Nobody would want to ride with me. But here is a regular day. Being a contractor I take every winter off and trap or hunt every day. My road lines keep me busy during coon season. I am o. The road by 2 am and go nonstop till usually 5 or 6. By then I am spent and still have to skin as much as possible by 8. Then the rest go to one of the many freezers. Then it's supper shower and off to bed around 10 . I run like that Monday through Friday and pull everything on Friday. Saturday I skin what I didn't get to during the week and Sunday is family and church day. All my lines are pretty much the same rather it coon or k-9 and I usually am done the first of December except for small local lines. Come january I start hitting the local beavers but after about 30 I pull everything and get ready for walleye fishing.

NICE!

today went out 5 30 am before school to check traps.i have about a three mile walk every morning behind my house.checked my first four traps and nothing and by the way im trapping coon and fox. i keep checking the traps quick to make sure i get to the house before i have to go to school which is 7 30. the next seven or eight traps nothing so i was like well i can check the rest when i get out of school soon as i turned around to walk back i seen movement about 100 yards away and seen two red fox walking right by my hay set man i was MAD.i decided to just check all of the traps and i found out is was a good thing i had a double on coon with my last two traps left.i was running back to the house with two coons lol and i got inside and looked down blood all over my my hunting pants which had my school clothes under them which was blood all over them lol.man it was fun and still mad it to school on time.

So, my youngest boy has really taken to trapping and has become my "trapline buddy" He's learned all the ins and outs from trap prep to putting up fur....so our day starts with coffee and juice boxes and we're off to check the line....For the most part, we're trapping coyotes which means snares and plenty of steel in the ground....but this year we targetted some coon at the request of the youngster (who apparently was tired of seeing coyotes in traps!!)...our first stop landed us 3 yotes, 2 reds and a mess of coon...and this was one stop....one day....he had a blast!!

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Well as of late It would be a story of theft and frustration!! BUT here is my usual day.

The alarm goes off at 4am, I hit the shower and shave, gotta have that neat clean Marine appearance, I don't get a chance to clean up before work so I get ready before hitting the line. Get that coffee buzz going, some eggs n toast too, then throw on the Carharts and the knee boots. The clunker is loaded with steel and has a full tank of gas. I leave the house around 445am and hit the front gate of the base around 5, pass through the gate after the Marine MP checks my ID, and I get the customary Good Morning Sergeant, OOHRAH, I return his greeting and drive on.

I hit the dirt road and drive the 3 miles to my sets. I always sit for a minute with my window down, and the car off in the dark just enjoying the silence of the woods. I check the water portion of my line. First the culver guarded on all four sides by #1LS hoping for that mink I keep hearing about. On down the line to my 2 110 bottom edges, nothing yet still waiting. Then I check the 3 pockets set on alternating sides usually a coon here but today nothing, at least the traps are still there! Cross the stream and up the high bank to the cat sets both empty so far this year but I'm patient, I'm sure they will connect. Then I have to pick my way back through the briars and brambles to the car. My headlamp doesn't quite cut it for these really dark mornings, I keep telling myself to get another flashlight, the last one broke on impact with a tree after seeing a trap was stolen, hahaha.

After making the way back to the car I grab the trap basket with the remaking tools and hit the trail on the opposite side of the road. I walk along the stream headed through the darkness and just enjoying the brisk air and time outside. The first set has had hair in it twice now, so it got moved about 4 feet closer to the intersection of the trails, we'll see what those fox do with that little surprise. Next set a scent post that produced 2 last year, none yet this year. The next set has produced 1 this year the first check two weeks ago, nothing since, not gonna move it quite yet though. Around the corner to the next set, where the aforementioned incident with a turkey and trap thief end this set. On to the food plots, first set bingo a nice grey this morning. I am pleased with myself twice its been rolled so I moved it just a couple inches from last time, and I got a perfect front paw catch just behind the pads. I take out the 22 with the low charge shorts I use and dispatch him. I check out the trap and clean it up a bit, no blood or anything so I remake it. I bed another one on the edge of the catch circle and move on. To the little knoll in the middle of the plot, I can see the other three sets from here and they are empty but I am happy I got some skinning to do! I throw him in the trunk in the bin with the kitty litter, and head to work.

I change into my Utilities in the lockerroom and go the the morning brief. I sit in the brief and switch off the morning events and turn on the Air Traffic Control side of my brain. After talking to planes all day and getting my stress level through the roof I get to go home and relax in the garage with some Hank Williams Sr and a skinnin knife. Its a great day to be alive!!

my days arent that great as some of you big time trappers but here is my day- wake up around five and eat breakfast and start my truck, i leave around 530 to go check traps first stop is a little piece of land not to promising so there are only a few traps set, about 10 minutes before i am off to the next stop it is not much either but it is quick to check so no big deal and i am off to my favorite stop, the farm is on a hill with rockfaces all around the property, i usually get at least a coon a day maybe more, sometimes a skunk and i leave it til after school, then after i reset the trap i head for home around 630 and get ready for school, then after school i go to my beaver stop and then go pull and reset traps at certain areas

not much but its good enough for me

Ha! Got ya!

I had this over on the Trapper Talk forum, but it quickly went back a few pages - lol....

I left the house shortly after sunrise and traveled 10 miles to the City's wetland area. This is part of their waste water treatment. Its the last phase the water goes through before being released back into the river. The wetland is a series of lagoons with aquatic plants in them to remove the nitrogen from the water.

The problem is the aquatic vegetation is a food supply for muskrats and nutrias. The nutrias have been eating a lot of the plants, so I've been catching them.

Here's a shot of the wetlands...



There are two nutrias here in traps. One is at the mound and one is past the mound where you see the support sticks for the bodygrip. You can see a patch of fur above the water, but that's it....



And here is the third nutria....



From the wetlands, I went about 1 mile to a ditch where there is a beaver problem. The city dug the dam out and the beavers didn't rebuild for four days. So, I began digging out a hole in the dam and got the beaver use to coming to fix it. Soon they were coming to fix the dam the first night every time I broke the dam. Because these beavers showed signs of being shy, I decided I'd go with a dam break set with a foothold. I broke the dam this morning and would return after I ran my rounds to make the set. I wanted to let the water drain down a bit so I could better judge where to place the trap.

Here's the dam before breaking it this morning...



From here I traveled northeast 82 miles to the other side of Greenvile to the next site. This is a culvert where beavers have been going through. There's one beaver left and it won't respond to anything, so I figured a snare at the culvert opening should do the trick... eventually. I had placed the snare and support there a couple of months ago so the beaver would get use to it. I just set it today....



From there I traveled 6 miles to the next site on the same tract of land. The beavers have a culvert plugged and water is flowing over the road....



I have two 330s at this site. I picked up a two year old last Thursday and picked this one up today. I had this set lured with Backbreaker on top of one of the support sticks....



Here is the same set after I remade it. I think I may have all the beavers out of this site, but I reset anyway to make sure....



From there I drove 46 miles to the next site. I thought I'd caught all the beavers from this site, but was afraid there might be one more that was avoiding the regular sets.

Here's what the place looks like upstream from the company road...



Here's the downstream side where the dam is....



Because I wasn't positive I had caught all the beavers, I made my way down to the dam yesterday and made a dam break set with a foothold. Here's the monster I had today.....



The strange thing about that small beaver is that neither of the two adult females I had caught were lactating, nor had they any time recently. I talked to a duck hunter there last week and he said when they were deer hunting in there that their dogs had gotten a beaver. The fella didn't know if the dogs killed it or not because it was up in that flooded stuff where they couldn't get to. One of the dogs had a nasty gash on its shoulder. So, I don't know if that lactating female that had that young beaver is still there or dead. Time will tell....

Here's the backside of that dam...



From there I drove 28 miles to the next site, which was just west of Ahoskie. I've been working this site for a bit and have caught 8 beavers from here so far.

Here's what it looks like with the water flowing over the road where the pipe is plugged....



The only set that has been connecting lately is at the bottom of this crossover where the beavers are crossing the company road to get to the lower impoundment. Got another beaver here today....





From here I drove 7 miles to check out an old site that was on my inspection schedule for this month. I like it when the pipe is still open and everything still looks good after a year since I worked it last....



From here I drove 106 miles back to that beaver dam in the city ditch that I opened this morning. I went ahead and made the dam set and hope to see something here tomorrow....



Drove 11 miles back to the house and my beaverin is done for the day. Here is a pic of the catch, minus the little bitty beaver that I left on the bank for the bobcats to snack on....



That's a poor catch for a fur trapper, but I'm not fur trapping. I'm paid to catch the last beaver at each of those sites. I believe I traveled right at 300 miles today and it was a 10 hour day. Now its time to go to the shed and pack orders.

That's a day on my line - not much, but I really enjoy it....

Very impressive!

If you ever wondered what it was like to ride along on The Boss' line...there you go.

And if you are observant...and you should be, you just got a few beaver trapping tips by viewing those photos on Paul's post.

Thanks Paul!

I know Paul is a hard act to follow, but I hope many of you will also share a day on the line with us!

Hey Paul, is that a "packer fan" helment in the back of your truck? Nice photos and thanks for sharing.

Great pictures and insight.

great pictures guys, keep at it.

Thanks Mr Paul! I enjoyed the day on the line!

And yes I did learn a few things from the pics!

If you have time for a question:

Where did the trap end up on the dam break?

Thanks!

Well my winter lines are short and more for learning what to do in the fall so not to exciting but here we go. Alarm goes off at 8 (I work 4 till midnight) Get the coal fire roaring good get my bibs and coat on and I'm off. I'm excited being I had a fox (I think) work my set yesterday hard just missing the pan twice. I pull in to my spot get my bino's out and look at my hay set. It looks funny so I call the land owner ( good friend) he can see the set from his kitchen table and I ask him see anything in there. He said it looks different but I don't see anything. I had caught a fox monday when everything was thawed and muddy had a fox but he said it looked like a coon or a porky. Anyhow I go and look closer that's two days in a row I had to walk up to this set. Well I cut a set of tracks on the 4 wheeler trail that I'm walking on seen where the fox looked at my set and went on it's way make a mental note bring more hay tommorrow to add more eye appeal. Well either way no other activity in that area. Back to the truck and up to the next set location. Nothing but rabbit's running there. On to the next area where I set for coons eating a corn storage. Well I've had no luck at these sets being new to the area and a bad time to try and figure it out. Well I broke though the ice (aka frozen cow waste) to get my traps back. Talked to the farmer on my way out telling me if i want to try for fox in the feilds I'm more than welcome and pointed me to where some trappers in the past years have nailed fox but he didn't think they trapped there anymore. Said he would introduce me to the farmer that owns that property for next year. Thanked him and said the coons start hitting it give me a call and went home.

December 19, 2009

I shared this day with another trapper on this forum. He goes by the name of Pasadena. He had asked me earlier in the year if he could ride along on my mink line some day. Early in the season I was too busy running my business and running my trapline to be able to make it work. He was busy as well, but after Thanksgiving he asked me if we could get together. At that time I had pulled the majority of my line. I told him that if the weather cooperated I would try and get a new short line out and I would call him and let him know. Things worked out and I was able to get 18 new locations set up to go along with 8 old locations that had been out for 3 weeks or so.

What a day to pick. The weatherman called for 3 to 4 inches of snow over night and snow it did. It was still snowing when JD ( Pasadena ) showed up at 7 AM. I like snowy nights when running mink traps. They really like to move on snowy blustery nights.

We left and headed out on the line with great anticipation because of the snow. Things started slowly though. The first 3 locations produced nothing and I was beginning to think that JD was a jinx.

At the 4th location the luck changed. We caught a nice buck mink. The 5th and 6th locations produced nothing but at the 7th location we caught another buck mink who was very much alive. We continued on and at the 9th location we caught a big raccoon. He managed to pull the stake but fortunately got tangled up in some grass close to the set. At the very next stop we caught another male mink in a bodygripper on a bank trail. We picked up 3 more raccoon over the next several stops but no more mink.

As we approached the end of the line we managed to pick up two more buck mink in back to back locations. The one location I had just set the day before. The total for the day was 5 buck mink and 4 nice boar coon. Turned out to be a pretty good day but the best part was being able to share the line with a friend.

JD has pictures and if he wants to post them he can. I am not smart enough to post pictures.

Doubt that, gtbosick!

Dec.19, 2009

I woke up at 4:00am. I had a feeling this was going to be a good day. I looked outside and seen it had snowed a good bit and was still snowing pretty hard. I was still going to do what was already planned out for the day though, no matter how hard it was snowing. I went ahead with my normal morning routine and jumped in the truck and was pulling out at 5:00am.

I had planned to run a mink line with who I and others consider one of the best mink trappers around on this day. I can catch mink, but I wanted to go along with someone who specifically and only targets mink for the most part. I wanted to pickup on the little things that a mink trapper does on his line. What does he look for when picking out a location to set. What kind of sets do they like, trap placement ect.

I pulled into Computer Haters driveway at 7:00am after slip slidin' around corners and getting behind folks that act like they have never driven in snow before for the last 2 hours. After the hello's and what not, we jump in his truck and head out. It didn't start out well as we sat on top of a hill for 10 mins. watching some guy who couldn't get up the hill try to turn around in the middle of the hill.

Finally, on our way. We both have high hopes on a good mink catch with the winter storm that was blowing through, but after checking the first few traps, nothing. I'm beginning to think this guy doesn't know what the heck he's doing Things start to pick up though and I'm starting to see the places these mink like to move through and why Randy likes setting them. I ask questions and Randy gives me straight answers. He doesn't try to hide anything(atleast I don't think he was), he explains to me why he sets in those places and how he likes to set them up.

We got out of the truck at one location and I could smell the mink before we ever saw it. The mink was still alive,which was very cool to see.(That location where that mink was caught sticks out in my mind the most and I now look for those spots on my own line.) Randy explained to me what was so unique about this spot and to not pass those spots up when you find them.



Running Randy's line was a lot of fun. We talked about alot of things, not just trapping.We didn't solve any world issues or anything but it's nice to just relax and enjoy the day with a friend. After getting back to his house at I believe around 3:30 or so. His wife had made us a late lunch which was very good and enjoyable. After another hour or two of talking it was time for me to head on home. I took away with me alot of info that you can't get from a book, video or a computer. One of the key things to mink trapping or any critter for that matter but I would say mink especially, since their numbers are not as plentiful as say a coon. If you want numbers of mink, you better have alot of places to trap with good minky locations on them.

Thank You Randy.

Some pics of the day.

Nice story there, Computer Hater!

Very Nice! Thanks Aleo