Just wanted to post a link (hopefully) for a fellow Iowan who is recording this year's goal of 1000 coon ROW trapping. Before any negative Nancy's come post about it being a waste of time or money this year, I am posting this because he is also teaching what he is doing during his videos and I think it is useful information for novice to seasoned trappers.

Hope you enjoy. https://youtu.be/Sa64jNQSumc


If this link doesn't work I would appreciate if someone could fix if for me.

Good for him-hope he achieves his goal.

Good luck to him. I admire guys that set the bar high

I watched some of his videos yesterday. He’s is very organized and driven. I wish him well. I think in one video he mentioned that he caught 1080 last year. Lots of work ahead of him.

doing a pretty thorough job

wow all for $5 coon.

I hope the market turns and this guy gets a bonus fur check.

All trappers would like to get a lot of fur from there trap line, but we can not pre set our traps here in Michigan, like he did in Iowa.

Good for him. That's a lot of hard work and planning. Thought this was maybe a new coonman thread lol

Enjoy watching his videos

Thanks for sharing. I subscribed to his channel.

Mac

X2

Pulling for him as well. For those wondering about the wisdom of doing this in light of fur prices, if he is doing this as a hobby or just to be doing it, I see that as no different than my nephews.......who make numerous 300 mile round trips and spend tons on equipment to chase after deer they almost never shoot. Nice to see a young man like that going for it.

Also find it odd how much laws regulating hunting and trapping vary so much by state. So he is in southern Iowa......and things he is doing.....like setting 220's in a road right of way. He could be trapping on the state line and literally set an identical trap 5 feet away and be in all kinds of trouble since MO doesn't allow anything larger than 5 x 5's on land sets and no dry land killing traps of any kind on road right of way.

Also curious how big of a swath he runs daily. Have watched many of his videos but not all. Did catch the part where his density went way up as he found more trails to set.

And still trying to wrap my head around trapping road right of way. My family owns several hundred acres......several miles of road right of way. Hard to imagine total strangers driving around setting traps in strip between our fence and the road ditch. First of all, there isn't much ROW....and 2nd, most farmers think of that strip as theirs. Perhaps happens all the time.......just never seen it myself.

Here in PA the way I understand it is a ROW is just that- utility and road services are allowed on to do work. The owners of the land still own it but have to allow those guys on to do work, not just anybody for whatever reason. But hey- It would be nice if I could do it.

Same here in NY.

At least it's a trapper and not some up to no good troublemaker though.

In Iowa the area between the fences (or where the fences would be if they are there) over the road are legally accessible to the public. You can trap, hunt or fish or mushroom hunt or whatever. Shown as Highway or ROW...



There are some other regulations that apply to it as far as what traps you can use so close to home etc, but basically its all open to the public. Technically if you're on a gravel road or dirt road you get 33' on each side of the center line of the road if there's no fence or power poles to define the line. Farmers do still pay taxes to the center of the road and at times they get real grouchy about it but its the law here.

That makes sense. When I'm working in north MO, along the Iowa line, you can always tell when you have crossed over into Iowa. The MO road might be light gravel or dirt.....hard to tell which......and in most places just wide enough for two vehicles to pass and rough as a cob. But pass into Iowa and it becomes a big, wide, well maintained thoroughfare. I remember about 50 years ago, Dad and some neighbors used to go to Iowa pheasant hunting......and hunted a combination of road ROW and private land. They always took 50 to 100 pounds of north MO hardshell pecans with them to give to farmers who gave permission to hunt.

In our case, if farmed row crop and no fences, beyond the road bed itself, there is no ROW. Crops planted to very edge of road ditch.

So if allowed, good Justin is taking advantage of it. Some of his best info is found on his scouting videos......shows how his catches have improved by by slowing down and finding all the trails he had been driving past. The lone tree etc. I've got that going on on my place. Coon trail coming to my barn extends to a road crossing past a small pond and lone tree in a pasture fence line. That is across the road and timber over there is home sweet home for the coons during the day.

Driving around, I'm also starting to take notice of where I find road kill. They are crossing the road there for a reason. Most of the time, I can see it. Others......like one the other day with no crop on either side of the road, no buildings and no trees within a half mile. Barren land everywhere you look. Yet there was a dead coon in the middle of the road. No reason for him to be there....but he was.

Those lone trees on a fence line definitely seem productive, especially going to corn on the opposite side of the road