection on how weak the beaver market is still. I bet the slts are going in the hatter pile yet again.

Having worked with tanned beaver quite a bit,they are one of the easiest pelts to repair.Even damaged pelts can easily be made whole again with little effort.
Size and character of the fur makes this easier with beaver.
All else being equal,a slt dmg beaver pelt should be sold for near same price as one with no dmg.
When fur is in higher demand than it is now,you will see very little if any discount for vsl,or slt's.
However,we are not there,so best to not inflict any slight defects in the handling.

True, That is where the big money is.

I don't see where the rat market Is improving. When the smoke clears the rat average will be below $5.00.

Well below if my past experiences hold true.

Boco;; could You please tell Me where You purchased Your rose colored glasses, mine don't seem to be working correctly. Likely the worst sale since this mess started in fall 2013

Don't let the word get out some of those Alberta trappers can harvest a 1000 squirrels easily.
Remember they put a statement out a while back. "We do not want squirrels"
it is time consuming grading/entering records/ for 35 cents for the commision
What happened last auction is a fur buyers agreement between the two buyers did not hold up...and one guy got them all
and to go from 7,000 down to 3000.....supply and demand kicks in.

Boco,
Im wanting to be as positive as you are....

I will say I was very surprised the accounts were updated that quickly and a report a couple days after the sale. That's a great improvement. Now when's my money coming.

They are waiting until Christmas, since that was so popular.

I doubt you will see your money until May 11 or later.

May 11 is the prompt date - the day that buyers must pay their bill or be charged interest.

Money has to come in before it can go out.

Ok nancy hurry up and pay so I can spend it on my new fishfinder

I didn’t buy anything at this sale. Sorry.

This always happens....they need to improve on posting the results of the PT sales.

Try not to make too much sense around here! LOL

Prices still in the toilet.