I've never trapped or went with anyone to check traps, but I am very interested in starting. I can read stuff on the internet and I have, but I'd like to hear some advice from you guys. What is some stuff that I absolutely need to know? What should I be looking for? Any advice/input would be fantastic!

I'm sure a N.Carolina trapper assn. has a website. Try
to get in cahoots with a local trapper. Save a lot of
time and trial and error. Good luck!

This sounds kind of simple, but the first thing to learn would be how to read animal sign. Go out in the woods and streams where you live and start observing what is going on there. Look for tracks and scat and other signs. Look for beaver houses and muskrat huts. Look for trails. Try to get a good idea of how animals go about their daily lives.

Because you can have the best trapping equipment in the world, and use the best lures made, but if you don't set the trap where the animals are, you won't catch anything.

http://www.nctrapper.org/index.php?p=1_16_Education

North Carolina laws vary from county to county, so make sure you learn all of the laws that apply to your county.

Much of the state has no fox trapping. Written permission required on all private ground.

Hound hunters control the laws and they are not friendly to trappers.

Some guys do live market in NC. I advise against it....just supports the lobby that is smothering the trappers there.

I trapped on base in Onslow county for several years. Water trapping beaver and otter was the most lucrative. Good meat market for coons in east carolina. Good numbers of bobcats but they were flat rabbit backs.

I know nothing about the live market in NC, or how the majority of the populace feels about the live-market, so to say anything about it would be useless.

However, in LA the governor signed a law stating that the running of foxes/coyotes was part of the 'states heritage'. The senate vote was 36-1, the 1 being the senator from NO, that supports all the tree-hugger bills. Since this is a law that went thru the legislature and not the Wildlife and Fisheries dept., it will take legislative action to reverse it. Not saying it cant be reversed, but it will require a lot more effort.

Some years the fur market is good and like this year, it isnt. The prices we get for southern fur is very low and without the live market, trapping wouldnt pay for itself.

I'm not arguing with the advice you gave 45, just stating what the situation is, here in La.

If you can, go to as many conventions in the summer as you can afford. Not only a wealth of information in demo's but also some good deals to be had on traps from the tailgaters.