I wrote it, and no it won't help you make a full time living trapping I would take Cody13's advice, build assets and passive income sources that will allow you the freedom to trap during season regardless of the market.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is a great book and that is awesome that your getting into passive income! Its awesome trust me. I was looking more on the lines of people that find more value then market fur. i.e. selling skulls , tanned fur selling, garment selling or anything I haven't thought of to make more with the line.

jwood what happened to the podcast!

LOL! I wish you well.

Find places that will pay you to trap. Then you make money while you’re making money. Of course you probably need to be retired already or single with no future of romance or stability.

Need to start with two million dollars so when you retire you will have a million.

He probably won't find many of those types of situations if he wants to stay solely in South Dakota. Maybe there are a few large farm or ranch operations that will pay people to trap but I think its few and far between. There's a "big" farmer in the western side of my county who was the state Sec of Ag at one time. Some of his land borders my brother's rural place so I sent this a guy a letter one year asking him if I could trap some of his pasture. He e-mailed me back and thanked me for asking but said, "I have a couple of hired hands who love to trap" so the answer was no. Do you think this guy paid his "boys" extra cash to trap his place...? Highly doubtful, and in fact he may have reduced their wages by giving them the option to trap his land. Land onwership here is way different than a lot of the timberland in Georgia or elsewhere in the Southeast.

New episode every week, haven't missed one yet. Goes up Saturday or Sunday. If it's not updating on your feed, you can listen straight from the website, ep 58 went up last night.

When I started out trapping I had nothing,,now many years later lucky for me I still have most of that left.

If you're willing to work hard travel to different areas/states and not live in a nice big new house on 40 acres I think it's possible. Seems this post stirred up the most negative comments and advice. Being single definitely helps finances but a wife/family can also provide the motivation to get up early everyday to check traps, put up fur, or set more traps to create more money.

Just do it

X2

Trapping is like logging if your going to do it full time,you gotta want it.

Agreed
There are those that make things happen, the 1%ers. And those that don’t.

Whenever you follow and unconventional path be prepared for the ugly critics, often the ones too afraid to try, too narrow minded to get creative or failures at a similar endeavor.

It likely won’t be easy cause if it was they’d encourage ya!

you need to buy some acres in a state with a variety of furbearers and winter weather. not to much winter though. you need to raise a garden and grow a few acres of hay and field corn. raise a few hogs and steers. do your own butchering and canning. harvest your corn by hand too. buy an old corn sheller and a mill for cracking to feed hogs, chickens, and feeder cattle. sell or trade a hog or two or steer ready to butcher for a little cash. put your hay up with a scythe and fork. heat with wood. electric lights are cheaper than lanterns unless you use the old style with a wick rather than coleman lanterns. if you get electricity don't use it for anything but lights and maybe a well pump if you want running water. cure and can the meat you butcher and heat with wood.

or get you a job for wages. lots easier. put money back to subsidize your trapping in the winter. you will make less than you do working for wages most years but you can break if your careful even in bad years. need to be adaptable. you need to be able to switch from coyotes to beaver for example as things change. when coons are hitting a lick catch coons.

vehicle will be a problem. the days of selling 100 coyotes and buying a top of the line 4wd pickup are gone. at the end of WW!! a lot of surplus jeeps were used as tractors. they were cheap and could be made to work. I think one of the small 4wd pickups could be used the same way for plowing your garden and corn field. you could build yourself a wooden boat for water trapping.

your going to need to be a hard worker, inventive , and mechanically inclined


or go to Hollywood. marry Jennifer Lawrence, let her pay all the bills and the rest of us will be jealous

I do every winter like others have said good seasonal job helps. This season concrete season has not stopped and were working full time still but I've managed to still have a great season. It takes line management long hours and very very hard work ethic most will fail that attempt it. You have to be well rounded example this season coyotes and grey fox are my targeted species some season muskrats and beaver and some seasons even red fox when prices favor red fox. An understanding wife or girlfriend is also important if you choose the non single route