State

During Ihe buying teoson. all oiailoblc space or Dupree Brother» ■» token by drying pelt». Here. E G Dupree >s surrounded by mu»krot pelt», ot he grades о piece of row lur Beginnings of a Fur Coat A wide variety off Tar lleels still set I lieir traps Down Home. Hi; JAMES EARL HESTER Clutching a thick bundle of muskrat pelts, the wiry man with the weather¬ beaten face enters the skinning room of fur buyer F.. G. Dupree. There, amid flashing knives and thawing carcasses and the odor of drying pelts, he awaits the arrival of Dupree, whose quick, ex¬ pert judgment will determine the mar¬ ket value of his fur. In a few seconds. Dupree has ar¬ rived and. after exchanging greetings, is leading the man into an adjoining room. The grading process is ready to begin. Clad in a blue coat to protect his clothing from the greasy hides. Dupree examines each pelt, turning it over in his hands and giving it a quick glance before laying it in a pile to one side. 24 Damaged pelts or extremely small pelts are laid in a separate pile. The work proceeds rapidly, and soon the grading is over. The pelts arc then counted, and the man led into the office on the other side to receive his check. His days on the trapline have been rewarded. This scene is repeated several times daily during the trapping season at headquarters of Dupree Brothers near Greenville. Trappers from as far as 300 miles away show up at any time during the day. bringing with them either pelts or frozen carcasses of muskrats, mink, beaver, raccoon, otter, fox. nutria, bob¬ cats and other fur-bcaring animals. The raw fur is purchased by Dupree, then processed and shipped to N’ew York, where it is cither sold privately or at public auction to furriers from this country and overseas. The pelt of a muskrat caught by a trapper in Wake County could well end up in a coal worn by a fashion-conscious woman in Italy. Muskrats Most Plentiful Dupree, who has operated the busi¬ ness alone since the death of his brother five years ago. began buying raw fur in 1932 and has seen the business grow steadily ever since. A former trapper himself, he says he understands the problems of trappers and attempts to give them top dollar for their fur. Muskrats make up the bulk of Du¬ pree's business, and lie buys from 40,(>(X) to 60.000 muskrat pelts each year. In addition he buys from 12.000 to 25,000 raccoon pelts, from 800 to 1,200 mink pelts, from 500 to 700 beaver pelts, and from 150 to 300 otter pelts. Dupree's business is operated on both a wholesale and retail basis, and most of his fur comes from small deal¬ ers who serve as middlemen between him and the trappers. The dealers pick up the fur at the trappers’ homes and deliver it to him. making a small profit on each pelt. Most of Dupree’s business comes from eastern and Piedmont North Carolina, but he also deals with trappers from South Carolina and Vir¬ ginia. Trappers doing business with him cover a wide range of occupations, and he numbers among his clients doctors, lawyers, merchants, game wardens, highway patrolmen, writers, farmers, mill workers and other*.. Some of the fur is brought to Dupree a.v pelts, but most trappers throw the animals they catch into freezers and bring him the frozen carcasses. After they have thawed, the carcasses are skinned, and the fur stretched, fleshed, dried, packed and shipped by van to New York. Dupree says he prefers that the whole animal be brought to him rather than the fur alone, since he and the eight people he employs during the trapping season are able to prepare the individual pelts better than the average trapper. This enables him to get more for the fur. provides employment for people who might not otherwise be em¬ ployed. and saves the trapper valuable time. Farm Ponds Help According to Dupree, some of the finest muskrats in the country come THE STATE. NOVEMBER 1974