Matt Rees - Great Northern Equipment

Moscow Hide and Fur has been buying furs and antlers throughout the western United States, and by mail from trappers and hunters nationwide for over 35 years. Owner Gary J. Schroeder is known and respected throughout the fur industry, he is a former Hudson’s Bay fur trader with 48 years of buying experience.

How did your business get started?
We started Moscow Hide and Fur in 1973 and were connected with Hudson Bay Company as commissioned fur buyers, but we switched over to antlers and other things once the fur market crashed in the late 80’s. We’ve been open ever since for over 50 years!

What is your background, outside of your business?
From 1992 to 2010 I served in the Idaho Senate as well, and I have a Masters Degree in Zoology from University of Idaho, studying Ospreys. I also write a Fur Market report!

What is one unique aspect of your business?
Our website, www.HideAndFur.com, is full of all sorts of interesting creatures and furs, like wolf skins!

Tell me something customers repeatedly ask:
The most common phone call we get currently is “Do you buy coyotes?” and the answer right now is no, since the cost associated with skinning and prepping the coyote for the tannery is more than the coyote is worth at the moment.

What is your most in demand product right now?
People buy from all over the country through our website. The #1 category of product we sell is tanned furs and #2 category is antlers of all types.

What do you envision for the future of your business?
We are always looking to sell more products!

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was a little kid and I had a dresser drawer full of interesting pieces of wildlife like bone, antlers, feathers...Instead of a dresser, I now have a warehouse full!

What is something you wish more people knew?
There are a lot of animals that hunters shoot, and things they throw away, but we have developed markets for all those things, skulls, teeth, feet, etc., and they’re used for all sorts of different things. We will buy those from hunters and make use of them instead of them just going to waste. 

Meet The Exceptional: Jan & Ray Martin

The Exchange has been publishing since 1978, and Jan Martin has been with us for 42 of those years. Many years ago she was fondly dubbed the “Ad Queen” & Jan has touched and helped thousands of businesses with their advertising needs. Her keen skill of adapting ad campaigns for businesses has assured that both our readers and advertisers get great results.

Ray Martin and Jan met at a sales conference in New Orleans in 2007. Ray worked at the time as the Sales Manager for the Moneysaver weekly paper in Lewiston, Idaho. Jan and Ray loosely kept in touch through the years, but when Jan divorced in 2011, they went to an Elton John concert and fell in love… fast forward to 2013, they got married!

Ray left the Moneysaver and moved to Spokane after they got married and started working for us here at the Exchange. After a brief hiatus, Ray came back last year and became our Distribution Manager for our four weekly publications. Ray has worked diligently to make sure the Exchange is available in hundreds of key pick-up locations throughout North Idaho, Eastern and Central Washington. He manages our delivery drivers, secures great distribution locations and keeps track of all the moving parts that go along with the job of getting 56,000+/- copies of the Exchange into readers hands each week!

A big Thank You goes out to our “Ad Queen” and “Distribution King” for working so hard at the Exchange!