How to Trade Furs

Fur trading has been a part of the American scene since the days of the mountain men where furs were traded for supplies at a rendezvous. Since those days, furs have primarily been sold by trappers directly to a single fur buyer, with the general result of the buyer getting the better of the deal. Over the last 40 years, fur sales have been organized where trappers and several buyers meet at a central location. The buyers offer silent bids for fur lots. This has proven to be more profitable for the trapper.

Instructions

1. Locate where and when a fur sale is to be held and register with the sale organizers. This can be done by phone. Fur sales can be located through the Fish and Wildlife Department, trapper groups or outdoor publications covering your area.

2. Bring your raw, dried only, furs to the sale and check in with the sale office staff. The fur seller is given forms to fill out and numbers are issued for each lot of fur. Each species of fur is assigned a number.

3. Fill out the sale forms and enter the dollar amount that is the minimum you will accept for the lot of fur.

4. Leave the furs and forms with the sales staff. They will complete the paper work and set the furs out on tables where the fur buyers will examine them and write down a bid for the lot.

5. Listen closely as the bids are read out loud at the end of the day. The seller's number is announced with the highest bid offered. The seller must immediately shout out if he will accept the bid or not.

6. Pick up the check for the furs sold, and any furs that you did not sell, at the end of the bid reading.

Tips & Warnings

• A raw fur is also called a "pelt," a term you will hear at the sale. This is a fur that is dried over a stretcher only, not tanned.

• In order to receive top dollar for your furs they must be perfectly skinned, fleshed, dried and stretched. Poorly handled furs will not sell or, if they do, for little.

• There are rules that must be adhered to at any sale.

• You can look at the fur lots but it is improper to handle furs belonging to others.

• Do not disturb the fur buyers while they are examining lots.

• You cannot change your mind after you have called out to sell or not sell.

• It is against sale regulations to sell furs in the parking lot outside of the official sale.

• Violations of rules can get you banned from future sales.

References

• Trapping North American Furbearers; S. Stanley Hawbaker; 1969