Why I love to do it.
Why the hard work and low pay don't discourage me.
I can't explain it all.
But I sure enjoy doing it!
I bet you do too, you crazy hard working, low paid TManer's!

Had a great run yesterday on Christmas, and I thought I might break my bobcat record of 7 cats in one 24 hour check, which I had a couple years ago with Mr. Jimmy Spencer aboard to keep me company.....
Had 5 bobcats in the buggy with half the line checked.
So vissions of sugar plums danced in my head!
But, alas, I only caught one more cat in the last half of the line to have a 6 cat day.
Donna can't set traps right now because she had hand surgery a bit ago, but she is my best cheerleader!

Can you explain why we all bust hump and brave the elements each and every year?







Oh, and if you don't own one of Lee's Death Rays, it the sweetest invention since pumpkin pie!


Blessings,
Mark

no,,,,,its unexplanible to those who would never understand. its just something that's in our blood......plain and simple.......how do you explain a passion??

Great post. I've spent the last two weeks getting ready in the evenings after work. Steel will start going in the ground this morning and I'll trap my farm and a couple thousand acres of the neighbors for 2 weeks. I will work my tail off and lose money. My 13 year old son will repeatedly tell me I am not doing things exactly like Mark June said to on his videos. I can't wait!

I love it and am going to try posting pics this year.

Good luck all.

It’s just who I am and about always was ( this is my 46th year). I refuse to let low fur prices make me “ shelter in place”. We’ve had enough of that. I love going into the shed at night and smelling the fur smell then flipping on the light and seeing it hanging there. My wife encourages me although she doesn’t understand why I do it still. Putting up fur is relaxing and has been the first casualty of younger trappers, many just don’t want to get their hands in it, a Facebook picture is enough for them for an end result. We must keep it alive. We lost a generation after the market drops and we can’t stand another one I’m afraid. I can justify my UTV and enjoyment just as much or more than a 40,000 boat and they don’t sell fish.

Great run Mark! It’s a mystery for sure. Not explanation for the passion I have.

Mark,i think Ray Milligan Summed it up well,we are making a critter step on a 2” circle.It’s the challenge to out smart some of the smartest animals that God created and put on our earth,yesterday was Christmas but wrote in my book, having a trapline to check is like waking up to Christmas morning every day we have traps in the ground.I know some people hate coyotes, I’m the total opposite I love the challenge to out wit them and everyone I do feel grateful and yes respect for there life that I have just taken.That is why I live/think trapping 24/7 and I’m lucky enough to live it10 months a year being control work and fur trapping.

I concur
I believe a lot of us have a Nomadic sense of wonder that is unexplained and needs to be satisfied

Listen to your son counselor. Sounds like you're raising him right
Good trapping out there! Wear 'em out.

Blessings,
Mark

Bet I'm not the only one thinking I wouldn't mind braving those elements about now lol.
Enjoy these topics a lot, I hope you do 8 next check.

I couldn't tell you either. I was up for 26 hours to celebrate X-mas. Slept about three hours. Ran my line from 0200 to now and I have 12 hours ahead of me. Wouldn't change it for the world.

The weather here is weird as anywhere I trap. We have everything we own on in 1st thing in the morning as the temps are near freezing and we are in a buggy. We run about 65 miles per day on this line. By 9:00am, 1st layer comes off. By 12:00, another layer. By 2:00, most days, it gets flat out hot. So from 30-80's this time of year in the span of 6 hours is weird weather...

.... and we enjoy it.

If it ever rains, we are wiped out, because the dirt is not used to precipitation and gets as weird as weird can be.

great day for sure mark , I've taps since i was 9-10 ,learn the hard way ,still is what keeps me going , how to explain it I don't know , it just get in your blood

You the man!!

Does it turn into slick Gumbo?


I've hunted Wyoming a lot and that Gumbo id bad stuff@

WHO wouldn't enjoy trapping in dry dirt and sunshine? lol.

It's the wonder of what might be in the next trap, the emotional roller coaster of around one bend is a catch, next turn something bad happens, pull out, snapped trap, stolen trap, just never know then there are those special days like you had today when it seems all the stars align (pun intended) and all is right in the world for just a few seconds. Makes up for the endless days of rain, snow , sleet, broke down vehicles, torn waders cold feet, etc, etc, etc. lol

Catch a few more of those and you can take the little lady out for a happy meal, lol.

Great catch yesterday hope today’s catch is just as good if not better.

You done good Mark...
Keep it up


Donnie

Awesome catches and pictures.As for why we trap its simply the way God made us.Spirit of the Wild.

Here's my take on explaining it for you.....'cause it got in your blood back in the 70's and never went away... you went thru the lean and less lean years early on, got your Bio degree, made a career out of the scent and trapping business, found a wife than accepted, shared, and came to like it too, raised your family... and you still like to get up in the morning to trap $5 coyotes loaded with fleas...

It's seeing that first hint of the dawning day, then stopping to watch the sunrise. It's smelling that first cup of coffee from your thermos, then smelling that Gusto at your next dirt-hole. It's hearing the frantic flush of that covey of chukars you just surprised, then enjoying the far-off yodeling of a family of coyotes. It's the end of the day, hanging a few marten in the skinning shed, thinking back over the course of the day, chuckling to yourself over the sweet memories of that phenomenal day and feeling that first trickle of rye burn it's way down the gullet. It's being alive.

Jack