I recently had an old trapper friend of mine that passed away. He was an excellent fox trapper and he would keep only seven sets working at one time. He lived in a small town apartment and It was mostly a walking line in the surrounding woods and fields. However, he would still catch about 40-50 fox per year. He said he wanted to keep it fun so he did only a minimal amount of sets plus it wasn’t much work to move the sets around when needed. He also took a shotgun with him in which he hunted small game while checking his traps. He told me he really enjoyed the outdoors with his methods. Sometime, I think we become obsessed with the number of traps that we can put out in a numbers game. Do you know any trappers like this?

I don't know any trappers that set that few of traps.But it is foolish to keep checking empty traps.

i sure do....when i trapped professionally as a fur trapper for numbers and an adc specialist i had to catch to support myself and my share of the families needs. It was a great life but...i really enjoy setting a few with the boy now that im old. Pure fun

Boco you must not have read the above post. You don't have to kill everything In the county to be a trapper or have fun.

Ill translate what Boco said to Americanese for you Beav:

I don't personally know anybody that runs less than a couple dozen traps at any given time but I see the merit in running fewer traps as it only makes sense to maintain a handful of proven set locations as opposed to setting several dozen that don't produce fur yet still require maintenance to keep them operational thus creating extra work with no return.

Had a local trapper here that everyone knew. He worked with my dad for years so I met him when I was pretty young. He was an excellent fox trapper. Passed away a couple years ago sadly. He was pretty well known around here as a great trapper. Always regretted not getting to know him better than I did

I know many on the forum ,most rarely post though

That's what he said. LOL

What's that old saying?...Oh yeah, "If your not selling anything, don't advertise"...That's a common mentality among some of the best and understandably obscure trappers.

I know One that use to live in PA. Then he moved to Idaho Falls ID. Trapping in PA must not have been challenging enough, he goes by Grandpa Trapper on this site. Fred we miss you here in PA.

That is the old school approach, and for a darn good reason.
I personally know some really expert trappers whose name would not ring a bell out of a two county or state area. And I mean really good.
Mac

Know lots and lots of trappers that unless your local, you wouldn't know them. Darn good ones too.

Wish I would've heard that saying and followed that advice carefully

The only thing is, I set more than 7 traps and come up empty more often than not. How are things going up in the big woods country? Miss you guys.

The trapper that showed me more about trapping than anyone else was that way, not in only 7 traps, but only set traps if you know you can catch something there. don't waste the set.

As soon as I read your post title I though of my old friend Marlin. Marlin owned a cabin across the dirt road from my camp in north-central PA. Fourteen or fifteen years ago I had my youngest daughter (twelve at the time) at camp for the PA Youth Doe Hunt. Marlin was in camp running a canine line. My daughter and I stopped over and she was fascinated by all the furs in his shed.

Shortly afterwards she told me she wanted to trap. I hadn't trapped since I was a kid in the seventies but when your daughter ask you something like that, you make it happen. That began a ten-year-long adventure that we both enjoyed the heck out of. She became the skinner and I was in charge of fleshing and boarding. By the time she was sixteen she had skinned hundreds of red fox as well as lesser amounts of all the usual suspects; possum, skunk, coon, gray fox and the occasional mink and coyote. Not too many teenage girls can make that claim. We will always have great memories of all our "first" catches in addition to all the fun we had over the years.

Eventually she grew up and got married and our great run together came to an end. I will always be grateful to Marlin for providing me that opportunity.

Marlin was an old school trapper and a good one. When I first got to know him he was reluctant to share his secrets with me but as we became good friends he eventually did. Sometimes we'd sit and talk trapping for hours when we were both at our camps at the same time. Mostly it was me asking questions and him educating me.

My daughter and I would meet him every year at the PTA District 11 Fur Sale. One year he was not satisfied with the high bid and refused it. We helped him carry between two and three hundred red fox furs back out to his truck. He told me that was half his catch that season. The other half had been sold elsewhere.

About six or seven years ago a friend and I were taking a break from grouse hunting and were having lunch at a local diner near my camp. Marlin was returning from running his line, saw my truck and stopped in. I talked him into posing with me and a coyote he had caught while my hunting buddy snapped a picture. I'm glad I did, It's the only one I have of me and him together.

Sadly, Marlin passed away last year when he lost control of a tractor towing a hay wagon downhill and was crushed beneath it.

Marlin on the right:

good memories

when I was a kid Gramps taught us to make a set that would produce. traps were expensive. think the Victor pan trap was about $1.25. no kidding.

AMEN Lugnut,last season was weird knowing he wasn't around.met him in 1987 and he had a jeep full of fox and yotes that was mind boggling.and as usual,behind every good man is a great woman.RIP Marlin

in mid seventies i learned catchin mushrAts with apples by dad and grampa.

John Gudwer from the UP one of the best beaver men I know of he had me haul beaver for him for a week and I learned more in that week then I could of trapping years on my own!

A great learning experience that will last a guy a lifetime just don't get on a 3 wheeler with the guy! LOL