By Michael Wells
When trapping this year take time
and think about how much money is thrown away every year. A lot of trappers
will sell the pelts of their catch but forget that there is other money to be
made. If a person takes the time and puts in a little bit more effort, they
will find that there is extra money sitting there waiting for them. Let’s be
honest the fur market is down and not a lot money is being made off fur alone
right now. Hopefully with this quick article I can show how you can earn extra
coin per catch by thinking outside the box.
Let’s start off looking at what a
novice trapper might catch and earn from selling pelts. Then we will us the
same catch and look for the extra money there. I will use the average going
price for the pelts and other items when we get there. Also, all animals will
be the same size and fur quality in this scenario to make math easier.
Novice Trapper Catch
10 Beaver (All weight 40lbs) Pelt Price $8.19
30 Raccoons Pelt Price $4.35
10 Opossums Pelt Price $3.56
5 Skunks Pelt Price $3.96
3 Coyotes Pelt Price $29.70
Total $356.90
This season catch will more than
likely have the trapper close to being in the hole on money spent compared to
earned. Once you factor in gas, bait, lure, license, miscellaneous gear, fur
auction prices and time. Yes, time is worth money even if it’s a hobby. So, how
does one stretch such a meager catch, so they are not in the hole? I’ll break
each animal down and explain where there is profit to be made and we will
relook at the same catch after.
Ok, beaver pelts on average can go
for $8.19 per. Keeping this in mind there is money still to be made with what’s
left. First, we will look at the castor sacks on the beaver. This is an easy
one that most people already know about. The castor can be removed and dried
out and sold for $40.00 per pound average. I understand that the price can be higher,
but we will call it $40.00 just for this article. Also, we will say that the
novice trapper has one pound of castor after drying. The skulls on the animal
can be sold to the taxidermy market for around $3.00 per. This is as easy as
removing the head after skinning and freezing it. The taxidermist will usually
take care of the flesh themselves.
Now let’s say that 5 of the beavers
are male. The baculum of the male beaver
will sell for $0.25 per. Baculum is the penile bone on some male animals and is
usually sold to taxidermist and craft makers. The tail of the beaver can be
skinned and sold for about a $3.00 a piece to craft makers once tanned. But, we
are looking for the most money. So, we will take the tails and turn it into
beaver tail oil. This easy to make by cutting up the tails and letting them sit
in a jar. As the tail decomposes the oil will rise to the top of the jar. This
can be removed and placed in a jar and sell for around $20.00 per 16oz to bait and
lure makers. Ten beavers should make around 16oz of beaver tail oil so we will
add that to the overall total.
The next thing that can be sold on
the beaver is the meat. This is usually sold to hound hunters or lure and bait
makers. Most will be interested if the price is around $0.25 per pound. With
ten beavers at 40 pounds apiece will say around 240 pounds of meat can
harvested off the animals. Keep in mind that you will need to check you state
laws and make sure that this is legal in your state first. Behind the castors
in the beaver are the oil sacks. The oil
from the sacks sell for around $1.50 per ounce to most bait and lure makers.
The Oil sacks once empty also sell for $0.18 an ounce from bait and lure makers.
Raccoons are one of the most trapped
animals in America and the fur industry is flooded with them every year. To
make any real money off this animal will require a little patient. The skulls
on this animal can be sold to the taxidermy market for an average of $2.00 per
skull. Just like the beaver the baculum can be sold for $0.25 per to
taxidermist and craft makers. The anal
glands can be removed from the coons and sell for around $0.62 an ounce. Thirty
coon can average around 4oz of anal glands. When preparing the glands make sure
you have talked to the bait and lure maker and ask how he would like them cut
first.
The gall bladder of the coon may
also be sold to bait and lure makers at average price of $0.46 an ounce. The
novice trapper should have around 8oz of gall bladders to be sold. Now, it
comes down to the meat market. This can be a little tricky and taboo to some.
There are people that eat coon in every state except maybe Hawaii. The first
thing you should do is check and see if its legal in you state first. The
second thing would to be just putting it out there that you have coons for
sale. When preparing the raccoon gut the animal, skin it and leave the head on
and at least one back foot. As strange as that sounds when people do show up to
buy they want to make sure it’s a raccoon and not something else. Once a person
buys a coon you’ll be surprised how fast the word spreads and others will show
up. The average price for a coon carcass is around $5.00 per.
Opossums are a hard sell regardless
how you fix them. Nothing is better than a well-placed coyote trap to find in
the morning a grinner staring back at you. A large quality opossum skinned out
for taxidermy can receive around $10.00 per. With that in mind we will say that
the novice trapper caught two that meet the standards. The claws on the opossum
can be sold to taxidermist for $0.10 per. The canine teeth on the opossum will
sell for $0.20 per to taxidermist. You also might be able to get $1.00 per
skull from taxidermist. As far as a meat market it would be similar set up as for
coon. Except I would lower the price to around $3.00 per I wouldn’t imagine to
many selling.
Skunk are always an interesting
sell but it’s very profitable if done right.
The claws on the skunk can average around $0.10 per from a taxidermist.
Where the real money is in the skunk essence. Everybody knows how powerful this
stuff is. Its removed with a syringe and placed into a glass bottle with a
metal lid. One ounce of skunk essence will sell for average price of $20.00 an
ounce from most bait and lure makers. A lot of people talk about doing it but
very few really do. Because of the demand and such few people trapping for
essence there is a lot of money to be made there. The skulls of the animal can
also be sold for around $2.00 per to a taxidermist. The essence sacks in the
skunk once drained of essence also can be sold for around $0.19 an ounce. The fat from the skunk can be rendered down
over heat and poured off into a jar. This can sell for $25.00 a pint to bait
and lure makers. Skunks are very fatty animals and good money can be made from
this.
Coyotes lower jaw can be sold for
$2.00 to a taxidermist and the upper canine sell for $0.50 each. The skulls will
pull an average of $3.00 per. The glands sell for an average of $0.98 an ounce.
Now when it comes to coyote glands there are a lot of different areas that can
be removed for this. Make sure you talk to the buyer on what glands he or she
wants from the animal. The gall bladder on the coyote sells for $60.00 a
gallon. Most bait and lure makers will not buy them unless you have at least a
gallon of it.
Now that we have broken down all
the animals let’s see what kind of difference it has made on the novice
trappers money.
Novice Trapper
Beaver pelts 10 at $8.19 = $81.90
Castor 1LBS at $40.00 = $40.00
Skulls 10 at $3.00 = $30.00
Baculum 5 at $0.25 = $1.25
Beaver Tail Oil 1 pint at $20.00 = $20.00
Beaver Meat 240LBS at $0.25 per LBS = $60.00
Beaver Oil 4oz at $1.25 an oz. = $5.00
Beaver Oil Sacks Empty 4oz at $0.18 per oz = $0.72
Raccoon Pelts 30 at $4.35 = $130.50
Skulls 30 at $2.00 = $60.00
Baculum 15 at $0.25 = $3.75
Glands 4oz at $0.62 an oz. = $2.48
Gall Bladders 8oz at $0.46 an oz. = $3.68
Meat 30 at $5.00 = $150.00
Opossum Pelts 8 at $3.56 = $28.48
Opossum taxidermist 2 at $10.00 = $20.00
Claws 160 at $0.10 = $16.00
Skulls 5 at $1.00 = $5.00
Canine Teeth 6 at $0.20 = $1.20
Meat 1 at $3.00 = $3.00
Skunk pelts 5 at $3.96 = $19.80
Claws 100 at $0.10 = $10.00
Skulls 5 at $2.00 = $10.00
Essence 1oz at $20.00 = $20.00
Fat ½ pint at $25.00 pint = $12.50
Coyote pelts 3 at $29.70 = $89.10
Skulls 3 at $3.00 = $9.00
Glands 2oz at $0.98 = $1.96
Total: $835.32
Once
all the animals have been broken down there is an increase of $478.42. That’s
double what the novice trapper would have earned otherwise. As the trapper
becomes better at his trade he will see more money to be made as his catch
ratio goes up.
The
best way to go about all of this would be to contact different taxidermist, fur
byers, arts and crafts makers and bait and lure makers and see what they want.
I would recommend doing this before season and have a list of several different
ones you have talked to. This way if you have twenty coyote skulls and the
taxidermist you talked only needs five you can send the others to another
person on your list. The big thing is not to be shy and call around and talk to
people, if you look you’ll see where all the money is.
I
hope this quick article gives you some ideas and new outlook on where to find
money in trapping. There are several other ways for money to be made when
trapping that could put this catch above $1,200.00. Make sure to think outside
the box and ask older more experienced trappers how they squeeze a dollar out
of a penny. Most of them will be happy to share the knowledge they have learned
over the years..
Good Trappin’
