NAFA - Trapping Early/Late
 

I'm planning my season with the following in mind.

A Reminder to all Wild Fur Producers

October 20, 2017

As another trapping season approaches, the wild fur market is still in the process of recovery and it is important to remember that maximizing the value of your harvest is something that you can control. There will be good demand for most wild fur articles, however, the market will continue to be selective, so please refrain from trapping too early, when fur has not yet begun its priming process. This will only produce early caught, unprimed, smaller sized skins that are not only difficult to sell, but will produce very unattractive and disappointing prices for our producers. Similarly, trapping too late into the season (when skins become springy and rubbed) will also result in a product that is difficult to sell.

We urge everyone to take this into strong consideration as the season nears and to have a safe and successful trapping season.

http://www.nafa.ca/reminder-wild-fur-producers/

Thanks.

When is everyone else starting snaring yotes if you haven't already? Been baiting heavy for a few weeks, going to start tomorrow.

Holding out for another week and then going hard. The yotes around here are fully prime +/- 15 November.

-15 here today so I can store my bait frozen and not go through as much as the last two years. Nice to not have birds flying away with scraps all day. Only put bait at one site a few days ago so far. LOTS of tracks around here this year!

Thanks for this post. Alberta/Canadian trapping standards are recognized around the world. Alberta is also known for producing quality fur. We need to take pride in the fur we produce.

By sending early caught pelts to market we are telling the international fur market and buyers that some of Alberta's trapper's are not up to the standard of producing top quality fur. Alberta could loose it's high regards and standing as a world leader in humane fur management if poor pelts become the norm. Being a good trapper includes waiting for the prime. And that is why the prime charts are in the regs too.

In the past I was frustrated when I read about guys taking fall rats. Just shows me a lack of restraint and unwillingness to produce top lot fur.

Hey it ain't about just making money remember? A good muskrat trapper keeps the numbers down and traps the sloughs that are gonna freeze solid in the fall regardless of price. A nice late fall muskrat with the skunk like markings on the leather is better than a beat up spring rat that might be the only broodstock after a tough winter. I trap big numbers in the fall every winter and shut down when the numbers drop. It makes it better for the ones you leave. You get big and small but it's the surplus population. They are prone to disease around here. The auction houses just want top quality fur that is not available in big numbers and that's a limited market. Remember when any old rat was 10 bux? When it crashed guys bought up hundreds of thousands and the buyers know where they are and what they have to pay on a hot market so they are trying to starve the speculayers out and promote only premium fur which is not feasible to the average trpaper.