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  #31  
Old 04-06-2017, 12:51 AM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Ya gotta admit, it's interesting stuff though. There's hardly any info about it on the internet, just the knowledge passed on by more experienced Trappers than myself. I suppose that they learned about it from someone else as well. I think that's pretty cool.

Plus it made for an interesting discussion.
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  #32  
Old 04-06-2017, 12:54 AM
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Well, I have now found two documents that agree with what you guys are saying about red rim. And some postings on other forums.
So I'll have to revise my opinion as to what the color on the pelts posted is about and agree with you.

Trans Canada Trapline inc has this to say.

Quote:
Another defect which
occurs in the spring is red rims (or rumps). This colour
defect is caused by urine which burns and stains the
belly fur of the beaver. It starts at the tail and progresses
up the flanks. The red stain goes into the underfur
causing the beaver to become less valuable for plucking
and shearing. This is the reason fall beaver are much
more desirable than spring pelts.
efurmedia has this about red rim,

Quote:
RR - Red rim. Good quality pelt, but appears reddish or discoloured on the outer edge of the fur.
And they say old dogs can't learn new tricks.
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  #33  
Old 04-06-2017, 12:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave View Post
Ya gotta admit, it's interesting stuff though. There's hardly any info about it on the internet, just the knowledge passed on by more experienced Trappers than myself. I suppose that they learned about it from someone else as well. I think that's pretty cool.

Plus it made for an interesting discussion.
I love learning !

This has been very very intersting.
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  #34  
Old 04-06-2017, 01:01 AM
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BTW, what Trans Canada says about fru values being higher in the fall is not necissarily true. It depends on what the market wants.

If they want shearing pelts then mid to late winter pelts get higher prices because they have longer guard hairs. If the want pelts for trim then fall hides do draw better prices.
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  #35  
Old 04-06-2017, 08:46 AM
Olthreelegs Olthreelegs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KegRiver View Post
BTW, what Trans Canada says about fru values being higher in the fall is not necissarily true. It depends on what the market wants.

If they want shearing pelts then mid to late winter pelts get higher prices because they have longer guard hairs. If the want pelts for trim then fall hides do draw better prices.
straight from nafa: only demand right now is for winter full primed beavers. Anything else ie.... fall or spring are of no value.
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  #36  
Old 04-06-2017, 04:22 PM
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straight from nafa: only demand right now is for winter full primed beavers. Anything else ie.... fall or spring are of no value.
That's the way it goes, and always has.

Demand changes from season to season and may change during the season.

Demand more then anything determines price. At one time we were averaging $60.00 for good Beaver hides and $10.00 for kits and damaged hides.

In today's dollars that would be around $160.00 and $30.00 respectively.

A year later we averaged $25.00 and $5.00 respectively.

1981 I was on a seismic crew running a drill truck. In January that year I earned just over $4,000.00. Meanwhile my dad sold four Lynx pelts for just over $4,000.00. Top price that year was $1,800 for a large lynx.

I remember thinking I was in the wrong business. A year later Trudough introduced the NEP and I was out of a job.
I did go back to trapping, but by then Greenpeice and PETA had driven a lance through the heart of trapping.
For a few years I was able to make living trapping in winter and working farms in summer and hauling bulk cement and cement tanks in the off seasons. Eventually fur dropped to where it didn't even cover the cost of fuel for the skidoo and boat.

I did land a job trapping for the county where fur prices made little difference and that year I went hauling logs instead of cement and cement tanks. That kept me going for a few years but eventually the county decided to go with a bounty system so once again I need to find alternate employment for part of the year.

I had to give up full time trapping in the winter and for the next several years I trapped on weekends and hauled logs during the week.
Still working farms in the summer.
Eventually my health put an end to that too.
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  #37  
Old 04-06-2017, 04:59 PM
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I still want to see the pics of this dam system Dave, beavers really interest me
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  #38  
Old 04-06-2017, 06:07 PM
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So ur beaver pee'd the bed.
Much like my red yote from a year ago, unique but not valuable.
Too bad, keep it, I still have my red dog.

TBark
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  #39  
Old 04-06-2017, 06:41 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Originally Posted by beaver hunter View Post
I still want to see the pics of this dam system Dave, beavers really interest me
At one time this was a creek and by beavers damming it they made beaver ponds all the way along it. This is the biggest pond that was created. Just beyond the point on the left you can see the feed bed in the water in front of a beaver lodge (not in picture) and directly across from that on the opposite shore is an abandoned lodge. Below the spruce you can see the dam all the way across the pond:



There are two lodges side by side here and I am trapping the closest one to the camera with my redneck 330 stand. The dam shows up better in this photo:



This is the next two dams upstream of the first photo. The willow in the picture is growing out of the dam and the over flow is right below it. The second dam in the middle of the picture separates the small pond and the larger one. This carries on for at least a half km.....pond - dam - pond - dam all the way up. Just like a giant stairway of beaver ponds:

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  #40  
Old 04-06-2017, 07:30 PM
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Wow do those photos bring back memories!

I didn't have a lot of creeks for Beaver. Most of my Beaver lived in swamp country. Big ponds and lots of shallow water.

I had one colony that set up in a Muskeg lake. All they had for feed was Lily root. It seemed to be very good for them though. They had the nicest fur I have ever seen and their fat was like Paraffin Wax, not soft and sticky like other Beaver.

I had a couple of creeks, two larger rivers and the Peace River. My line bordered the Peace River for 27 miles.

I loved trapping the creeks, lots of fur of all kinds. They produced more Marten, Fisher and Lynx then any other habitat on my line.
Mind you a lot of my line was poor fur habitat. The line was 1/3 steep water course valleys, 1/3 open Jackpine and 1/3 muskeg/swamp.
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  #41  
Old 04-07-2017, 05:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Olthreelegs View Post
straight from nafa: only demand right now is for winter full primed beavers. Anything else ie.... fall or spring are of no value.

good day folks im new to this forum , so i hope you dont mind me interrupting..
would some agree that as long as a trapper takes his beaver directly after ice out that he would for the most part receive the same grades as winter beaver ? of courses this would be dependent of when the ice leaves (early spring vs late spring ) .. i find that one week is pretty much the max after ice out maybe 10 days in some of my areas , of courses any longer and you get shedders and biting, i much enjoy this time of year!! and aslong as my grades are good i will keep trapping spring beaver
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  #42  
Old 04-07-2017, 09:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by springbeav View Post
good day folks im new to this forum , so i hope you dont mind me interrupting..
would some agree that as long as a trapper takes his beaver directly after ice out that he would for the most part receive the same grades as winter beaver ? of courses this would be dependent of when the ice leaves (early spring vs late spring ) .. i find that one week is pretty much the max after ice out maybe 10 days in some of my areas , of courses any longer and you get shedders and biting, i much enjoy this time of year!! and aslong as my grades are good i will keep trapping spring beaver
You have it nailed. A week is about max, and then the grades start to fall.

Except it's less for the travelers, the Beaver dispersing. With them a couple of days at best is all you get before their grades drop and by the end of two weeks max they are next to worthless.

But if you have a large river on your line like I did, you can pick up a lot in a short time. Thirty a day was very doable on the Peace.
That made them worth going for even with the lower values.
Mind you, that was back when a guy could make a buck trapping.

Beaver made up close to half our yearly income then,
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  #43  
Old 04-07-2017, 02:38 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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I get most of my beaver under ice. The ice started coming off last week and I will trap them until the end of next week. This week I caught one with a few small bite marks, nothing too bad, but I'm thinking that I'll start to see more aggressive bites now. I'm not an expert but for now the fur looks pretty good.
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  #44  
Old 04-10-2017, 04:20 PM
HunterDave HunterDave is offline
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Off the board. The pelt looks pretty cool when the sun catches it just right.

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