I just spent 2 weeks going through old 2x2 transparencies (slides) and digitizing them. Almost 18,000 slides. I scanned and digitized about 1 in every hundred. It was painful throwing the slides away after scanning, but these days, all but impossible to use them if they aren't digital. Anyway, came across some images that I thought some of you may enjoy. These are critters that I've trapped over the years for a variety of projects. Tigers, leopards, and brown bears were caught in foot snares. Cougars and wolves in MB750s. All are immobilized animals to be radio-collared and released or are photos of the animals before anesthesia. Hope you enjoy looking (I sure enjoy the trapping).


Cougar in MB750, Idaho.


Big male "blue" wolf in MB750, Idaho.


Very large coastal brown bear in foot-snare. SE Alaska.


Male Amur leopard in foot-snare. Russian Far East.


Female Siberian tiger in foot-snare. Russian Far East.



Sure has been a lot of fun over the years, but I still really enjoy catching skunks...

Jack

that's great you seen a lot of the world , do you have more

Those are awesome pictures. My kids enjoyed them all. Must have been something else walking in and seeing them all. Jon

Wow! Great pics of great adventures. Please post more.

Amazing stuff,Jack.Thanks for posting those.What type equipment does it take to digitize them?

Great shots of some big predators.

Pretty sure I would take the leopard's pelt home with me even if it meant getting fired.

Thank you very much for sharing the cool pictures. Would love to see more if you get time.
Mac

Wow....That leopard is beautiful! Did the tiger have his "kitty motor running" while laying in your lap???

Great pictures Jack.

Really cool!

I bet trapping yotes and other "normal" critters is boring after what you caught!!

Thanks for sharing.

Brad

Just lovely, every one, Jack

Love that shot of yourself and "big blue " every time. Cant get over how big he is....his head !

So glad you've been combing through all these .

Every one is part of your life and history ...very worth while in categorizing, in digital form especially.

Thanks for the share

Beautiful photo thanks for sharing

I did the same thing and digitized all my slides, negatives and my photos and while I kept some of the photos I threw a lot away

It was almost physically painful to do so because so much of my life was in there but your right that there not very useful if not digital

thanks for sharing like to see more.

The Peter Capstick of trapping!

Thanks to all. It's been one heckuva ride over the past 50 years of chasing the predators. Actually, in complete honesty, I still really like each and every marten, red fox, striped skunk, and yodel-dog. Even the lowly muskrat and weasel still puts a grin on this old face. Don't think I could have asked for a better existence. At least in my mind, too, through nearly 50 years of research and fur-trapping, I am still humbled every day by the things that I don't fully understand. I'm still a babe in the woods, trying to learn more.

Jack

Wow great pics very cool I love the picture of the Siberian tiger he looks like he's pet but we all know different.

I'm confused. Who is who in that second picture ??

white17 - In the second picture is "Garth", a St. Joe River wolf. Anyone else in the picture is unimportant.

Jack

LOL !!!!!!!!

Seriously Jack..........if you have any of your gear for darting,,,especially the stuff from Russia, I think these guys might find it interesting as well as the critters

See the bear took two darts, lol.

Very cool Jack, thanks for sharing, wish you were not at the other end of the country. Would be fun to have a cocktail and talk and listen to some of your adventures.

Jeff

Great pictures, thanks for posting.

Your Vote maybe the one that makes the difference!

That's cool

And to think, I get giddy ifn I catch a little coyote with no mange. Can't imagine the adrenaline of hooking on to those. Nice to have the pictures.

I wanted to say Garth, but I sensed your wording of him , and so I was careful to follow your lead in discernment ...

Yes any info on darting , any thoughts and more photos you'd care to share would be so appreciated by this Tman Tribe.

The pal with Garth is all important , too...such a million dollar smile !

Thank's for sharing some of your outdoor adventures.I look forward to more of yours and mine also,thanks again for sharing.I'll keep you posted on my next adventure.

The leopard takes the cake for me!

Thank you for taking the time to share, really nice.

I’d just want to experience the rush of walking up on one of those!!! Adrenaline overload!!

WOW!!! I really am just totally awe struck!

I've spent much of today trying to convey to people the joy I feel at handling the Birds that I get hold, as a Ringer / Bander. Being allowed to do that, for science.

But, THIS?! Wow! Just a whole 'nother level! I'm completely humbled!

What kind of foot snares are ye using there, please, sir?

Insurance

Amazing Work!!!

Wow all I can say is wow

Outstandingly cool!!

The head on that wolf is amazing, no wonder they have serious bite power!!

I never knew "regular" leopards made as far north as the Amur (knew about Amur tigers). That must be the most northern extent for leopards. Very neat!!

This is amazing. There was a guy I watched on the animal planet trapping lions a lepords with foot snares when I was a kid. One of the things that got me into trapping . Think his name was darine Simpson or something along those lines. If I remember correctly his last show was called traper and the jungle.

Anyhow that brings me to my next point. He said people in different countries where always surprised with him and his gear and him as a trapper. Said they always thought he would be some cruel guy with bear traps and the like and where thrown off at how well he and the traps ( used exclusively foot snares, looks like either the Fremont or audrich) treated animals. Wanted to know if you noticed the same ? Again amazing post

That's some awesome stuff. You need to write a book!

I remember reading about a guy foot snaring grizzly bear for tagging, decades ago, maybe it was Gulo. I remember the big males were not taken lightly, and the catch circles were very impressive.

Saw some of those pic's in Billing's this summer,they made some of those lodge poles into toothpicks,very impressive catch circles,they were picking up and selling organic toothpicks lol.

I apologize for the length of this posting, but I wanted to answer questions from those that commented...

Trapper Dahlgren - I've been real lucky to work (and play) in various places. I have many hundreds of photos of various critters in traps. Any species in particular you're interested in seeing?

Jmack - Glad you showed the kids. They are our legacy. Thanks for the comments, man!

gryhkl - Thanks. One of these days I'll get around to posting a few more slides of other critters.

Taximan - Thanks Taxi. My trapping partner (aka wife) got a Canon Canoscan 9000F about a year ago. Works great. Will scan 4 slides at a time. Took me many days to go through 18,000 slides. I am very happy with the scanner though.

Boco - Thanks. I have always admired your posted photos and write-ups; thought I'd reciprocate a bit.

BernieB. - Tempting to think about the pelts I've handled (while still alive), but the thought of 100 years in a Russian gulag was somewhat of a deterrent.

Mac - Thanks, glad you enjoyed. I'll see what I can do about posting a few more.

btomlin - Yes, the entire time I was working on that (and other) tigers, the motor was running. They actually "purr" when under the anesthesia, but it's such a low frequency, you actually feel it rather than hear it.

bob1454 - Thanks. Glad you enjoyed.

imissed - No, I still get a kick outta pretty much every capture, from wolves to weasels. Not a one of them ever bores me. I'm fascinated with every catch (well, another skunk?).

Sharon - I'm still enamored with my little "junker" camera, and still take pictures almost every day on the line. I'm still trying to get a shot which is close to equal to your artwork. Someday, hopefully?

nightlife - Isn't scanning a PITA?Digitizing all those "heirloom" slides, then throwing away the originals? I agree. i almost dried as another 1000 slides went into the garbage. It's akin to throwing away my life's adventures.

lives2trap - You're welcome Sir!

Marathon - Peter Capstick? Naaaww. That guy could spin a fantastic yarn. I ain't even close to his calibre. I'm probably not fit to be his gunbearer.

Artrapper16 - You are correct. One of the papers I read before going to Russia to trap tigers was on the diet of the tigers. The authors listed "forest workers" as the third most important food item after Russian boar and red deer.

Wanna Be - Yes, the big brown bears often needed a double dose. Not so much for them, but for me.

Flipper 56 - I agree, Jeff. Too bad there's a thousand miles between us. I'd enjoy a wee toddy and hearing more about your "swimming with the beavers".

rick olson - You're very welcome for the share. Looking forward to hearing about your next adventure, sir!

Andy S, Wanna Be, 330-Trapper, and gdccowboy - Thanks guys, Appreciate it.

Pest's Dad - I know exactly what you mean. I have a Master Personal Banding Permit (mainly for gyrfalcon and other raptor work) but have done "ringing and flinging" of many thousands of passerines. Truly an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavor. The throw-springs I was using were Aldrich-type knock-offs.

NonPCfed - The Amur Leopard is very close to extinct. It is a subspecies, Panthera pardus orientalis. Probably less than 50 still in existence.

Wolfie - The Russian government wouldn't allow the use of foothold traps or foot-snares when I first arrived. They built monster wooden live-traps using local trees lashed together, which were a joke. Two months with no captures, then they agreed to let me use 3 foot-snares. Caught a leopard in less than two weeks (first Amur leopard ever live-trapped and collared), and they finally removed the restrictions.

EdP - Thanks, man! I've just (a week ago) finished a draft of a manuscript and sent it out to a friend to get his opinion on readability. I may publish that book, or it may be relegated to the garbage can. We'll see. If I go ahead with it, it'll probably be another 6 months before publication. I'm indeed working on that book.


Again, sorry for the length of this post....

Jack

Awesome thread...if you could expand with more pictures that would be great!
Every day on this site I am reminded how much cooler than me everyone is LOL

did you trap any African animals

Really cool Jack. Thanks for sharing. It was pretty neat to chat with you in Salmon at the ITA randy and find out I was on the back end of your work.

That bear picture is something!

Very nice. Thanks for posting

Beautiful, beautiful animals. Do the Siberian Tiger and Amur Leopard inhabit the boreal region over there ?

Thanks for sharing jack!

Trapper Dahlgren - Nope never been to Africa. Too hot for me.

Metis - In Far Eastern Russia (Primorye Province and a tad bit into Khabarovski Province) the ranges of the tiger and the leopard overlap, and the tiger range goes a little farther north than the leopard. Where they live, not really boreal forest, per se. All us westerners are familiar with the terminology "Siberian Tiger", but their range really doesn't even go into Siberia. Both species live in Far Eastern Russia, not Siberia, and the tiger should be called the Amur Tiger (from the region and River of same name).

Jack

Cool stuff there. I got all giddy walking up on a little grey fox this morning, I couldn't imagine the thrill of some of those

Whether you publish the book or not, I’ll buy a copy. Very cool pictures!! Thanks for sharing. Remember, I got dibs on the first copy.

Gulo ever work with or encounter snow leopards in your travels

I was lucky enough to do so, but never did get any photos I am just glad that my kids got to be there and also see them

That was on the Tibetan plateau

I love and am fascinated by all big cats but have to admit they are my favorite ones wish I would have had more time in the area to try for a photo opp

Did get some good pictures of some Marco Polo sheep though

Wherever Jack would ever go in his life, his added earnest yearning for knowledge would only add to his layers of insatiable learning and exuberance recorded.

The Ibex of the Himmies....Marco Polo sheep, snow leopards, Sumatran Rhino, Striped Hyena .....that Flathead fox of the Himmies ....

What a remarkable , astounding earth full of life we reside upon.

Your first edition published ...given to the one who is combing through your chapters with such care.....


On the surface......

Great photos .
Bears butt dart board needs a few more !

Glad to hear about the book , I know it'll be a good read.
See if you can convince " The Last Homesteader " to write one as well.

Very cool pictures!

Thanks for the photo's. That wolf is awesome. Do you guys have a way of aging wolves when you tranquilize and collar. He looks old.

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing jack.

Jack,

From the flavor of your writings here, I can tell it would have been informational and inspirational to just carry your trapping bag on many of your adventures globally.
Thank you for posting these sir.

Mark

Exactly! Could be the trapper version of Man-Eaters of Kumaon.

RM trapper - Thanks. For me, it's never gotten old or mundane. I still highly appreciate each and every capture, whether a wolf or a weasel. I'm with you.

clintp1971 - I'll remember that sir. Hopefully, the book will continue to progress. Thanks.

nightlife - I've never worked with snow leopards, unfortunately. I did a short stint in outer Mongolia with wolves, but not in the snow leopard mountains.

Sharon - Always the poet. Love your posts, always.

Minker - YES! A book from white17 would be a phenomenal read. I'll subtly push a bit, but you know he's periodically a bit surly and his propensity for word-play cause medical problems in the reader from an overabundance of levity.

Rio - Estimating age of wolves is pretty straightforward (with practice) by examining the wear pattern on the central upper incisors. That wolf depicted above was 8 years old (prime of life).

Mark June - One of these days, Mark, I'll mosey south and volunteer to carry your trapping bag and hopefully learn from the master!

gryhkl - Compared with the every-day lives of 200 years ago here in Idaho, my adventures would undoubtedly pale. Sure has been fun though.


Here's a couple more...

This was a nice interior Alaska grizzly that was helicopter-darted, not trapped.


Another small female cougar in Idaho.


One of many wolves not appreciative of the trap on his foot.



Jack

By the looks of your hair in that first picture.....Igor Sikorsky was flying the helo.

I Recognize that Tee shirt in the second one.

Great shot on that wolf !!!

More great shots, Jack !

So neat to know that tigers purr softly when they are under .

Your wuff was talking to you

Very cool photos. Must have been amazing adventures ..thanks for taking the time to share

white17 - Yeah Igor and I go way back. He said to pass on his thanks to you for giving him all the pointers on building helicoptersSaid he couldn't have managed the Sky Crane without your expertise.

And yes, at one point in my life, I did have hair covering my braincase.

Jack

WOW! I had know idea of your life work! Marlin Perkins would be envious! Thanks for taking the time to digitize the slides and to share a few with us.

Chris

That’s deep. What a journey you’ve experienced. I told someone recently about your human evidence scale... the one about having to hike a minimum time without seeing evidence of another human with satellites excluded since nowhere on earth can they be avoided....



Thanks for sharing, I mean it.


Jeff

Gulo, fascinating post! Would you mind to tell more about the work your involved in and how it came to be. I'm assuming some type of biologist? Very interesting for sure.

Hodagtrapper - Thanks Chris. Some early experiences I had with Marlin Perkins and others led me to avoidance of photographers and videographers. Seriously.

Aix - Mornin' Jeff. Yeah, that wasn't meant to be deep. I call that search for true wild country my "quest for thule". Still looking...

Scout1 - pm'd you sir.

Jack

Good ole t-man. Never know what your gonna see or read. It was a honor to read and see the history, sir.

Amazing Photos!

Awesome Job/ carreer

Wondrous Animals

Thanks for sharing these pictures Very impressive

The scope of talent and experience on this forum goes beyond comprehension. I am blown away by your photos and adventures....thanks so much for sharing them.

Well Jack as everyone else has mentioned darn nice pictures and stories to go with them !

I'd enjoy being around when you and Ken were to get together for a visit along with some other colorful folks I'd bet it could be very educational to say the least.

My question is was there any animal or animals that were tougher than the rest to catch for you while doing research on them.

Thanks for your time.
Allan

Awesome pictures. Amazing work man.

Thanks again all -

Allan - I'm a bit surprised that this question hasn't come up sooner regarding the toughest animal to trap. Yes, no question in my mind at all. For me at least, hands down, the grey wolf is the toughest to catch consistently. Sure, there are individuals out there that are not the sharpest knife in the drawer (just like humans or any other species), but on the other hand, there are also a relatively high proportion of Einsteins. They are what's kept me in the game for so long. Their intelligence coupled with their sense of smell, to me, is fascinating.

Jack

Wow! Thank you for sharing with us such an amazing career Gulo. Incredible pictures and information!!

You should do an online wolf trapping education course, ide pay to watch it. Thank you for sharing the pics.

Jack
I find that very interesting that you said the grey wolf the one thing I've learned is that when you say this or that is a given is when that animal will change the game .
What are your thoughts on foot snares for wolves not to replace foothold traps but in addition to them ?

I've yet to try seriously to catch a wolf because they are around but not very consistently here in Central Montana I've seen more wolves in Southeastern Montana which I've always thought was interesting because it's such open country.
Thank you again for your time.
Allan

WOW, Sir that is impressive! What was your capacity? Biologist? Working for DNR in the areas? The big cats are spectacular. I couldn't in my wildest dreams imagine walking up to one of my traps with any of those animals in them. My 11yr old son has got my trapping bug going again after a 14yr hiatus, I just showed him your pictures and I thought his eyes would bug out of his head. He proceeded to ask 100 questions in about 3min that I couldn't begin to answer. Please, please let us know when you have a book available! Thank you for posting Sir, Mark

Wow, thanks so much!

Had and old wildlife prof who had worked in the Artic and in Africa, a "few" years before you. He had some incedible tales. Heck, if half of them were true..
.

Those are some beautiful animals! What a blessing to be able to travel the world and put your trapping knowledge to use.

Jack which animal or animals were the easiest to catch while trapping professionally for research .

The only experience I have with foot-snares are the Aldrich-type. Because the throw-spring is necessarily above-ground, I think I'd be hard-pressed to catch many wolves in them. Simply too much scent and visual above-ground. If foot-holds are tuned correctly and are outfitted with drags, injuries are reduced to near-zero. For fur-trapping wolves, I pay attention to the injury factor just as much as with research trapping, as I generally sell to the taxi market, and cuts to feet cost me money.



From 1971 to about 2008, I was an employee of various agencies, some private and some governmental. Since that time, I've been a private contractor for the most part. Most of my life has been spent in the research sector, but sometimes in the wildlife manager role. Always a wildlife biologist, I guess.

Put your 11-yr-old on your computer and have him PM me with questions. I'll gladly take the time to answer! To me, correctly bringing up the next generation of trappers and biologists is vital to maintaining our way of life.

Allen - Good question again, sir. I would opine that the various bears have been the most straightforward. I've culvert-trapped lots of black bears and foot-snared interior grizzlies and coastal brown bears. Not really targeting them, but have also caught a few Himalayan bears (Asiatic black bears). Usually, with bears, it's been a target-rich environment, so the captures came relatively easy. However, if bears have been "introduced" to traps, they get smart real quick, and seem to remember. Similarly, the cats seem to be none-too-bright around traps, but their population densities, for the most part, have been really low, so captures were few and far between. Likewise with wolverines.I spent a couple summers (back in the Pleistocene) trapping badgers for research work, and found that spotllighting and running them down and hand-capturing was more efficient (there's some stories there)...

Jack

Thank you for taking the time to post this and your responses to all the questions.

Thank you Jack for the insightful answers to my questions I agree a book about your life's adventure would be interesting I'd buy a copy .
Of them were there any of them that for what ever reason you had to catch a second time for whatever a collar sending out a faulty signal or that decided to roam out of its normal range .

Hand capturing badgers huh ? Ken must have taught you well on the art of the paper bag methods ha ha
Allan

You're right Allan !! I've seen Jack in the bag more than once.

I have enjoyed listening to some of those stories from Jack , recently

Or were the paper bags only a dispatch tool ?

Well you use the bag as a dispatch tool........of course!! But you have to remove the bottle from it first.

Liquid courage is just one tool in paper bag dispatch........especially on badgers and wolverines

Incredible pictures of your trapping there Jack. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

Those are incredible photos!! I really appreciate you sharing them! I think about how fortunate I've been to trap several states and vastly different terrain and then realize I've only scratched the surface. Amazing, I hope you share some more.

Such fascinating pictures and life you have Jack! Thank you for taking the time to share a glimpse of your experiences with us and answer everyone's questions. That Amur Leopard is gorgeous. I think it might be unnerving to have a tiger purring next to me.

good post. I will try to make it to your next class here. See you then.

Yes Allan. Recaptures are sometimes necessary for a variety of reasons. Usually, recaps of research animals are attempted after a couple years, as the transmitter batteries often times begin to fail. I've also had recaptures within a week that were inadvertent. Bears and cats are generally straightforward. Wolves, on the other hand, are sometimes problematic.

Jack

Well “ Babe “ it looks as if you haven’t worked a day in your life, and I congratulate you for it . This has been and outstanding post as usual and I thank you for taking the time .

Regards,
Don

Golf ball - "...it looks as if you haven’t worked a day in your life, and I congratulate you for it..." .

You are exactly correct Don. Other than a few meetings that I've been forced to attend, pretty much every day of my life has been fun. Often times I would "play" for 12-14 hours every day for weeks at a time, but it wasn't ever really a "job". I always claimed that I "worked for the resource, not for any agency."

Thanks for sharing Jack, your life has been truly amazing.

Very good stuff
Thank you!

Well Jack isn't it about time to grace us with some more pictures if you would be so kind .

Sorry Allan. It has taken me awhile...




Foot looks swelled up; It's not. This was not the foot that it was snared by. I switch the snare to the other foot to allow better circulation in the trapped foot.

Truly unbelievable life you have led thus far, hopefully you have a book or twenty about your adventures. If so, I'll be looking for them asap. One question, do the big kitties purr when you rub their belly?

Big cats. Among the most beautiful creatures in the world.

I was immediately drawn to that tiger's wavy neck and top shoulder fur.

Thank you , Jack for sharing these.

Enjoy life to the full, always.

Outstanding! Congrats on a super legacy! Nice to see pics from someone who has walked the walk!!!

Wow this is incredible and I still struggle to catch 1 coyote a year lol

Gulo,
Those are simply amazing photos sir. I thought a mountain lion was big.
Your kitties wouldn't know they tripped over a 100 lb. kitty.

Looks like a beaver got ahold of that log in the last pic!

Good stuff Jack. Appreciate you sharing the great pictures.
Mac

Awesome pictures.

Ttt before archiving

X1000

A great post for the archive wolfdog.

Wow. Just amazing.

Wow! Those or some fine looking predators! I bet it was a rush, doing those jobs!

Gulo a short Bio would be great. Where did you grow up? What got you interested in trapping ?

Simply amazing, oh the places you have gone and the things you've seen. Thank you sir for the peek into your adventures

Gulo, you sir are truly a very lucky and dedicated individual. My off the wall question to you is, in handling all these large and I'm assuming upset toothy critters, have any of them ever gotten a hold of you?

Gulo you are quite the adventurer thanks for sharing.

My word, Jack.......it occurred to me after reading your book, that you personally have likely trapped more species of predator than any other living person! Possibly even any person ever............

Pleased to claim you as a cyber pal!

Too cool !

Was 1971 the beginning of your career? How did you get the reputation that allowed you to be a private contractor? Was it risky working in Russia? Did you ever get stiffed by any foreign country that contracted you?
The private contracting side of wildlife management doesn't seem to be very common or at least well known of. I believe you were the area bio in McGrath for some years, correct? You retired from the state of Alaska?
Thanks for the pics and info. We are reading your book before it's published it appears.

Gulo
Thanks a lot. Many of us were reasonably content with our trapping backgrounds before you "let the cat out of the bag". Now we can't wait for more: more pictures, more stories, a book with both. Trapping envy