Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2021 i The Trapper

It’s hard to know what to expect for the 2021-22 trapping season. Whatever’s in store for us, though, it’ll be here before we know it. If you’re at all like me, it’ll also be here before we’re fully ready for it. Correction. “Ready” isn’t the word. I’m always “ready” for trapping season. But sometimes I’m not as prepared as I ought to be. This year, though, things will be different. Last year’s trapping season was, for Jill and I, a bust, so we didn’t dirty up as many traps as normal. Ditto our equipment, lures and such. Mostly what held us back last year was that things kept getting in the way. Trapping, as we know, isn’t like hunting. You can go hunting today and be done with it, but…

Being raised by a truly fierce (in a good way) German mother and grandparents, many lessons were literally drilled into my head as a child growing up. Truth be told, I value those lessons so ridiculously much more today than I did back when they were being drilled. The one I’m going to talk about today is that, if one is going to do a job, do it right or don’t bother. When it comes to management trapping, that applies perfectly. What follows is how and why. THE FALSE CHOICE Many believe trapping will be a fun way of trying to do a little management good for their properties, and it is fun. Unfortunately, many tend not to take things we do for fun anywhere near as seriously as what…

I began my trapping career like many young trappers, pursuing muskrats and water-dwelling furbearers on my grandparents’ pond as a young schoolboy. Th at eventually morphed into trying to trap larger furbearers and canines as I got older and started high school. Being of school age in rural western Montana in the ‘80s, there was no shortage of critters to pursue in the surrounding waterways and mountains. It wasn’t far downstream on the Clark Fork River near present-day Thompson Falls where David Thompson established the Saleesh House. In 1809, racing to beat the Hudson Bay Company and American fur trading interests, he established this outpost for the North West Company to try to gain control of the region’s fur interests. David Thompson was an accomplished fur trader, surveyor and cartographer,…

Email reports to Chris.Berens@Media360LLC.com Arizona Trappers Association arizonatrappersassociation.com President — Wayne Boring, traparizona@gmail.com, Taylor, 928-243-0973 Vice President — Rick Van Horn, Kingman, 928-757-3860 Secretary — Grace Van Horn, Kingman, 928-757-3860 Treasurer — Mike Huffer, Scottsdale, 480-970-5904 Membership — Carrie Crowther, Flagstaff, 928-699-4305 Directors: Apache County — Scott Trowbridge, Chinle, 928-349-0405 Cochise County — Bob Lackner, Willcox, 520-384-3279 Coconino County — Lance Crowther, Flagstaff, 928-607-9380 Gila County Vacant Graham County — Park Romney, Thatcher, 928-428-6952 Greenlee County — Vacant Lapaz County — Vacant Maricopa County — Vacant Mohave County — Rick Van Horn, Kingman, 928-757-3860 Navajo County — Jim Manard, Heber, 928-535-9029 Pima County — Atom Hatley, Arivaca, 520-444-7116 Pinal County — Jeff Serdy, Apache Jct., 602-820-4429 Santa Cruz County — Vacant Yavapai County — Vacant Yuma County — Ryan Trousdale,…

Perspective is a funny thing. To look at a mouse and think it’s small makes a flea on a dog quite tiny and a germ unimaginably microscopic. Conversely, if you live in Texas everything seems big, yet our entire earth is the size of a germ in comparison to the universe, which is said to contain more stars than all the grains of sand on earth. Now this may all seem immaterial to one’s trapping ambitions, yet the perspective you create toward your skills and goals makes a huge difference in the outcome of both. You can bet my perspective changed one fateful day in South Dakota when I met Odon Corr. It was my first investment in trapper education — oh sure I had Garold Weiland’s book “Long Liner…

BROUGHT TO YOU BY pursuitchannel.com AUG 20-21: Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association (MTPCA) Annual Summer Convention. Osceola County Fairgrounds in Evart, MI. Vendors, tailgaters and demos. Camping with full hook ups available. Host hotel is Osceola Grand Hotel (231) 734-0470, must tell them you are with the trappers convention. For more information call Joe Velchanksy Sr. at (616) 894-6214. AUG 21: Pennsylvania Trappers Association District 8. FREE Trapper Training School, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Richfield Sportsman’s Club. Covering all aspects of trapping and fur handling. To register or for more information contact George McEntee at (717) 732-8099. AUG 28: Pennsylvania Trappers Association State Banquet. Reedsville Fire Co., Mifflin County, PA. Auctions, raffles and much more! Contact Nelson Hosler at (570) 541-2280. SEPT 11: 43rd Annual Sportsmans…

Throughout the years I have written for different trapping publications about methods, trapping techniques and actual stories dealing with coyotes. Some of the feedback from younger trappers told me that they were somewhat intimidated by the coyotes’ abilities to avoid traps. Let me just state first and foremost — no young trapper that wants to trap coyotes should be intimidated. Generally, if a young trapper follows the simple basic rules of coyote trapping, they are not that difficult to trap. The main thing to understand is the need to develop good trapping methods in order to minimize your mistakes. Making mistakes on a coyote line creates problem coyotes. No one that traps coyotes wants to see a sprung trap with no coyote in it. Also, remember that the mistakes you…

Dive into the history and reflections of some of the most influential trappers of all time. Join well-known outdoorsman Tom Miranda as he tells the stories of the Master Trappers. The book begins in the infancy of North America’s exploration and chronicles the men who built the trapping industry, from the native trappers to French traders, and weaving a history through the mountain men, pioneer trappers, cottage-industry trappers and so much more. Learn the evolution of trapping technique and theory, along with detailed biographies of many of the most productive and innovative trappers in history. Here’s a short list of the biographies, methods and trappers included: Hudson’s Bay Company, Hugh Glass, Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, John Johnson, Sewell Newhouse, The Fur Companies, A.R. Harding, E.J. Dailey, Raymond Thompson,…

Hi, I’m Hal Sullivan and welcome to my lectures on advance trapping techniques for the beginner. Today’s lesson will be in two parts. Part One will be “All About Equipment.” Part Two will be: “Gravity, What Every Trapper Should Know.” Let’s start with the equipment and let’s start with pliers. You’ll need pliers to cut your wire. You’ll need wire to trap. Trying to trap without wire is like trying to water ski without water. You’ll need a pair of “side cut” pliers. Younger trappers may be able to get by with bargain-basement pliers. The problem with those is that the cutter wears out quickly. The pliers no longer cut the wire, they “smash” a thin spot where the wire breaks on the first flex. Th at leaves a tiny…