Timing
Well I guess I better reply on this one. Yes, the nicest rats are in March..pre breakup. They are absolutely beautiful in Feb, March and for the first few days of open water. That said, fall rats are plentiful, easy to take and get a very good price in the market we have been blessed with for the past few years. The "differential" has narrowed considerably - with the premium on prime rats vs fall/spring rats getting less all the time. For instance I had a collection of probably some of the nicest rats I have ever taken last March... They averaged around $9 for most, with the best held over by NAFA to be sold in the summer for over $11. I am guessing the weighted average would be about $9.50 or so. The chinese have basically changed everything, and dont seem as fussy as our traditional buyers (thank you!) Now, compare to the rats taken in late Oct/ early Nov (about 500) where I got just over $8 avg. Once again timing seems important with early sales pay a premium for rats as well. I used a food saver machine and vac packed the April rats, merged them with as many fall rats as I could scrape and put them on the Jan sales. We will see how that goes. There are about 800 apr rats and 600 fall. Still have more fall rats to put on Feb sale. So there you have it - really everything balances out primeness vs numbers. Dont be worried about the primeness charts unless you have only a few sloughs to trap - then you might want to wait until they are at there best. Economics, ie. making money in this business - dictates hitting fall rats hard (If you have the available locations) Hope this helps. By the way, the fall season was anything but a "fall season" this year. Last year was waders and open water into nov., this year was waders for one day in open water, then waders on ice, through ice, with horizontal blowing snow and misery through the last 10 days of October. Ha, one really needs to get a stiff upper lip and perservere when these cards are dealt to you!
992 Rats
9 Bvr
10 Ermine
40 Marten
1 Fisher
45 Coyote
7 Fox
Lynx Wolves - In progress, waiting for volounteers
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