Please post a picture thread like last year!


My version of "long lining" is walking way too far to check a couple of traps for very few critters... but I love it.

Don't wait till you retire- you only have today tomorrow is not guarantied. Even if your still alive in 13 years your body won't let you run a long line. DO IT NOW!

this is how i do it!

That right there is good advise. It always tickles me when I read how someone says they are gonna tear them up "when I retire". All things being relavent, you will not feel like you do now when you retire. Your brain says you can, but the body says no way!

Well, I’ll tear them up as best I can before I retire!!!

Wow, that's a lot of permission to get, and with State owned ROW's completely off limits now I figured it would kill spring beaver long lining too, good for you bottom lot.

It should feel long!

Long line can be subjective. Is it distance, number of traps or days, weeks or months? A person who sets say 200 coon sets over 120 miles and does that for 5 days and moves that 5 times is probably a long liner by definition for many, ditto long cat or canine lines. What about a person who sets out 200 sets for rats on open water for 2 weeks 2 miles from his house and then traps for 3 weeks through the ice with 140 sets 4 miles from his/her house? are they considered long liners? The old timers that did 12 miles per day on snowshoes and had two cabins would not be considered long liners by the definitions that many want to use today.

Bryce

Ain't that the truth!
Mac

Maybe I should explain. I've trapped hard all my life. Started my own welding business because I wanted to trap.Believe me, Financially I'd have been better off to work and not trap, but that is what I wanted, so that is the way life went. I'm not dissing anyone who says their going to trap when they retire, I just tell people that it is a pipe dream, your body won't go that hard when your old. That said, I'm 71 now, and I just don't have the strength and drive that I had when I was 60 or 50 ,40 or 30, Every ten years takes a serious toll. I am thankfull that I have been able to trap all these years, and will take every one I can get, but you gotta be realistic! Last season I trapped all season, in two states, and went as hard as I could,, at least for the first three weeks. I caught about a quarter of what I used to catch, and it was because of age. Still love it, just can't go that hard these days!

Good stuff Lee...coming from a guy that has retirement and ....big dreams on his mind.

Wife said I should wait til I retire, I could be crippled or dead by then, I could have made more money also, but wouldn't trade all those seasons for anything

Pretty much sums it up Lee. We would have more money if we didn’t start trapping. But the memories are pretty valuable.

Every ditch and creek I trap these years feels like a "long line" LOL

And the health benefits (if you don't drown) might be the most valuable assets about trapping. Especially as we get older. Been scraping coon and beaver just for that reason. Trapping them is the easy part.

The trick is not to wait until your all broke down to retire.Retirement in your mid 50's will give you a full pension(if you were forward thinking) also you should be debt free by then,and you should have a good 20 years to go full bore if you kept yourself in half decent shape.
However if you had a job where you were sitting on your arse for 35 years,forget it.You need to keep in good physical shape.

If one trapper sets 100 traps yet takes the same number of coon as the guy running 200, is he still a long liner?

A long liner doesn't necesarily run a ton of traps, or cover a ton of ground. Some learn to be more efficient, run less traps, yet reach the same outcome.

Dave,
I was wondering when you were going to join this topic. With your knowledge and experience you would know. So if you don't mind would you explain "Some learn to be more efficient". What changes????


Thanks
B

Unless you have an extremely high pop of the target species, simply throwing traps out at every potential location won't always lead to a higher catch. Some spots may be good for a couple catches and go dead, while others will be red hot and produce consistantly. I've learned to ignore the mediocre locations and only set the hottest spots. I also switched long ago to river trapping. I didn't drive more than 30 miles a day last season, yet took over 800 coon, with an ave of 100 traps set.

Most experienced longliners already are as efficient as they are going to be. I don't think that changes because of the price. Once you find a couple things that work the best then it is simply a scale thing and of course more time and ground replicating it. LLL