I would say Coyote Days and Minktoberfest are definitely there. I never attended Olsons but heard it ranks up there. Any others?

We had a good one in Ks, “the year the convention's died”! Rona had shut everything down, so John Borror had a private rondy at his place. Was a great get together…..and no one got sick We had a great time, a day of demos and a great meal together, and was well attended!

I can see More and More private one's coming on .

Yes we did. Was a great gathering

Dont know as I would really call them private. Unaffiliated may be a better term. Olson's was partnered with the NTA this year for a regional convention.

Conventions are great, and one can learn a lot. Good private instruction are more intensive, a better learning environment as there are less distractions. i.e when watching an excellent trapper giving some instruction you do not have to put up with some nimrod running his chops about how he does it.

Some conventions have had some awesome demos that were similar to instructions, this years Olson's had the best bobcat demo I have ever seen for the
Eastern or at least NorthEastern part of the country. But demos simply cannot cover what private instructions can. Some private instructions were very good but simply put, they were set after set type of deal.

I have blessed or obsessed when it comes to trying to learn all I can from available instruction. Some have been very well know trappers and some not known outside of their area. Both types were good for the most part. I have reached out and contacted some very well known and unknown that did not advertise and for the most part got refused.

Guys I wished I had gone to, my gosh it is a list. Being just a blue collar worked, my time and funds never matched up with my wish list, but I was always working to the bed of my ability. The Big O, Mr. Derrick, John Magel, Ardell Grawe, the rock singing trap maker, just to name a few. I talked to Vern Howey one year but I just could not get out there.
Guys that do not offer instructions that I think would be pretty cool, would be guys like Fossil, or John Graham. Major Boddicler would be a wealth of info to learn from.
I am so freaking old now, if I take more instructions it will be because trapping is my greatest outdoor passion. I asked about private instruction from Locklear several years ago but he was not doing them. I bet his and Jeff's school would be a hoot but it is too far for this old guy to travel.
He would be a great one to learn from. I asked Oscar Cronk a ton a year ago and he did not do any. A couple years after I asked him he gave a few small seminars.

One trapper that was known state wide but probably not much beyond the state lines that made a huge impression was the late Carl Tripp. I learned a lot of things that day on mink and fisher just by watching him and attempting to figure out why he did things as he did.

Excellent private instructions are serious, and intense. My view changed over the years and interests changed. Ones experience changes and what you are looking for does too. One year I had my first large number canine day. Granted it would have been a half day catch in the fox factory areas like some parts of PA or Maryland but it was a heck of day in the NorthEast.

The next year I took instructions from a very well known Maine trapper in hopes of improving. After that the instruction train got started. As you progress you may become more inclined to learn more than set making. I always wanted the thought process and the total why, not just the how.

The two best schools I have been to have been Mark Zagger's and Neil Olson's, back when Neil ran some seminars. The seminars involved great trappers on different species but typically the focus was on canines. Instructors included Charlie Dobbins, Mike Marsayada, Paul Grimshaw and other expert trappers. The school covered from the basics of adjusting traps to everything but fur handling. Lots of on the line for two days. One got to see a ton of setting techniques. It was always a reasonable charge when you look at the cost of instructions today.

Zagger's instruction was intense. His school covers a ton. His explanation for set locations was the best I had seen, but did recognize some of the teachings that I had read about. His instruction on locations alone was invaluable, especially for going into new country.
Zagger's school focused on doing this as fast and profitable as possible. He covered in-depth line management, and most instructions I had taken had not really hit on that enough. Some really good trapper are not great at communicating their thoughts and ideas. Any one that has met Zagger knows he communicates well and a lot. He is a talker. Of course his methods for operating in the nasty fall and early winter were a fantastic take away, just fantastic. The fur handling techniques were extremely helpful in my mind as he is fast and has found good methods to speed up the miserable job of handling coyotes.
What I really enjoyed was that Zagger had given everything he does a LOT of thought and he has the ability to explain it in simple terms.

There are more instructors I have known plus I have been befriended by some great trappers that simply let me tag along with them, and those were always learning experiences and provided great memories. There are several other well known and not so well known guys that I had the pleasure to learn from but this post is getting way too long.

Just a few thoughts.

Mac

Private instruction is excellent.
I had private instruction on my line from Mr. Charles Dobbins.
None better.

We could use more solid options for teaching trapping to those who are seriously wanting to learn.

Blessings,
Mark

Willy I am showing my age but I was working towards taking lessons from Charles Dobbins during the mid 1980'0. When the fur market crash happen in 1987 I put the idea on hold .Some times I make decisions that I wish I could do over again .What I know now is following through on taking those lessons would have paid off many times over

I was lucky to have seen some demos from Paul Grimshaw and Bob Noonan, and John Graham

Nessmuck Two more very knowledgeable trappers

W Side - Charles and I lived near each other and were friends, even though we were far apart in age.
Together we started a local Fur Takers chapter that grew very well.
He helped me by teaching me to modify traps and gave me one of his books.
When we spent the day together on my line it was fantastic.
That was back in about 1981 or so.

Definitely! Learned a lot

I first meet Charlie at the PTA convention held at the South Mountain Fair grounds in 1982 .He had his table set up and had numerous types of hardware that he used to adjust traps . He motioned for me to stop at his table .It did not take me long to see that he knowledge about traps far exceeded mine . He took any ordinary trap and turned it into a tool that was far and away better than almost any trap one could buy new .I talked to hum for maybe 30 minutes and I left with various supplies .I do not remember for sure but I may have also got his book on the Adjustment of Traps . As you know Charlie was a great writer and he put out several books I have most of them several of which he autographed for me .His trapping method books are excellent But I consider his book on trap adjustment and his trap fastening books to be the most valuable to me as far as making me a better trapper .,It does not Suprise me that you and he spent a day checking traps together .He was a very down to earth guy .I spent a lot of time going to conventions back than And one of my first things to do was find him and spend some time at his booth I am not someone that gets jealous I but I envy you . And I can tell you still recall the time on your line with a great deal of satisfaction Thanks for posting!!!

We actually ran a portion of my private land trapline in the summer. I wanted to be more successful. Mr. Dobbins as I called him out of respect, asked me to tell him what I wanted to cover. So, I asked for him to focus on land trapping and explain and demonstrate some interrelated big issues. We discussed good, average, and poor set locations. We also discussed general and specific animal movement and dispersal. Also covered was the best use of scent and bait. We discussed pelt handling a bit too. Mr. Dobbins was patient and extremely helpful. We had a very enjoyable and fulfilling day. That fall I caught at least four times the number of animals that I had caught the fall before on the same trapline in the same amount of time. Every one of my gray and red fox pelts sold with a few others at the highest prices of our regional fur auction. In fact all of my pelts graded higher than ever before.

Willy What a great story And that one day resulted in you making a giant leap ahead in the learning curve of being a better trapper

Minktoberfest