Last week I posted that I am in the middle of a major reorganization of my trapping related items .One of those items is my collection of The Trapper and predator Caller magazine .I have nearly all of the issues from the early 1980's until now . As a young kid growing up on a farm in the 1960's trapping was a very tightlipped group of people that very rarely shared info with anyone . In the late 1970's fur prices began to climb .And those willing to work at it could make better wages

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than factory work . By the start of the 1980's red fox where selling for $70.00 ,coon for $40.00 and all fur was worth something . With that increase in prices there was a sudden influx of good trappers willing to share what they knew for a price The TPC was a part of that growth as more trappers where writing articles and more trapping related industries was starting up the serve trappers It was an exciting time to be a trapper .In 1983 Don Shumaker was the editor of the TPC .In the Dec issue he reported that S Stanley Hawbaker had passed away He was a major influence in the trapping world in the 1930's until 1983 .The cover of the Sept issue of the 1982 copy was a picture of J Curtis Grigg . He was a well known trapper from the mid west that is in the trapper hall of fame.On the cove rof the April 1984 issue are 5 pictures of various trappers throughout the US .One of them is Mel Dunn from Kansas .Some of you may know he made a name for himself as a knife maker .I have several that prove he knew how to make a knife that held and edge .Spearman Publications owned the TPC at the start of the 1980's In 1988 is was sold to Knause Publications I attached a few pictures of what the magazine was like a those days . It was a time when many up and coming as well as established themselves as well known people in the industry

Good times, and was fortunate enough to be a young trapper along for the ride....Wonderful memories of a golden age!

Wished i was there to experience it.... sounds amazing

Thanks. I started trapping in the late 50’s. All good memories.

I started trapping in the 1960,s During the fur boom years of the later 70,s until 1987 when the market crashed gas was 40 to 60 cents per gallon and a dollar was a real dollar .And there where so many new products on the market to help make trapping easier to enjoy . The only real negative was those that could not succeed turned into fur /trap thieves. It was a great time to be a trapper

Yes, on the plus side...fur buyers in almost every small town, good prices, The Trapper Magazine was more like a catalog in thickness, with that all star lineup of writers...Remember making more $$ before getting on the morning school bus in the late 70's than my teachers did all week!....

The negatives were....More competition, more thieves, running the line in the A.M. darkness...I can remember running all my coon down a slide wire to drown them, so the coon hunters wouldn't steal the coon, and sometimes the trap.

The polite thieves would reset your trap after taking the catch, as if you wouldn't know, Lol.

Remember slide wiring my fox too, down into ditches, etc, to get them out of the open.

You kept your operation on a need to know basis, and 99.9% of people inquiring just didn't need to know, IMO...Even had my parents versed in information control, Lol.

But I would do it all again...Yep, in a heartbeat!

It is amazing to me how many young trappers and young trapping related industry people from that time period are still involved .in the fur industry Many of the writers for TPC and Trappers World still write It shows how much they enjoy the life style .I have been trapping all my life and it has provided me with a lifetime of fond memories and a great deal of satisfaction

Yep it seemed FOREVER from one issue to arrive to the next, every issue was full of something I didn't know before great memory's. I miss those days