O.F.B.A.News

Vice Presidents Report March 2010

Hello Oklahoma members,
The following is more of a Fur Sale report than a newsletter.

Trapping season has come to a close except for nutria, skunks, coyotes and beavers. It depends on the area of the state where you live as to whether
you will still be trapping some of these critters. Those of you in the Northwestern 99% of the state probably have or will never see a nutria unless you
look it up on the internet or the old fashion way, the encyclopedia. As for beavers, most of the state has too many beavers and yet, the some of the
folks in the panhandle would love to have beavers to dam up the creeks and rivers to hold what little water falls up there. Skunks are a problem to
people when they smell up the place so we may be asked to trap one every now and then. And coyotes are neat to listen to early in the morning or late
evening unless you are raising livestock and are suffering losses to a specific animal or pack. We as trappers are going to be asked for trapping help on
occasion and we need to be able to respond and help. The turkey, duck and quail population are all effected first and foremost by habitat change and
then predation in the remaining habitat. If you as a trapper continue to trap during the low fur prices, you are still helping by managing the predator
populations of the skunks, coons, opossum, fox and coyote and hopefully were able catch some of these critters this winter. If you came to the fur
sales or took your furs to the local buyers, you are aware of the lowest prices we have seen in years. There were still fur buyers that came to the sales
and they paid what they could, while still hoping and planning to make a profit. They have to tie up their cash for an unknown return on the investment.
Some buyers simply chose to close up shop, while others, who are just like us trappers, like to work with the furs and can't seem to quit even in the
times of low fur prices. Granted some of them didn't tie up to much money, but it is a risk anyway. Say they bought 100 coons at $2, they still have to
work up the furs (time that I didn't spend in the fur shed fleshing and stretching) and then they have to find a buyer for their work. This time, they might
be able to sell the same coons for $4 average, then they doubled their money but only earned $200 for their time and investment. That is a hard way to
make money but again, they still love it or they wouldn't be in it. You can make more money at just about any 8 to 5 job, but this trapping and fur
buying work is more fun than any other real job. Anyway, I wish every fur buyer the best in their efforts to sell the furs and make a huge profit. Hopefully
they will come back with an even fuller wallet next year ready to buy more fur.

Thanks to help from many people the furs sales went off without a problem. Several people helped at both sales from start to finish and we all need to
say thanks when you see them. Bill Scherman, Terry Waggoner, Vivian and Ron Scott, John and Renee Weygandt, Leo Farmer and his grandson
Jacob, and Cathy Sheffert were at both of the fur sales. There were others who helped and I am sorry that I didn't catch all of the names. With out the
workers and of course the fur buyers and trappers who brought fur, we wouldn't have had a sale. I will try to summarize the sales below. The first sale
was on February 6th and we had 19 people selling furs for a total sales of $3,982 dollars and the second sale was on February 27th with 17 people
selling $4,684 worth of fur. The western sale made more money for the association because it is more of a bobcat sale but there was quite a mix of furs
at both sales. Please look at the association's website for more complete sales totals and rundowns.

Here is what happened at the first sale 2-6-10.
Type high average
Beaver $11 $6.75
Bobcat green high at $57.50 green average $23.52, stretched average $16.38
Grey fox $14 $13
Opossum 4 bits for you old timers or 50 cents $0.41
Otter 1 at $24
Raccoon $9 $4.13
Red fox 1 at $13

The second sale 2-27-2010
Beaver $15 $5.02
Bobcat green high at $77.50 green average $30.72, stretched average at $20.59
Coyotes $9 $5.13
Grey fox 1 at $12
Muskrats $3.50 $3.19
Opossum $2 $1.39
Otter $35 $33.33
Raccoon $12.50 $4.53
Skunks $3.25 $2.44

Both sales were successful for many reasons but thanks to all of the workers who helped, the trappers who sold furs and the buyers, we had a good
time.
Thanks again.
Shannon

O.F.B.A. Webmasters Report March 2010

Hello to all Oklahoma Members. I would like to apologize for the errors in the website, and the forum. I am trying to get them all
worked out at this time. If you find an error on the website, or the forum, please bring it to my attention so that I can get it
corrected. You can email me your findings by clicking on the "webmaster here" link at the bottom of each page of the website.

Thank you:

Reginald Murray