Compared to his early years, the business now sees far more coyotes, bobcats and otters. These days, trappers provide about two-thirds of the fur he buys and hunters the rest. When he started, most of the fur came from hunters such as those that ran hound dogs, he said. “China buys as much fur today as all the other countries put together,” Keller said. Cold weather in early winter in Europe and Asia perks up demand and prices. The demand is heaviest in Russia and Asia, Keller said. Tanning companies purchase fur from local buyers like Keller and sell it to clothing manufacturers around the world. ![]() Coyotes were averaging $15 a pelt and bobcats brought $75. He paid an average of $15 for raccoon pelts this winter, and the best ones brought up to $25. They’ve been on the upswing in recent years. Keller watched fur prices go up and down over the decades. Those sports are part of Missouri’s rich outdoor recreation traditions as well as an economic boost. Trapping and hunting help control population numbers among fur-bearing mammals. “The limit was 10 a year and there were not many.”Ĭonservation with science-based management and citizen support has helped wildlife rebound to plentiful numbers. He remembers as a boy selling raccoon pelts for $3 apiece in the late 1930s. “I’ve seen a lot of fur come and go,” Bud Keller said. They scrape and dry hides, grade and pack pelts for shipment to tanners, and help with the buying and selling duties. ![]() Keller’s children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews work with him at the warehouse on Main Street. Neomia Keller, his wife of 63 years, is a retired school teacher and helps run the business. His interest morphed into a family business open from December into March. “When I was a boy I liked to hunt, and I just took a liking to messing with fur.” “I’ve just always enjoyed messing with fur,” Keller said. Profit alone hasn’t kept him in the business, because in some years low fur prices hammered his bottom line. Then he opened his fur buying business in 1969. Years of farming for a living and hunting for fun and cash from fur followed. Keller, 85, skinned his first raccoon at age 14 during the Great Depression. But few with as much experience as the Keller family of St. Missouri has several fur buyers and auctions. Furs harvested in Missouri are valued at more than $8.5 million annually and generate more than $60 million for the state’s economy. Keller Fur on Main Street in the southwest Missouri town of Collins is an annual winter destination for hundreds of trappers and hunters with pelts to sell. ![]() After 44 years Keller has held thousands of furs from coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, skunks, otters and beaver. – Bud Keller ran his fingers over prime raccoon fur destined for use as a coat, collar or cuffs, perhaps on the other side of the world.
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