Looks great on the trailer!

This “getting ready for trapping” is really taking a lot of time.  Yesterday I didn’t have a lot of time but I figured I could get everything done and loaded and ready for Monday morning (that’s tomorrow by the way).  But, when I looked at my old rubber gloves one pair had to be tossed in the garbage right away and the other I thought might have a chance at being fixed.  I’ve been working on them since yesterday and now am having doubts about their usability.

It’s the right hand glove that takes the most beating, notice the tape between the thumb and index finger.  There is a dime size hole under that tape.  That is what I’m trying to patch right now.

I also grabbed my bag of flagging clips and started to count out my 150 for my trap lines and found that some of them were so faded there would be no way to be able to see them out in the swamp if I didn’t change the tape.  I also found that most of them were so wrapped around each other that making them come apart in order to be seen would be more trouble than just changing them out right now.

So, that is what I did, I spent the next 3 hours taking the old flagging off and putting on new.  You can see from this picture why I had to do it.

The new flags will be a lot easier to see, plus they are not all wrapped around each other and not flapping in the breeze.  I thought of another thing to do with them and later on (someday) I’ll let you in on my newest idea!  Always gotta be thinking!

So, now my allotment of 150 flagging clips are ready for the swamp.

That’s pretty much all I got done yesterday and with church and all today, there has not been much getting ready.  So tomorrow morning I’ll be back busy getting more done.  I hope to get out of town by noon and get a few traps set up at Pete’s pond.  If I can get that done at least I have started.  If for some unknown reason that doesn’t happen then it won’t be until Tuesday morning that I will start.  Times awastin and 40 degree weather is upon us!

Today, Bob caught 4 rats in the 7 traps he has in open water and he saw a whole pile of rat houses in an area that is mine to trap.  I think they were covered with snow is the reason he has not seen them until today.  Bob also got all his live traps set for racoons and that will mean more fur and a bigger check in the end.  Racoons went for an average of about $18 (I guessing at the number, as I didn’t put the numbers in the calculator, just looked and made a guess, it might be more) at the Utah Fur Trappers Auction yesterday.  Rats were only a bit over $9 average at this auction but I think I know the guy who bought them and that tells me A LOT!

So, with hopes running very high on a large catch and a pay off of more than we have ever netted in the past on the horizon, we are charging forth with as much enthusiasm as a couple of guys can muster up!

I’ll be posting daily trapping “stuff”, so keep coming back and seeing just what is going on out on the trapping line.  I’ll be taking lots of pictures and trying to keep dry at the same time!  Trapping is fun and every trap is like a new Christmas present…you just never know what might be waiting in it!

Bears Butt

February 9, 2014

Yesterday marked the END of the 2012-2013 trapping season for us, Bob sold the rats!

It was sort of a let down as far as I was concerned because of the fact that the last auction sold rats at a record high of over $14 and even less than quality rats sold at over $13…that being said, it made our quality rats look like they should be worth over $12 to a buyer.  However, the local buyers didn’t see things that way.  Greedy I guess.

So, Bob was inclined to sell the rats for what he thought was a good price and so be it.  I’m happy, he is happy and the whole deal is over for another season.

The one thing it did do was make us think that maybe we should send our rats off to the auction in future years.  It’s a gamble for sure because in most cases you can’t say “I don’t want to sell for that price” and get your furs back.  It’s usually a send them off and hope you get a good price.    I’m willing to gamble on that one.  There is also the cost to ship the furs and there is always at least one ding for the auction house to make some money by charging you a processing fee for them doing your selling for you.  That is usually a percentage of the selling price.  At some auctions there is a handling fee up front and then a percentage of the selling price…double dings!

No matter, if we decide we will be sending off our furs next year, we won’t have to deal with the local buyers and take their price in the shorts.  We did get a good deal this year, it just wasn’t what the rats were really worth and the buyer will make at least $3 on each of the rats we sold him.

Did we cover our costs?  Yes, and then some, but it would have been nicer to have enough over the costs to cover the bed with money and jump in with the wife for a little play time.  Do people do that these days?  HAHAHA!

So there you have it…the Trappers catch the furs…the fur buyers catch the trappers!

Bears Butt

June 13, 2013

We have been holding our breath the past month checking the last of the big wild fur auctions and now the results are in.  The next to the last auction was the one by Fur Harvesters Auction Inc and muskrats averaged $12.15.  They had under 72,000 rats in that auction, but then most people have already sold or shipped to other auction houses by their May auction date.

The last auction was held this past weekend and muskrats were on the docket for Sunday…I had to wait until today to get the results…This is what the quote reads:

Over 300,000 muskrats sold 100% at the unbelievable, historically high price of $14.02 for the regular pelts and an overall average including lowgrades of $13.90.

The key words are “and an overall average including lowgrades of $13.90″…Low Grades are damaged furs, small hides and all the scruffy extra stuff that gets thrown into the pile.  We don’t have any of that in our 780 count.  We have the good stuff.

What does that mean for us?  I just talked to Bob and told him we should hold out for $11 on our top lot muskrats!  But then they are his rats and he will do whatever he wants, but nothing short of $12 for them at this point.  We have already held them this long and there isn’t any sense in letting them go for cheap.

The buyers from a month or so ago could have had them for $9 and would have made a whopping $5 profit…5 X 780 = $3900…They should be kicking themselves right square in the butt right now.

More to come as things unfold.

Bears Butt

June 4, 2013

The bidding has begun on our rats and it looks like we might just put them in the freezer this year.  We know the value of our rats, but the local buyers just don’t want to let loose with their money.

We can combine this years collection with what we catch next year and we might just want to send them to auction ourselves rather than deal with the cheap-o’s.  We still have one guy coming to look at the rats today and we will make our decision after he give us his bid.

Bears Butt

April 9, 2013

Well, the bids were pretty low, so we decided to freeze the hides for a later date.

My first morning in the new Man Cave!  I love it, warm, bright, fresh!  A nice view out the window.

OK!  Today is a day for rat bids to come flying in.  I am waiting for a call from the out of state guys and Bob is waiting for a local buyer to contact him.  Everyone should have seen the video and the piles of rats posted right on this site last week.

I have had several comments about that story and if I had thought it through just a wee bit more, it would have been just a tad different, but what was done is what is done, can’t change that.

The auctions since late January through the end of March have shown the average price paid for muskrats has been in the low to mid $9 range, Bob and I know we have a higher quality of rat than average so our expectancy is pretty high.  We also know that the market can only stand so much and we don’t want to see our buyer Not Make Money.  We will be reasonable, if the buyers bids are reasonable.  Otherwise we will freeze the hides and hold out for a higher price later on.

There will be more on this as it unfolds.

Bears Butt

April 8, 2013

With yesterdays posting including the video of how we measured our rat catch and sort them into piles, I made a phone call to one of our potential buyers that lives outside the state.  I told him I did him a favor by posting up that video and the entire post which included the pictures of the stacks of various sizes of rats.

Later in the day I received a phone call, but did not hear it come in and so he left a message saying he had been viewing “my emails” and was putting together some prices…he said he would call me back today but no call has come through thus far.

While I was busy doing what I was doing, Bob received a call from another interested buyer, who said he was having dinner with someone of his acquaintance and their discussion would include our rats…he is to come through with a bid on Monday.

So, we see there is quite a bit of interest in our rats and by all rights there should be.  89% Large and bigger is nothing to scoff at.

Bears Butt

April 6, 2013

What a fantastic day…not only was it a gorgeous day weather wise, it was a great day in every way…Late this afternoon I called Weasel to come and help me take down the rats that were still on stretchers in the trapping shed.  He came about 4ish.  That was a good time because first off it was the warmest part of the day and secondly I had finished what I was doing in the house…readying for paint….

I told Bob we needed to get together for a picture which I plan on sending into the Fur-Fish and Game magazine for their “End of the Line” pictures.  I wanted a picture of all the rats sorted by size and all the trappers and helpers in the picture.  A great year with lots of help and fun had by all.

Weasel showed up about the time I was talking to Bob, who was working hard on his raspberry patch…no time for taking time off.

And then I took a short video about how the sorting was to be done and how it was going.  Of course this is a “You Tube Video” and the whole world will be able to see it…Weasel was most welcome to be the star of the show.

Once the rats were sorted by size, I took several pictures of the piles…literally piles…of rats of various sizes.  And just as I suspected the majority of the piles were LARGE or BIGGER!

I threatened to sort out the damage from the non-damage, but because the nicks and bites were so few, I decided not to do that…a total waste of time…we figure we have around 4% damage of some sort or another and any of the graders would sort what I would call “slight damage” as “bad damage” etc. so why waste my time.  Yes, I admit we do have some “bad damage”, but the total lot of any sort of bite marks and tears is so minimal it doesn’t matter.

What I like most about this years catch is the size of the critters we caught…over 85% were large and up….You will see from the pictures of the piles.

There are only 7 small rats, that is rats that measure between 9 1/2 and 11 inches from the nose to the hip or saddle of the hide, not the tip of the tail portion.  We had no rats the measured under 9 1/2 inches.

Just as the sign says, 76 medium sized rats, 11 to 12 1/2 inches long.

380 rats that are large, 12 1/2 to 14 inches.  You might be asking yourself right now “How can a rat measure 12 1/2 and be considered a large when it was the top end of a medium size”?  When you look at a 12 1/2 inch rat and are deciding which pile to put it in, medium or large, you have to consider the width as well as the weight of it.  After some sorting, and it doesn’t take much, you get a feel for the rat you are holding in your hand and can quickly make your decision.  Of course if you are a buyer, which pile do you think you would put it in?

Extra Large…now those are some nice looking rats right there.  The sign says 269, but in reality we miscounted and the total is 268…our bad….These rats measure 14 to 15 1/2 inches long.  Rats this size can take your leg off if you aren’t careful out in the field.

Extra Extra Large…47 of them guys and they measure 15 1/2 to 17 inches in length…17 inches!  Those guys will for sure take a leg if you turn your back and this is the reason we all “pack heat” when we trap.  If 47 of them came at a trapper at the same time, you would be reading about his demise in the paper.

And look at these two fellas…Triple Extra Large!  In order to be classed in this bracket they have to exceed 17 inches long and these two guys almost go 18 inches!  I really think these guys were cross bred with beavers and some how made it out to our trapping area.

When you lump all of this size grading down to numbers, out catch this season was 89% large or bigger rats!  689 out of 780 rats!  This catch deserves at least $10 average with today’s prices.

So hear are the guys that made this catch possible…well one guy is missing, Cole, Breks brother.  Does this look like a crew that could catch and process 780 rats?  YES!  From left to right, our Skinner Man, Brek, Bob (sitting),  Behind him, none other than Bears Butt himself, Weasel and Wapiti (sitting)…little Abby is by Bobs side as she was the entire trapping season, in the field or at home in the shed.  A hearty THANK YOU to Savanna (Georgia) for taking this great picture of the crew and the catch.

Now all the rats have been placed in sacks, marked by quantity and size and are ready to either be sold or frozen…buyers decide.

Bears Butt

April 5, 2013

The buyer who was to show up yesterday stiffed us….what is that saying?  He thinks we think he is not interested and is playing his game…we will freeze them.

Today I plan on taking all the rats and placing them on a tarp outside, grading them by size and then taking a picture.  It’s something I have desired to do since we finished our trapping season.  I want everyone involved with the trapping to be in the picture, but I doubt that will happen, especially skinner man Brek and his brother Cole.

The picture will then be submitted to Fur-Fish and Game magazine for their “End of the Trapline” pictures….they might print it…who knows.

I’ll post up the picture on this post when I get it done.

Bears Butt

April 4, 2013

A buyer is coming in sometime today to look over our rats and he will probably make an offer…but no matter what the offer is, it won’t be enough….

Bears Butt

April 3, 2013

Yesterday was filled with phone calls and messages….all doing with the rats.  With so much discussion one would think we had a gold mine sitting around and in some ways we do….The next buyer to come around will be coming tomorrow (Wednesday)….listening through the phone his eyes are wide…..We are hoping his pockets are deep as well.

More to come on that after his visit.

Bears Butt

April 2, 2013