Possum Trapper

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum, joined to hopefully ask a few experienced possum trappers a few questions. Hopefully someone can tell me where is best to post.

At the moment I average about 30 possums a day with a 40 trap trap line, the bush I am in is private land and I feel has the potential for 60+ possums a day with 100 traps which I am in the process of setting up so I can attack it hard in the winter. I want to skin these possums but I am lacking the knowledge of if I can skin every possum, I find a lot of skin buyers are hesitant to talk about skins to people who haven't skinned much, I know I can skin the possum with the sleeve method but I don't know which possums I should be skinning. I want to make the most amount of money I can from this obviously.

I see on a lot of buyers pages there may be measurements for the skins that they buy but I don't see small measurements so does this mean I am only to skin the large possums and pluck the smaller possums? or can I also get paid for the small skins too?

Thanks

Phone Basically Bush in Opotiki for info mate.

30 monkeys out of 40 traps a day?
You can come down and teach me how to catch the fuckers😆
I have been catching the bastards for 35 yrs and am bloody happy with a 50% catch on my lines.
I don't skin anymore but the ones that would grade well are pretty obvious if I was going to bother.
Big with a thick coat and no scaring will get top dollar.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Hi
First thing to be able to grade a skin on the possum before you skin it. You can practice this on every possum you trap. First measure it I use a jack handle that I kill them with from the base of the tail to the ears needs to be over ---- mm. Nest check the fur and gauge what grade you think it will be if you skinned it while hand plucking you will soon see if it is a good skin or not. Do this with all your possums no matter the size the more practice the better you will get. When the skins are good about early March to the end of March the bucks are best skin the best and pluck the rest. Mid July to late October the doe's are best. Do not bother skinning anything with red fur on the shoulders as they nearly always have short fur over the shoulder area and these skins will never grade above a third. We at present need First, Second grade extra large Dark and Pale Skins and will accept Medium Pales Prices are Extra Large First $20 Second $17 Large First$16.50 Second $14 Medium First $12 Second $8. Size fold skin in half lengthwise and with out stretching the length from the base f the tail to the ear holes will be Extra Large 640 mm and over Large 580 mm to 640 mm Medium 520mm to 580 mm. Skins need to be open and split down the tail 50mm or more. No fat or meat on the skins. These standard ill cover you selling to any buyer and if you need more advice do not hesitate to contact me. Also Ferac runs a non profit Public Liability and Rural Fire Insurance for people in the Environmental Protection eg Possum industry, Pest Control a a very low premium. Pat Condon 0272825307

Hi Pat.
I have been trapping on the farm I work on for a couple of weeks now with a lot of success. I've watched a few videos on youtube about skinning possums and I'm able to get the skins off all good except I keep getting that second skin layer which almost has a meaty look to it coming off with the pelt and its bloody hard to remove. Do I need to remove this if I'm just selling them as green hides? If it does need to come off do you have any advice on how to do this or how to leave it behind on the carcass. Cheers

Welcome Trap.

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Originally Posted by KD23

Hi Pat.
I have been trapping on the farm I work on for a couple of weeks now with a lot of success. I've watched a few videos on youtube about skinning possums and I'm able to get the skins off all good except I keep getting that second skin layer which almost has a meaty look to it coming off with the pelt and its bloody hard to remove. Do I need to remove this if I'm just selling them as green hides? If it does need to come off do you have any advice on how to do this or how to leave it behind on the carcass. Cheers

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Check with whoever you intend to sell them to as many buyers take green hides and slip the fur

Quote:

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Originally Posted by R93

30 monkeys out of 40 traps a day?
You can come down and teach me how to catch the fuckers��
I have been catching the bastards for 35 yrs and am bloody happy with a 50% catch on my lines.

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yes i would also love to know how to get 30 per night from 40 traps feel free to come down and show me how it is done :)