500 
to hogs or are buried or burned. Large 
fur companies usually save the fatty resi- 
dues from pelts in fleshing operations. 
Selling 
During the seasons of the survey, ap- 
proximately 40 per cent of the annual 
Illinois fur catch was shipped directly to 
large fur houses, 50 per cent taken to local 
dealers and 10 per cent picked up at trap- 
pers’ camps or residences by traveling buy- 
ers or representatives of local dealers. 
Most local dealers finally disposed of their 
collections to the larger auction houses. 
On the basis of the best estimates avail- 
able, about 75 per cent of the total Illinois 
catch ultimately went to St. Louis and 
Chicago and the remainder to eastern fur 
centers. 
After the opening date of the Illinois 
fur season there is a rapid turnover of the 
catch, beginning with the trapper who 
disposes of his skins to traveling buyers, 
local dealers, or the large fur houses, and 
terminating when the furs have been 
graded and sorted into large uniform lots 
for auction to manufacturers. Auctions 
are usually held on the floors of the large 
fur companies. 
Some local dealers prefer to handle 
freshly skinned but unstretched pelts, or 
even unskinned animals, brought in daily 
by trappers and hunters or collected daily 
by traveling representatives of the dealers. 
Dealers buying unskinned animals employ 
one or more skinners to handle the pelts. 
This practice results in greater uniformity 
in handling and somewhat better sales 
prices. Of the 43 local dealers contacted, 
28 preferred to buy stretched and dried 
pelts, 11 preferred freshly skinned but un- 
stretched pelts, 2 preferred to do their own 
skinning and 2 had no preference. 
No special attempt will be made here 
to discuss the illegal phases of fur-taking 
and marketing. The chief evil appears to 
be before- and after-season trapping. Pre- 
season furs are held until after the sea- 
son opens, and, other than being more 
unprime than legal furs, they can scarcely 
be detected when sold. ‘That early trap- 
ping is common was clearly determined 
during the survey, and it appeared to be 
especially prevalent in certain parts of 
southern Illinois. It was apparent that 
some local buyers encouraged the practice 
ILLiInois NATURAL History SURVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 22, Artemg 
and in this manner attempted to corner 
the local trade. 
Some furs taken after the season closes, 
in the 10-day postseason interval during 
which furs may be legally held, are harder 
to dispose of than preseason furs. A com- 
mon practice seems to be to carry them 
into a bordering state having a later sea- 
son, where they are sold as local furs. The 
large fur companies in St. Louis and Chi- 
cago earnestly encourage legal trapping, 
but have no practical means of determin- 
ing the legality of furs purchased either 
by shipment or in over-the-counter trans- 
actions. 
SUMMARY 
1. The Illinois wild fur resource was 
studied intensively in the field from June 
1, 1939, to June 30, 1940. This paper, 
prepared subsequently, is the final project 
report. 
2. In the previous literature on Illi- 
nois fur animals, which deals mainly with 
their habits and predator relationships, es- 
timates of the value of the fur resource, 
prior to about 1930, were lower than the 
actual value is believed to have been. 
3. The main objective of the survey 
was the determination of facts on which 
to base biologically sound trapping laws 
and other regulations pertaining to Illi- 
nois fur animals. Such facts involved 
the habitat requirements of the fur ani- 
mals, the annual yield and income by 
species and localities, the portion of furs 
taken by trappers and by hunters, the 
number of licensed and unlicensed fur- 
takers, methods of trapping, hunting and 
marketing furs, and fur animal cycles. 
4. For convenience in sampling, Illi- 
nois was divided into eight survey regions, 
division being on the basis of soil, forest 
cover, drainage, topography and similar 
features. Representative sample counties 
were selected in each region, and survey 
strips one mile wide were run in an east- 
west direction at uniform intervals across 
each. Approximately 11 per cent or more 
of each sample county was included in 
the strips. In the eight regions the sample 
varied from 0.67 per cent to over 9 per 
cent of the total area. For the state it 
amounted to 1.7 per cent of the total area. 
Each household on the sample strips was 
visited, and information pertaining to fur- 
