Hyperwrx

Hahaha. Good try. I blurred out the mountains in the background because they are quite recognizable to anyone from the area. What you think is front yard grass is actually grass in the desert. You got to use your noggin and think.. did he actually even trap these bobcats where the picture was taken? Did I trap both bobcats in 1 cage right there? Of course not. I pulled off the road THERE in the desert to skin them. I trapped them in that area but not exactly there. To the guys who PM'd me. Thanks for the support. I hope the fur market treats us all better as the months go by. Today I was in attendance at the meeting in Phoenix pertaining to the Briarpatch Fur Sale in 3 weeks. Hopefully we can turn this around somehow. Some new policy changes and refreshing everyone to some important last year policies will be coming out in the next few hours at http://www.briarpatchcages.com/.

Think we're getting too wound up in this thread. Here is one of my 50" perfectly stretched bobcats. I'l leave it at that.

You are correct. The belly could have looked poor. I did not speak to that as I did not see them. I did take into account when he harvested the bobcat. I believe he mentioned heavy fur if you read in his post. Last years bobcats I did see. Very small and average put up. Sorry but that's my opinion. I can and will admit your placement at the very end of the sale could have impacted sale price. I did not consider that you was at the tail end. My apologies on not taking that into account. 348-352 were my lots. I purposely came in at that time and even let some guys go in front of me in line. I will still make the stand that a trappers put up is a good portion of the price. Sorry if my comments came across as offensive. I post like that a lot and need to work on it.

Good Luck in Kingman.

Congrats on all your cats and your sale success. Question for you. Where do you get your cat stretchers? Do you buy them or make them? I've been putting up fur since I was knee high, learned from my dad who was a trapper most of his life. I always stretched my cats the old fashioned way until just recently learning of the Nevada style stretchers. Time to learn some new tricks for the cats to keep up. I haven't trapped since legholds were outlawed, only call now. I don't get a lot of cats so gotta learn to maximize what I get. Thanks. Brian Thanks for the kind words but I was also disappointed with the prices like everyone else but just understand who is the blame and who isn't. The buyers there were not. If someone wants to get mad, get mad at the abnormally warm weather in Russia this winter and the Chinese fur buyers who tried to smuggle in 200 million in mink fur without paying the import taxes. If it weren't for those 2 aspects I would have walked out with 20k. I made 40% less. Ok, off that tangent. It's gonna make me depressed. Wood Stretchers are the only way to go for 3 reasons. 1. They allow you to Nevada stretch easily and some of the wooden stretchers are made especially for it. Briarpatch Cages sells stretchers for Nevada stretches. Otis Latham (ColoradoCat on Trapperman.com forums) also makes stretchers for Nevada stretches. Otis will sell 1 stretcher at a time. Briarpatch is 3 at a time. Otis' are cheaper but do not allow as many adjustments as Bob's. Bob's have a separator at the nose to widen it. 2. Wooden stretchers make your fur look heavier (thicker). Now an experienced fur buyer is no dummy and examines the fur and realizes its 1/2 wide for a reason but you are trying to do ANYTHING you can to get an edge. 3. Wooden stretchers dry the fur faster as they allow better air flow. You call for your bobcats so you don't need more than a few. You're lucky. Buy the best you can afford. They will pay for themselves the first season you use them and will last decades. On the side of the stretcher there the back lays mark 36" and put a line, 38" line, 40" line, and 42" line. Now you have a goal to work for when stretching. You HAVE to hit 36" from nose to base of the tail and plan on 1/4 to 1/2 shrinkage once you take them off the stretcher. Bobcat pelts can take some serious pulling. I have never ripped one by pulling hard. Other things you need to do to maximize every cat for sale 1. Get finger nail clippers and cut off the nipples. You want the buyer to think all your cats are males. 2. Hang your stretcher with wet fur on it upside down and brush the back hair against the grain (toward the head). Do this once a day. Brush the belly fur outward. 3. Pin the ears flat to the wooden stretcher. They stack nicer for the buyer in his cargo container to Europe. Pointy ears get crushed, bent, broken in transit and that hurts his bottom line. 4. Buy or make a giant rectangular box. I found a tupperware. Your stretched cat should fit inside it for the most part. Borax your cat in that box. Buy some dish washing gloves and rub that boarax in the fur. Everywhere. Spend about 5 minutes a pelt and work it in good. Its taking out the grease and brightening the hide. Use a shop vac or leaf blower and blow the borax out good. A cat with borax in it at the sale looks bad and amateurish. 5. Arms up and skin to the wrists. Insert plastic coat hanger and rubberband it up to the head to the arms stand up. Cut 1/2 PVC pipe in 4" length and slip them in the arms so you get good air flow in there and they'll dry out faster. I place a dowel across the top just inside the arm holes to hold them a specific distance apart. Mine are just just straight up, they are slightly wider then the head. Basically they are the width of the widest area of the belly. 6. Lean how to lot your fur up so the buyer is taking the hit on your poor length fur, not you. This is a separate topic. More when I get back.

$42 per coyote is a great average. There are a few small pockets of red foxes still in AZ. They are not cherry red like we expect a red fox to be, but are a dull red. I caught one and have it hung up in my garage. It's worth about $15 tops due to the color but is more of a cool keepsake. We have 3 species of fox in AZ (red, grey, kit) and I have them all hung up in my garage plus a big coyote and a big badger. Conversation pieces. Bonecollector777- If you want to know why you only were offered 110 dollars for your 37" stretched cat look into how you put up fur. No offence, but when my lot of 18 35" to 38" lower desert (2500' elevation) bobcats go for $320 per bobcat pelt, compared to your fur prices- you need to reexamine how your fur looks to a buyer. My pelts are barely considered semi-heavy. I had another lot of 4 pelts, 39"-42" sell for $450 each. I had 3 other bobcat lots. I walked away with a good chunk of change for my fur and that was seeing the market drop almost 40% on bobcat hides. My greys were nothing special at $25 each. Greys actually held their price better than bobcats. As for you getting a better price elsewhere- good luck. I still have bobcat pelts on stretchers that will be at the Briarpatch Fur Sale. The Fallon sale is where you'll see a visible price difference MAYBE but the AZ sale sets the tone for ALL THE SALES IN THE WESTERN US. The UTA sale last week in Nephi was worse than the ATA. Less buyers, lower prices. I do not expect the prices at the Kingman Sale to be better than the ATA sale. Less buyers. The bobcat pelt market is getting saturated if you didn't notice. Any bobcats smaller than 36" are not a desired commodity this year. Poorly put up cats are not desired this year. The cream of the crop is wanted and THAT is priced about 40% lower than last year. The fur market is like a wave, it has crests and toughs. Last year was the apex and its going down now. If you have been in fur very long you see these rises and falls and expect them. I was hoping it wouldn't go down as far as it did but that's the market and we don't dictate it. The 350 bobcats that were pulled as no sales at the ATA sale will regret that move in the end I think. Our only hope is the 1% commission at the Kingman sale offsets some of the lower prices we'll see. Another aspect people probably don't know is that Black Pine Fur was not at the ATA sale this year. They bought a lot of high dollar bobcat fur the last 2 years at the ATA sale. The current fur market has them being more reserved with their funds. Eric and George stood up in front of the crowd after a string of no sales and lectured everyone about the fur market and how its low right now due to mild winter in Russia and the fiasco with the fur market in China right now. Ron Day, ATA president and past AZG&F biologist also got up and told people they were not being cheated. There were still people thinking they'd pull their fur and get better prices elsewhere. Good luck on that. I hope they get at least 75% of what was at the ATA. Grey foxes did not suffer the same price drop that bobcats saw. It has to do with how the fur is used in the garment industry. Trim vs. main body on clothes. I don't know the specifics but thankfully fox prices were only slightly lower than last year. Actually looked it up. Last year grey foxes averaged $30, this year $23. drop of 23% Last year bobcat average $420 this year $238. drop of 43%

ATA Fur Sale in a few months. Then Briarpatch Fur Sale in Kingman in March. Hope everyone is in the fur. Some of my take so far- Biggest of the season 24 lbs. Lion ate one of my bobcats before I could get to it.

I'll purchase the carcass off you if you have not put big holes in it. Where do you live?

That javalina takes up the entire cage. You're lucky. In my 42" cages I had a javalina bang his head against the door so hard he broke my welds and send the front of the cage/door cartwheeling down the wash. He then took off. I have had a few in footholds and releasing them is an outight joke. AZG&F wants you to choke them out. RIIIIIIGHT.

If you are in an area with skunk its tough to not keep them out of a foothold. I have had a number this season. Set the pan tension on your foothold tighter. Some more recent catches.

I had one in mt cage that when I approached it began ramming the front of the cage over and over. After the 5th time he broke my spot welds and sent the front of the cage 30 yards cartwheeling it down the wash. He then ran off. I had another stupid one refuse to come out He was in backwards. When you put your hands by the cage he bites at you. I managed to pick the back of the cage up hoping he would fall out the opening at the bottom. FAIL. His legs went THROUGH the wire on the bottom basically lodging him there sticking in mid air. I had a fit and stommped off and slung the cage away. He was able to get out on his own a 1/2 hour later. Only thing worse is a lion in your cage. I had one rip the door off the frame.... inward if you can imagine that.

I understand. Good idea. Get a thick wire hanger. At one of the bottom corners of the triangle cut it and with pliers and on the wire that comes down make a slight hook in it. The other wire along the bottom make a slight hook facing downward. Fish your dried foxes onto the hanger's bottom wire through an eye hole and latch it back up. Your creating a fur hanger but cheap. Like this.

The fur buyers that come to the ATA fur sale don't want you to tan them and you wont make any more money if they are tanned. Just skin, flesh, and stretch them. If you are looking to get your foxes/bobcats garment tanned (this is when it is a dried flexible pelt) go to USAFoxx and have it done. Website. I have used them and they are reputable and competitively priced.

Last years average in AZ was $30. James- what is the tag on the foxes? Your fur put up looks great.

Todays cat.

Brian- Nevada stretch the bobcats on wooden stretchers instead of what you are doing. You'll get more money doing so as its what the fur buyers are looking for. Here is an example. Front arms up, back legs flattened out and pinned together. Gives the look of a wider longer belly of spots. Grey looking for on the greys. Example-

Careful trapping in an M unit. It's illegal, even if on your own private property and far from houses. FYI- With as cage trap (confinement trap) you can be as close to a house as you'd like as long as you are in a regular hunting unit. It's footholds that you have to be 1/2 mile away and on private property and in a legal hunting unit. That being said, the cat in the Haveaheart trap is young. Less than a year for sure. The San Tans hold a fair number of bobcats but unfortunately to the West and South of them is Gila River Indian Reservation, a good portion of the middle and North is a park (we cant hunt or trap parks), and the homes scattered throughout the East/North side make it tough to get 1/4 mile away from a residence. There are really only a few legal places you can hunt in the area.

CouesBuckhunter- excellent camera work. What sound were you guys playing? I don't recognize it and it really got a fantastic reaction from the greys.

If anyone can ID that fox distress sound for me I'd appreciate it. It's not a Foxpro sound file.

Not a seal. It's called a CITES tag. Here is the order of events. 1. You trap a bobcat and dispatch it. 2. You carry it to your truck and you attach a 2-part transportation tag to carcass. 3. You get home and you skin the bobcat and the transportation tag stays attached to the skin (ziptie it through an eye hole). 4. Flesh and stretch bobcat pelt. 4. You take out the bobcat's lower jaw and cut away any excess meat and attach the 2nd part of the transportation tag to it (ziptie it on tight) Toss jaw in a tub of borax to dry it out and keeping it from stinking. 5. Rest of the carcass gets thrown away. 6. At trapping season's end you match up the jaw with the dried pelt. Ziptie jaw and its tag to the pelt and it's tag and take down to AZ G&F office. 6. They will collect transportation tag from the pelt and the jaw and its tag. 7. Pay $3 per CITES tag and the agent will attach it through the eye hole of the skinned pelt. I do the same thing for the bobcat's I call in and shoot. You can now sell your bobcat pelt at the ATA trappers sale 1st weekend in April or the Briarpatch Sale in Kingman in mid-March.

bobcat

Checking area for bobcat and fox for trapping this season. Gland lure on rock and stick. A lot of these fox can't get enough gland lure and as you see, rub on it for hours.