new line

[Gibb]

We have a registered trap line system in parts of Ontario also, the lines are allocated on a point system. Part of the management system for registered lines are mandatory beaver quotas. A trapper with a register line must harvest 75% of their assigned beaver harvest. We can have more than one registered line but not very common. We can also trap on more than one registered trap line. Our lines go from 100km up to about 700km but most are around 150km. I have 3 lines with quotas on beaver, lynx, marten and fisher everything else is open.
Points are made from year of experience taking a trappers course and belonging to a trappers council, also extra points if you live on or close to the line. Takes about 15 points to acquire a line. You buy the line improvements like camps and equipment. Some lines have no camps so price is cheap. Some lines have more than one camp so price can vary. Problem with our lines is to much logging and no marten left. Trapping beaver is like how much fun can you afford.
Jim

[wolfrunner]

Are all "Camps" painted the same green color ?

[bblwi]

How long of a season do you have, or a better question is about how many days or nights would one use the trap line cabins during the season?
Also do you run one line at a time or do you run multiple lines simultaneously?

Bryce

[Gibb]

For myself in Ontario, I use my main camp on one of my lines for about 20 days a year during the season and about 20 more days before the season for maintenance of the trails and scouting. Most trappers will use it more because they would normally hunt, fish and maybe pick blueberries in season. In my part of Ontario the season for fur start as early as Oct. 5th and can run till May 31st, within the season different fur bearers will have seasons that open after and close before beaver and muskrat are the longest with long hair like Lynx and Marten running from Oct 25th to Feb 28th.
Something to understand is that we do not have the numbers of animals per square mile that you would in farm country. One of the reason we have large areas. Even with the registered trap line system the reality in todays fur prices you can not make any money unless you have a large and healthy marten population. In my case my marten disappeared off the landscape around the year 2000, main cause was over harvesting of the timber resource.
While we have exclusive rights to the trapping we do not have any real rights, we compete against mining, logging, exploration work and 100 other interest on the land.
My number 1 expense is gas I will burn 250.00 to 300.00 a week at one time I could catch 100 to 150 marten but now maybe 20.
You have to love what you do.
Depending on the time of year you would run the lines at the same time. In the fall you would normally run one at a time and carpet bomb the place for beaver for a few days and than move.
Jim

[musher]

Aug 12, 2011 21:39:10 GMT -6 wolfrunner said:

Are all "Camps" painted the same green color ?

Mine seem to be! Many of the others I've seen are, too. If not, they are reddish.

The season lasts a long time. It starts Oct 25 and ends for most species on March 1. Then you have spring bear.

Most guys hit hard for two weeks at camp and then week-end it. It sounds like a lot of room but if a guy only has one line he can really put the hurt on certain species.

Each line will take about 2 days to set up. One day for the marten boxes. That's a quick but busy day. Two guys can have an installation done in about 2 minutes. All the prep is done and it's just bait and install trap.

Then we split up and I do the canines while partner hits the beaver. We fill in spots for mink/otter as we run the set up stuff. Within a week a line is a very trapped area. At the end of the second week lots of the easy fur is gone. Beaver is pretty well done.

Things like marten and otter/wolves are very vulnerable to over harvest. And once the numbers are down they do not spring back up unless the guy on the next line doesn't trap much and the young dispense your way.

We're going to hit all 4 lines at once. There are three lines that get snow about 2 weeks earlier. Two of them find us about 40 km.deep from the road. There is also one heck of a long hill to climb out, not much human traffic and lots of trees that always seem to block things.

Those lines will get set first and picked up first.

The third line gets the snow but you're never more than 7 km. from the road. It is also plowed right up the middle for half of it. It has great access. There are lots of cottagers also.

The original line can be trapped all winter with ease. The cottagers tap trails with the snow mobiles and I sled there all winter. At the furthest point you are 25 km. from the road.

We trap hard until Xmas or slightly earlier depending on catch and weather. We have specific number objectives of certain fur bearers we want to harvest and once we get there we stop. However, if we get there too fast we might continue a little because that would mean we underestimated the population. If the traps are empty we pick up earlier. Low population and fuel costs eating you.

The dog sled line gets trapped until I'm tired of it or common sense says to stop.

I plan on sleeping in a sleeping bag as little as possible. I also plan on eating a warm lunch in a camp as often as possible. What we do is light the stove as we trap one leg and then we enter a warm building to dry off and eat before trapping another section. Daylight and what's left to do determines the rest.

[schweg2]

Interesting read! Thanks guys for posting!

[trappnman]

Gibb- so are everyone that gets enough points, able to then get a line? Are there lines that open up every year? or even if oyu get enough point,s you have to wait until something opens? and if oyu own a line is it yours for life if you do the quotas?

running lines like you guys are what I grew up dreaming about- you should offer getways on your lines-

[Gibb]

Normally the line is yours forever if you keep up your end which the beaver harvest. One of my lines I have trapped on since 1983.
Always lines opening up guys quit real fast when they findout how much work is involved. I belive the number of lines is like 2,800 in Ontario. Each area is broken down into districts and in each district it is normal for a line or two to come up each year.
I have taken many guys on my line over the years I have a really good friend that comes almost every year from Wisconsin. He is on this board.
Another way for someone to receive a line is to buy a line and become the helper trapper on that line until you have enough points to take over.

Jim
Always looking for extra help the last week of Oct.

[musher]

I'm always careful about who I take on the line. Too often the other guy slows you down. Every guy always says "You guys don't stop." Often enough we eat in the truck as we go from spot to spot. If we do have a hot camp we're only there for 15-20 minutes. Usually there is no down time until dark. Once I get home is dogs and skinning and prepping for the next day.

Repacking the truck takes time, too.

That might change a little this year. The closest line is a one day check because we split up. Last year we had 2 of the other lines that are fairly close. We did it in one day together. Long day but doable. With the addition of the new line this year will be a challenge. We might still be able to do it in one day splitting up and going full bore. But we'll probably just spend the night in the bush and have 2 days to do the 3 lines.

The hassle of sleeping in the bush is the skinning. We are not equipped to skin in the woods. Not enough light and we do not want to tote skinning stuff.


I've thought about offering dog sled trapping tours. Problem is that the clientele is mostly European. They pay but they can be a pain. It would almost have to be "fake" trapping where you stick a frozen critter in a few traps, sled a couple of km. and then show them the dog care and skinning. I know of a couple of guys that do it. All their fur gets sold to the Europeans, too.

Sounds like a job!

Steve: You are more or less doing the same thing except your camp has more people around it than mine.

[bblwi]

Thank you for the replies. I am impressed by the amount of management not only of the fur bearers but of the line and the facilities that a trapper has to do. We have a former Canadian citizen who is a taxidermist living about 3 miles from us. He used to have two registered lines in Ontario. He talked about the scouting and then determined how many martin, beaver etc. he had and about how many he could take. Very interesting and informative.

Bryce

[Gibb]

Because you trap the same piece of land year after year it gives you a sense of ownership, if you over harvest you are the one who will pay for it. On my Fortune line my camp is the only camp in the whole trap line. In the late fall after moose season closes I can pass the whole week without seeing another person.
I spend more time now inspecting my marten nesting boxes than I do trapping marten.
Funny how things go sometimes.
Jim

[Stef]

I spend more time now inspecting my marten nesting boxes than I do trapping marten.

Do they work good?

[Gibb]

No