If you had a skinning shed full of coyote fur you’re grinning like a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day for sure. As the season for prime furs winds down the auction reports are beginning to show a favorable market, and the best report comes from North America Fur Auctions.

North America Fur Auctions ranks as the largest fur auction business in North America. It is respected across the globe when it comes to supplying furs to worldwide markets. NAFA has a history dating back to the original settlements in North America and roots to the Hudson Bay Company in 1670. That’s a reputation most businesses would love to be able to tout.

It appears as if the anti-fur crowd doesn’t have the leverage they try to advertise as NAFA reports that the fashion trade remains strong. Results from the February 2019 auction show that Hong Kong, China and Italy competed heavily for coyote furs with 100 percent of the 51,000 coyote offerings sold. The top lot, going to a company in Italy, sold for a $210 average. Western heavy coyotes sold for an average of $104 with the western semi lot averaging $60. Eastern coyotes averaged $54 during the sale, which is up significantly over previous years.

This bodes well for trappers, professional predator hunters and weekend warriors alike. Success on just one coyote per weekend when furs are prime can put fuel in a truck. If you happen to live in a high coyote density area you may even have been able to put a few extra Franklins in the bank.

An interesting note on fur demand is that besides coyote fur, the only other high-quantity fur species to sell at 98 percent of its offerings were muskrat. Bears and wolverines also sold at 100 percent of their offerings, but the amount of pelts available was negligible compared to coyote and muskrat.

Nearly 200,000 muskrat were on the latest auction sale averaging $3.59. It would take a lot of traps to make a living, but the supplemental income for wetland trapping definitely is something to keep in mind. China was the prime buyer for muskrat in 2019. Beavers averaged $11 with a top lot averaging $100. More than 33,000 beavers were in the most recent auction with a 72 percent sale. 

If raccoons are your thing they averaged from $10 to a high of $17 depending on the section location. Seventy-five percent sold of the 254,218 offered at auction. A top lot went to a China buyer for a $92 average making for a good haul on masked bandits.

The fur market has always been up and down like a roller coaster, but the latest numbers, especially for coyotes, will not only keep you smiling, but give you some green return as well.