I dug these out today since all this Trapping talk has gotten me excited talking about something I did for much of my life. Like I said I was mainly a water Trapper and had a short stint with land trapping. I had oodles of photos, some even from as Late as 2000, but lost many in a house fire, so these are all I have left. These are from the late 70's and early 80's,and early 90,s,,just thought you would like to see them!! Me and little Brother Me and a Mink (dont look at the fingers) Getting ready to slay some Beavers I remember this day being very cold, my hands were frozen from skinning Rats Biggest Beaver I ever caught, it was a Blanket size. I had set trap, went down road and made a coon set. Came back past and seen muddy water and bubbles where I made set. Raised it and walla,,,a ten minute Blanket Beaver Some more Beaver Some Rats fleshed and streatched Some A three Coon and two Mink Day This is the local chapter Fur Takers of America chapter 7-C That I was a member of. This is at one of two Fur auctions every year.
Great stuff Dan !!! I never took any pictures of my trapping days. Really regret that !!! You dirty dog... you had a 3-wheeler. I did a lot of walking to get to some of my sets. Some landowners didn't want you driving on there land with your truck. The public land didn't allow any vehicles. Never failed... the best spots were always 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile in. Man a guy was in great shape during/after trapping season. Miss them days. Tim
Dan, those are some VERY cool photos!!! I'm glad you were able to salvage at least those out of the fire; those are absolutely priceless!!
Tim, that 3 wheeler was handy but sometimes a pain to. I started using it before I had my license and sometimes put 10 miles on it both ways in dead of winter. It was COLD!! And yeah you could really get into shape trapping, I still had to do alot of boot pounding to get to some of those places. It was just to hard to Hunt and trap after having kids, maby I will start again since there older now. I was at one time running a 35 mile long line. I would be wading swamps in the darkness before work and on the way home (exhausting)
In 10th grade a bunch of teachers got worried because I was a walking dead man and very moody. Tim's black mood was their term. LOL I was just getting burned out from checking traps. I started trapping coon and fox around October 20th and would go until Mid December. Once muskrat, mink and beaver opened up in mid November... it was just nuts. The day started off checking traps at 5 AM. Getting home from school and doing chores... which consisted of dragging 65 - 85 small hay or alfalfa bales ( 70 pounders ) depending on how cold it was with bale hooks 200 - 250 yards from the stack out into the pasture. I would drag 2 at a time to speed the proccess up cause I needed to check traps. The first 5 or 6 trips were no fun with 60 cows stampeding you. You would be pushing your way through the herd while they are trying to get at the bales. It was a work out !!!!! From 5 - 7: 30 PM and 11:30 PM - 2 AM... I was checking my muskrat and beaver traps again. Mainly it was just checking muskrat traps unless I had a real hot spot for beaver. Beaver were a hit and miss whether we had them in the area from one year to the next. We set the muskrat traps in the huts because the season didn't start usually before there was ice. You would check them 3 times a day. 4 times when you didn't have school. I was lucky to get 3- 4 hours of sleep a night. Principle pulled me to the side one day and asked what was up since the teachers finally went to him about it. A few of them had already jumped my parents about it. Some were worried it was drugs or booze. One asked if I was being abuse. Boy did that one not sit well with my folks !!!!!! Mom was hopping mad !!!! LOL I told the principle what was up. He knew I loved to trap. I had a 2nd period study hall so he told the teacher I would be sleeping during that and wasn't suppose to be bothered by anyone. He was a heck of a nice guy and I always got along with him good. Junior and Senoir year... my study hall was during 1st period. The principle told me I didn't need to show up for it while I was trapping. He figured I could sleep in a bit that way. I just set more traps. Tim
I knew you were an Animal Amazing how soething we love to do would drive us to that extreme Love it Timbo!!
Awesome pics Crick. I haven't trapped in probably 15 years, but someday when I have a kid I think I may start a couple of sets to teach my kids. I had a ton of fun as a kid while running a small line. Does anyone have fishers? As a kid in VT, the locals call them "Fisher Cats". I got a 12lb male fisher on Christmas morning when I was probably 11 years old or so. Wish I had pics like yours, I'm sure those are great memories.
Dang, your hands were huge even back then. I guess, it make it a breeze for you to set those 330's. I have a tough time even with setters. :D
