For those who enjoy my trapping pics... today's gray fox

Won't be hitting it as hard this year as we have in the past (not that we've ever really hit it that hard...LOL) with new job responsibilities and all, but we've already caught several coons and I nailed this beauty today.

I always get a lot of requests for my pics so here ya go...

 

Love it, Greg! Do you sell your pelts?

 

A lot we do, Tony... some I keep and send off to a tannery to decorate the man cave down here.

It's really a good return on investment to do that, as the fur market continues to be down ... I could sell this gray for around $15-20, or I could have it tanned for about $20 at a professional tannery and keep it. If I bought a commerically tanned gray from Cabela's, it'd be $150 (yotes are $200, and I can only get about $7 for those)

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabe...ts&Ntt=pelts&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

 

How long do you wait before you kill them?

 

We have a family of red foxes that raise a litter every year under one of our barns. Never had the heart to shoot them after watching them grow up each year. I also see quite a number of bobcats each year but shoot every coyote I can. I have seen as many as 13 coons at one time when I feed in the off season.

 

Matt, it's just a few minutes... I take several pictures very quickly and immediately dispatch them after that. The animals are not in any unnecessary pain during that time frame, and I as well as many other trappers on here have documented instances of approaching sleeping animals in our sets when we arrived.

I check my line very early (a couple of the shots in this series triggered my autoflash) and my traps are modified to hold my animals securely and as comfortably as possible. This comes especially in handy in the event of a non-target catch, or if it's one that I wish to release due to size or sex...

And yes, I've been caught in my traps before and know what it feels like. Anyone who's trapped more than a year or so has...

 

MM, don't know if I could harm those foxes either... sorta like having a deer feed in your back yard. We'd all protect it to the Earth's end, yet leave every day to drive a distance to go deer hunting.

 

Awesome!

 

I've never trapped before Greg, so I was just curious. Thanks for the explanation.

 

Greg I've been waiting for pics like these. I know they are young but have you let either of the boys "dispatch" a trapped animal yet. If not are you waiting for a certain age?

 

The oldest shot a possum this morning shortly after we caught this gray in a beautiful cat set that I had HIGH hopes for! I've got two cat sets out right now on some good sign and I've had a stupid possum get in each one of them now on separate nights. Ugh!

 

So Greg, what are your thoughts on snares? My cousin gave me 4 of them a couple years ago, but I have not used them because I don't want to catch somebodies dog in them on accident. Also, where do you shoot the critters you trap? I would think head, but I don't know how that would be on the fur. I'm interested in starting to trap every now and then.

 

My wife just saw the first picture, said it looked like our cat, and then proceeded to start crying.

Thanks.

 

LOL Hooker... sorry.

Cole, two things... There's a difference between a "cable restraint" and a "snare"... Cable restraints have a breakaway in case a deer inadvertently gets caught and can get out'; they also hold the animal quite comfortably until you decide if it's a target catch. The Missouri Dept. of Conservation highly advocates their use where non-target catches (dogs, etc.) are possible (although dogs cought in a coilspring are no worse of the wear either), but that's a pretty eye-opening endorsement for most non-trappers. Snares typically can't be relaxed and are illegal on land.

As far as my thoughts... I choose not to use them just for the sheer joy I get out of using coilsprings... there's definitely an art out of getting an incredibly smart canine to step on a piece of steel the size of a silver dollar out of the hundreds of acres he's got at his disposal to roam around, and I love matching wits with them in that respect. Picking out location, bedding the trap properly, scent control (if you think scent control is a big deal in the whitetail world, you ain't seen nothin' yet, lol), use of prevailing winds in your sets, blending the set, etc, etc.

Trapping is just a VERY cool thing to me, and a tradition that I think a lot more people would enjoy immensely given the chance and proper mentoring. I always wanted to get involved when I was a teenager, but never had the resources or knew of anyone who would mentor me or provide instruction. I bought a book, but got overwhelmed... I'm very glad I looked back into it as an adult.

 

This.

May be the post of the day.

Great pictures Greg, always loved them. Do you ever catch household pets in your traps (honestly?). Because i know i would not be able to do that around my farm with the lab running around free all day.

 

I haven't personally Siman, but was running a line with my trapping mentor when he caught this pretty little girl. I've shown her pic before...



We released this girl and she was perfectly fine... no collar, but obviously domesticated. I would have loved to have kept her if I'd had the room for her. Extremely sweet personality -- during the release and afterwards. No ill effects whatsoever.

I was with him another time when his own dog got in one of his traps; he said it was part of the making of a trapping dog. (Dogs can be a VERY good asset to a trapper setting a line, as they will automatically show you locations you'd probably miss -- especially projection sets and urine posts. Canines will mark the same spots others will, whether domesticated or wild...). Anyway, we released his dog and I watched him very carefully as I was a beginning trapper and very curious myself about what effect it may have on his pet. It had none, other than he didn't rush right in to smell the gland lure he was using in his dirt-hole sets.

 

But to answer your question perhaps a bit better... Yeah, when I ask permission to trap a farm, the first thing I ask about is if they have dogs running loose. They WILL get in your traps... Think about it: You're trying your very best to catch one of the smartest, wiliest animals in the woods (coyote) -- the family pet is no match for it.

It just doesn't torture them like non-trappers think. The girl above was as calm as could be when we approached, and hung around us for a bit afterwards.

 

Awesome pictures Greg!! I too have been waiting for this thread. Congratulation's on the early success.

Great post Greg and he's right on everyone when talking about pets. My brother also traps allot and and when people ask him to trap some coyotes around their woods he always ask's do you or anyone In the area have running dogs? If so you all better keep them home as they'll get In the traps he says. Pain In the ass It really Is. Your after critters, not dogs. He's also got to the point that he won't trap certain places as he knows there's muts running around everywhere and doesn't want to deal with the BS that comes with It.

 

Nice Greg, Nice!!

 

Cool! Always enjoy these.

As I've said before some of my earliest outdoor memories are running the traplines with my dad. I could go along with him very young, instead of having to wait to hunt until 12.

I would love to have time to trap again someday.

And to re-iterate the dog catching thing, I was along a few times that we caught dogs and they always ended up fine. There was one black & while shepard/husky that was gorgeous and came running over to me to play the instant it was released.