Post by trappnman on Jul 17, 2004 8:09:18 GMT -6
(Reprinted from Nov 2003 T & PC)
PRIME OR UNPRIME- WHEN DO YOU BEGIN?
By Steve Gappa
That seems to be one of the first questions a new trapper asks. Even many older trappers are a little confused by the issue. Much of the confusion comes in because many are unsure as to what “Prime” means and how it relates to fur.
The word “prime” simply means peak. Something that is prime is at the peak time insofar as quality of the item goes. In fruit, the similar term would be “ripe”. There really are two types of “primeness” relating to furs- that of the fur and that of the leather. When fur is prime, or full, it has fully filled in with downy, shorter fur (the under fur) and then longer coarser fur over that (the guard hairs). Fur that is not full or prime is called flat- and looks exactly like what it is called- flat, dull, no body to it. Fur approaches “full” weeks before the priming process is completed on the leather. An unprimed skin is also called a blue skin and this is because the color on the leather of the fur is a dark blue or black. The dark areas are actually the hair roots showing through the thinner leather. A fully prime skin will be a creamy white with very little back areas showing.
So what causes primeness? Cold weather? Shorter days? Both? The main consensus is that the shorter days trigger the development of the winter pelt. But on a seasonal basis, the arrival of primeness can vary a few weeks either way of the peak date. These small variations are caused by abnormally cloudy or sunny days. A very sunny early fall can push back peak primeness a few weeks just as a real overcast period will shorten the time needed.
The Wildlife departments of the various states set their seasons using the primness arrival times combined with the populations and weather conditions of their particular area. In most of the fur producing states, seasons are set to begin at the average time fur has value- a combination of being fully furred and primes on the leather. In addition, the weather conditions are often taken into account in regulating the season via the number of animals available and the conditions available to trap in. Say your season starts Nov 1- but you have always heard “unprimed coon have no value, and coon don‘t prime up here until Dec ”. So you wonder- do I start on season opener, do I wait? The decision is yours- but there are several things to take into consideration. Lets put things in perspective a little. The Minnesota DNR has put out a chart that shows the average primness and value times for each furbearer in the state. This might or might not be appropriate for your area, but it serves as a good example to show the time a fur has value compared to the time it is “prime”. Coon for example, starts to have a value in mid October. It continues to increase in value until it becomes fully prime in late Nov- keeps that value until mid January then starts to decrease in value until early March. So a coon trapper in my area can take coon with at least some value for over 5 months. So when do you trap coon? During the peak prime, so you can get “full value” for my coon? That would be the smart move. Or would it?
Well it depends. If you just want to take a pelt or two to hang on the wall, you might wait until close to prime and trap a few to get one in the best possible shape that is fully furred and primed up. But if you are trapping for money and plan to sell your fur, there are a few more variables to take into consideration. There is another aspect to this chart- and that is “when a fur has value”. And this is the part that is so variable, so different from area to area and yet in many ways more important to know than when a pelt is at full prime. Just as in fruit- where ripeness does not always mean best- so it is in furs. Prime furs are not necessarily your best value as a trapper.
I’ll continue to use coon as an example that would apply more or less to any other furbearer with a little modifications. Coon have many things that go into a value of a pelt- thickness and fullness of fur, proper color, deterioration of the hair to name a few. In addition, you have to take in the availability of the animal compared to when the peak primeness occurs. So a coon trapper, in order to determine when to start setting traps- has to take in all these factors in deciding when he wants to start. In addition, coon, like many if not all animals, the older and bigger coon will “fur up” much quicker than the young of the year and the smaller coon. Coons also, in my area, have different habitat areas depending on their status and age. That is- the older bachelor (both male and female) coons tend to stay more in the uplands or forested areas, while the family groups are still hanging around the creeks and waterways. Coon also are a semi-hibernating animal in my area- and will often hole up for weeks or even in severe winter a month or more at time. Obviously, trapping numbers of coon in these conditions is an unlikely event. So what to do? Start too early and your coon will have little value. Wait to late and the coon could be holed up and when they start moving they could be in the “redneck” phase, which is a breakdown of fur quality that shows up on both the fur and the leather. So in coon you have to carefully decide how you want to balance the equation of availability and trapping ease with the value of the fur.
For coon, the answer is simple. Start when the coon are starting to have value in mid Oct and start trapping the coon that will have the most value the earliest. In my area, that means concentrating traps away from the family areas down by the waterways. By trapping only the big forests and uplands away from the creeks, you can catch a very high percentage of bigger coon- and these coons will have a very good value- weeks before most people think coon are “prime”. As the season goes on, progress to the water and now the medium coon will be big coon and the flat fur will be full.
The same thing is true for canines. Coyotes for example don’t fully prime up until December into January. But again, are those “fully prime” furs the furs that have the best value? Maybe. But again, maybe not. Coyotes begin to fur up nice the end of Oct and really look nice through November. The fur is bright, clean and silky. The fur is in fact the best it will be. So if the fur is at its peak (usually a few weeks before prime) and the leather is well into the prime process, the pelt will be at maximum value. Indeed, canines especially can loose value quick even when in full prime due to shedding, matting, scratching, discoloration, etc. In many cases a nicely furred Nov pelt is worth more than a primed up Dec/Jan pelt. Plus factoring in the relative ease in trapping canines before the dead of winter and it is easy to see that for you as a trapper, your maximum value in bottom dollars will be before the fur is fully prime.
So bottom line? Do some investigating on your own. Start with the season opening date for your area. I’m guessing that on this date, the fur has at least some value. Learn what good fur looks like. Look for keys- on most animals, certain areas are tell tales to the quality of the fur. On coon for example, the neck fur fills in and feels “full”. The curly guard hairs come in on the belly. The rump hair thickens up. When these things occur, you know the general overall quality is there- at least to some degree. On most animals, if the fur is full, the animal has some value. Talk to your local fur buyer- ask him when he wants to start buying fur. He will be in a position to know perhaps better than anyone. Stop and look at road kills. If you are really experimental, take a few animals each week of the season for a year or two- see what sells.
While I’m in no way advocating taking worthless fur- the worth of the fur is in the eyes of the trapper and the value he places on his time and his efforts. If a trapper can get 2x more coon in ½ the time for ¾ of the average price paid for “prime“ - well then, its more than worth the time and effort. Its up to you as a trapper to know and understand your fur, your fur populations and your particular goals and desires on the line. Fur being “prime” is just one factor in the equation. Fur is a renewable resource and as long as there is value to you in utilizing that resource, you are using and managing your fur populations wisely.
PRIME OR UNPRIME- WHEN DO YOU BEGIN?
By Steve Gappa
That seems to be one of the first questions a new trapper asks. Even many older trappers are a little confused by the issue. Much of the confusion comes in because many are unsure as to what “Prime” means and how it relates to fur.
The word “prime” simply means peak. Something that is prime is at the peak time insofar as quality of the item goes. In fruit, the similar term would be “ripe”. There really are two types of “primeness” relating to furs- that of the fur and that of the leather. When fur is prime, or full, it has fully filled in with downy, shorter fur (the under fur) and then longer coarser fur over that (the guard hairs). Fur that is not full or prime is called flat- and looks exactly like what it is called- flat, dull, no body to it. Fur approaches “full” weeks before the priming process is completed on the leather. An unprimed skin is also called a blue skin and this is because the color on the leather of the fur is a dark blue or black. The dark areas are actually the hair roots showing through the thinner leather. A fully prime skin will be a creamy white with very little back areas showing.
So what causes primeness? Cold weather? Shorter days? Both? The main consensus is that the shorter days trigger the development of the winter pelt. But on a seasonal basis, the arrival of primeness can vary a few weeks either way of the peak date. These small variations are caused by abnormally cloudy or sunny days. A very sunny early fall can push back peak primeness a few weeks just as a real overcast period will shorten the time needed.
The Wildlife departments of the various states set their seasons using the primness arrival times combined with the populations and weather conditions of their particular area. In most of the fur producing states, seasons are set to begin at the average time fur has value- a combination of being fully furred and primes on the leather. In addition, the weather conditions are often taken into account in regulating the season via the number of animals available and the conditions available to trap in. Say your season starts Nov 1- but you have always heard “unprimed coon have no value, and coon don‘t prime up here until Dec ”. So you wonder- do I start on season opener, do I wait? The decision is yours- but there are several things to take into consideration. Lets put things in perspective a little. The Minnesota DNR has put out a chart that shows the average primness and value times for each furbearer in the state. This might or might not be appropriate for your area, but it serves as a good example to show the time a fur has value compared to the time it is “prime”. Coon for example, starts to have a value in mid October. It continues to increase in value until it becomes fully prime in late Nov- keeps that value until mid January then starts to decrease in value until early March. So a coon trapper in my area can take coon with at least some value for over 5 months. So when do you trap coon? During the peak prime, so you can get “full value” for my coon? That would be the smart move. Or would it?
Well it depends. If you just want to take a pelt or two to hang on the wall, you might wait until close to prime and trap a few to get one in the best possible shape that is fully furred and primed up. But if you are trapping for money and plan to sell your fur, there are a few more variables to take into consideration. There is another aspect to this chart- and that is “when a fur has value”. And this is the part that is so variable, so different from area to area and yet in many ways more important to know than when a pelt is at full prime. Just as in fruit- where ripeness does not always mean best- so it is in furs. Prime furs are not necessarily your best value as a trapper.
I’ll continue to use coon as an example that would apply more or less to any other furbearer with a little modifications. Coon have many things that go into a value of a pelt- thickness and fullness of fur, proper color, deterioration of the hair to name a few. In addition, you have to take in the availability of the animal compared to when the peak primeness occurs. So a coon trapper, in order to determine when to start setting traps- has to take in all these factors in deciding when he wants to start. In addition, coon, like many if not all animals, the older and bigger coon will “fur up” much quicker than the young of the year and the smaller coon. Coons also, in my area, have different habitat areas depending on their status and age. That is- the older bachelor (both male and female) coons tend to stay more in the uplands or forested areas, while the family groups are still hanging around the creeks and waterways. Coon also are a semi-hibernating animal in my area- and will often hole up for weeks or even in severe winter a month or more at time. Obviously, trapping numbers of coon in these conditions is an unlikely event. So what to do? Start too early and your coon will have little value. Wait to late and the coon could be holed up and when they start moving they could be in the “redneck” phase, which is a breakdown of fur quality that shows up on both the fur and the leather. So in coon you have to carefully decide how you want to balance the equation of availability and trapping ease with the value of the fur.
For coon, the answer is simple. Start when the coon are starting to have value in mid Oct and start trapping the coon that will have the most value the earliest. In my area, that means concentrating traps away from the family areas down by the waterways. By trapping only the big forests and uplands away from the creeks, you can catch a very high percentage of bigger coon- and these coons will have a very good value- weeks before most people think coon are “prime”. As the season goes on, progress to the water and now the medium coon will be big coon and the flat fur will be full.
The same thing is true for canines. Coyotes for example don’t fully prime up until December into January. But again, are those “fully prime” furs the furs that have the best value? Maybe. But again, maybe not. Coyotes begin to fur up nice the end of Oct and really look nice through November. The fur is bright, clean and silky. The fur is in fact the best it will be. So if the fur is at its peak (usually a few weeks before prime) and the leather is well into the prime process, the pelt will be at maximum value. Indeed, canines especially can loose value quick even when in full prime due to shedding, matting, scratching, discoloration, etc. In many cases a nicely furred Nov pelt is worth more than a primed up Dec/Jan pelt. Plus factoring in the relative ease in trapping canines before the dead of winter and it is easy to see that for you as a trapper, your maximum value in bottom dollars will be before the fur is fully prime.
So bottom line? Do some investigating on your own. Start with the season opening date for your area. I’m guessing that on this date, the fur has at least some value. Learn what good fur looks like. Look for keys- on most animals, certain areas are tell tales to the quality of the fur. On coon for example, the neck fur fills in and feels “full”. The curly guard hairs come in on the belly. The rump hair thickens up. When these things occur, you know the general overall quality is there- at least to some degree. On most animals, if the fur is full, the animal has some value. Talk to your local fur buyer- ask him when he wants to start buying fur. He will be in a position to know perhaps better than anyone. Stop and look at road kills. If you are really experimental, take a few animals each week of the season for a year or two- see what sells.
While I’m in no way advocating taking worthless fur- the worth of the fur is in the eyes of the trapper and the value he places on his time and his efforts. If a trapper can get 2x more coon in ½ the time for ¾ of the average price paid for “prime“ - well then, its more than worth the time and effort. Its up to you as a trapper to know and understand your fur, your fur populations and your particular goals and desires on the line. Fur being “prime” is just one factor in the equation. Fur is a renewable resource and as long as there is value to you in utilizing that resource, you are using and managing your fur populations wisely.
