Amid skinning demos and pelt-handling contests, trappers focus on future

New Brunswick trappers have come out of the woods and off their trap lines to gather for the annual convention of fur harvesters in Fredericton.

Dozens of trappers are meetingthroughoutthe day Friday and Saturday to celebrate the industry, discusstechniques and swap stories.

But the main focus is teaching.

"Education is one of the mostimportantthings that we are trying to accomplish withthese kinds of events," saidMitchell Schriver, the vice-president of the New Brunswick Trappers and Fur Harvesters Federation. "We're keeping the public educated on numerous levels.We'restill out there. We still exist.

"We're working hard to train people to do the best job they can do, with the pelt-handlingside of it and the trapping side of it, to be the most efficient and the most humanemethods."

Skinning demos, round-tables, trapping seminars and pelt-handlingcompetitions run throughout thetwo-dayevent, centred ontrading techniques, updating the industry for the modern age and guiding the next generation of trapper.

"I really like the outdoors," saidTyler Tapp, 12, of Tracy, who has been following his grandfather into the forest to learn to hunt and trap for the pastfiveyears.

Although made up mostly of trappers well past their 50s,the convention also included several children and teens. Tapp admitted that theinterestin the sport with his generation is minimal.

"I don't think there's very much," he said. "Because people really like video gamesnowadays. They're on those."

But despite the assumption the sport is a relic of the past, the numbersof trappers in the province have stayed pretty much the same over the last 20 years.

Since 2001 the number of trappinglicences sold each yearhas hovered around 1,000. It's the totalvalue of the annual harvest that can fluctuate wildly, depending on global demand.

The estimated value of the 2016-2017 total harvest was around $380,000, accordingto the annual New Brunswick Furbearer report published by the province. But in 2012-2013, the estimate was close to 1.7 million. It all depends on what is in demand.

"It's fashion," said Schriver. "Whatever is in style that year directlyinfluenceswhich critter is going to be the most valuable."

Coyote has been in demand in recent years, because oftheir inclusion in Canada Goose winter jackets. Last year, pelts went for an average of $56 each at auction, second only to bobcat, at $75 a pelt.

But for decades, the most popular pelt sold in this province by far is muskrat.

The iconic muskrat hat is known for keeping the heads ofMountieswarm in the winter.

New Brunswicktrappersexported more than 13,200 muskrat pelts last year, far outpacing thesecond-placebeaver, whichamounted to 5,100 pelts.

"But the market isstrugglingright now with most of these critters," Schriversaid. "Sothe best we can prepare these animals the more valuable they're going to be and the more income will be coming to the trapper."

"It's like any other commodity. It's peaks and valleys. Rightnow, we've got areally good coyote market, we've got some of the best prices we've been seeing in years for coyote. Marten is doing OK, but the rest of the furs are suffering."

Schriversaid the depressed demand in Asiadirectly affects the trappers in rural New Brunswick.

"Russia has been in trouble for a few years," he said. "China isstrugglinga bit. And when their economies are struggling itdirectlyaffects us here in North America and our fur prices, big time."

Regardless ofthe variety of personal and politicalstanceson trapping today,it'sthe industry that Canada was built on.

Much ofthecountry was built on the back of the beaver. With their waterproof skins, beaver pelts were in high demand and used for barter and trade when the French andBritish first came to North America.

"And beaver is still top three in our fur industry today,"Schriversaid.