Connected this morning with this beautiful girl! :)

We put this small little line in three days ago, but it was raining cats and dogs that evening as I got the sets made; talk about a miserable experience... not sure if I'll ever set traps in a downpour again. I'm sure Christine has plenty of experience doing that. It's dried out a bit now, and temps were really cold last night; we got up this morning with high expectations.

After the first three sets were untouched, my spirits were dashed just the tiniest bit. I freshened up my lure and re-touched them up to bring them back to life after all the rain and moved on. As we rounded the corner, we got to experience the "Christmas-morning feeling" all trappers love to experience as this beautiful gal was waiting on us at our flat set!!

As we approached the set to show location:



My best friend and trapping partner Passing on a heritage I never got to experience in my youth but we're learning together and having a blast!









Now that's what I call a nice, high pad catch!



And the remake, ready for tonight!

 

That's great. Nice you are both learning together.

 

Fantastic Greg! I really look forward to these threads, as you know they really bring me back to my childhood and running a line in rural Vermont. Keep the updates coming!!

 

Greg, stop the madness :D your making me want to get my ole pack basket down again and start stringing steel again Those Reds are the most beautiful animal on the planet I was primarily a water trapper but loved dry land to. The new lease I have picked up has a swamp thats just eat up with Beaver that are killing trees everywhere, I mean everywhere There are Rat houses in the cattails everywhere and Coon tracks delux, why I outa!! :D That was a Good day my friend especially with your buddy along

 

Congrats Greg! Foxes are the animal of the week!

 

Awesome pics Greg, looking forward to more!

 

Nice Job Greg!

My experience with rain is that after I put my sets out.. they all became solid blocks of ice. An elephant couldn't spring one off.

You using freeze proof dirt or some other antifreeze type material?

 

Hey Christine!

Yep, learned bedding traps in our freeze/thaw conditions here in SE Mo from one of the best trappers in the state... I never have problems with traps freezing up.

I buy peat moss and salt in bulk from our local farmer's co-op... start with the peat moss, and then sprinkle out a light layer of salt to lay the trap on. Pack it in real tight and line the top edges of jaws with a light layer of salt before sifting the last layer of peat moss on before blending.

I did have three trap beds I dug in the rain immediately fill with water though... didn't think my technique would work in a bowl full of water. I abandoned those and I'll come back to those in another day or so after it dries out here a bit more.

 

wow, great pix, greg do you use snares at all?

 

I never tried peatmoss. Maybe sometime you can show me how you do that. (I tried flake antifreeze and buckwheat hulls)

I have a coyote hanging around my house that I should try catching.

 

Any time, Chris! Peat moss is awesome, and when you run it through a sifter it blends incredibly well.

Troy, I've never used snares... not sure if I'm going to. Just something about the romance of the steel trap and convincing a wild animal to put his paw exactly where I want him to... I love the thrill of beating nature's best when it comes to eyes, ears and ESPECIALLY scent-detectors in predators more on their own terms as opposed to one of them haphazardly walking into a noose.

I don't know... maybe some day -- especially if we were trying to make money, that's for sure. But this is more of a pure joy thing instead of an attempt to make anything off it.

 

Awesome!
My earliest outdoor memories are of running the trapline with my dad. Great times. I want to get back into it some day.

 

Nice, I wish I had a mentor for learning how to trap. Always wanted to spend winters doing so. I just never known any one to trap and I am one of those dumb guys that learns from doing it not reading about it.

 

Dang, tribal... wish you lived closer because I would LOVE to show you the ropes. It's really easy overall and relaxing. I have such a peace about bedding traps and constructing a set... just an overall different feeling than the pressure I put on myself during bowseason.

I love the anticipation of running my line every morning, and there's something inexplicably different about matching wits with a predator. I missed two this morning on my line which would have been a very nice haul... I'd like to finish off the season with between 5 - 10 to hang on the walls down here.

 

I'm don't know squat about trapping, but have heard about the difficultly of it.

How do you kill the animal then?

 

I carried a .22 revolver and a trowel. They either got a sharp rap on the noggin from the trowel or a .22 cb to the brain.

Greg might crush their heads with his enormous pectoral muscles. (you have to read that with the SNL 'pump you up' accent)

 

If you think picking the right tree to bow hunt is tough, just try and pick the right spot to bed a trap to get a fox to step on one square inch.

Very rewarding, nice job Greg

 

Right now I carry both a .22 revolver on my hip and a catch pole (for those not familiar with catch poles, they're sort of like what a dog catcher would use. It's got a length of aircraft cable threaded through a long PVC pipe that I can control to form a noose and slip around an animal's neck.)

Catch poles are the preferred way to put cats down as they go out very quickly when the carotid is collapsed. They're also very useful to keep a muzzle away from you in the event you catch a non-target animal such as someone's pet that shouldn't have been out roaming around. This pretty gal wasn't necessarily anyone's pet (no collar and not well fed), but a great example. Thought we had a real pretty yote when we rounded the corner on my buddy's line last year:

Thanks, Jim. That's almost exactly how my trapping mentor describes it. The animal has the whole woods to roam around in, and we're trying to get him to step on a silver dollar.

 

Coyotes are so much easier here, big feet and and enough weight to let the possums live to see another day.

Nothing like walking a half a mile to check a set on the near side crest of a hill in a hidden field only to find a trophy possum sleeping in the sun.

I'd love to try cats.

 

Cats are the coolest. I LOVE cats. I hope you get a chance to try them; nothing is more awe-inspiring to me than the shoulder muscles on a cat. Except maybe the growl they make as you approach the catch circle.



This one was part of a double that day... I'd take about 10 more days like this one.



But hands down, the PRETTIEST animal we've caught would be this one. Still regret to this day not having this one mounted:



Next one I catch that's as pretty as her will be.