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School me on trapping

C

cville_bowhunter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2022
Messages
272
I know nothing about trapping, but thanks to books like Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain, I've had a lingering interest in it since I was a youngster. I was recommended a pretty sweet YouTube channel by @2Sloe which has seriously piqued my interest in trapping. I wanted to open this up to other members, as I often see people make reference to trapping in other posts.

So, what resources would you recommend to learn more about trapping? Any books, YT channels, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a specific species in mind, just trying to learn more about trapping in general.

Also, I would love to hear your background in trapping, how you got into it, what you like about it, etc.

Thanks!
 
This is our 3rd spring and we are at 92 or 93 coons, skunks and possums. We are just using dogproofs though, not real trapping lol. The farm is too far away for us to do any serious trapping like for yotes or bobcats. Would basically only get one night per trip and bear and beaver are hardly worth cash money when skinned anymore.
 
I just messed around with it some this winter. I purposely avoided doing too much of the youtube rabbit hole. I watched a little of cooncreek. I looked some stuff up on trapperman and had a couple mentors I could bounce stuff off. My dad trapped before we came along and had some advice and a little old gear. Mostly I'm just trying to go on this journey and figure things out myself. I got into it probably $300 total in new gear and I feel pretty well equipped as a weekend warrior.

Gear wise, seems the vast majority of guys trap from atv's on private land, so I had some fun modifying some gear to hoof it on public. Next year I'm going to do some trapping from my kayak too. Nothing too crazy, I tried to keep it pretty simple.

I really enjoyed it. Checked a something to do box for me at a time there otherwise isn't a lot to do. After rifle season is over I need a break from deer for awhile, but I still checked some scouting boxes while I was out trapping. For me it's mostly a way to stay in the woods in a participatory manner longer, extend the season a bit.

I'm certainly not saying I picked up everything there is to know, but catching critters isn't all that crazy hard. I learned to pay attention to a lot of sign and habitat I otherwise would not have. I absolutely agree it can make one a better woodsman in that regard. My goal this year is to catch a bobcat in a blind set. This being purely a hobby for me, I can make silly purity distinctions like that.

Fur handling on the other hand, I didn't realize how much work was involved! Trapping is a lot of work but it's fun too. Fur handling I just found to be a lot of work. Selling furs in today's market is somewhere between chump change and massive financial losses, depending on perspective, most significantly how you view your time as an opportunity cost. But as a hobby, I had a good time with it and I refuse to let anything usable go to waste so I do the best I can to learn how to treat the furs.

I had the most fun with beaver because I just find them really cool, and they are also pretty good to eat. Beaver is actually doing relatively quite well at the auctions this spring. I guess "Yellowstone" has driven the hatter market up pretty significantly. We really don't have all that many beaver in my area, so I'm hoping that doesn't lead to much added pressure. If you're into map scouting as many of us are also, beaver are fun. They are at the same time very easy to find because their dams can be seen from above, but at the same time a bit tricky because you're usually working with older high-quality aerials, so there are some newer dams that don't show up yet that you'll only find in person.
 
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If you trap as a hobby, then you could also learn to tan your own fur and make things out of it, AS well as eat the stuff you trap (excluding skunk and fox, both of which I tried but isn't really good) then its such a fun side project.
I beaver trap mostly for meat and to make beaver rug pelts to give as gifts to all my non-hunting non-trapping family. I'm working on collecting them now for a large beaver blanket for our bedroom.
I've never sold a single fur. Just learned how to tan them. This last year I've hardly trapped because of all my carbon projects......man I've gotta get out into the woods now...
 
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elk yinzer said:
I just messed around with it some this winter. I purposely avoided doing too much of the youtube rabbit hole. I watched a little of cooncreek. I looked some stuff up on trapperman and had a couple mentors I could bounce stuff off. My dad trapped before we came along and had some advice and a little old gear. Mostly I'm just trying to go on this journey and figure things out myself. I got into it probably $300 total in new gear and I feel pretty well equipped as a weekend warrior.

Gear wise, seems the vast majority of guys trap from atv's on private land, so I had some fun modifying some gear to hoof it on public. Next year I'm going to do some trapping from my kayak too. Nothing too crazy, I tried to keep it pretty simple.

I really enjoyed it. Checked a something to do box for me at a time there otherwise isn't a lot to do. After rifle season is over I need a break from deer for awhile, but I still checked some scouting boxes while I was out trapping. For me it's mostly a way to stay in the woods in a participatory manner longer, extend the season a bit.

I'm certainly not saying I picked up everything there is to know, but catching critters isn't all that crazy hard. I learned to pay attention to a lot of sign and habitat I otherwise would not have. I absolutely agree it can make one a better woodsman in that regard. My goal this year is to catch a bobcat in a blind set. This being purely a hobby for me, I can make silly purity distinctions like that.

Fur handling on the other hand, I didn't realize how much work was involved! Trapping is a lot of work but it's fun too. Fur handling I just found to be a lot of work. Selling furs in today's market is somewhere between chump change and massive financial losses, depending on perspective, most significantly how you view your time as an opportunity cost. But as a hobby, I had a good time with it and I refuse to let anything usable go to waste so I do the best I can to learn how to treat the furs.

I had the most fun with beaver because I just find them really cool, and they are also pretty good to eat. Beaver is actually doing relatively quite well at the auctions this spring. I guess "Yellowstone" has driven the hatter market up pretty significantly. We really don't have all that many beaver in my area, so I'm hoping that doesn't lead to much added pressure. If you're into map scouting as many of us are also, beaver are fun. They are at the same time very easy to find because their dams can be seen from above, but at the same time a bit tricky because you're usually working with older high-quality aerials, so there are some newer dams that don't show up yet that you'll only find in person.
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Beaver meat is the best meat IMHO, yes more than beef, pork, venison.....the flavor is just fantastic! Also I agree with you that they are so cool to watch, and boy are they are smart and if you're not careful can quickly become hard to trap.
 
Trial and error for me. I tried my hand at coyote trapping this spring. Bought 6 footholds and over the course of 3 weeks probably average 3-4 traps out (had to pull them prior to turkey season). I only ended up catching one yote which I thought was pretty bad but then after watching some youtube and success rates with the number of traps I had out, it seems one catch wasn't that bad. I also lost a trap to a coon (had a trail cam on the trap). Turns out a coon running in circles resulted in my quick link unscrewing (will wrench them down in the future) from the earth anchor and the coon left with my trap on its leg. Still hoping to find the trap but thus far I have not. I was surprised at the amount of work running traps turned out to be (big reason I didn't have all traps out all the time). I also wasted a week on one trap that I was checking from a distance with binos, turns out the trap was dug up the very first night so the remainder of the week was wasted. Lots of small little things like that my first attempt.

I've also trapped coons at my house near my chicken coop but they seem really easy to catch with corn in the bottom of a dogproof trap. But since it's at my house and the chickens are nearby, scent isn't an issue at all and just all around much easier than yote trapping in the actual woods.
 
I am 100% certain a lot of the things that trappers were told to do in the past was to keep them tinkering instead of trapping. Also Trapperman blows. Pick a guy that his style is something you can relate to and roll with his videos or books. Its all making the animal step on the trap. Theres no special sets or magic to it. Learn animal behavior and you'll do fine.

Things you can certainly skip are longwood dye, anything regarding keeping your scent down gloves included, trap mods and waxing your traps.

I hit my traps with some spray paint and called it a day. Spend as much as you like, but in the end most traps outperform the trappers using them.
 
Rg176bnc said:
I am 100% certain a lot of the things that trappers were told to do in the past was to keep them tinkering instead of trapping. Also Trapperman blows. Pick a guy that his style is something you can relate to and roll with his videos or books. Its all making the animal step on the trap. Theres no special sets or magic to it. Learn animal behavior and you'll do fine.

Things you can certainly skip are longwood dye, anything regarding keeping your scent down gloves included, trap mods and waxing your traps.

I hit my traps with some spray paint and called it a day. Spend as much as you like, but in the end most traps outperform the trappers using them.
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This goes against everything I've heard and read. Stick with the guys who produce.
 
Once upon a time I was a real trapper… it was my sole profession and I did well enough to not lose my house, just a couple girlfriends that couldn’t handle the smell of me a few months out of the year.

any resource is a good resource, but boots on the ground is what will make you better. It’s just like scouting for deer except you need to look for sign from all the cridders out there. Learn a few ways to set each type of trap for each type of of game you are going after, a setup in the woods, a setup for in the water, beside a creek, near a den and so on and then go give it a try. Doing a set for a trap isn’t the hard part, getting them to put a foot on that 1” circle is. This is where you will hone in on your woodsmanship skills

If you let me know what you are after and what type of traps you are going after I will can get more specific on sets to learn.


if I had one resource to learn about trapping it would be “Trapping North America” by Stanley Hawbaker. It will give you the basics and how to from A to Z, it even tells you how to make coffee

Couple words of advice contrary to popular belief. If you are trapping coons and skunks scent doesn’t matter, but it sure will on a fox yote or bobcat that is in an area of pressure. Trap care is very important, tuning, boiling, dying and waxing on some traps are almost necessary but there are traps and setups where a spray painted trap will work just fine. Traps types like dog proof traps work great and can get you onto properties and areas that would otherwise be off limit to trapping and they really work well. If trapping on public land expect to loose traps and don’t set up in areas that guys would normally run dogs, like a pheasant stocked field - sure there are plenty of foxes and yotes but guaranteed every trap you set will be found on the foot of a hunter’s dog and you will never see it again.

Go have fun. It’s a game of chess and you will become a better woodsman and hunter and the bond you will build doing this with your boy will be stronger than you could imagine. Good luck
 
@cville_bowhunter where are you located? I'm trying to teach myself some trapping skills - loosing a lot of hardwoods to beavers, I've got woodchucks by my retaining wall, and there's a skunk that sometimes sprays my front door - but so far I haven't put enough time into solving these problems. I did get the red squirrel that was raiding my pickup cab, though. I'm in Northern MN.
 
BTaylor said:
22 to the ear hole will fix the woodchuck. A dogproof and a small handful of dry cat food will catch the skunk, just dont set it by the front door. Losing your hardwood to beaver...Cialis???
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I used to have a bunch of maple and ash trees on my riverfront property. I still have a few but the loss over 3 years has been pretty dramatic. I don't care if they take popples or dogwood but c'mon... mature maples and ash trees? They halfway girdled a mature oak tree as well.
 
It really all starts with what you plan on trapping. A lot of different traps/sets/equipment dependent on your target animal(s). Because you're a deer hunter I would suspect you're trying mostly for predator control??? Not completely sure. If you're just honestly interested in just learning to trap...... my advice is to start with upland coon. Pretty straightforward equipment and traps some sets you may get a red or gray or coyote. Places like F&T Fur Harvesters Trading Post, Sterling Fur, etc. have starter packages dependent on what you want to start trapping. Other great ways to get equipment for cheap is to go to a trapper rendezvous you can get deals on used traps (and even new traps) without the shipping costs. Places like Trapperman.com or your state trapper association will have several information resources. Tell us what you want to trap and we can go from there.

As far as my personal experiience, I've been trapping since I was a kid, started a land line for coon and fox and then rats and mink for the later starting water trapping line. Some of my fondest memories were on the water line. Progressed to beaver trapping and coyotes. I'm not a long liner by any means but have ran traps and traplines off and on for years. Often when someone needs beavers trapped they call me. I'm also a NYS Volunteer Trapping Instructor.

@SNIPERBBB ??? is hardcore trapper too.
 
Iron_llama said:
@cville_bowhunter where are you located? I'm trying to teach myself some trapping skills - loosing a lot of hardwoods to beavers, I've got woodchucks by my retaining wall, and there's a skunk that sometimes sprays my front door - but so far I haven't put enough time into solving these problems. I did get the red squirrel that was raiding my pickup cab, though. I'm in Northern MN.
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I am near Charlottesville, VA. A little far from northern MN, unfortunately! Sounds like you have your work cut out for you around the house
 
woodsdog2 said:
It really all starts with what you plan on trapping. A lot of different traps/sets/equipment dependent on your target animal(s). Because you're a deer hunter I would suspect you're trying mostly for predator control???
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I was initially thinking about coyotes, yes, but I am mostly just curious in the craft as a whole. There is a big ol' skunk that I see creeping around my yard every now and then (smell all the time), and he also has me intrigued. I was reading about trapping rabbits too, and that sounds like it could be a blast...in typical fashion, my initial interest in trapping is starting to wander all over the place
 
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