For me I've never chased prices I'm hearing guys quoting backing off not trapping due to prices me personally I've put up big numbers small numbers and just plain old enjoyed the season curious to see how some of you guys are gonna go about this upcoming year and what species you are gonna concentrate on
To me if I'm smiling at the end of the day it was good at season end if I had fun and made more memories I'm golden
I buy fur and also handle fur for other trappers both for me have been down quantity wise in the past two years same clients just less and less goods
My son will be 17 and has an interest in trapping. we will set out a small line for water and land animals. $$$$ have NOTHING to do with it
Trapping season coincides with hunting season, so trapping has to wait. I dont start trapping until about the middle of January. I wont make any money, unless prices go waaay up. I'm in it for the predator control.
No water all spring/summer pretty well killed off the rest of the muskrats up here as far as population expansion. They simply are gone from the sloughs because the sloughs are gone.
I have a gallon of wolf pee and a couple hundred snares made up for that end of the deal, castors galor, beluga oil,and a little skunk for wolverine, and about 50 good stout legholds!
In rough order we're trapping fall beavers for the bounty, castor and ADC, and for use bait for snaring coyotes later. We can foot-snare black bears in a few days, set box sets for marten and fisher while deer hunting a little later yet. Look for unlucky wolves throughout, and try out the new cougar trapping season. Come spring its back to bounty beavers for the tails and bear bait for trapping and hunting. Most aspects are dual purposed, and I don't work overly hard on any of it.
I never set a one last year. I totally gave up on it for a variety of reasons. This year I know an 8 year old kid that is super excited to go so I will run with him and try to teach him a few things. That may make it my most rewarding season ever.
My 11yr old daughter passed Trappers Ed, and she just locked up some private property for after deer season. Cleaned up 4 doz traps for dying and built several ermine boxes. The little ermine is at the top of the top of the hit list this year.
I never set a one last year. I totally gave up on it for a variety of reasons. This year I know an 8 year old kid that is super excited to go so I will run with him and try to teach him a few things. That may make it my most rewarding season ever.
Trapping with kids is great. My son described the marten trap check days as being like Christmas. Not all the trees have something under them, but some of them do.
Getting ready to snare some coyote, I brush hogged 5' stripes thru 90 acres of field that hasn't been farmed for several years. Every hundred yards I disengage the brush hog for about 30 yards. This leaves tire tracks for a perfect snare set. After I get a coyote caught I set a # 3 just outside of the catch circle. Been using this method for several years with good success. Just trying to reduce the coyote population to increase the deer population. An afternoon on the tractor will increase my chances on removeing some fawn eating coyotes.
Plan to hit the coyotes hard this season and come early January make a hard run at the cats. Temperatures down here determine everything for me. If we never get cold I will still hit the coyotes and go easy on the cats. I just bought another 12 dozen traps so I am hoping for a cold winter to pay for them.