Thanks dave

So if I have a marten in the top line of the "Sable M/SM Heavy" section is that a top lot marten ???

I was surprised I only had one XXL marten. About half were L and half were M. I was also surprised I had 4 that were DG1, I only remember 1 that had a missing tail when I caught it. Would a missing tail classify as DG1 ???

Nope, top lot for the species will be the highest selling lot of the species and will likely be the largest size. I Had a bunch of muskrats like that in the last auction, in the top lots for their size but sold for a fraction of what the top lot sold for.

All that the manual says about marten wrt the tail is that the pelt is measured from the nose to the base of the tail. To me, that would indicate that the tail missing shouldn't much matter, just like coyotes, but who knows.

I Had more DG coyotes than I had expected but I guess that a shot dog = a DG, or so it seems.

well Dave I wouldn't take what you read to heart,because if that was the case I wouldn't of had yote's that graded central us,cause that's what semi heavy is defined as,so geographic origin apparently doesn't mean a whole lot IMO,I don't understand it all either:thinking-006:

SDG is slight damaged from what I seen in grading description

I got 40 that are lotted in Eastern Section Dave

I only had a quick look as I don't have any muskrats in but I didn't see a page for western. What's it say at the top of the page that your lots are listed in

I had that happen to me last year in my first ever auction. Admittedly my fur wasn't the best and they graded one or two coyotes eastern because of it. I guess that region better represented what I turned in.

What region does it say at the top of the page that your coyotes are listed on?

Yup, SDG = Slight damaged and VSL/SLT = First Grade Very Slight Defects.

SLT is a grade higher than I-II. SDG is a grade lower than II.

Don't fret on the DBR color on your coyotes. Why they aren't colored on the grade sheet better thn what they do puzzles me to all heck, has for years, but it isn't a negative. You go thru the lots at the sale and look at these supposed DBR coyotes and you see these stunning beautiful coyotes with a stupid color description affixed... Meaningless.

I think it is just to keep people in the dark, sellers and buyers.

They call it marketing??? Whatever, they do what they do. Now the 5 million mink... They do things a little different with the ranch mink than the coyotes. I don't think you are ever going to see looney colouring on the ranch mink.

Best advice for all shippers deciphering your vague grade sheets... Realize they are very vague grade sheets! And give up trying! Serious! Sleep well tonite. I went to great lengths to attempt to understand how things were done over the years. At this point in my life, I have my theories!

At the same time realize our goods are i the hands of the most professional people in the world, they are extremely good at what they do...

Most of my furs are on there now! Still missing a wolf! Think I may start getting my wolves tanned! Only ever get a few a yr!

last sale they started something different cause it was always east and west and you were lucky to have a few go eastern. This last sale now theres east and northern or central or something and I had well over a 1000 there and they all went eastern none went central so something has changed with the sectioning and it never helped with pricing like I thought it would.

A missing tail will not make a difference. I have put through 2 "tailless" fishers over the years. Both were graded as selects. You likely had some skinning holes, or very bad pitch in the fur to get graded down to damaged.

Spruce

Had a female fisher caught in a 120 but jaws hit at the ears. She fought it for awhile and the dog rubbed all the fur off the throat. I had to cut out 3 in and sew it up creating a real skinny neck so I put it on a fox board. It was also covered in pitch from the balsam fir the box was on. It graded *I brown but has a SN which I believe is short nap. 2 years ago caught an old dog fisher missing his whole front leg and tail. I got $180 for that one which was a surprise. It can go the other way tho in a hurry.

Fisher?
 

I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one here who has difficulty deciphering all the lotting info. A few questions on fisher . This year, my quota of 10 fisher was filled from Jan 1st thru 15th. I mention this because I assumed the fairly small time frame would result in the fur receiving a fairly consistent grade. The 3 biggest and densely furred males were given away to friends for taxidermy purposes. The remaining male and 6 females were sent to this auction. Here is how they were graded...
SML *1 PL 3 SN
SML *1 PL 4 SN
SML *1 PL 5 SN
SML *1 LBR 5 SN
SML *1 BR 5 SN
SML I-II PL 3
LGE *SEL BR 1-2
So, here are my questions...
Does the asterisk really actually mean much of anything...considering that 6 of the 7 have it attached (also 7 of 14 marten sent in had the asterisk)...and also taking into account that the clarity gradings on these skins seem all over the place ( from I-II to 5).
I've also seen mentioned on here that the SN signifies Short Nap...what does this mean exactly...and is that a good or bad thing?
The colour code is fairly straight-forward but when it comes to fisher...which is the most desirable?
Lastly, I always thought that the smaller female fishers had the highest value...is this correct? Just wondering since the one male I sent in was labelled *SEL .
I'm just trying to figure out which of these is the best, which are good, ok, or not so good. Any info/clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

North buck that is great that you had 6 out of 7 with the *.
Those will all be labeled fur, should be top dollar. The SEL is a top lot.
Seems that SN is common this year as I had two grade that as well. I cannot find it on the grading sheet that I have, so I have asked what this means under the TOP LOT.

The young females do usually bring the top dollar as the hair is not as course as large males.
Clarity Grading:
1 is extra clear
2 clear
3 is slight off color
4 is off color
5 is Red
6 is extra red
7 is blue
8 red rim
9 stained

Good Luck and I hope this helps some.

Had 49 rats go NTH out of 105, hope this makes a difference :thinking-006:
TEH

I got my first fisher in there as well. He was a I* LBR 3.
What colors are best for fisher? I assume Dark brown not light just like Marten?
Females bring better money but nothing like coming up to a trap that has a huge old make fisher in it and seeing his head wedged in a 120 lol They look like mini wolverines

Woohoo! 2 marten & a fisher graded SEL!

Good to see everyone getting good fur grades! Here are my Fisher-

172743 SML *SEL XP 1-2 SN, 1
172746 SML *SEL PL 1-2 SN, 1
172748 SML *SEL PL 1-2 LN, 1
172787 SML *I PL 4 LN, 1
172841 MED *SEL XP 1-2 1
172890 LGE *I PL 3 1

Hoping that they are looking for PL or XP for top lot this year, seems to change every year.

Spruce

Nice! Congrats Spruce!
4 out of 6 fisher *SEL with the remaining 2 labelled *1...can't get much better than that! Add to the fact that your *Selects are also "Smalls"...you should be good return for your fisher!!! (If I've understood what everyone been explaining when it comes to grading)
Just curious, over how big a time span were these animals harvested? I just wonder what is the biggest determining factor when it comes to high-grade furs? Time of harvest? Location? Fur handling? Etc?

When trapping Fisher, go hard end of November. I have always caught my better graded Fisher between 3rd week of November and 2nd week of December. After that the clarity starts to go down. I caught all of these fisher in the first 2 weeks of December, maybe one in late November. I think some hold their quality until later, but once I start I quota out quite fast.

Spruce

Also of note, these were 50/50 male to female. Of the smalls, 2 male 2 female (young of the year). The medium was a big female, and the large was an old buck.

Spruce

good luck on the Fisher
 

Good luck Spruce...i am right in there with you on the Fishers...my four went...
172744 sml *sel XP 1-2 LN
172747 sml *sel PL 1-2 LN
172773 sml *1 LBR 3 SN
172787 sml *1 PL 4 LN

Be interesting to see how they sell...i am also hoping they are looking for the pales...
My Fisher this year were all females...
heres hoping!!!!!

Toe

The grading does seem all over the place but I'm sure they see lots that I don't. Hope the prices are decent


http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...06defa4128.jpg

Looks like we each got a top lot fisher! There were 4 lots in a row at $154, I had 2 in those lots. 172745 to 748

Spruce

That's awesome Spruce...congrats on having 2 in the top bracket....every little bit helps!!

Congrats on the top lots fellas, well done!

How'd everything sell and how were the prices?

Had another fox show up as sold today,3 unsold still,everything else cleared out,congrats on fisher and decent money to boot:sHa_shakeshout:

Top two fisher went for 132 US each which was not bad but I think they stole my med *I fisher, it went for 52 US. :angry3:
The way the auction was going it should have been in the 70-80 range.
The avg on 4 was 93 US so should still clear about 105 Canadian per which is not to bad.

Did not expect more than a 50 dollar avg Canadian on marten so when the end result was 66 US I was pleased.

The Lynx were a disappointment 84 US was hoping for more like 150 Canadian clear.

Howd you guys with marten end up they seemed to do ok, better then I thought they would, fisher on the other hand sucked they bought back my one that was a 1 with a star brown last year he was 150 bucks this year no one wanted to pay 50. it was weird no one even wanted the top lot, several lots went for quite abit more than the first one did Id be choked but congrats to those that got one,