Good morning my Friend. I always tell people that the hay day for trappers is long past. Back in those days you could trap in the winter and live the rest of the year off your earnings, and live pretty darn well. Not anymore. We do it because we enjoy it, plain and simple. Have a good day Gary!
Good Morning! You are 100% right. It's the lifestyle and adventure of it I like. I like being a part of the wild and not just outside looking in. Anytime I can make any part of my living from the wild, I'm happy.
Good morning. Wow what a huge difference in prices. You sure could make an awesome.e living working the trap line back then. Too bad it's all changed so much. Definitely a bit disheartening but I feel it's the lifestyle that's the payment. Too be out in the wild helping sustain the ecosystem is an honorable thing to do. Rewards the soul and not the pocket book so much. I appreciate the information and I hope you don't get to discouraged. I appreciate you sharing these videos and I hope it helps reward you a bit. Have a great weekend
You are absolutely right. Back then I good trapper in a good area could make a good living. I wonder though, at those prices, how many animals were around? Competition and over trapping had to be high. No, I'm not depressed over the prices that much really since I never have had those prices. I have gotten much better prices than what we are getting now though, $60 for a blanket beaver, was highest I've gotten. What depresses me, is the lack of furbearers in general. Even coyotes. I used to see and hear them a lot from the house, but it's rare now. This area seems to be kind of a dead zone, without a lot of animals of any kind. Trapping more for these prices really doesn't seem right. I keep hoping these low prices will give them a chance to bounce back some.
Ain't it though? I'm glad I found it again. I was afraid I didn't have it anymore. I want to frame it between two pieces of glass. I've been looking for an Alaska rule book I picked up when I was up there in the early 1980's. I saw it not too long ago, but I don't recall where???
Well MO, you got my head spinning this morning. When a fella can look back and see how things have changed, prices have been all over the place. I could be wrong here, by a few bucks or so, but in 1978 (I'm judging by t it being the first year trapping after the twin daughters were born), we got a number of Lynx and the top price we got was $750 for the one. Others were in the $500 to $600 range. Fur was much more worthwhile goin' at back then. Anyway, great reminders and thanks for another coffee session I enjoyed to the full. Have a good one my brother, lotsa time left yet. Blessings.
Good morning I enjoy anything related to the fur trade era I attended many Mountain Man Rendezvous in the past The black powder guns and furs hanging in every lodge and trading post The smell of bacon frying over a campfire Coffee brewing and the sound of the black powder guns in the distance I need to start attending them again The Idaho Fur Trappers and the Buckskin Bill Rendezvous were both excellent to be a part of Thanks for bringing back the memories on this cold snow covered winter day Stay warm and safe
I was big into the Black Powder/ Mountain Men Rendezvous back in the mid 1980's. First one I ever went to was with my Uncle Bill in 1976, and I was instantly hooked! I'd like to get back into it, but they aren't what they used to be.
Good Morning Muskrat, Really Good information, thank you. Many factors have a play in the fur price of today. Demand, inflation, etc. The Demand is not like it used to be, hardly anyone wears fur anymore, not even in Russia. The environmental groups have helped ruin the fur market. Every thing we buy in America is way over priced due to inflation. Gasoline is out of sight and so is the price of every thing else. I hav lots of trapping supply catalogs from the 60s and 70s, everything was dirt cheap. 1 dozen #44 longspring traps $32.00 , it's sickening what has happened to America. 😢 Thanks again for the information and have a Great Day 😊
It is sickening. It's funny, the liberals are all about the environment and renewable, natural products, yet they push fake fur ....basically plastic. Grocery store sacks,... they bring their own. Mostly made from some synthetic fiber and not cotton. Since they are vegetarians, and won't eat meat, they have all their vegetables stuffed into those thin plastic bags....paper is bad ya know...they cut down trees for those....I wonder what they are using for toilet paper???......But hey, they are saving the world from us evil heathens!
They are. Used to be "Black Sable" coats too. They were lower in price because they were dyed muskrats. What the fur market calls "Lynx cat", are bobcats. Lynx are a different animal. A long time back, Coyotes were also called wolves, brush wolves, or prairie wolves. Timber wolves or artic wolves were what we know as wolves now. It's all just marketing. I wonder how many animals and trappers there was in 1946? With prices that high, it seems everyone would be out trapping instead of going to a "real job"?
I kept some old literature from the 70's my Dad had tacked to the garage wall on trapping... fun to go back and look at it. I dont know how any one makes any kind of money at it all all these days unless they make a lot of products out of one animal. Gas, licenses, and all the supplies needed for Peanuts. Neat Stuff!
An excellent reviewing on how prices have changed over the past 70 years. Well done! Here are the average fur prices in $ here. Mink 25, Fox 95, Beaver 25, Wolf 150-200, Siberian lynx 350. Men's hat made of wolf 350-400. Thanks for sharing, have a nice day.
@@MuskratOutdoors Our ladies are still like to wear all sorts of things made of fox fur ))) Yes, there are a lot of foxes here, although not so much where I am. Btw, a Wolfskin gets doubled price if furrier knows how to save the wolf's head on the skin.
Very interesting Gary , I also bet they did not grade as hard back then as they do today. That $50 excellent coyote with a couple of combed out burrs just became a $10 to $15 coyote to the trapper today if it has a broken spot on the pelt.
A guy could make a good living on fur when fur was fashionable. I got $800 for lynx in 1978. Now trapping is just a bit of extra coin. Trappers aren't at it for the money that's for sure. When I was a lad, mink ranching was big in this area. Not far from where I live there was a big operation. Given the prices back then it was big business. Back then, whale meat was a cheap foodsource & the quality of the fur was excellent as you can well imagine. When the demand for mink crashed, the caged mink were often let out into the wild.
Even the 1980's and early 1990's were pretty good. There was two mink farms here too. The cages and things are still there, but they haven't been operating in the 33 years I've lived here.
Thanks this vidya was just long enough to get me through the wash cycle at the laundry mat. Prices like that today & l would get the traps out for sure!
Glad it was helpful! I hate laundry mats! HA! Yeah, I wonder how many people were trapping then? Better wages by far than a "real job". Easy to see why so many were murdered for their fur!
Man those prices are depressing. I haven’t trapped for 25 years but even being away for some time my stomach dropped at the prices. All the engraving is really nice. Looks authentic on the pistol. Don’t cut yourself short.
While growing up, my grandma who survived the great depression once told me: 'Back then you could get a loaf of bread for a nickel, but who had a nickel?'
Exactly. I remember as a boy (50 years ago) buying a loaf of "baker's" bread at the neighbourhood general store for 10 cents. It was a new thing and I remember it like yesterday. Thanks for that memory.
Exactly! It's all relative really. If daily wages are $100, .25cents is a fortune! Now .25cents might buy a gumball....if you can find a gumball machine
That's funny! My grandfather was from the same era and was full of one liners like that. They had a bakery and sold bread two loaves for a quarter. He had quite the collection of mills they took in exchange for money. I never asked him if they'd gotten reimbursement for them. A lot of shopkeepers swallowed a fair amount of debt back then so people had goods to survive. You won't see that in today's world because very few mom and pop stores exist
@alext. Dad was born in 1929. He said when he was six or seven, he found a dime. He wiped it off, and put it in his cheek, because his pockets all had holes. Sure enough, he swallowed it, and he said it took about three days of avoiding the outhouse and using a fence post to lean on, and a stick, but he recovered that dime! In 1935, ten cents was a fortune to a six year old!
I started trapping back in the late 1960's and I had a darn good trap line on a backwoods and farm land here in Pennsylvania. My best friend at the time and I called ourselves Lewis & Clark... I was Clark, for whatever reason. Anyway we sold our muskrats for an average of near $4.00 And all our catch was bought by a dealer who supplied most all the fur he bought to Clearfield Furs Out Of Clearfield Pennsylvania. Between the muskrats, mink raccoons, possums... Skunk's & Red & gray fox up untill the early 1980's we made a good bit of cash. God Bless You And keep up the good reports my fellow Trapper.
In the 60s, we got .25 cents apiece for muskrat, with no prep. Sometimes, all we had to take in for the bounty was the tail. About a nickel for a set of jackrabbit ears, when SCI Mini Mags were 59 cents a box and 3% sales tax. I used a single shot and my hit ratio on jacks pushed 90%. From then, well into the mid 70s, coyote could bring up to $150 when the military and others were using the fur for riffs on extreme cold weather gear. Shooting C oyotes for bounty for the right Montana ranchers could still fetch $50 as late as 76. Sold quite a few badges, but to individuals, don't recall the market being interested in em. Bobcat could bring $300, for the right cat, but we never got the "right" cat. This was back when we had gas wars, and on the right afternoon, it'd dip to 13.9 a gallon for regular from regular price of 17.9. In 73, gas jumped to 37.9 a gallon, and Id just gone in the USAF. Smokes went from 17 cents a pack in the commissary to 37 cents, then 79 cents. My $600 a month salary went up in smoke by the time ya figured in a hunnert twenty dollar car pmt, $125 for rent, and big Mac s was abot a buck! Keep on keepin on! A guy's gotta have something to do for fun, and trappin beats hell out of watchin cartoons and eatin cheetos!
You have me beat. I started trapping in 1976, but on a very small scale. We lived in Southern Nevada between Las Vegas and Henderson when it was all still desert. I had furs all over my walls, but mostly things like Jackrabbits. When we moved to Oregon in '79, we lived on Beaver Creek. It did have beaver, but I didn't have traps big enough for them. I caught lots of muskrats, raccoons and possums...all hung on my wall because I didn't know where to sell them. Bugs eventually ruined them, and I found a fur buyer address about 1980 and started selling them. My timing was pretty good, furs sold comparably high then, and my trapping really took off.
@MuskratOutdoors I was just trying to carry on the thread a bit. If it hadn't been for my most bestest bud's, Bruce Hansen, who I met when I was 12, I'd have spent my teen years blowing my pipe moving, hay bucking, milking money on cars and girls instead of trucks and guns. When that wife and first kid, and a couple or three stripes hit my arm, my whole world changed, so my trapping since is done by proxy through the kindness and generosity of folks like You.
That shows the difference in the value fur had as a resource back then versus now. Everyone wanted fur back then, but now they would rather use synthetic’s. Shameful. If you haven’t seen it go back and watch “ those calloways” an 1965 Disney film. It displays to at least a small extent life living in the woods, hunting and trapping as a normal parts of American life and how much more valuable mink was worth compared to today. I Haven’t seen it in 40 years. Watching this reminds of it. I’m positive we won’t see prices like the old days again. One can always hope. 👍👍
A lot had to do with the movie stars and things. All the ladies had fur coats , and the rich ladies did too. All of us peasants wanted fur! Fur scarfs were really popular for those that couldn't afford a fur coat. Now all the movie stars are against real fur, fanatics spray paint fur coats worn in public, and we have grown up with things like Disney's "101 Dalmatians" where the evil "Cruella Devile" (Cruel Devil) is out to kill the cute puppies to make a fur coat. As a kid, I loved that movie, but now I realize it was an anti-fur brainwashing movie.
That old price list is a gold-mine in itself. I started trapping in the 1960''''s, my buddys father told us of the great fur prices of long ago, we were disappointed in getting 75 cents for muskrat and $5.00 for a mink.. Trouble was and is today--once you hear a trap chain rattle you are hooked for life..
It is! It is one of the neatest things I've found! I want to go back this summer and dig those pack rat nests out. No tellin' what might be in there! It sure does! Kind of like gold prospecting....ya get "the fever"!!!
In 1946 there were less than a 1000 textile mills in the United States .as of today over 100k so naturally fur demands would have been greater in 1946.
I agree. It didn't matter how rich or poor you were it was what was available.everyone wore fur or used it for other reasons blankets gloves etc.the first millionaires in America were beaver trappers.hard to believe looking at today's prices. Thanks for the videos always informative@@MuskratOutdoors
my father in law told me back in 20 s and 30s he new a fellow that traded a silver fox for a band new car that was in prince edward island canada on the east coast
Oh yeah, I don't doubt that at all. Silver or black fox were really high dollar back then. People were murdered over those! Black and Silver Fox were and still are, rare in the wild. The price dropped after fur farms started flooding the market.
Yea , I 'd have to say that if you seriously consider your cost and time to glean the " market product " beaver . What you are earning per hr. is pretty shitty ! Breaking down Ins . cost per day , gas , trap bait , time setting traps , time recovering the beaver , time cleaning , stretching and drying ... Hate to say this MR , but IDT you're gonna get rich . Of course all those prices were before PETA and the style change for winter / glamour wear . Maybe your local McDonald's is hiring :D Be safe out there , and stay WARM !! .. bg
Ha! That's still really good! I've made about $1,500 a couple times, without counting expenses....probably went in the hole if you counted that. My best year ever has been this year thanks to that refund money from the F4WM. $8,000 for the 4 wolves I caught...and I get to keep them! Can't beat that deal!
I understand the prices back then. We trappers weren't as mobile then. Who had a snowmobile? 4WD pickups.. ?? Beaver - I think now there's a lot more beaver around now. And we have much better traps to catch them with. The mobility issue is there too. States that had a beaver season had strict trap and harvest limits. PA still has them. I know from my time in the People's Republic of New Yorkastan, we had to tag beavers until 2011 I believe. With the amount of beavers I caught... That was GIANT pain!! It was an interesting bit of research. The beaver population, as we all know, left untouched will explode. The NH case I cite below shows that. Other states bear that out..... The sheer number of beaver that were trapped prior to regulations was staggering. I found this from NH: "Beavers were numerous in New Hampshire when European settlers first arrived. Their pelts were extremely valuable to trappers who, at that time, knew little about beaver management. By the late 1800's, trapping had virtually eliminated the beaver in the state. Between 1926 and 1930, the state began a restocking program in central New Hampshire, releasing six beavers. In 1940, 48 more were released. By 1955, the entire State was populated to its carrying capacity."
It really is amazing. Good points with the transportation too. I still struggle with getting arond. I wonder just how many trappers and critters there was back then? Those are much better wages than working! Idaho, doesn't regulate beaver as far as needing tags or that sort of thing anywhere in the state that I know of. There's no limit, but plenty of them. They are really easy to wipe out though. Thanks for your comment, very interesting!
Ha! I KNOW!! It's pretty sickening ain't it? No, I won't either. I enjoy the way of life and being a part of Nature, not an outsider looking in. Even so......damn......I wish we could have gotten in on that!
Except for the inflation rate and yearly income....BIG DIFFERENCE! $1 then was $16.85 now. The price they were getting then was the same as we are getting now, times 16 !
Good morning my Friend. I always tell people that the hay day for trappers is long past. Back in those days you could trap in the winter and live the rest of the year off your earnings, and live pretty darn well. Not anymore. We do it because we enjoy it, plain and simple. Have a good day Gary!
Good Morning! You are 100% right. It's the lifestyle and adventure of it I like. I like being a part of the wild and not just outside looking in. Anytime I can make any part of my living from the wild, I'm happy.
Good morning. Wow what a huge difference in prices. You sure could make an awesome.e living working the trap line back then. Too bad it's all changed so much. Definitely a bit disheartening but I feel it's the lifestyle that's the payment. Too be out in the wild helping sustain the ecosystem is an honorable thing to do. Rewards the soul and not the pocket book so much. I appreciate the information and I hope you don't get to discouraged. I appreciate you sharing these videos and I hope it helps reward you a bit. Have a great weekend
You are absolutely right. Back then I good trapper in a good area could make a good living. I wonder though, at those prices, how many animals were around? Competition and over trapping had to be high. No, I'm not depressed over the prices that much really since I never have had those prices. I have gotten much better prices than what we are getting now though, $60 for a blanket beaver, was highest I've gotten. What depresses me, is the lack of furbearers in general. Even coyotes. I used to see and hear them a lot from the house, but it's rare now. This area seems to be kind of a dead zone, without a lot of animals of any kind. Trapping more for these prices really doesn't seem right. I keep hoping these low prices will give them a chance to bounce back some.
Dang that's a pretty barn cool find. Beautiful work on the pistol
Ain't it though? I'm glad I found it again. I was afraid I didn't have it anymore. I want to frame it between two pieces of glass. I've been looking for an Alaska rule book I picked up when I was up there in the early 1980's. I saw it not too long ago, but I don't recall where???
Good job on the pistol!In 1946 gas was 21 cents a gallon .
Thanks! I saw that. I was surprised that adjusted for inflation that's $3.47 a gallon .
Well MO, you got my head spinning this morning. When a fella can look back and see how things have changed, prices have been all over the place. I could be wrong here, by a few bucks or so, but in 1978 (I'm judging by t it being the first year trapping after the twin daughters were born), we got a number of Lynx and the top price we got was $750 for the one. Others were in the $500 to $600 range. Fur was much more worthwhile goin' at back then.
Anyway, great reminders and thanks for another coffee session I enjoyed to the full. Have a good one my brother, lotsa time left yet. Blessings.
Wow! That's a good price! I've never had a chance to trap for lynx. Wolverine or fisher either. Someday, I'd sure like to!
It's pretty neat reading old literature from 75 years ago! I love that revolver !
Thanks! I like finding antique trapping info like that, or old hunting magazines!
Good morning I enjoy anything related to the fur trade era I attended many Mountain Man Rendezvous in the past The black powder guns and furs hanging in every lodge and trading post The smell of bacon frying over a campfire Coffee brewing and the sound of the black powder guns in the distance I need to start attending them again The Idaho Fur Trappers and the Buckskin Bill Rendezvous were both excellent to be a part of Thanks for bringing back the memories on this cold snow covered winter day Stay warm and safe
I was big into the Black Powder/ Mountain Men Rendezvous back in the mid 1980's. First one I ever went to was with my Uncle Bill in 1976, and I was instantly hooked! I'd like to get back into it, but they aren't what they used to be.
Good Morning Muskrat, Really Good information, thank you. Many factors have a play in the fur price of today. Demand, inflation, etc. The Demand is not like it used to be, hardly anyone wears fur anymore, not even in Russia. The environmental groups have helped ruin the fur market. Every thing we buy in America is way over priced due to inflation. Gasoline is out of sight and so is the price of every thing else. I hav lots of trapping supply catalogs from the 60s and 70s, everything was dirt cheap. 1 dozen #44 longspring traps $32.00 , it's sickening what has happened to America. 😢 Thanks again for the information and have a Great Day 😊
It is sickening. It's funny, the liberals are all about the environment and renewable, natural products, yet they push fake fur ....basically plastic. Grocery store sacks,... they bring their own. Mostly made from some synthetic fiber and not cotton. Since they are vegetarians, and won't eat meat, they have all their vegetables stuffed into those thin plastic bags....paper is bad ya know...they cut down trees for those....I wonder what they are using for toilet paper???......But hey, they are saving the world from us evil heathens!
@@MuskratOutdoors When I was in high school gasoline was 19 -20 cents, we were selling calves for like 50 cents, life was good.
Our winters here in the midwest haven't been cold enough in the last several yrs to create a good fur. It's a good hobby...
Yeah, sadly that's what it's become for most folks. Very few make a living from it now.
Awesome. Love the engraving
You did. First time . Impressive my friend..
Thank you very much! It's harder to do than wood or leather carving.
Good morning friend hope you have a great day 👍
Good Morning! It's cold, the low was -20.9F this morning, but blue sky, not a cloud in sight! I hope you have a great day too!
@MuskratOutdoors Thanks man
i think the engraving is GREAT. Very impressed.
I agree, he is too modest about his talents. Not many people would take a chance screwing up a gun if you don't have confidence in your abilities.
Thank you very much! I should try doing some more.
Thanks! I figured I could sand it off if it didn't come out good, but it's cut too deep.
I never knew “marten” and “sable” were the same thing. Amazing! Such a difference in prices and there were probably more animals to be found in 1946.
They are. Used to be "Black Sable" coats too. They were lower in price because they were dyed muskrats. What the fur market calls "Lynx cat", are bobcats. Lynx are a different animal. A long time back, Coyotes were also called wolves, brush wolves, or prairie wolves. Timber wolves or artic wolves were what we know as wolves now. It's all just marketing. I wonder how many animals and trappers there was in 1946? With prices that high, it seems everyone would be out trapping instead of going to a "real job"?
I kept some old literature from the 70's my Dad had tacked to the garage wall on trapping... fun to go back and look at it. I dont know how any one makes any kind of money at it all all these days unless they make a lot of products out of one animal. Gas, licenses, and all the supplies needed for Peanuts. Neat
Stuff!
Very neat! It's hard to even break even today.
An excellent reviewing on how prices have changed over the past 70 years. Well done! Here are the average fur prices in $ here. Mink 25, Fox 95, Beaver 25, Wolf 150-200, Siberian lynx 350. Men's hat made of wolf 350-400.
Thanks for sharing, have a nice day.
Wow! Your fox prices are high. Are there many aroud?
@@MuskratOutdoors
Our ladies are still like to wear all sorts of things made of fox fur ))) Yes, there are a lot of foxes here, although not so much where I am.
Btw, a Wolfskin gets doubled price if furrier knows how to save the wolf's head on the skin.
Man you are some god dam handy with your hands.Between the leather work and the work on the gun,just fantastic. Thanks for showing us you're work.
Thank you very much! It comes from being broke all the time....if I want something, I have to do it myself.
Good morning sir have a great weekend 😊
Good Morning! You too! Sunny and blue here, but cold! It was -20F was the low this morning!
Appreciate the info sure make a guy very interesting.
Thanks! It's amazing, ain't it?
Very interesting Gary , I also bet they did not grade as hard back then as they do today. That $50 excellent coyote with a couple of combed out burrs just became a $10 to $15 coyote to the trapper today if it has a broken spot on the pelt.
A guy could make a good living on fur when fur was fashionable. I got $800 for lynx in 1978. Now trapping is just a bit of extra coin. Trappers aren't at it for the money that's for sure. When I was a lad, mink ranching was big in this area. Not far from where I live there was a big operation. Given the prices back then it was big business. Back then, whale meat was a cheap foodsource & the quality of the fur was excellent as you can well imagine. When the demand for mink crashed, the caged mink were often let out into the wild.
Even the 1980's and early 1990's were pretty good. There was two mink farms here too. The cages and things are still there, but they haven't been operating in the 33 years I've lived here.
Thanks this vidya was just long enough to get me through the wash cycle at the laundry mat.
Prices like that today & l would get the traps out for sure!
Glad it was helpful! I hate laundry mats! HA! Yeah, I wonder how many people were trapping then? Better wages by far than a "real job". Easy to see why so many were murdered for their fur!
If I pay to tan or even tan myself and make say muskrat mittens. I can make some money but still not that much. Love your engraving!
I need to get better at tanning my own. Tanning prices are pretty high. Thanks! It's harder to do than wood or leather carving, but kind of fun.
@@MuskratOutdoors stock salt...egg yolks... and Murphy's oil soap is how I tan
Good Morning 🌄
Good Morning! -20F this morning.....
Good morning 👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸
Good morning!
Man those prices are depressing. I haven’t trapped for 25 years but even being away for some time my stomach dropped at the prices. All the engraving is really nice. Looks authentic on the pistol. Don’t cut yourself short.
Thank you very much! Yeah, it's sickening! Even so, I'll keep at it!
While growing up, my grandma who survived the great depression once told me: 'Back then you could get a loaf of bread for a nickel, but who had a nickel?'
Exactly. I remember as a boy (50 years ago) buying a loaf of "baker's" bread at the neighbourhood general store for 10 cents. It was a new thing and I remember it like yesterday. Thanks for that memory.
Exactly! It's all relative really. If daily wages are $100, .25cents is a fortune! Now .25cents might buy a gumball....if you can find a gumball machine
How about the "5 and dime store"? Now even the "Dollar" stores cost more than a dollar. I just realized there is no cent symbol on a computer pad?
That's funny! My grandfather was from the same era and was full of one liners like that. They had a bakery and sold bread two loaves for a quarter. He had quite the collection of mills they took in exchange for money. I never asked him if they'd gotten reimbursement for them. A lot of shopkeepers swallowed a fair amount of debt back then so people had goods to survive. You won't see that in today's world because very few mom and pop stores exist
@alext. Dad was born in 1929. He said when he was six or seven, he found a dime. He wiped it off, and put it in his cheek, because his pockets all had holes. Sure enough, he swallowed it, and he said it took about three days of avoiding the outhouse and using a fence post to lean on, and a stick, but he recovered that dime! In 1935, ten cents was a fortune to a six year old!
When Minnesota mink dropped to the price of a 12 pack of pop I had to quit. Sure miss the log mink lines.
We don't seem to have a lot of mink here. The few I have caught have never brought much.
I think the pistol work looks pretty good. 👍🏻
Thanks! I like the backstrap the best.
I started trapping back in the late 1960's and I had a darn good trap line on a backwoods and farm land here in Pennsylvania. My best friend at the time and I called ourselves Lewis & Clark... I was Clark, for whatever reason. Anyway we sold our muskrats for an average of near $4.00 And all our catch was bought by a dealer who supplied most all the fur he bought to Clearfield Furs Out Of Clearfield Pennsylvania. Between the muskrats, mink raccoons, possums... Skunk's & Red & gray fox up untill the early 1980's we made a good bit of cash. God Bless You And keep up the good reports my fellow Trapper.
The good old days! When fur was still worth something! I got in on a little of that in the 1980's, but it sure hasn't been great since.
In the 60s, we got .25 cents apiece for muskrat, with no prep. Sometimes, all we had to take in for the bounty was the tail. About a nickel for a set of jackrabbit ears, when SCI Mini Mags were 59 cents a box and 3% sales tax. I used a single shot and my hit ratio on jacks pushed 90%. From then, well into the mid 70s, coyote could bring up to $150 when the military and others were using the fur for riffs on extreme cold weather gear. Shooting C oyotes for bounty for the right Montana ranchers could still fetch $50 as late as 76. Sold quite a few badges, but to individuals, don't recall the market being interested in em. Bobcat could bring $300, for the right cat, but we never got the "right" cat. This was back when we had gas wars, and on the right afternoon, it'd dip to 13.9 a gallon for regular from regular price of 17.9. In 73, gas jumped to 37.9 a gallon, and Id just gone in the USAF. Smokes went from 17 cents a pack in the commissary to 37 cents, then 79 cents. My $600 a month salary went up in smoke by the time ya figured in a hunnert twenty dollar car pmt, $125 for rent, and big Mac s was abot a buck! Keep on keepin on! A guy's gotta have something to do for fun, and trappin beats hell out of watchin cartoons and eatin cheetos!
You have me beat. I started trapping in 1976, but on a very small scale. We lived in Southern Nevada between Las Vegas and Henderson when it was all still desert. I had furs all over my walls, but mostly things like Jackrabbits. When we moved to Oregon in '79, we lived on Beaver Creek. It did have beaver, but I didn't have traps big enough for them. I caught lots of muskrats, raccoons and possums...all hung on my wall because I didn't know where to sell them. Bugs eventually ruined them, and I found a fur buyer address about 1980 and started selling them. My timing was pretty good, furs sold comparably high then, and my trapping really took off.
@MuskratOutdoors I was just trying to carry on the thread a bit. If it hadn't been for my most bestest bud's, Bruce Hansen, who I met when I was 12, I'd have spent my teen years blowing my pipe moving, hay bucking, milking money on cars and girls instead of trucks and guns. When that wife and first kid, and a couple or three stripes hit my arm, my whole world changed, so my trapping since is done by proxy through the kindness and generosity of folks like You.
That shows the difference in the value fur had as a resource back then versus now. Everyone wanted fur back then, but now they would rather use synthetic’s. Shameful. If you haven’t seen it go back and watch “ those calloways” an 1965 Disney film. It displays to at least a small extent life living in the woods, hunting and trapping as a normal parts of American life and how much more valuable mink was worth compared to today. I Haven’t seen it in 40 years. Watching this reminds of it. I’m positive we won’t see prices like the old days again. One can always hope. 👍👍
A lot had to do with the movie stars and things. All the ladies had fur coats , and the rich ladies did too. All of us peasants wanted fur! Fur scarfs were really popular for those that couldn't afford a fur coat. Now all the movie stars are against real fur, fanatics spray paint fur coats worn in public, and we have grown up with things like Disney's "101 Dalmatians" where the evil "Cruella Devile" (Cruel Devil) is out to kill the cute puppies to make a fur coat. As a kid, I loved that movie, but now I realize it was an anti-fur brainwashing movie.
The engraving looks amazing to me. Nice work.
Thank you very much! Maybe I'm too picky!
That old price list is a gold-mine in itself. I started trapping in the 1960''''s, my buddys father told us of the great fur prices of long ago, we were disappointed in getting 75 cents for muskrat and $5.00 for a mink.. Trouble was and is today--once you hear a trap chain rattle you are hooked for life..
It is! It is one of the neatest things I've found! I want to go back this summer and dig those pack rat nests out. No tellin' what might be in there! It sure does! Kind of like gold prospecting....ya get "the fever"!!!
You are a rare talent gary
Ha! Thank you!!
As Artie would say, "very interesting".
It is! I liked that silly show!
Morning fine sir 🌻
Good morning!!!!
1946 those were shinin times.
They sure were! I wonder how many trappers there was, and how much fur was around?
Did you ever hear anymore on the Judges decision ?
No I haven't I've been watching for it, but nothing so far.....keeping my fingers crossed!
In 1946 there were less than a 1000 textile mills in the United States .as of today over 100k so naturally fur demands would have been greater in 1946.
That and all the movie stars wore fur....it was a glamor thing that every housewife wanted.
I agree. It didn't matter how rich or poor you were it was what was available.everyone wore fur or used it for other reasons blankets gloves etc.the first millionaires in America were beaver trappers.hard to believe looking at today's prices. Thanks for the videos always informative@@MuskratOutdoors
my father in law told me back in 20 s and 30s he new a fellow that traded a silver fox for a band new car that was in prince edward island canada on the east coast
Oh yeah, I don't doubt that at all. Silver or black fox were really high dollar back then. People were murdered over those! Black and Silver Fox were and still are, rare in the wild. The price dropped after fur farms started flooding the market.
What will really shock people is the Fur Garment prices back than to now Mr. Muskrat.
Yes it does. The prices look the same, but the value of the dollar was much more back then.
Yea , I 'd have to say that if you seriously consider your cost and time to glean the " market product " beaver . What you are earning per hr. is pretty shitty ! Breaking down Ins . cost per day , gas , trap bait , time setting traps , time recovering the beaver , time cleaning , stretching and drying ... Hate to say this MR , but IDT you're gonna get rich . Of course all those prices were before PETA and the style change for winter / glamour wear . Maybe your local McDonald's is hiring :D Be safe out there , and stay WARM !! .. bg
HA! Exactly! Basically we are paying the fur buyer to take our fur and working for free. It's the adventure of it I like!
My best year trapping was 1968.I made just under 30,000 . Of course that's in today's money. Actual price ,was 3,200.
Ha! That's still really good! I've made about $1,500 a couple times, without counting expenses....probably went in the hole if you counted that. My best year ever has been this year thanks to that refund money from the F4WM. $8,000 for the 4 wolves I caught...and I get to keep them! Can't beat that deal!
Depressing, but thanks all the same.
It really is.....mostly due to politics I think....
Back in the day my dad would say 😉
Yup...the Good Old Days....
When I started trapping 22 years ago we took 76,500 muskrats in a year whit 10 man …. Mannn i could be rich lol
Heck, you could have retired in one season!!! That is a LOT of rats! I doubt there is half that many in my county!
I understand the prices back then. We trappers weren't as mobile then. Who had a snowmobile? 4WD pickups.. ??
Beaver - I think now there's a lot more beaver around now. And we have much better traps to catch them with. The mobility issue is there too. States that had a beaver season had strict trap and harvest limits. PA still has them. I know from my time in the People's Republic of New Yorkastan, we had to tag beavers until 2011 I believe. With the amount of beavers I caught... That was GIANT pain!!
It was an interesting bit of research. The beaver population, as we all know, left untouched will explode. The NH case I cite below shows that. Other states bear that out..... The sheer number of beaver that were trapped prior to regulations was staggering.
I found this from NH: "Beavers were numerous in New Hampshire when European settlers first arrived. Their pelts were extremely valuable to trappers who, at that time, knew little about beaver management. By the late 1800's, trapping had virtually eliminated the beaver in the state. Between 1926 and 1930, the state began a restocking program in central New Hampshire, releasing six beavers. In 1940, 48 more were released. By 1955, the entire State was populated to its carrying capacity."
It really is amazing. Good points with the transportation too. I still struggle with getting arond. I wonder just how many trappers and critters there was back then? Those are much better wages than working! Idaho, doesn't regulate beaver as far as needing tags or that sort of thing anywhere in the state that I know of. There's no limit, but plenty of them. They are really easy to wipe out though. Thanks for your comment, very interesting!
Very cool, nice find!! But holy freaking crap on the prices!!!!! 🤯 trappers should be millionaires today haha
That's for sure! We are getting robbed!
Boy you really ruined my day ❤😅😅. But that is the way the fur prices are. 😊I will not stop trapping either.
Ha! I KNOW!! It's pretty sickening ain't it? No, I won't either. I enjoy the way of life and being a part of Nature, not an outsider looking in. Even so......damn......I wish we could have gotten in on that!
I RAN OUT OF CRYING TOWELS
I know....pretty hard to take, ain't it?
Wow,it is sickening
Ha! It sure is!!!
Good Day!!! Hi Cindy😅!!!! Where are the weasels you ask???? Washington the District of Communism 😂😂😂😂
Stop and consider what Fur coat cost then and now, really no change.
Except for the inflation rate and yearly income....BIG DIFFERENCE!
$1 then was $16.85 now. The price they were getting then was the same as we are getting now, times 16 !