Ideally I would get things to the point of being able to live entirely off the land.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is you can if you own the lot that the cabin is on. You can't if it's a trapping cabin on crown land. BC could be different, but here in Alberta, you can't legally use the cabin for anything other than trapping related activities.

You have to have a canoe to do that!
mt

BC is the same.

Wouldn't spending the spring, summer, and fall, clearing trails, putting up winter food, and general trap line maintenance, all be trapping related?

Wouldn't spending the spring, summer, and fall, clearing trails, putting up winter food, and general trap line maintenance, all be trapping related?

Some BC trappers do live year round on their traplines. BUT, these are generally on lager deeded lands within the boundaries of the trapline. Cabin sites are for trapline operation and maintenance activities only and are located on limited size lease lots not conducive to year round living.

Trapline Cabin Sites must be no larger than 50 m x 50 m. b) Trapline Cabin Sites must not be closer than 20 km apart. No more than three associated Outbuildings are allowed per Trapline Cabin Site.Dec 11, 2013

The guys I know are not on deeded land.

It is rare for anyone to live on a remote line year round anywhere these days, no doubt about that; but there are still some who do, and some are in northern BC. There was another fellow that lived and trapped over in the Stikine country for many years. After the trappers sched closed down after 33 years I lost track of him and always wondered what happened to him. He was getting older so I suspect he was forced to go to town. His easiest access to civilization was the Stikine so going to 'town', to him meant a long boat ride to Wrangel Alaska. He even got his mail there. Kind of different for a BC trapper. You wouldn't know anything about this fellow would you? His first name was Dave but I never did hear his last name. Im sure anyone who trapped northern BC back in the 90s or even early 2000s would have heard of him.

In Manitoba you can erect a cabin, outbuildings and line cabins by permit. Wall tent frames do not need a permit so long as the walls are deconstructed and laid flat for the winter every year. Typically the deconstruction of tent frames is overlooked so long as the line holder has his cabin permits in place. Use of trapping cabin for purposes other than trapping (ie outfitting) is not allowed without prior approval. Approval for other use is typically granted but outfitting is usually denied as the province has established defined outfitting areas in existence. I find the more remote you are that typically the more accepting the government is to granting 'other' use. Other use where i am is a non issue as i have never seen another human track on my trapline in 28 years lol.

I am not aware of a person named Dave who trapped the Stikine. The person I knew who trapped a remote area, being the Dean river, was Beto Hobbs and he is now deceased. He was sort of a hermit type and I suspect he lived mostly on his line but he was also a longshoreman and went outside for work for considerable lengths of time.

No, none of the people I know were First Nation. Not sure if you were part of, or remember Don Taylors trappers sched on 4441 back in the SBX 11 days? Anyway about half of the trappers on that sched were in Northern BC. Most of the trappers I've referenced I met through that sched. There were quite a few more that I only knew over the radio, that also lived on their lines year round.

It is rare for anyone to live on a remote line year round anywhere these days, no doubt about that; but there are still some who do, and some are in northern BC. There was another fellow that lived and trapped over in the Stikine country for many years. After the trappers sched closed down after 33 years I lost track of him and always wondered what happened to him. He was getting older so I suspect he was forced to go to town. His easiest access to civilization was the Stikine so going to 'town', to him meant a long boat ride to Wrangel Alaska. He even got his mail there. Kind of different for a BC trapper. You wouldn't know anything about this fellow would you? His first name was Dave but I never did hear his last name. Im sure anyone who trapped northern BC back in the 90s or even early 2000s would have heard of him.