Cat Prices!

[carpsniperg2]

The big thing is the spots and bellies. They want really snow white belly fur and bug clean spots. That looks like a nice cat. Still not a east side cat. but that one has some good stuff. Like the size and looks to be pretty white in the belly. Spots arn't to great but I would think that cat is above avg for any wet side cat I have seen. I have not been around a bunch but a few and that looks like a nice one!

[bobcat]

I would rather mount it ... But your right , every penny is counting this day and age .... once I hit the post button I knew what you ment but to late 

You want to mount it for me?   

 

[BOWHUNTER45]

  YOU BUYING THE PARTS 

[carpsniperg2]

I would rather mount it ... But your right , every penny is counting this day and age .... once I hit the post button I knew what you ment but to late 

You want to mount it for me?   

 

Ouch!!! I can feel that burn from here!!!!
 
 
 
 
 

[bugs n bones]

I would rather mount it ... But your right , every penny is counting this day and age .... once I hit the post button I knew what you ment but to late 

The westside cats  are fun to trap , but they hardly bring enough money to keep gas in your pickup...

[Humptulips]

Can you tell from this picture if this is a good one?

I'm going to take a wild guess (vary wild) and say $100 to $120.
Hadr to say with out a better look at its belly but you can see a little white on the side  indicating the belly is not too casty. It's good sized so that's a plus. Back looks bad but the belly which you can't really see is where the value is.

Doesn't really seem to be in a trap so if it is still walking around I doubt you'll get many bids on it. 

[bobcat]

It's at my bait every day. Not planning on trapping it, but going to try hunting it at night.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Have a few days to get it done 

[3nails]

I would rather mount it ... But your right , every penny is counting this day and age .... once I hit the post button I knew what you ment but to late 

You want to mount it for me?   

 

That's hilarious!

[WAcoyotehunter]

I'm glad to see cat prices coming up; my concern is with people going crazy trapping them and hurting the population.  There are a few guys over here that seal LOTS of cats every year.  One guy has done as many as 70... and several are taking ~20 cats.  That's a LOT of cats getting killed and made unavailable to hunters.  A freind got 500 for his cat and it was one of the highest at Athol- I did not hear any averages at $575, but several were still pretty good.

I know this will meet a bunch of criticism, but I would like to see a limit of 5-10 cats per year per person.  I don't think guys should be trapping so many cats (and martens).  It might make hunting success a bit higher and leave some cats in the woods. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

I hear what your saying but there are alot of Bobcats .....you see very few during day light ...It is hard to tell if trapping them has a big impact on them ...Like over here on the westside...yeah you see a couple in daylight hour but when we get snow , There are tracks everywhere.. so there is alot more than people think ....I am sure it has an impact on areas the trapper is targeting but i do not think we have enough trappers to hurt much .......

[rasbo]

I'm glad to see cat prices coming up; my concern is with people going crazy trapping them and hurting the population.  There are a few guys over here that seal LOTS of cats every year.  One guy has done as many as 70... and several are taking ~20 cats.  That's a LOT of cats getting killed and made unavailable to hunters.  A freind got 500 for his cat and it was one of the highest at Athol- I did not hear any averages at $575, but several were still pretty good.

I know this will meet a bunch of criticism, but I would like to see a limit of 5-10 cats per year per person.  I don't think guys should be trapping so many cats (and martens).  It might make hunting success a bit higher and leave some cats in the woods.

2011 Western States Fur Auction Brings Positive Results
February 20, 2011
The Montana Trappers Association held the Western States Fur Auction in Columbus, Montana this past weekend with extremely positive results.  The quantity of fur brought in for sale this year was much greater than that of the past two years, and almost everything sold at or near 100%.  Rumor has it that availability of fur in the country is down, leading to high demand.  Obviously, more folks elected to bring their furs to the WSFA this year in anticipation of better fur prices.


All fur was brought in before the deadline of noontime Saturday, and over half a dozen fur buyers made their way along the crowded tables in the fairgrounds building, inspecting and evaluating the quality of the hundreds of lots of fur.  The sale was done via silent auction and buyers’ bids were due by 5pm on Saturday.


After the bids were tabulated, sheets of paper with individual results were placed on several tables for trappers to examine the prices bid for their furs.  Like the others, I made my way through the small crowd to to see how my furs did.  All I can say is that I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the numbers.  Trappers were smiling all around.

Here’s a quick recap:

Coyotes were a hot selling item.  621 coyotes were offered, and 578 sold, at an average of $44.83.  It appears that the early demand for coyotes seen at the NAFA auction has continued.

Bobcats sold at 100% of the 132 offered, at an average of $572.21.  Looks like cat prices are back to the high levels of a couple years ago.

Muskrat averaged $5.28, which isn’t bad for western ‘rats.  Only a couple hundred were offered, and some appeared to be freezer ‘rats.  Mine were fresh and averaged over $6.25.

Raccoon (231 offered) averaged $18.92.

Marten averaged $35.85.  Some folks commented that this was a little lower than they’d received at NAFA.

Beaver averaged $14.41.  This item is still lagging.  Not many were offered, as I suspect people trapped very few beaver for fur this year.  I put a couple of large beaver in the sale that averaged $22.50.

Here are the rest of the averages:

Badger – $25.50

Red Fox – $31.22

Mink – $11.90

Otter – $46.63

Skunk – $7.80

Ermine – $2.31

Porcupine guard hair – $22.82

Beaver castor – $44.23

[Humptulips]

I'm glad to see cat prices coming up; my concern is with people going crazy trapping them and hurting the population.  There are a few guys over here that seal LOTS of cats every year.  One guy has done as many as 70... and several are taking ~20 cats.  That's a LOT of cats getting killed and made unavailable to hunters.  A freind got 500 for his cat and it was one of the highest at Athol- I did not hear any averages at $575, but several were still pretty good.

I know this will meet a bunch of criticism, but I would like to see a limit of 5-10 cats per year per person.  I don't think guys should be trapping so many cats (and martens).  It might make hunting success a bit higher and leave some cats in the woods.

Back in the day when one was able to use hounds or traps I'd have to say I saw more of an effect from hound hunting on the cat populations locally. Saw the same thing trapping in OR. I used to have hounds so understand I see nothing wrong with that.
The point being no hound hunting in the state and we have to use cage traps which certainly reduce the catch considerably. Add to that there are only about half the number of trappers in the state there were pre I-713.
I just can't see the cat population being hurt much. Maybe someone has figured it out and is putting a dent in the cats but that is going to be very local.
If some trappers are taking in the 20s that's really not much of a hit. That's not the average and trappers are pretty well spread out.
If we ever reached a harvest level that needed to be reduced I would prefer the season be shortened. I am not a fan of catch limits. It is very hard to police.

[Beartrap]

looks like 300 washingtons to me. Athol's sale went very well 81 cats 68 sold avg. 420.64 top lot 637.43 27 coyotes23 sold avg. 46.39 marten 82 82 sold avg. 55.97 beaver 36 36 sold 26.63avg. muskrats 877 741 sold avg.8.28 top lot rats 10.24 weasel 35 35 sold 3.42 avg. mink6 6 sold 16.83 avg. otter 2 2 sold 81 avg. coon 3 3 sold 9.00 avg. castor 7# 51.00 avg.

[Humptulips]

I heard the top lot cat at the OTC Prineville sale went for $1260.
Somebodies happy.