Hello friends....I am working on a project, and I would like your opinion on the first name that pops into your mind as being the best of the best for the following animals, the only two criteria that I would like each trapper to meet is

#1...they are still actively trapping.

#2...they participate in this forum.


Coyote...

Red fox...

Grey fox...

Coon....

Bobcat....

Otter...

Beaver...

Mink...

I am going to try and turn this into something positive for this forum, and I would appreciate if there was no negativity or ego's involved.

Thank you very much.

Corey

1. john graham and jerry morris

2. phil brown

3. buzzard

4. rich kasper

5. lynx cat

6. ??

7. boss

8. ??

From pics mink = minnow
greys -kwtrapper catches a mess dont he.
Coon-have to go with someone else than what was posted already

whys that dave? do you know how many he catches?

otter- roverotter2/bud jenkins/ark mike (there's several)

Duh,no disrepect to him.He is a nice guy & a [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] of a trapper.If you got a crush on him thats fine by me.LOL Are we going with daily tops,time spent a consideration, season totals.You take a guy who traps 2-3 weeks compared to a guy who traps state to state & only traps one specie or a guy who traps a switch season line you may also have a different opinion.If it is who has the best picture with their fur it is definitly phil.

i got ya.

the question was, who first pops to mind, and is a member, and i immediatly thought of kasper. my crush has nothing to do with it.

Sheesh Charles! What's John Graham gonna think? You did not pick him for even one catagory

awww crap.

well, there wasnt a "all around, best looking, kindest, tallest bear of a man category"...if there was, he'd get my vote.

John Graham has been DENIED by his number one fan/stalker!

It's OK John, I just got a cuople dozen of your traps. I still love ya.

thanks for RUINING my day K9..

Hey just waiting for my socks to dry then I am out of here. I am guessing John's day is the one whose is ruined.

Coyote... John Graham

Red fox... John Graham

Grey fox... John Graham

Coon.... John Graham

Bobcat.... John Graham

Otter... John Graham

Beaver... John Graham

Mink... John Graham

i let my gaurd down, for a second, and ive been REPLACED

How'd you go back and add him without showing the "edit"? That's sneaky! Not getting past me though.

#1 Coyote... Slim Pedersen
#2 Red Fox... Phil Brown
#3 Grey Fox... Buzz
#4 Coon...?
#5 Bobcat...?
#6 Otter... John Wilkinson
#7 Beaver... Boss Dobbins
#8 Mink...?

Ya used your back arrow to the original post didn't you?

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH

actually, theres an easier way, but im not going to tell you. you made me hurt today Bruce.

I know the truth, and more importantly....JOHN knows the truth about what happened here today Shame on you.

Asa Lenon

i hope, in that bear of a body he has, he has a big heart to. a big enough one to forgive me of my indiscretions. i have confidnece. i dont pick out "stalkee's" that are not going to forgive of such mis-haps.

Coyote...

Red fox...

Grey fox...

Coon.... Dave Plueger

Bobcat....

Otter...

Beaver... paul

Mink... minnow

Not much help. lol

What about Weasels? You forgot Weasels.

Weasels......2poor

yea and what about muskrats, skunks, and possums? Hypocrit.

I was just trying to hit some of the high points guys....LOL

Tough question, without knowing each and every person personally adn having visited with them in their fur shed you don't really know. Could be a guy that seldom if ever talks about his numbers and doesn't post pics, there are a bunch of people like that.

Let me ask this, who has given you good info and helped you, through this forum, learn how to sharpen your techniques on those same animals.

Bobcats...yancy,Reid and Jeff
greys....some little dude in NM
yotes...Ted riggs
Reds...Phil

This is a interesting subject. First one I think of is...
Asa Lenon, he sure has done his part when comes to sharing his knowledge, and he can catch them too!

Just my opinion

Well guys, i'll run my idea by you all...just remember I came up with this idea at 3:30am this morning, so its probably stupid.

I thought it would be a neat idea to get a trap to send around to some of the greats of our sport, then have each one of those guys set the trap for an animal of choice, take a picture of the animal in the trap with the person in the picture too if at all possible, then send the trap onto the next guy to do the same.

In the end you'd have a trap that had been in the hands of 4 or 5 of the top trappers in the USA, along with an autographed picture of said trapper and his catch in the trap.

Just think of a MB550 that had been to Phil Browns and caught a fox, to John Graham and caught a coyote, then to Zagman to catch a coyote, to Asa's to catch a bobcat, down to Buzzard to catch a grey fox, down south to catch an otter, out west to Steve Wood's to catch a cat, etc....now that would be a neat trap to own.

I thought then the trap could either be auctioned off on the forum, or taken to the NTA or FTA national convention and auctioned off at their sales.

I'd be interested in hearing what you guys think of this idea.

Corey

Probably a dumb idea, but I thought it had some merrit if those said trappers would be willing to do it.

Yeah, but once it got to Buzzards we'd never see it again.

I don't really know first hand about most of the guys on here. I've read a lot of books, so they seem knowledgable, but I have no idea what their season totals run, or how hard they trap, that kind of thing.

But the only one I know for sure is Rich Kaspar. I KNOW what he does, and has done in the past. I know how he runs his line, and I've even talked to his fur buyer.

So, I can only judge in one category, and Rich Kaspar is the coon catchingest son of a gun I've ever encountered.

Great Idea Corey!

If CharlesKS wants to confirm or deny, I brought this same/exact idea up to him about 8 or 9 months ago.

You need to follow through with things Nick...LOL

I thought it would be a neat thing to do.

huh?

I think that 96% of good ideas have already been thought of by someone else.

Good idea Corey. Better send the trap to the "clean" trappers first

Good Idea Corey, make sure it goes to folks who dye and wax, before those who dip their traps. Tom

Fox/coyote= John Grahm

Bobcat= Yancy

Beaver= Paul Dobbins

coyotes-matt jones-he used to be on here, but due to coyote trapping profits, he cant afford the internet any more. slim caught a couple too I heard :), he might have taught some law man something about coyotes too.
red fox-daa-bat man
grey fox-what is a grey fox??? a sexy 60 year old??
coon-dont let chuckie down under Nebr b.s. ya-its dave plueger-he spends more time coon trapping-and racks up higher numbers of coons than anyone on this site that I know of. 2nd-50th place-who cares-500 plus coon trappers are a dime a dozen.
bobcat-joel blakesle-he has trapped cats thru 2 cat fur booms and was trapping cat when most others where still wearing diapers.
otter-what is an otter??? that wilkinson guy showed me a picture of one once though
beaver-guy up in northern MN, typical beaver trapper, size 4 hat, size 14 neck, steven something. beaver trappers down south dont count, they are just glorified snake choppers
mink trapper-gerald caught a couple, so did fossil.

wombat,platapus,kowala bear,kangaroo trapper: he lurks here, and says they all taste kinda like bald eagle, so he will remain unnamed.

Coyote... Sam Donaldson

Red fox... Phil Brown

Grey fox... Buzzard

Coon.... ANYONE!

Bobcat.... Slim Pedersen

Otter... Jlord

Beaver... Big Daddy Dobbins

Mink... No idea.

The coyote numbers harvested by some of the unspoken names of modest trappers I have become acquainted with over the years from being regular lure customers would boggle the minds of most of us. That doesn't mean they are better than many of the experts on this forum, just that they are full time hard working professionals or reside in an area with larger coyote numbers than some other trappers. Ace

Coyote... BrianRoberts -- Not only a skilled trapper, but a top-notch lure maker as well.

Red fox... psb1101 -- Phil Brown. Pretty much a given. Makes a killin' on fox, and then makes a point of walking around in the rattiest rags and a mullet in hopes that people won't pester him.

Grey fox... Matt Jones -- Plum adorable. I thoroughly enjoyed his canine video, once he got past crying about soft catch jaws and how much he hates his traps.

Coon.... cjstrapping -- Even though they're muddy, once brushed they actually look like coons. And he likes wire, which makes him like... my hero or something.

Bobcat.... lynx/cat-trapper -- Lynxie-poo's sooooo awesome with his many cats and miniature 4-wheeler to make them look bigger. I had a barbie-jeep too when I was little.

Otter... jtrapper -- Even though those crappy 'bama otter are too light and aren't worth anything.

Beaver... dobbins, though I'm convinced that he's like the pied piper of beaver and just twiddles on a little flute while they all skin themselves and staple eachother out.

Mink... Bernie Berringer -- Who's son is in S.A. being totally awesome and selfless during their time of crisis.

According to an ad in the new tpc matt jones is the best trapper east of the mississpi, must be true because it is in print.
A handful of top notch trappers have left this site or just lurk for one reason or another, guys who would be near or at the top of the list.

jtrapper is good at alot of them, not just otter..

bah

Coyotes - Bob Wendt
Fox (red or grey) - Russ Carmen
Coon - the kid down in the lower part of the county.......in 3 weeks aprox. 200 coon and still working a full time job.

This is funny, Im only 16 and can read the rules of this post, some of you cant !

Aggghhh! Negativity! Negativity! Must resist!

Let's all hug now. Think of sunshiny rainbows and warm fuzzy things. Take your mind to a happy place. Haaappppyyy

Bunny and puppy thoughts only. Fuzzy little baby ducklings. Now, don't we all feel better?

RD Matrix I think that only 86% of people read the rules in any given situation.

Man, I bet you couldent drive a 5 gallon bucket over Matt's head with a sledge hammer right now

Matt Jones is DA MAN ,lmao.

No wonder he don't talk to me much anyone, im just a remnant of his past before he was DA MAN ,lmao.

Wonder if he'll sell me any of his lure even though im within 500 miles of Pe Dukey?

LOL, Im on the other end of the state. If anyone closer wants any we'll find a way to get it to them

think Matt is too busy these days skinning carp to even know he is a hero, LOL.

oops...one of my choises is certainly dead...so sue me..lol

Rich your being too modest. Rich can flat out hammer the coon and I have no doubt that if he has a mind to he can hammer any species he sets out to target. the greatest trapper for any species is the trapper that puts morels and ethics first and truly cares about the furbearers we pursue.

Dont give me that Dave, although Ive a few good years here and there where weather, vacation and time away from job, motivation all came together a couple times to make some large catches, you, my friend, have done the same thing year after year after year, w/o a lot of recognition for your accomplishments as some other guys out there. I bow my head in honour of one of our true masters of coon trapping. your last sentence in above post shows your true character i might add.

The best trappers that Are here and are the best at the animals listed are the ones that are still kids! I can't name them but they are potentially the best trappers that will ever be. We are protecting thier heritage and providing them with the tools that none of any listed have ever had at thier disposal! That makes them potentially better than all listed. Time will tell. They can not go unspoken for. You never asked pretense or future. If you would like an answer that conforms to the cookie cut answers of those who have all responded: I would have to generalize and say...all of the trappers who have been successful in the pursuit of each of the animals listed and have taken the time to share thier success with the new trappers who have come into the ranks..Those are the best of the best. We all win!