Anybody here run there line before work in the morning? I don't have to go in until 9:30 so I'll be checking before hand. Anyone else do this and how many traps you check? Hoping to go on a dry run this weekend to see whats doable.

Oh man if I didn’t have to go in until 9:30 I would absolutely run them before work.
Getting up at 3:00AM to get them ran in time to get back to get ready for work. It’s a grind when I have to do at times. I don’t do it often but sometimes got to do what you have to do. Doesn’t always work out to run them after work, but usually that is what I do.
I like having traps all checked early in morning and lower chance of something bouncing around all day than when I run them after work. But most of time running them after work is best for my schedule.
Jim

You can set traps all day and then have em all checked by 9am if you chevk the first trap at 6 barring a really good catch day or a disaster. Usually figure it takes a third of the time to check sets than it does to chevk em, excluding travel to and from first and last stop

Guess it all depends how far away the property you’re trapping is from your house. All mine are with 15min max and I can run them in a hour or so. Leave about 0630 and home by 0745 or so. Work office is about 5 minutes away. I honestly believe daylight checking has helped.

Most all get checked before work. Some get checked while working. Sometimes a few get checked at lunch depending on how the morning went.

I run my on company and actually answer emails and take sales calls on my trap line lol ! Not many but some. I usually start about 6:30 or 7:00 and finish up about 9 to 9:30 and thats getting it. I run about 45 to 50 coyote sets over about a 6 mile line. Some out of the truck and the other half off my ATV. There have been days when I had problems and didn’t get out of the woods till noon but not many. Sometimes I have to deal with a lot of water as we are in the Trinity river bottom.

I try to work remote during my trapping month (December) but still have to actually go to the office some. Dealing with catches and remakes is the biggest obstacle but sometimes I'll skill a remake until the next day.

Couple properties I trap are 30 miles out for me, everything else is closer. If I run 24 canine sets with the random DP's and Coni's mixed in I can usually be to work by 9-9:30 when I am running those further out properties. If I get carried away and have 36 canine sets out it makes it pretty tough to get them check and back in to work in a reasonably predictable fashion.

I will normally try run 24 canine sets during the week and fridays punch in another 12 after work, run 36 over the weekend, then pull the "older" 24 sets and set 12 "new" sets on sundays as I transition properties. I try not to run traps in the dark. Mostly because I am simply slower moving and making resets by flashlight/head lamp. I find I get finished about the same time bc I can obviously move in the light much more effectively.

I'm not trapping anything too far from the house this year, I can ride my ATV to all the farms as they're within a 10 mile radius on back roads

I check traps starting at 5am and I'm usually done and back at the house by 6:30-7:00am. I'm only running 1 or 2 dozen traps at a time. I can get a couple remakes done in that time window but if there is too much work to be done I will dispatch the critter and go back in the afternoon to finish remakes

Last season I did this but I was trapping two different farms with a dozen sets on each. That was a cluster. One farm at a time for me if I am checking before work

I'll be running three farms. One is about 3 mile's south of home the other 2 about same distance west and they are joining(One is our farm) be 2 dozen max in sets, probably closer to 12-15. Can drive to sets( weather depending)or see from field roads with binos. I guess I'll just try and see what happens . Just wanted to see how others approached this. Thanks guys

If anyone is interested i posted a time saver for the kids about checking their lines. Just common sense, but may help

I have to be at work at 6:30 and go until 3pm. I still get everything checked in the morning. BUT everything is on my own property and the whole line is only just under 2 miles AND its only around a 4 mile ride to work... So I can procrastinate and still make it on time.

Always have a GOOD excuse made up for why you are late for work before hand. Make sure its good. And rehurse it so you know it by heart. Also its good to keep a = log book of all your excuses for being late. Like = you dont want to use = my alternator went out 5 times in 1 year. Dont use fake funerals or accidents on highway that your employer can look up on the internet either. I went for MANY years and was late so much. I honestly didnt believe the railroad didnt fire me sooner ! In the end. I even brought the coyotes to work with me ! LoL!!!

lol

Just be so good at your job that they won’t mind a little late because they’ll know you’ll get the job done regardless of when you come in. Takes a few years, but eventually they’ll realize it’s easier to put up with tardiness rather than hiring someone else and train them.

So timesavers. Have fresh traps with you so if you make a catch and your trap is contaminated you can just switch them out. Also keep an eye on the clock. If your running out of time you might have to dispatch your catch and remake the reset the next day. If you can check your traps out of your truck with binoculars you’re way ahead ! I have to do all mind off atv so that complicates things some.

After checking traps at 4 am for quite a few years, this year I will be off from Thanksgiving to the first of the year. Pretty much retired, other than hauling a little corn for a farmer. Really looking forward to daylight checks

I was getting up at 2.30 am. Leave the house had a 1 hr drive to work. Stop and run my traps. Had to be at work at 5am. Some long days there. I work 12 hrs. Then a 1 hr drive home. Then skin before supper . Get in bed by 10 or 11 . I was running on 3.5 to 4 hrs sleep.

I was running mine at 4am.
With a little cool weather that rolled in, I have bee checking at 6pm, with the 24 hour check.
A couple months ago, I caught 2 coons & a coyote after my 4am check, and they were all dead.

Have a plan for when you catch skunks. I carry a clean set of clothes in the truck, just in case. There is no way my job would be happy with me smelling the place up all day.