I believe you haha, but North Dakota is harsher than Iowa haha. But thanks for clearing it up.

Trapping in southeast.......

Do you have any deep snow sets for coons ?

I really like to hunt/fish/trap but if i got up, opened the door and there was that much snow on the ground, I would just go back to bed. That looks really cold.

Heck, he is in jeans and you can see exposed skin, that not cold it's, balmy!

Looks wet to me

My part of MN is colder on average in the winter than Anchorage.

Look back to waggler's post about average daily temp in December in the SE where he traps. About 32 degrees.

You would be able to handle it.

I actually prefer trapping at below 0 as the snow stays dry and fluffy instead of wet and sticky when it gets up above 0............

Thanks for the reply Steven trapper 49er, looks good to me!

I can assure you that at least where I trap, it doesn't average 32 during trapping season, and dealing with frozen bays and shoreline is a regular occurance. Also, with the exception of very near shore, snow shoes are a must.

Alaska Viking, I trap nearly 200 miles south of you. This illustrates my point on the great differences found from place to place in Alaska. For example; if you're standing on the north end of Wrangell Island and the temperature is 30 and you look about 8 miles to the NNE to Point Rothsay near the mouth of the Stikine River, the temperature will be about 10 degrees cooler at Point Rothsay. Go another 10 miles upstream and it will be another 10 degrees colder. Also I've notice that even thought there may only be a skiff of snow, or no snow on the beach, all I have to do is go up a river for half a mile or gain 100 feet in elevation and I can have snow nearly up to my waist.

I agree 100%. When I get up in the morning, the weather and temperatures at my house have pretty much no bearing on what it's doing on my line 30 miles north!

I grew up in Minnesota A small town by duluth to be exact "Carlton." I thought I new what cold weather was. I joined the Air Force and got stationed in Eielson by Fairbanks. That is when I found out what cold really could be. You can learn to cope with it really easy with the right cloths though. Then I lived in Minot, ND. It does get cold there with the wind too. I would say on the really windy days in ND it could compare to some of the cold weather in Fairbanks. To date the coldest place I have lifed is Fairbanks. I really did enjoy it up there and hope to move back as soon as I retire. I lived in Anchorage for 4 years also. the weather is warmer, but finding a place to trap is REALLY REALLY hard. It is not like the lower 48 where two people can set each end of a culvert and still stay friends. Expect to drive at least 100 miles and then you will still be on someone elses trap line. It's their line and people better stay off it. If its your dream then move on up, but learn from other people. Dont think there is a moose behind every tree. Find a place to trap could take years.

One other thing to keep in mind. There is not a farm house every other section or even roads for that matter. If you get in trouble you are on your own. It could be a days walk if not FARTHER to the nearest help.

Where I live in ND, we have few hills, few trees, a LOT of wind, and a LOT of cold. But like you said, 90% of the time there is a farmstead within a few miles.

And most responses seem to be pretty negative about people making the move north, but I understand that 99% of posters saying they will, won't. And most are very, very unrealistic.

But YEARS to find land to trap? Wow. A guy couldn't get out in the bush for a few weeks at a time and have a good chance at least of not being on someones line?

sure you could what kind of airplane do you have? remember no roads.

here is a rule I kind of follow...
If you can drive there, so can anyone else.
If you use a snowmachine to get away, that helps, but anyone else with a snomachine can go there.
If you have a boat, it can get you to where other people with boats are.
same with a 4 wheeler...

and nearly everyone here has at least one of the boat, 4 wheeler, sno go, likely all of them...

So, when you think you are along ways away, you might be, or you might be with 2 or 10 other people...

this past fall i got to go on a moose hunt in the "bush"
we drove over 400 miles, then launched a boat...
traveled 400+ miles downstream by boat, up another river to moose hunt....

that is 800-900 miles and 2.5 days to get to a remote spot...... guess what? there were 100 other boats full of people doing the same thing...

I understand you guys talking negatively about how hard it is to find a place to trap. You don't want to give people the wrong idea that the country is wide open. However, I know that if a person is motivated enough and if they can think outside the box, they can find a place to trap. For example; the peninsula (Alaska Peninsula) is about 400 miles long and the areas I'm familiar with are loaded with fox, beaver, and otter, lynx in some places and wolves and wolverine. I know of very few that trap down that way, there are very few villages. I'm sure there must be other such places and opportunities like this. I'm not suggesting that it will be easy though.

I retired up here in 05, it took me 4 years to finally find a area that I could run a line, and that took alot of exploring, stepping on toes, and beating myself up. It ain't easy to find a spot.
It ain't that others are being negative, in all honesty they are being realistic. You need time, money, and the right equipment to be successful, along with a little luck. To think your just going to move up here and start a line that first year is NOT realistic.

OK I really do appreciate your guy's help and it just goes to show that this website is awesome, a guy could easily move up there and be completely in the dark. I can focus on hunting the first year, or 4, and use that as scouting for my trapping. Does this sound at least a little better?