Hatter market trophies! Updated with new pics!

If your beaver don't look like these when you board them better get out your jack knife and stick a few holes in 'em. dmg grades worth more than good grades two auctions running now!

(Maybe a plus to let them hang long enough they're about ready to slip like these....makes it easer for them to harvest the felt).

I was going to post these pics on the beaver only thread, but was worried the other guys might ban me from their thread!

You sure let them set long enough. That felt will fall off. Sure they have a smell to them also.

So...I should leave the caught beaver in the trap
.in the water for a day or 3....and let the other spring beaver bite it up ..before removing it from the trap ?Lol

^^^Yup, if you want to maximize profits!

…. Not aged, but bit up?…. Hold my beer while I go get a pic…

They do look a little green.....

Good lord! Looks like a mesh for a hockey net!

Been reading over and over that green beaver are paying just about as well as dry!

How did they not slip when you were fleshing them lol?

I clean skin.

Won't know how bad they'll slip until they're off the boards. Won't be real bad, but probably a little on the edges. I put up 82 beaver in just 4 days and still had a few of my big uglies that I just didn't have the energy to tackle so they got re-froze and thawed again. Never a good idea with beaver pelts that have already been hanging for a few days in warmer than ideal conditions.

I lost 2 that I had thawed and re-froze after I couldn’t get to them. Both started to slip on the edges during fleshing. One was a real nice xtra dark. Not the bigger sizes but a nice beaver. Put me in a foul mood for sure. Hate wasting anything good ..

The good news is they'll be for sure "gd dmg" which is now the highest paying grade (with the exception of dark shearables maybe).

just think of all those that got ditch dived = 20$ bizzard feed

ever consider that a certain auction house did not have a clue on the current market and set the valuations too low to start
and a few bidders were slow on the switch

There will be a lot less lambs going to slaughter this spring, and will be hearing the sheering sheers this summer

Is there any reason they can’t make a hat from a nice beaver.??

Yep, I sent a few like that and they sold for good price. My selects didn't sell...

On this last sale you didn't sell all your beaver?

No.

Well those rascals! Their auction report says 100% clearance for beaver.

I just checked again and my 3 3x-2x heavy xdrk-dk select updated for $69.00 and my 1x select sold for 36. Still shows a 1x gd slt hvy xdk and a large gd slt hvy xdk as un sold. Maybe they will update them.

Crawdads got ya.

Yeah, I'll bet that they will update them as sold here soon. FHA ain't no durn liars!

What do you figure did that Boco?

Ha....green color on the skin side = some decomp has begun...

Beaverpeeler,
I had 3 slippers that I culled from my last shipment to FHA, as I was embarrased to send them. But, they found their way back into the bag with the ones I'm putting on the truck tomorrow.

Atta boy! Mine are almost dry right now so by tomorrow I'll get to inspect the fur side. Lifting the leather up on the nails and drying them fast helps, the sooner they're off the boards the better.

Down here it would be turtle damage, where you are at I don’t have a clue.

I agree...turtles

If that damage is crayfish...then they must be the size of lobsters!

I don’t see the problem other than the green BP? Beavers aren’t supposed to come with more than four holes?

Be interesting to see what Boco says but seen that how a wolf started on a bvr first, one time, before I interrupted. Saw another one time too but there was good lynx sign nearby so figured the cat but never saw like the one the wolf had a good start at.

Castor thief! Guy was looking at last years price. Friggin jerk.

The way the tail bone is chewed and one of the hams is mostly consumed it looks about the way a cat works a beaver. That is also about the amount of meat a cat will eat before they cover it up.

I've had eagles do that kind of damage when only a part of the beaver is exposed above the water.

I had wolves drag one up on the bank and eat it completely except for the castors. You could see where they tossed them around and rolled on them but the leftovers were still intact and saleable.

big white fuzzz worts aka Ursula marinus
clue # 2 read his blog on chat forum

Bird of prey, Eagle

turtles for sure

If the pic is from Boco's area then probably not snapper turtles as believe that area is too far north for them.

Up here everybody eats everybody, could have been a lynx, bear, eagle, mink.

I have had all of they above get into beaver that don't get submerge after being caught.

My buddies from down south would always laugh at my 10 feet of wire on each trap until they seen what happens here.

Anything that doesn't make it under water is a free meal here.

I know exactly who the culprit was.
I caught him in the act.

Did he drag it out of the water?

I one time was looking for my trap on the edge of a coastal lake and finally noticed that the cable went straight back high up on a dike where a partially consumed nutria was buried under grass and leaves. Still in the trap. That cat got a free meal because I was pulling traps that day.

The beaver was mostly in the water,I dragged it out for the pic.
I have had wolves fish out beaver from a couple feet underwater and drag them up on the bank several times.

Wolf predation.Fished out of water from submerged set.

^^^I aced the first pic, but on this one i would have gone with crawdads! LOL

Another wolf victim-exposed catch on crossover.


At least the cats leave enough to salvage,not much left after a wolf has a snack.

I have learned to only stake my traps with small sticks that the beaver can easily pull off and get into the water.

Have had issues with lynx especially in the past.

Nothing ruins your day like having a good piece of fur chewed up.

I usually trim my two support stakes with the loppers if they are too long when fur trapping.Wolves especially but lynx occasionally will fish them out from under the water sometimes.
Smaller beaver in 330s sometimes cant get to the water like big beaver.
Over the years I have had wolves fish out a couple beaver in footholds from the bottom of a drowner wire.
I had a wolf one time break skin ice and pull up a mink in a 120.He left it intact on the bank-no damage.
Animals have good noses.

This one was pulled up from about 4 feet of water by two wolves.I know this because on my way in I noticed the trap gone from the set and the wire in the water.The bank is a straight drop off into 4 feet of water at that location.I pick up fur on the way out,not on the way in.On my way out on the 4 wheeler I seen the two wolves take off from the scene of the crime,no chance to get a shot off.
The pic is where the wolves left it,lots of tracks in the wet snow to tell the tale.

Well, I thought I would update the thread with pics of "my pretties" now that they're off the boards.

No slippage at all on this one:

This one had one tiny spot of slip on one flank.

This one had a little slippage on one side along the edge. Maybe 3-4 sq inches worth.

Hold them over the summer so they get eat up with bugs.LOL
Good Lord,I'd be ashamed to ship stuff like that.
Bit up is one thing but half rotten?

Those beaver will make some cowboy a hat he'll be proud to wear!

Actually very little slippage. I was surprised.

Wish I'd have taken some pictures of mine. We,ll compare prices after the sale.

if you read the fine print on the bottom of the page in quotation #1 sundry goods

Accountant's have some creative writing skills

Looks like typical southern beaver to me, don't understand what the fuss is about, lol.

I knew I ran the risk of getting piled on for posting on slipping beaver. But, the resource is not wasted when hatters rule the market place. And if by posting this; one trapper sends his poor beaver in, instead of throwing it in the ditch I may have done more through getting the resource utilized than given credit.

And finally, that was just three beaver out of 175. The others got the blue ribbon treatment.

"This year FHA is proud to offer our worse collection of beaver ever assembled at or upcoming spring sale!"

when they are floored \flooded with coyote grading;( a couple of years ago) the method of grading is called = pitch fork grading
so what do they call it in beaver grading = frizbee grading ?

Does anyone know the French translation ?

Nice put up

Maybe I'm that one trapper

But, I'm not proud, if there were suddenly a demand for SM section III blue coon I'd be sending them to.

I handle all animals I take to the best of my ability regardless when I take them.
Shipping half rotten fur reflects back on the trapper.Its disrespectful to the graders and the animal.

WIth all due respect, one little spot of slippage isn't a half rotten pelt, and they certainly don't smell bad. But I do get what you're trying to say...even tend to agree with it.

They will still grade out as a highly desirable beaver pelt very much in demand by the current market.

I know you can put up some nice fur BP.
And i understand when you get a large catch that needs prompt attention and something comes up,or a freezer breaks down,stuff can happen.
Just saying some things are under the trappers control and other issues are not.

ANd sometimes a guy bites off a little more than they can chew. Taking 93 beaver and 6 otters out of the freezer all at once was...ambitious? Still, I did not waste any fur, so I have no regrets other than my sore back.

A lot of poor results in any endeavour is often due to rushing a job.
I know a couple of top notch fur handlers here that have put up some marginal pelts due to trying to make a fur pick up.
Sometimes it is a bonus to have long winters and cold water into June.
Beavers keep well for long periods in cold water.
From doing nuisance work in the summer I know how quickly they can get funky when the water is warm.

"This year FHA is proud to offer our worse collection of beaver ever assembled at or upcoming spring sale!"

Thanks Dirt, that was funny!

Hey, if almost all the buyers and sellers are happy come the next auction, what does it matter what they look like. I'm sure there are few buyers on the international scene that hasn't slummed a bit over the years. I'm sure none of them are losing sleep after buying mink pelts were the trapper got a buck for in the last auction.

Are most of those holes from fighting? An what about the really white areas?

It seems to me you are the guy that has been saying not to flesh beaver if they are buying them by the pound. Now everything should put up to the best of your ability? I would think if there was a problem with a lot of beaver they would throw them out. The want the 11% and every other charge they get if fur sells, they will run them through.

That was a facetious comment-guess it went over your head.
And I have never sold a beaver by the pound,lol.
Never even heard of such nonsense except on here.

They're somewhere in the stack. My wife would not have let me put them in her car if they stunk. We rode 200 miles with them to meet up with our FHA guy in Washington.

The holes on the shoulders are mostly older bite wounds/scar tissue. Bites all over the body were inflicted on an already dead beaver in a trap that didn't make it out to deep water. White areas are just where thinner portions of the leather got more of the juice scraped up and out of the leather, or where the was a little freezer burn either way. I dry in a special insulated room with fans and a dehumidifier. Only takes about 36-48 hours to finish.

American Hat Company 1000X Hats are made of pure belly beaver blended with mink and are finished by hand. The American Mink is known as the finest cowboy hat in the world.

Maybe?

Must take a lot of wild mink to get a lb of felt thinks I.

blended with mink You know like beaver hats are mostly a blend of beaver with whatever.

I do understand that it is blended in, but I still say it must take a lot of mink to make a pound of felt to blend in with the other. Beaver felters are now in the neighborhood of $25/lb (based on what we saw on the last auction). How many wild mink to the pound you reckon?

My guess 30 female mink.

Or 20 grounhogs.

Or 6 nutria. I know one guy that is experimenting with coyote underfur for felt. He thinks it's going to work pretty good.

I bet Otter would make some good felt.Very fine underfur.

Watch out!! With what FHA currently sells good wild mink for, if Dirt is right on the number required, cheap mink could supplant any potential building demand for hatter beavers!! 30 mink being of less value than 1 chewed up old hatter beaver!!