why are you a trapper?

[trappnman]

I'd be curious to know your stories-

I'll go first. I grew up in a trapping family. during the 50s and 60s just about everyone that trapped, trapped the marshes and I can remember going out with my dad as some of my earliest memories.

I grew up trapping rats on the marshes, and mink on the creeks. While we did trap some rats on creeks, it was as incidentals as they were despised in the day as "paperbacks" and brought considerably less than the marsh rats did.

When we got a return of the beaver season in the late 50s, dad trapped as well and back then, it was only a spring season if I recall right.

So the first 30 years of my life I was 99% a water trapper. I did trap a few summer fox for bounty and trapped skunks for bounty as an aside to trapping gophers- but for fur strictly rats and mink.

hard for newcomers to believe, but back in the 50s and 60s coon were worth next to nothing- maybe 50 cents on a good one- the rat trappers I knew would just toss the coon on the bank aka like possums today

not until I moved to lake city in the early 80s, did I decide to trap on land- previously if I wanted coon, I used hounds.

So what I started doing, was trapping land a week or two before water opened, and then going to water. my job at the time was 1-9, so that left mornings open to trap, and all worked out well.

about this time, I wanted permission on a farm and the farmer told me sure, IF I trapped the coyotes as well. He had a lot of sheep plus dairy and the coyotes were a problem for him, having killed several sheep

so I put out "coyote traps" and lo and behold I got 7 coyotes on that farm and thought this is WAY cooler than coon.

so the next year, decide to try real hard on a few other farms, and ended up, after my first year of 7, with a staggering ZERO for that year.

but coon were still my priority- I could catch them- and some years a lot of them (never hit 1000 but got close to 900 one year)
and spending time on coyotes wasn't my goal at the time. but the next year I tried harder, and got 15, and then I slowly started weaning myself from the coon, to coyotes to the point that I if I could make money trapping coyotes 365, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

So over the years, I've come to a program that suits me just fine. I trap coyotes exclusively for 5 weeks, then trap mink, rats other water stuff and coon, from Thanksgiving til mid Jan/Feb depending on the year and the quantity of fur, and the weather of course.

so now, and for the foreseeable future, I trap gophers as soon as I can in spring throughout the summer (and boy do I have work lined up there this year!), then coyotes ten water then gophers and so on and so forth. Might go out to WY early next fall to trap coyotes at the kids place- we shall see on that.

Why do I do it? Simple- I'd rather be out in the woods and fields than be in an office or ?. I'm first and foremost a woodsman, and delight in the solitude, and beauty that all nature has to offer. To think I can enjoy all that, and pay my bills as well, makes it seem like I'm living the dream. The fact that my wife has the same mindset, makes it all possible, and even more enjoyable.

Trapping together, makes for a bond that is special

-------------------------

so who's next?

[bblwi]

Here goes
No one in my immediate or extended family trapped or none were trapping when I was young.
I started in 1957 when I was 10 with 7 rusty 1 long springs trapping pocket gophers. The township paid a 25 cent bounty and some of the neighbors paid an additional dime or quarter. I caught enough that spring and summer to buy a dozen 1 single longs through sears an Roebuck and buy a $5.00 clunker of a bike. So in 1958 I was "long lining gophers with 19 traps and a bike! I did some checking to and from grade school as that was 2.5 miles away. I peaked in 1961 with about 150-175 gophers and bought my first $25 savings bond. At age 14 the day after I graduated 8th grade I moved in with a dairy farm family 6 miles away as our family split and my mom could not feed 6 kids so I and my older sister got jobs and places to live. Here there was a small creek and I caught a few rats, a mink and my fox and skunks! I had 3 stop loss traps, 3 1.5 jumps and 2 two coils along with my gopher traps but this soil had fewer gophers. I ran my last line the fall of 1965 my senior year and did not run traps again until 1980 here in eastern WI.
I worked with dozens of farmers and saw the coon damage every year and they started asking if I wanted to catch some. I built up a small line slowly as this was the tail end of the fur boom and most land was trapped hard. In 1987 with the crash most stopped trapping and I bought used traps and picked up miles of streams and farms over the next 10 years. Much of that land I still trap.
I have squeezed in a few 4-5 day wilderness canoe rat lines up north, ran a week long dry land coon line and a 2-3 week November water rat and coon line for about 20 years now with some December coons and canines as weather and time permitted the last 10 years. I retired last Thursday (January 3rd) and my hope is to run a better northern wilderness line for a week. A more extensive 7-10 dry land coon line and my November stream rat and coon line with more November canine trapping included. I plan to do more through the ice rat trapping and learn more about colder season canines. I am doing my first through the ice rat trapping this year and learning as I go.

WHY DO I
1. After reading my first FFGs when I was in high school I have just got almost a spiritual feeling about running traps.
2. I like the idea of planning, prospecting laying out and carrying out, not much different than farming in some ways.
3. Good physical activity that can burn up lots of calories and keep an older body in pretty decent shape.
4. An opportunity to recover costs, and pay for other outdoor adventures, like hunting, canoes, snowshoes, bikes, and gas to do all that.
5. A good chance to meet people with similar likes and feelings.
6. Lots of land owners ask me regularly how I am doing so they value the services provided as well.

I hope to be able to work harder and longer but at a more relaxed pace if that makes sense when retired and just enjoy and learn more. When you try to run a moderate to longer line before or after work, then dry, skin and board it made the efforts a bit chaotic. Hopefully I can do more and it will feel like less.

Bryce

[Possum]

I lived to hunt and fish. The year was divided into two seasons, hunting season and fishing season. I have a son and daughter, 2 years apart. Though I didn’t care if they became as outdoor oriented as myself, I did want them to experience hunting and fishing, then decide for themselves. I chanced onto a dozen muskrat traps (110s and #1 LS) so I decided to take the kids trapping for a few days over Thanksgiving vacation to further their outdoor education. Prices were down in the early 90s so it was easy to secure permission to trap a mile or so of ditch.
I’d gone with a college roommate a few times and helped/watched him set traps for muskrats so I had an idea of what to do on my own. By the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’d caught a few muskrats, but far less than what I thought I should have caught so I kept the traps out and “refined” my efforts. The next year, I started at the beginning of trapping season and did better. If only I had more traps.... So I bought more traps and then decided as long as I was trapping down around the water, why not some raccoon traps? So I got some of them. A couple years later I realized I’d get an additional month of trapping if I targeted fox and coyotes.
I was lousy at the beginning for muskrats, but I learned. I was a lousy raccoon trapper, but I learned. I was equally lousy at canines but I did get better with time and practice. I was completely self taught, other than talking to some old timer trappers and eventually reading some back issues of Trapper and Predator Caller magazine. I made plenty of mistakes, probably still do, but I learned from them what works for me.
My kids aren’t trappers and not much for hunting and fishing, either. But they understand it, support it and actually look forward to coming home to eat “critters” now that they are adults and living in cities. Me? I became a trapper.

[hsif11]

I can't rmember not trapping. I'm 57 and my firdt memories of my father and I are checking rat traps. He was a tat and bvr trapper only. I trapped mostly rats until 1982 when I read an article " Boogie mink and blunder sets." I went out and set a few MINK sets and actually caught one on purpose. Well 31 years later I'll still trap mink before all else. Each fall I start with coon, fox and coyote, never got many of any of these but still love it. Than its rats and mink and mix in a few other sets till ice-up. No rats in my country but I still give her the devil. I love the idea fo traping as much as the trapping. I spend all year looking and preparing. Summer evenings i clean and adjust traps, make drowners or just play with traps. I love driving the country and looking for hot locations. I also will be retiring next friday and hope to spend some more time trapping Bvr this spring. My ultimate goal is to trap next fall with no interuptions, like work!

[Possum]

hsif11 and Bryce:
Congrats on "graduating!" I took an early out from my "real" job in 2009 to concentrate on my other jobs as a charter fishing operator and outdoor writer. Haven't been bored for a minute or regreted my decision for an instant. And I loved my work as a wildlife biologist.

[trappnman]

I think the difference between a trapper, and one who sets traps, is that the trapper, thinks about trapping 12 months a year. I cannot go for a drive, without thinking coyotes, and location, etc. and my summer work of gohper trapping is ideal, as I'm out on many of the farms throughout the summer, and tracks, sightings, etc just feed the fire

[ksboy2]

the thrill of "whats in em' today"

i am 100 percent self taught

[Zagman]

Matt Jones had a great line in one of his articles......"A trapper see's tracks in the mud or snow and just HAS to know that that critter looks like that left them"

A lot of truth in that.....

MZ

[musher]

Jan 13, 2013 5:53:23 GMT -6 Zagman said:

Matt Jones had a great line in one of his articles......"A trapper see's tracks in the mud or snow and just HAS to know that that critter looks like that left them"

A lot of truth in that.....

MZ

Is there ever. I didn't catch a monster lynx this year because the trap was frozen in. I reset and caught another lynx. Quota attained.

Now I'm seeing the big one's tracks every few days. I'm feeding it goose carcasses. i can't wait to see it in my set next season. I'm really hoping to jump it dog sledding.

My story? No one in my family traps or ever trapped. I grew up in the city but I snared hares on the outskirts.

Somehow it was in my blood. Books like Big Red didn't help. I bought my first foot hold (a #1 l.s.) when I was in grade 4 or 5.

In my early teens we moved to the country. Fox in the yard and 'rats in the streams. That's when I could finally breathe. F.F.G. helped me ge my first 'rat and fox.

Been doing it ever since. Helped pay for my studies trapping. I trapped in Nova Scotia while attending university there.

I had to slow down a couple of years when I lived North and it was native land therefore no trapping. Fur everywhere and wardens, too! We saw marten weekly. They were nice, dark and the size of house cats. I trapped when we flew out for Xmas and Easter.

But boy did I hunt! Food was expensive. We even made our spagetti sauce out of duck meat.

When we moved south I picked a location where I could trap a variety of fur bearers and I'm trapping more every year. No plans on stopping. As Steve stated, everything I do is focused on the harvest.

I remember being on a fishing trip and we were in the truck getting out of the rain. The truck windows fogged up and the black flies were making all kinds of tracks on the windows. They even followed each others trails. I began wondering how they could be snared.