This isn't to get anyone riled up or anything but a fun discussion. Who would you put as the 10 best trappers of the past 50 years (in no particular order)?

Can't make it even 50. Just here currently AkHowler, Ryan... And many other far north guys are unreal. Boco, Spruce, and many other terrific mid northern guys unreal. A guy here who clobbers fox out east and another who decimates coyotes... Wade and other hardliners in the Midwest and west. The lady and other fellows who have perfected cage trapping cats in CO and other states. Andy in MT, some of the northern prairie guys... Leftover hard New Mexico trappers..gotta add Swamp..and a big bunch of those SE trappers, and thru out the country the guys who put up crazy rat catches....
Many many bests out there.

Osky

Now how in the world can any one answer that and know what their really talking about. Example I have no ideal what you trap in a year and you and most have know ideal what I trap in a year so how can any one know who trap what and how many. That like trying to find who the whitest and the blackest trappers out there.

There are plenty that no one knows about.
I'll put in a plug for the coon combine,and Trapped 4 Ever.

X2

ok then. Instead of past 50 years, lets do all time.

My paw-paw Jesse Phillips---he trapped in the 30's and 40's to help feed 12 kids and keep them from starving in the winter when the crops didn't do well that summer. I trap and know others who trapped a hundred times more fur then him but don't any of us who have to trap for that reason. Ten of the kids live and two didn't so not sure if he was the best but I would say he right there at it.

Its an impossible question to answer. I know several guys that live on their lines full time and are as good as anyone, at any point in history......for northern species. Like me they wouldn't have a clue how to catch a coon. They also don't own a computer or even know how to turn one on, so nobody on here would have ever heard of them.

The geography across NA is so different, that a technique that works out east, might be useless out west. Same goes for the high alpine country vs the lower bush country. I know guys in the Alberta farmland that catch dozens of wolves each winter on bait piles, try that in my country and it doesn't work so well. So those guys putting up big numbers out there wouldn't be used to the sets that work for us, and would therefore be less successful in our areas.....and vice versa. You will catch them here on bait piles, especially if their having a bad winter and are hungry, but it will take some time. Wolves are in my opinion the hardest furbearer to catch by far too.

All that being said...I would have to say that the most successful modern era trapper that I know would be a dead heat between two Alberta trappers. Gordy Klassen and Brian Bildson. I am not putting them out there because of the numbers they put up. Big numbers are a product of the area you trap more than your skill level. Even the most inexperienced trapper can put up a good catch if he or she has access to an area full of furbearers. My picking Gordy and Brian is simply because they truly are modern trappers. They understand not only the animals they trap, but also the politics of trapping and the fur industry as a whole. They have both done a lot for the rest of us. They are good speakers, and have been involved in the industry for decades.

Yukon 254 well put

Of the "big names", I will say Tom Miranda,Tom Krause and Bernie Berringer are among the best.
However, the 10 best PERIOD are likely the guy that lives over there and keeps to himself and few people even realize that they are trappers.

Thanks Harrison. Thats the kind of response I was hoping to get.

According to my 5yr old grandson, I am, and thats good enough for me.

O Gorman

You may be the best but my 4 year old granddaughter says I'm the bestEST!

Any one read about EV Lynch? Those old guys back in the day were tough and a bit crazy. They may not have the catches modern trappers can do with modern equipment, but they had guts.

Those guys still live...at least up here. There is a guy that loves trapping on foot and camping out. One year he snowshoed almost 70-miles to get into a friend of mines trapline. My buddy had given him permission to trap it. Some of his family got worried and sent search and rescue out looking for him two weeks later. They found him alive and well. During this last cold spell he was at it again. He got permission to trap the line near my sons trapline. So off he went. Then the cold hit....-50 and colder. He's still out trapping on foot and sleeping under a tree as far as anyone knows. My son is old school and tough as they come, and even he said it was brutal out there.

IMHO everyone should learn and use some old school skills in this modern era. One should not rely solely on modern technology.

The best trappers are not in print, not out to make a name for themselves, not out to catch a zillion animals, and are not trying to sell something. I have seen some real B.S. artists along the way.

Maybe your question should be who are the best known trappers in 50 years.

The Best....hummmm...let me think.....It would have to be that Frost Scraping, Flat tail Fleshing, Furminator from the North ...yes Tripple FFF was his given name by the Cree Indians.....BOCO !

Far from it Nessy,but thanks for the vote,LOL.

James Lucero
Slim Pederson
Craig O'Gorman
Charles Dobbins
Johnny Thorpe

BILL NELSON

Most of them aren't on here and if they are they don't post much

Just as the Olympics have different categories, best trappers would have to be sorted.



Best would have to be defined.


Best because they can efficiently lay out long lines, have cunning ways of besting the competition, the drive to stay at it for long periods, and innovative ideas that give them every edge possible as Is the case with fur trapping;

OR


Best because with a limited set of tools improvise and catch any critter as a rounded, multi-species Trapper;

OR

Best because they're a stone cold ADC Trapper that catches every single critter, every time?




Best what?

Because I do not know any trappers other than me personally, I can not answer the question. Which is a loaded question in the first place...

Fox trapper Phil from PA would have to be one

A lot of you guys are way overthinking this. Call it best, most well known, legendary, whatever you want. No need to be taking tons of variables into account. Just looking for some of your "top names" i guess. Just looking to have some fun and give me some folks to research, lol.

Best in my mind are ones I grew up with around here...and watching them bring in their hauls to the local buyer when I was there with my tiny little catch...

Ken Kreshel (coyotes, cats) (Kenny caught more cats around here than anyone I knew of at the time, I hung on his every word when he talked about cats)
Scott Albert (pickup loads of coon, coyotes) (never saw a guy make so many trips from his truck and into the buyer's back door to bring in his coon catch, NIGHTLY)
Jim Miller (a solid 1,000 coon a season guy back in his hey days) (bought a new truck one year with just coon money, wow)
Dennis Vicars (500 beaver a season, pickup loads of rats, back in his hey days) (500 caught, fleshed, put up, that's work!)

And I wouldn't even be still doing this today had it not been for those guys warping my thinking, and their influential impact on my youth...kept me out in the woods trying to do like they do, and not out late downtown somewhere getting into trouble. Those guys taught me the calm, serene, and peacefulness that comes along with a lot of hard work and success in trapping. I learned to save my pennies and buy trapping equipment instead of spending it on things young boys shouldn't be buying, thanks guys!

And hey along with those names above, I have to mention my uncle Fred. He just showed up at my place one day and brought me a whole pickup load of stuff to jump start my zany hobby for years to come. that thing was loaded down with dozens of jugs of dry dirt, nice wooden adjustable coyote stretchers and a wad of wire coon stretchers, rat floats, rat stretchers, bait, lure, knives, fleshing beams and wall mounts, water and dirt trowels, aprons, gloves, hip boots, hammer, sifters, gambrels, and a sizeable cache of traps and other equipment. Said here you go, I'm quitting and you seem to be the only one interested in carrying on the tradition in our family. I had just called him about a real nice big coon I caught when I checked traps that morning. We didn't have cell phones back then. Later that morning he just showed up and gave me the motherload from his personal fur shed. I will never forget that. I remember hauling everything in from back of his truck, and then he said so lets see that coon! And then he showed me how to skin and flesh it, put it up for me. I didn't know what to say, coolest gifts I think I ever got in my whole life! Fred I still have almost all of that equipment too, may not be best by today's standards but it means oh so much to me and my sons.

And I will thrown in two others I wouldn't hesitate to vote for, both from the more "modern era" and that are also from these parts, both are on here posting occasionally, and both have been a huge influence on me and my boys with our line...and both put up impressive numbers each season, too, though they don't typically post pics much or say so.
Cougarw, and 1crazytrapper

Jim

Paul Dobbins

Keith Gregorson. In Round Up Montana

Bud Hall
Don Bolte
Ron Hanson
Craig Ogorman
Bob Went sp?

to name a few

LT Grey. If you've Trapped with him you'd know. If you haven't.. you most definitely wouldn't understand

`my idea would be that the best trappers are never heard of. They don't blow their own horn, just trap. It isn't always the one that puts up the big numbers that is the best.

I give my nod to the minnesota wolfer- Bucko Snyder. The original Minnesota bounty hunter

I give my nod to the minnesota wolfer- Bucko Snyder. The original Minnesota bounty hunter



Good Pick! Probably the last real wolfer MN will ever have!!!

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/outdoors/2328014-i-know-wolf-trouble-if-i-go-after-it
Here's a good little read about Buck.

Good article
Thanks for the share!

Herb & Asa Lenon, Charles Dobbins, Bob Noonan.

We have to add our beloved Mark Junes. Not only is he an awesome trapper but also a really great guy. Not many like him anymore.

I agree completely with several previous replies that said "the best" are unknowns.... under the radar. They are dedicated, hard working loners who have no time for hero photos, publicity, social networking, or anything else that brings attention to themselves.

Great replies. And great article!