Any members here ever spent any time setting traps? Any interesting stories to share? I’ve been reminiscing lately about some of my trapping memories out in the field and in the swamps. Feeling somewhat nostalgic. I used to have a place to talk about trapping - The only other forum I’ve ever been interested in being a part of. It was a hunting and trapping forum. Unfortunately, that forum ran its course and was shut down this year due to lack of participation. Facebook ruins everything... For years it was such a great place. Kind of like here. Everyone seems passionate, there is a lot of great information, lot of fun posts and nobody really gets too critical or political. That can’t be said of many online discussion forums, no matter what the topic. I avoid them. I’ve spent a great deal of mental energy over the last few weeks hemming and hawing over whether or not I want to set some traps this year. General trapping season opened up in early November but now that December is here, the fur should start to show signs of priming. Beaver season opened December 1st as did coyote land trapping. With the snow storm over last weekend I sure wish I went out back on the hill to set a few coyote traps... I haven’t trapped for fur seriously over the last, oh, say three or four years. Pretty much since I bought our house and property. Lack of time and increased responsibilities make it difficult to get out and run traps. Combined with the low prices of furs, it just doesn’t make sense anymore. Ten years ago I’d set mile-long long-lines on state land. My mornings before work were filled with fresh air, quality exercise hauling around a trap basket and the excitement of walking up on a catch. My evenings were spent working fur if I had made good sets. At the end of the season I’d sell my furs, though the small income was mostly just a perk on top of the enjoyment I got out of running a trap line. I set my traps in the low wetlands along the river in my hometown. I’d set conibears in riverside runs and 750s under false castor mounds for beaver, 1 1/2 Victors under pockets for mink and raccoon, padded fox traps in woodchuck holes out in the fields. For me, there was just nothing more rewarding than catching an animal after learning the hard way how to read and understand their behaviors. It was the ultimate tool of learning how to respect and revere the wildlife around me. And respect my game I sure did. I don’t believe that anyone had more love for and respect for the animals of the wild than a hunter or trapper. My passion for trapping led to me obtaining a nuisance wildlife control license and starting a business in wildlife control. For the better part of a decade I trapped beavers for municipalities and homeowners, played with squirrels and raccoons in attics and chimneys and caught skunk after skunk after skunk under porches and sheds. It was a great way to make a living until the big national companies came in and “Walmartified” the wildlife control industry. Fought for my share of the pie for a couple years since but it’s never been the same. That’s life I guess. I don’t do much of any nuisance control anymore. The past few years I’ve set a few traps to help out a couple people with problem beavers. And I’ve run some coyote traps out back on our property in effort to keep the coyotes in check, as a means to benefitting the deer and turkeys, but that’s about it. Probably the most exciting trapping tale I have from the last few years was participating in the state Wildlife Division bobcat range, habitat and human interaction study. I trapped the first bobcat for the study on September 8th, 2017 here on our hill. 27 pound male. He was fitted with ear tags with the number 1 on them and a satellite tracking collar that was set to fall off after 10 months. It was so cool getting the range data map back from the biologists to see where that bobcat went over the course of almost a year. And it felt great helping out and giving back a little to the wildlife that has given me so much to be thankful for. Here’s a few pictures from the bobcat study. If you have any interesting trapping tales, I’d love to hear them.
i grew up doing it ,my grandfather and uncles did control work for the state in the off season ,they were in national outdoor magazines and local papers in the 60's and 70's i still have some of those around here and enjoy looking at them still . i think i know the forum you are talking about ,i have seen it but never participated in it( the dobbins one right ? ) i remember lure bottles with his name when i was a kid. i trappped in my teens a lot them slowed down ,then it was for the money ,that time had great fur prices ,this ridiculous state banned most trapping methods in the 90's now there are all kinds of issues with coyotes,beavers etc. all the misguided granola eating yuppies are now worried about there children and pets safety ,they should have thought of that before voting to ban something they know nothing about and let the biologists set the regulations ,trapping is not in any way crewel as some want to brainwash you in to thinking ,if you choose not to do it fine,don't but mind your own business and don't tell me i cant ,i have actually been approached by folks who voted for the ban to deal with animal issues they were having and i laugh at them ,i do still trap problem animals for people i know as i feel it is the right thing to do and will continue to do so ,some laws need to be ignored ,but as i always says everything is illegal in mass and if it's not just wait a few minutes ,this state is a living hell in every way possible .
Sorry you got toasted by the corporate conglomerates, For me the rise of the internet has chopped a big chunk out of my business, when their on line prices for finished goods are near my cost with shipping for the raw material. Like a lot of things it is a volume issue. Course the changes in MFG over the past years and the mix of businesses in the area have had an effect as well. I have adapted but the bottom line is nowhere what it was. Back in the fifties I ran a couple of mush rat lines and got a few fox and what not all. That was out the back door back in the day and brought in a few bucks. Suburbia has enroached and farming practices have changed and like you say return on investment and time is not what it was.
QUESTION: how do you make a small fortune by trapping? ANSWER: start with a large one! Seriously though, the seasons that I trapped long and hard were some of the best times of my life. It’s good for me physically and mentally. I miss it dearly, but I’m not a young bachelor anymore.( kinda miss that too). Still do a couple ADC jobs occasionally. Hopefully some year soon I’ll get a building at my new house and can make part of it a “trapping shed” and do some more before it’s too late
it does not have to be about money as you said it is helping folks deal with problems they dont know how to deal with and keeping people and pets and property safe ,just being outside is reason enough reason for me
I’m a hunter, not a trapper, but thought of this Thread when I read this as an article in Northern Woodlands this morning... Bidding farewell to New Hampshire's renowned "Skinner" — Furbearer Conservation
I agree. There was no better feeling that I can recall than walking out to the line as the sun was rising and the fresh, cold air filled my lungs. Hauling around 50 + lbs of traps and gear kept me fit. Hauling out a beaver or two was even more the workout. Trapping for me was also a way to stay in touch with a dying trade. I felt great pride in being able to say I was working hard at something that very few other people do. Working a trap line for fur was never about the money for me. As far as ADC/NWC work was concerned, that was a completely separate ballgame. That was all about making a living and paying the bills. For quite some time it was lucrative and exciting. As much as I wish the end of my nuisance business was still years down the road, I honestly don’t miss the nuisance work too much now. The people part of it I don’t miss at all. Pretty much every day I dealt with people who had then mindset of, “Save all the animals - don’t hurt the animals ... unless they’re in my house or on my property - then kill them all!!!!” Pure ignorance.
About a year after I moved into our house I built a 16 x 14 work shed and turned half of it into a trap and fur shed. I’ll take some pictures later today to share. Haven’t been in that half of the shed much at all the last few years. Haven’t used the fleshing beam much at all. Boards are looking awfully lonely... So many people would come to me to skin, flesh and board their animals. Had a couple friends that overloaded me with their furs for a few years. They wanted to run traps but didn’t have the time or much of any interest in working the fur. That really burnt me out and kind of put a sour note in my mind and contributed partly to me stepping away for a while. I’ve got a couple hold over beavers from last season that I need to put up. Perhaps I’ll get those going soon.
It looks bigger than a bobcat, but hard to tell for sure. It also looks lighter and have less spotting than a bobcat. I can't see the ears well enough to distinguish long tuffs of a lynx or not.
I enjoy snaring snowshoe hares on our land up north. The snares I have set around our home and garden at at house have yielded a mixed bag of cotton tails, a grey squirrel and a possum. I have trapped pine martin and beaver as well to develop my interest in trapping, and the joy of learning how to do it. I could see getting into a bit more when semi or fully retired. When I worked in the Indian Reservation I went out with two of the guys which really kindled my interest. I saw the harvest of martin, fisher, otter, beaver, fox and ermine. One of the guys I got to know really well grew up on a reserve on Lac La Croix in Ontario, and was 15 or 16 before he went to school. Once old enough he helped on his father's trapline in the Quetico wilderness. The stories I heard from him were really interesting and covered some things that most people this day in age couldn't believe. They would leave the village in the fall and return in the spring. They had small log cabins along their line which was over 100 miles of trail which they traveled on foot and snowshoe, after leaving and eventually returning to the village by boat. Their only gun was a .22 which they used to harvest all kinds of small and large game. He unfortunately has passed on, and was a very smart man. Despite starting school in his mid teens he graduated from the University of Minnesota, and worked as the chemical dependency counselor in our clinic, before serving on the Tribal Council for the reservation. The idea of doing more trapping along my extensive trail system out the backdoor of our cabin on a winter trapline in the northern wilderness really appeals to me. I like to watch this fellow: His videos are a mix of cutting trail, snaring rabbits, catching martin and taking a grouse or two with his .22 now and then. His temperament and activities remind me of my experience with the Ojibwa trappers I was shadowing.
This is awesome. I’ve always had an interest in snaring but haven’t had a chance to try it as it’s illegal here in CT. Your post reminded me a lot of a book I read maybe ten or 15 years ago. It’s called The Trapper. Written by Phillip Sawdo. He was a native Canadian trapper during the late 1800s through the mid 1900s. Trapped in the wilderness around Lake Superior. A memeber of the Lac Des Mille Lacs reservation. It’s a little tough to read at times - not the best writing - but if you’re interested at all in trapping it holds your interest the entire way through. Just an awesome account of his lifetime spent trapping from his childhood through his later years. Thanks for sharing the YouTube Channel. My favorite channel is The Wild North. It’s videos of trapping, fishing, a little hunting and wilderness life up in th great north woods around the Hay River area south of the Great Slave Lake. Andrew Stanley is the guys name. He is native. I forget which tribe. He traps lynx, wolf, wolverine and beaver mostly. He does a lot of game cooking videos, too.
Thanks for book title Woodsman. That is one I am going to look for! I used to drive up to Lac Des Mille Lacs from our home in Hovland for a day of walleye fishing through the ice in April when the fish would congregate at the mouths of the rivers in their pre-spawn run and feeding frenzy. I also really like The Wild North with Andrew Stanley and probably have seen just about all of his videos.
Very awesome, Hovland! I think you’ll really enjoy the book. It’s available to order online on a few sites. Don’t think too many copies were published.
Hi Woodsman. Those are some cool pics. I used to do some trapping when I was a kid, mostly for beavers, mink and muskrat, but I just don’t have the time to invest in it right now and the fur prices are so darn low its hard to cover just the cost of gas. Those were some of my favorite times outdoors and I think trappers are the best woodsmen IMHO. There was a trapping forum I used to check in on you might want to look at. It was trapperman.com.
Hey Sackett. That’s how I started - mostly water trapping for beavers. Sure do miss the days of having the time to work furs. Hoping the future will hold some good trapping and fur shed days for me. I’ve used the trapperman forum before for information and guidance. Never joined it or participated in any discussions on there though.
I got a another good youtube channel for you guys. He coves a lot of martin trapping, rabbit snaring, ice fishing and hunting for seals, ptarmigan and even polar bear: William Larkham Jr
