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.