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Post by Freak( Jim V.) on Jul 23, 2008 22:44:36 GMT -6
I love stepdowns , but use a modeified version to take a little rain. The ones you guys use dont look nothing like mine. Mine suck in heavy , continuous rain and windy looose snow. Mudpuddles no matter what soil type after the ground is saturated and the snow just natuarllay fill em in. But still like em and use em.Have used em several different states too. Lure em right and you can still catch fur as soon as they are unpuddled. I have seen many , I figured wait for em to dry up enough to remake catch fur as soon as water was off before i remade em.Bob J. showed me a trick to make em even better in wet weather , but i dont think he caught the light that blinked on in my head when he showed it to me. was shwoing me a totally differenty scenario. Is why I like running with different people. lots of little things can be pisked up and incorporated into your particular style without majorly changing anything , just little stuff but helps. Steve , congrats again on breaking the 1,000 coyote barrier. Must have missed when it happened. GOOD JOB!
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Post by bobwendt on Jul 24, 2008 6:19:47 GMT -6
not for a minute do I believe any of you mud lovers are doing any trapping on a commercial scale. I can carry dry dirt,peat bla bla with the best of them, and I`m here to tell you, mud trapping is hobby trapping. if that is your goal, keep plugging 1-2-3-4 on a big day of cheap coyotes. knock yourselves out. but if seriously trying to turn a dollar or support a family even SEASONALLY, it`s a bust. and not just busts your spirit, but busts your milage, your truck and your gear and most importantly your wallet. the solution, go to a dry area- or rest up. handle fur, and as tim says, get the grab butt time in. I fought it for 30 years and finally got smart. the returns of mud trapping, not a one time wet day mind you, but the into the season down and out never going to dry again- only prayer is freeze up, well, my time is spent better elsewhere. maybe road trapping coons in 220s if mama wore out on me ,and I feel possesed to trap. I KNOW how to snare and walk etc etc, just not worth my time when fighting the weather is a bigger fight than fighting all other things combined. there is a reason folks head south or west when the world as we know it fills up with water. if you are stranded home by family or work obligatioins ,and want to keep on in the mud and the blood and the misery, well, whatever.
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Post by ohiyotee on Jul 24, 2008 6:45:11 GMT -6
well Bob that pretty much sum's it up
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Post by Zagman on Jul 24, 2008 7:24:12 GMT -6
I have such a buildup of mud under my truck that plant life actually grows up under there.......honest.
Zagman
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Post by bobwendt on Jul 24, 2008 9:14:05 GMT -6
I canb remember even in the cheap gas days stopping at the carwash daily as #1 didn`t want the farners to see the mud on the truck roof etc, #2 it was at least many hundreds, maybe 1,000 lb, extra crammed up under everything and on everything that just compounded the poor truck performance and the extra weight tore the fields up even more. atv`s, sure I know all aboutthem, had them for 25 years and probably logged hundreds of thousands of miles on them trapping in the mud. it sucks. show mr a $500-1,000 each ( relative to today by inflation) coon and red fox market like we had in the boom and I`ll do it again. but for 8-15 bucks, no way.
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Post by bobwendt on Jul 24, 2008 9:15:57 GMT -6
ps, zag, at $6 corn and $15 beans, you can probablt make more farming your bumpers than skinning coyotes. plus the gov`t program, you could just put the fenders and bumpers in set aside crp acres.
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Post by lumberjack on Jul 24, 2008 10:02:12 GMT -6
Farming your bumpers now thats funny right there. I can usually gravel my driveway at the end of the season with whats on my floormats.
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Post by freepop on Jul 24, 2008 10:21:46 GMT -6
Back to to topic at hand, do you think that traps not bedded firmly and packed in between the jaws will contribute to a higher percentage of toe catches?
Mr. Wendt, I sure wish I knew what kind of dope you put in your holes, because from what you've said a few times, it really makes a difference.
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Post by bobwendt on Jul 24, 2008 11:44:08 GMT -6
bedded /packed? a great big NO. biggest fallacy in trapping today. we use to be told ( and believe)change traps after every possum too, use different gloves to set and ck, that #2 square jaw victors were THE fox trap, yada yada. graduate, leave the stone age and the husslers and those trying to sell you something behind. look at a fresh disced or plowed field, canines all over it -lumpy, sinking soft. what`s in the hole? I`ve told it 1,000 times probably and folks just say b.s. or don`t believe bla bla. it`s like steve craig says, how can you tell folks they don`t know what they don`t know. and oh ya, just keep buying the yellow see thru summer collected pellet fed tame fox pee for $14.95 a gallon ( on sale and if you buy $100 of whatever else) ,and wondering what the "secret" is. lol, that`s not it!
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Post by freepop on Jul 24, 2008 12:14:32 GMT -6
Bob, I'm an older guy but a newbie at trapping, this'll be the 3rd year.
So my experiences are far far fewer than yours.
My suggestion of traps not bedded was to imply that the ground that held the trap would be significantly different than the surrounding ground, thus causing some additional hesitation (suspicion) in all movement around the set.
You do any ride alongs? price?
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Post by scott kimball on Jul 24, 2008 17:19:59 GMT -6
I am not trying to ONE-UP anyone but i have a 50 foot long driveway and after my fall trapping and when spring rolls in,I have to remove a wheelbarrow full of dirt from my 2 foot wide 50 foot long geranium garden. just from the mud off my truck.
Zag i never thought about growing my stash in or under my vehicle.BRILLIANT.LOL
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Post by dabrock on Jul 25, 2008 15:28:58 GMT -6
While I agree that ajustments can be made when trapping in our eastern mud, I also agree with Bob. I only run a 100 or so traps and just for a hobby, If I was earning a living trapping, I would find dryer places to trap. Fighting mud can be time consuming.
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Post by Freak( Jim V.) on Jul 25, 2008 20:05:11 GMT -6
Pretty much a hobby boy , but I even gave up 90% on trapping here in pa. Been less and lees each year since seeing the sunnier side of life. LOL You guys make me laugh , I just noticed this concrete like coating on my springs and bumper areas that I realized was sand/mud that had hardened real hard from last February , and its been washed both at drive throughs with them fancy undercar teatments and pressure washed many times since. guess its there to stay.
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Post by thunderbolt on Jul 25, 2008 22:14:27 GMT -6
Come to NM. We don't have any rain, stray dogs, anti's or toe catches.
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Post by foxcatcher1 on Jul 25, 2008 23:37:23 GMT -6
Thunder bolt your full of crap!!! I have been arguing with an AR group on line for the last 3 months. ( I get bored workin nights) They are going to take your trapping rights before you know it. Seriously. I have looked into going out west or north for a short trip. I will have to catch enough fur to pay for it as if not the wife will have MY fur (if you know what I mean). A DRY day on the Indiana coyote line Don
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Post by RdFx on Jul 26, 2008 6:08:20 GMT -6
Don its a wonder the farmers in Indiana havent gone to raising rice! That yote sitting on the high spot of your set too, suppose he was getting tired of a wet ass..
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Post by thebeav2 on Jul 26, 2008 7:44:50 GMT -6
I think some on the pad catches end up as toe catches. Especially In centered swiveled traps. That first lunge can move that trap down to the toes. Even on a high catch that trap can move and If you have wet conditions and a weak trap they could all end up as toe catches.
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Post by thunderbolt on Jul 26, 2008 8:47:52 GMT -6
No one is getting our trapping. We don't have a ballot innitiotive in NM. Cattleman run the Congress, Game dept is trapper friendly. Unless the lynx lawsuit gets us. You can battle antis all you want on the internet but they are nothing here.
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Post by foxcatcher1 on Jul 26, 2008 23:49:52 GMT -6
Thunderbolt I hope for your sake you are right. Sounds like you have a good F&W department. The antis do have a ton of support from some of the more populated areas. I hope you guys do well. So can you give me some pointers on were to start when I get there?
Don
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Post by bobwendt on Jul 27, 2008 5:25:06 GMT -6
I`vw3 no qualms at all admitting the weather and the indiana dnr has reduced me to hobby trapper at best while I am in indiana. I debate if I ever want to set a trap in thisstate again. I can`t pay for the privelage of being abused and losing money just to say how many coyotes Ican catch. it`s a bunch, but can`t do it free or in constant mud. not worth my time or effort. there are places the sun shines 330 days a year and it same as never rains , and predators are predators and not protected
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