Fur buyers in Minnesota

[bassman186]

I'm looking to start trapping this year and dont know much about the selling aspect of it. How do you guys out there sell your furs? Do buyers take the whole animal or do you have to skin it? any advice or where to go would be great!

[Grayfox]

bassman186,

A local buyer will usually buy them both skun and unskun. The amount you receive from the buyer will USUALLY be less for an animal that is unskun because he has to pay someone to do that work. My buyer actually will pay you less for a fox that's skun as he sells a lot of his to taxidermy schools which obviously want them whole. During the early season you'll need a bigger freezer to keep them frozen in the round then the skun pelts unless you live close enough to the buyer to run the fur over every time you get some.

Rob

[farmallnutz]

I am lucky living in southern Minnesota and have Cumberland's Northwest Trappers Supply near and can sell them right away. I have sold most animals on the carcass and only get docked a couple bucks. Not worth my time skinning.www.nwtrappers.com

[Polarisx54r]

You will get the most money shipping them to NAFA but you need to know how to put up your own fur... well. I usually take mine to Johnsons Fur in Wilmar. Good, fair people. They send theirs to big auctions so they take a cut based on what they expect to get. They will also take animals in the round, especially mink, rats and beaver. Fox and yotes are easy to do so I do them myself, same with mink and rats. Beaver and coon are a fatty greasy pain so it's worth the cost to let someone else do the nasty work. I usually skin but do not flesh and stretch these to save freezer space. I'm thinking of getting back into the sport this fall. I'm by Monticello, if you want to come out and run rats a couple of days I'd be happy to show you some tricks of the trade. PM me in Oct. I'd recommend you start with muskrats. They're easy to trap, skin and kill. Equipment is not expensive.

[swamptiger]

Best thing a beginner can do is attend the annual Minnesota Trappers Convention. They always put on demonstrations on how to trap various animals and put up fur. Also a great way to find out about trapping equipment & supplies. They have a HSOforum that tells when & where the convention will be held.