Quote:
Originally Posted by Skoaltender
More so in the leduc/Southwest Edmonton area. Really appreciate the offer, I read lots of your posts and you definitely know your stuff.
Do you usually do all the work from trapping, all the processing and then shipping the fur to auction? I’ve been reading and if I’m not mistaken do the majority of trappers in Alberta hire out skinning, and fur processing services and then send furs for auction.
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All of the trappers I know do everything except construct steel traps.
There have been occasions where a local trapper will recruit or even pay someone to help if they have more catch then they can process themselves, but that is rare here.
We build our own snares, scents and stretchers, and gather our own baits.
We make the sets, check and retrieve, skin and dry all our own hides.
Some like myself even do our own tanning although I cheat some in that department in that I buy my tanning solution. Some of the trappers I know do it old school with brain tan and the like.
And everyone I know markets their own fur, mostly to auction houses.
I've been out of it for over ten years now and I hear that some of the younger guys do farm out as much of the fur processing as possible, but the guys I grew up with wouldn't even consider doing that.
It leaves too much opportunity for fraud and theft not to mention shoddy work.
It also cuts into a trappers profits. Only close friends will work for nothing.
Labor costs can eat up any profit in an already low profit business.