Fur Farming Part 1

Fur Farming.

by A. R. Harding.

INTRODUCTION.

Ever since Columbus discovered America, furs have been an important article of commerce, but at the rate of the catch during recent years, the supply drawn from the natural sources--forest, field and stream--will soon prove inadequate if not entirely depleted in some species.

Less than 30 years ago, there were countless thousands of Buffalo upon the Western Plains. Where are they today? In the 70's and early 80's they were slain by tens of thousands by hide and robe hunters. Does or does not such a condition face some of the American fur bearing animals at the present time? Many hunters and trappers must think that the supply will not long be equal to the demand, judging from the hundreds of letters written the Editor of HUNTER-TRADER-TRAPPER, asking information about raising fur bearing animals.

This work has been hastily gotten out to meet this demand, yet the sources of information from which the work has been gathered, are authentic. Much of the habits, nature, etc., of the various animals has been furnished by Mr. E. Kreps, a trapper of wide experience. Facts have also been furnished by those that have to a certain extent followed "Fur Farming" and as well some information has been added from the United States Government Bulletins.

A. R. HARDING.

Columbus, Ohio, April 1, 1909.

FUR FARMING.

CHAPTER 1.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

For years there has been a belief that the supply of fur-bearing animals would soon be inadequate to the demand. This belief is well founded and is apparent when the fact is known that the natural haunts and homes of the fur-producing animals are becoming less each year. The draining of swamps and marshes is destroying the homes and breeding places of muskrat and to a certain extent c.o.o.n and mink. The saw mill and clearing of the land is rapidly lessening the natural resorts of c.o.o.n, bear, wild cat and opossum in the South and Central States, while in the North, marten, fisher and lynx are being deprived of their natural homes.

Beaver and otter do not like civilization and leave on signs of man and his works. This is especially true of beaver; otter linger in waters fringed with timber longer even if settled.

Some animals, it is true, do well in fairly thickly-settled sections.

Among animals of this kind are red fox, skunk, mink and muskrat. Yet no fur bearer can hold its numbers against the ever-increasing number of trappers and the persistency with which they now seek the fur producers.

North America furnishes a large per cent. of the furs of the world--foxes, mink, otter, beaver, skunk, marten, lynx, c.o.o.n, opossum, muskrat, wolves, etc. Considerable quant.i.ties of fine furs are still secured in parts of Russia, in Europe and Siberia in Asia; Australia furnishes great quant.i.ties of opossum, while from parts of South America, the trade in chinchilla is large. Yet North America has been for centuries, the great fur-producing continent and now that trapping is being pressed harder than ever and the natural haunts of the animals are becoming less each year, the question is,--where will the future supply come from?

In this connection the following article on The Fur Markets is reproduced from the April issue of _The Hunter-Trader-Trapper_:

The Spring or March London Sales began March 22 and ended April 2.

During that time American Raw Furs were offered by Hudson's Bay Company; C. M. Lampson & Co., and A. & W. Nesbitt. In face of the fact that prices on some articles have advanced so materially that American manufacturers have bought sparingly, the outcome of the sales was awaited with much interest by the trade.

A year ago in giving the quant.i.ty of goods offered by the Hudson's Bay Company, this magazine said: "The quant.i.ty seems to be decreasing as the offering this year is less than 1907, and 1907 less than 1906." The offerings this year are still less than 1908, and for ready comparison the Hudson's Bay Company offerings at the March Sales for three years are given:

1909 1908 1907

Otter 5,341 4,968 6,933 Fisher 2,671 3,224 3,228 Cross Fox 1,445 2,678 4,490 Red Fox 2,987 6,598 10,200 Silver Fox 344 526 896 Blue Fox 14 63 88 White Fox 2,058 6,703 11,409 Marten 21,577 29,808 43,798 Mink 10,966 13,091 32,817 Ermine 15,314 14,280 20,737 Lynx 8,856 31,892 56,611 Wolf 3,756 4,207 2,771 Wolverine 718 865 734 Skunk 1,478 5,023 11,430 Bear, Black 3,943 3,740 4,042 Bear, Brown 387 353 432 Bear, Grey 108 123 94 Bear, White 89 59 137 Badger 125 169 322 Racc.o.o.n 140 243 600

The combined offerings of C. M. Lampson & Co., and A. & W. Nesbitt were as follows at the Spring Sales in 1907, 1908 and 1909:

1909 1908 1907

Mink 82,575 134,200 75,600 Skunk 545,284 416,000 615,900 Muskrat 1,238,257 1,015,000 1,018,000 Racc.o.o.n 203,155 316,000 69,726 Opossum 225,671 267,000 225,350 Marten 8,168 15,000 18,600 Lynx 1,500 7,550 11,727 Fox, Red 25,600 36,660 31,870 Fox, Cross 1,585 5,021 5,080 Fox, Silver 539 728 1,015 Fox, Grey 13,600 23,270 8,961 Fox, Kitt 1,670 388 655 Fox, White 3,310 14,000 4,785 Fox, Blue 3,630 2,600 3,600 Otter 5,211 9,000 2,916 Fisher 2,914 3,440 1,705 Beaver 14,282 6,800 11,900 Bear 7,240 6,980 5,770 Badger 4,070 4,475 5,905 Cat, Wild 6,925 5,800 7,072 Cat, House 20,344 15,800 17,000 Wolf 21,365 24,150 12,100 Wolverine 350 450 323 Ermine 77,600 77,000 100,580 Civet 19,200 33,000 53,800

The noticeable falling off in the Hudson's Bay Company offerings can be accounted for from the fact that more "free traders," as the Great Company calls them, are yearly encroaching upon their territory.

The offerings of Lampson and Nesbitt is short of a year ago with the exceptions of beaver, muskrat and skunk. The advanced price of muskrat, no doubt, caused more trapping of these animals than ever before. Again the fact of the dry fall in many localities bunched the rats, so that they were much easier caught. The rats offered at the recent sales are largely fall and winter. From reports, the collection of spring rats will be very light--in many localities not more than one-fourth of an average collection.

While the offerings now show some 200,000 in excess of March, 1908, and also March, 1907, indications are that before the year 1909 ends there will be a shortage in the total rat catch for the year. Considerable anxiety is felt regarding skunk, as the number offered was 545,280 compared with 416,000 in March, 1908, which is nearly 130,000 more. This is hardly a fair test. The offerings at March Sales 1908 were light from the fact that skunk were not in demand at the beginning of the fall season of 1907, when a good per cent. of skunk are caught for the following March Sales. Go back another year, that is March, 1907, and see what the offerings of skunk were; you perhaps will be surprised to learn that it was 615,900 or 70,000 more than at this spring's sale. The offerings of beaver were larger than a year ago, but with these exceptions, there appears a decided falling off--note the quant.i.ty of fox, c.o.o.n, marten, lynx--all much less.

Furs are fashionable throughout the entire civilized world, and the catch seems inadequate on many articles. This is probably responsible for the high prices. At any rate, some articles have advanced beyond all previous high record. Prices for wolf, fox, lynx, wild cat and muskrat are very high, as well as many other American raw furs. Skunk reached a price that no one expected the past season. Since early in March or shortly after, too late to get goods into the London Sales, prices were lowered on skunk, opossum, racc.o.o.n and some grades of mink, especially Southern and Southwestern, but at the same time it should be taken into consideration that the quality is not so desirable as during the midwinter months.

Many believe that by far the most of the furs come from the Far North.

This is erroneous. It is true that the most valuable furs, such as silver, black and cross foxes, lynx and marten, come from that section.

Some of the best otter, red fox and mink are also secured in the far northern country. Yet fully one-half of the value of the American catch of raw furs is comprised in the three following articles--skunk, mink and muskrat.

In the Far North there will be foxes, otter, mink, and marten for some time to come. But what about that part of the country, say south of the Great Lakes, west of the Allegheny Mountains, north of the Tennessee and Arkansas Rivers and east of the Rocky Mountains?--a section which has been producing about half of the furs.

This section is the great skunk producing one and as well as one of the best mink and muskrat sections. It also furnishes from the Southern States within the area outlined, great quant.i.ties of c.o.o.n and opossum.

When those interested in the fur business consider that half the value of the annual catch is skunk, mink, and muskrat and that the best producing section has. .h.i.therto been the section as outlined, one can easily see that the supply will not long be equal to the demand.

During recent years, owing to persistent trapping, the fur producers have been greatly reduced and if not practically exterminated in parts of the country, are destined to become nearly so. The fact that skunk, mink and muskrat have been so greatly reduced in the past few years has caused those interested in the fur industry to ask,--"what of the future?" with the settlement of the country and the draining of the swamps, clearing of the forests, etc., which deprives many species of fur producers of their natural homes, how can it be expected that the supply will last?

That skunk, mink and muskrat do well in settled sections, there is no question, but since their pelts are so valuable, more trappers are after them than ever before. In addition, magazines and books on the subject are more plentiful than in former years, so that the inexperienced hunter and trapper has far better success than in past years.

There is always a cash market for raw furs and since the discovery of America, raw furs have been an important article of commerce. In the early days, beaver was the leading article and even at this date thousands of skins are secured annually by the professional trapper in the swamps of the south and along the streams and lakes of the north.

Scattered thruout the South, Rocky Mountain sections, Northern Canada and parts of the East, are several thousand professional hunters and trappers whose annual catch amounts to several hundred dollars each. The aggregate of these men, footing up to perhaps $3,000,000 or $4,000,000.

In the settled sections are tens of thousands of boys and amateur trappers with here and there a professional. The annual catch of these foot up to perhaps $6,000,000 to $8,000,000, or double the catch of the professionals who leave civilization in September and are not seen again until May or June.

It is this cla.s.s (boys and amateurs) that secures the greatest quant.i.ties of fur and as the number of trappers is so large and the grounds necessarily limited, here is where the animals are rapidly decreasing and at the present rate are in danger of extermination. In some sections there has been a wonderful falling off in the catch of late years, altho the number of trappers is larger.

An industry paying the hunter and trapper probably $15,000,000 yearly is one that should receive attention. At the present rate of extermination, some of the fur bearers are destined to soon follow in the wake of the buffalo. The demand for furs is increasing as the population of the world is becoming more and more. Again furs are being put to more uses than ever. While the demand for furs are increasing, what of the supply?

The day, perhaps, is not far in the distance when the demand will call for two or three times as many furs as today. Where are they to come from? The natural supply is surely diminishing.

The matter of 'Supply and Demand' is one that there is considerable difference of opinion upon. Hunters and trappers, as a rule, are of one opinion and that is that the number of pelts secured upon a certain territory is becoming less each year. Trappers going over their lines are surely the ones who know whether the fur is holding out or not.

The number of persons seeking fur is larger each year. In localities furnishing as much fur as ever, the chances are that the number of animals left for breeding is less each year. If such is true the day when these localities will show a falling off in the receipts is not far in the distance.

Until recently, many dealers and manufacturers believed that the supply of wild fur-bearing animals was practically inexhaustible--that when wanted, trappers would go out into the "wilds," catch, skin and send the pelts to market. These people are beginning to awaken to the true situation and while they send out price lists, circulars, and traveling buyers after raw furs, they say it is much harder to secure the goods wanted than formerly.

A well known dealer in Minneapolis in sizing up the situation, says: "With the vast fund of information about trapping being sent out and with improved traps for catching and the great stimulus to trapping owing to high prices, in five to ten years, there will not be one-fourth to one-half the fur bearers that there are now, unless stringent laws are enacted to curtail the trapping."

"Under proper conditions, with intelligent care, no doubt, raising fur animals can be made to pay. The raiser starting on a small scale and increasing as their knowledge increases. Most all successful business is built up by starting small."

The dealer who wrote the above advertises quite extensively for furs.

The territory tributary to that city has always been considered a good fur producing one. During recent years, the supply has fallen off materially in face of the fact of improved trapping methods and a greatly increased number of persons seeking the fur bearers. The same conditions are true to a greater or less degree in many parts of the country.