Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Beware of Fur Buyer George Kortum (Western Montana Fur Buyers)

George is one of the bigger cat buyers in the west, but also one of the biggest crooks. I had a cat that sold at the Kingman auction for $500. I was helping out with the sale and George left the building knowing that he had one more guy (ME) to write a check to before he left. It showed on his list who the checks needed to be written to and wasn't supposed to leave till everyone had collected money. So he left and I called him and he said his list didn't show he had bought my cat. While my list, the other two buyers lists, and the main ladies list showed that he did buy it. He said to wait until he could check his cats to see if mine was in there. So about a week later George calls and says he has the cat and to call back in a couple days to give shipping info for the check. So I called and when he talked to me he said you know what, I'm not giving you $500 for this cat. I'll maybe give you $400 and that's still too high. (Remember, this is after bidding at an auction with the winning bid going for $500) So basically he got my cat and now that it was in his possession he felt he could now name a price. He refused to pay the full $500 and after a long talk I convinced him to send my cat back to me. He is known to do things like this to people quite often so I just wanted to all let you know to be careful and to not deal with this guy. He is a crook and will do anything he can to rip you off.
Another guy had 5 cats that he showed to George while in Kingman but wasn't able to sell them because he hadn't got the CITES tags yet. George promises a price of $3500 for the cats and told him to ship the cats to Montana once the CITES tags were put on. The guy shipped the cats and once the cats arrived George told the guy "you know what I changed my mind. These cats are only worth $3100 and that's all I will give you for them." So the guy made him ship the cats back. I have heard plenty of other stories about the man and none of them are ever good. BE CAREFUL

Could you go to the organizers of the Kingman auction and clue them in on what happened? They might not be able to do much but spreading the word around might help for people possibly dealing with this guy in the future. Sounds like he has used this trick in the past to save himself some money when he has the seller bent over by having possession of their fur.

It seems to me it would be very bad business and show very bad character to place a bid and than refuse to pay the full price.

Thanks for the warning.

Post this up over on trapperman. Lot's of folk will see it there.

If you want to hold him task, file a complaint with the state licensing entity that issued the fur buyers license. They should be in a position to revoke his license if he is abusing it.

1+ on trapperman. He will have to do some explainin'.

Alright will post over there. I contacted Bob Small about it (the guy who got the Kingman auction started this year) and he said he didn't think there was much he could do and that he would call George to get the money. Well a week later Bob called back and said he didn't think it was a good idea for him to call George because it might cause problems and just came up with stupid excuses. He basically didn't wanna make George upset over $100 and George not come to the sale next year I think. But anyway I'll post it there and should get some good responses. Thanks guys

Just hope you get the cat you sent!!! I hate a crook. Clint

I have sold many thousands of dollars worth of fur to George over the past decade and never had any issue with getting paid. He is a well known driving force behind the high prices we are getting for cats right now, attempting to get his fur buyers license revoked over $100 would be one of the dumbest moves a person could make (kinda like taking your cats to a sale with only 3 buyers cause you don't wanna pay a commission that will be used directly to protect your rights to trap)

Don't much matter how much fur you've sold to the guy, he bought a cat at auction and then failed to pay the agreed price. That's pretty low down. I wouldn't trust the guy after hearing this either. He sold his reputation for $100.

So if Bob Small won't call him as the person running the sale, he would lose all credibility with me and his sale. How can a sale stay reputable if it allows it's buyers in attendance to not pay for an item? Why is there not a policy that all checks are written before buyers are allowed to load up?

I am not in the fur business, have never sold a fur in my life, but I 100% disagree with that statement. The guy stole $100 and didn't want to make it right. I'd make his life a living hell.

That's exactly the attitude that guys like that count on.

It's pretty funny how people are so tough talking about someone they've never met based on the testimony of another person they've never met??

That's ironic.

How's it ironic when I've dealt with the man personally??

Because you are making similar judgments about someone you've never met. Fairly obvious.

If ol George had two working synapses, he would pay $1000 to not have this kind of press goin on.

IME, most scheisters ain't that bright.

Agreed...

Not too many folk in the know tracking this forum. The OP never posted anything about this on trapperman like he said he would. If he did, it would be resolved in a day, because there are a lot of folk in the business over there, and none of them have ever said anything bad about this buyer.

Trapperman is no better than this George guy.

George Kortum is more than dishonest -- he is a criminal. I worked for George and rented an apartment from him for two weeks and NEVER again. Anyone renting from George should be aware of the convicted felon in the same building who has the key to every door in the building including the mail boxes and nothing and no one is safe there. The convicted felon considers himself the "building super" and he will be in your apartment guaranteed. He is an "employee" of George (actually homosexual lover) and just one of a bad gang of people that George keeps at his disposal. George has a bad reputation that is well known in the town of Anaconda. He is a lawyer and he is tricky and he is dangerous and I don't really care because I am not afraid of him. George if you read this then you should realize there are some people you should never cross and I am one of those people.