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Top trappers take home honours
2013-14 a slightly below average season for NWT furs at auction

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 16, 2014

DEH CHO
Four trappers from the Deh Cho have been acknowledged for their efforts during the last trapping season.

Every year the territorial government gives out four trapper recognition awards in each of the five regions of the NWT. In the Deh Cho the awards for the 2013-14 season have gone to Dolphus Jumbo of Trout Lake for highest sales based on the cash value of furs sold through the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs program and to Alfred Nande of Fort Liard for highest number of pelts.

Albert James Seya, also of Fort Liard, won the senior trappers award while Dolores Deneyoua of Fort Simpson was recognized with the youth trappers award. The winners will each receive a certificate and a kit of trapping equipment.

Deneyoua said she was surprised by the recognition. Although she had snare lines when she was younger, last winter was the first season she'd really tried trapping.

It was Deneyoua's 10-year-old son Isaac Lenoir who inspired her to start trapping. Lenoir has brought home a few trapper certificates for participating in trapping at school.

"I thought if you know how to trap, I've got to learn," she said.

To learn about conibear traps and other skills she'd need, Deneyoua attended two trapping workshops held by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. She also got help from her uncle Billy Deneyoua in setting a few traps and skinning her catches, which included three marten, a lynx and a few beavers.

"He enjoyed taking me out," she said.

Deneyoua plans to set more traps this season and to get her family, including her son and her husband, more involved. Her ultimate goal is to have a cabin and a trapline.

NWT furs from the 2013-14 season, including Deneyoua's contribution, sold for $1,239,428 at auction. In relation to the past 10 years, excluding 2012-13, it was a slightly below average year, said John Colford, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment's manager of traditional economy, agriculture and fisheries.

Compared to 2012-13, however, when $2.3 million of fur was sold, the NWT dropped $1 million in sales. The 2012-13 sales skew the average because it was an unprecedented year as a result of the average prices that were paid for fur, he said.

In the case of marten, pelts were sold for $154 on average in 2012-13 compared to $82 in 2013-14, which was in line with the $75 to $100 that NWT marten normally command. The 2012-13 anomaly was the result of two major markets of pent up consumerism, China and Russia, coming into the season with lots of confidence and stability, said Colford.

It's impossible to say when another year like that will come around or to predict what sales will be like this season.

"You don't know how well you are going to do until your product is sold," he said.

Last season, 700 trappers delivered fur to the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs program. The number of people involved in trapping in the territory is likely closer to between 2,200 and 3,000 because often whole families help run a trapline, but only one person brings the fur to the program, said Colford.

In terms of value for effort, the Sahtu is normally the top region. Last season, 118 trappers from the Sahtu had $294,913 in fur sales, an average of $2,500 per trapper.

The Beaufort Delta often ranks second. Last season, 191 trappers there made an average of $2,020.

There is room for improvement in the Deh Cho. Last season 101 trappers had $130,076 in fur sales leading to an average of $1,287 per trapper. More fur could come out of the region.

"There is a lot of very, very good fur in the Deh Cho," he said.

Trapping season has already begun in some regions. By the end of the month it will be open across the territory for for almost all species.

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