I may be new to this but I have already compiled a list of not to do's!.

Drove across a field at my in laws that was supposed to be frozen. It wasn't. Burried the truck to the lug nuts.

Drove across a small river we have on our land. Little too much ice buildup at the edges . Ripped the front bumper off and damaged the alignment and steering rack.

I have since learned that if I can't walk to the trap or so it from the road I will no longer be setting them.

Also think skid plates would be nice but in all honesty 2wd would be the way to go. My wife's grandpa always says the difference between 2wd and 4wd is how far you have to walk for help. Starting to see he was spot on.

Any lessons other trappers have learned the hard way?

I tried to dispatch a skunk in a foothold by setting a 220 conibear and tossing it on the skunk. I caught the brunt of the spray with my eyeballs lol.

I tried to punch through a snowdrift with my pickup that was as deep as the headlights on my pickup.

Let me think on it more, I’m sure I have a few more good ones

I picked up a live mink once. Make sure if you're ever going to try it that you have plenty of disinfectant and bandages close by. Fresh snow and a bic lighter will work to clean up and stop the bleeding if you're a long ways from the truck. You should also expect people to stare at you when you go in a gas station after such an event.

Bare knuckle dispatch on a rabid coyote

Waded out too deep into mucky water in a farm pond. One second I was pulling my boots out of muck and the next I was up to my breasts in quicksand muck. Thought I was gonna die of hypothermia. But in the end I unstrapped the waders and laid down on my back and "swam" backwards through the water and mud until I could get out. Went back for the waders later.

Left my stick shift truck idling to open a gate. It took off without me. I finally caught up to it mere feet before it crashed into the barn.

Running the same line day after day you tend to go a bit quicker after awhile. Topped a rise on a day with slushy snowy mud and couldn't stop quick enough to prevent mowing down the fence that hadn't been there the day before.

Thanks for that awesome visual....yotetrapper !

I tried White17’s paper bag dispatch on a wolverine. Either I am not as tough, dumb, or smart as that guy.

Had a 330 slam shut on my wrist. It was tipped over and I thought it was sprung, but really it was just tipped over. I reached at it with my hand to remove the debris that was stuck in it that had pushed it over. Bad idea.

Buddy & I were checking Rat & Mink sets. If they were found alive, They got a wack with a stick. Back to the truck & wrap em in newspaper on the floorboards. Well anyway, Buddy was driving his 1985 Dodge truck, down the road we go, when all of sudden the newspaper at my feet starts to fly a part. All I see is a brown flash run over towards him & under the seat. I'm looking for something to wack it with & up it comes across the top of the bench seat, By this time the truck was stopped. So he decides to grab the big boy & The Mink sinks the teeth into his fingers & he yells out a few choice words, By the time that Mink decided to let go, I think I peeded myself . Finally he made it out the wing window. It was a day to remember.

Got slapped by a 220 cbear over left wrist had to tear my watch off and compress springs with my knees to get it off . Pain is a great motivator LOL

I have had my hand caught in a SC 4.5, Belisle 330, and too many #0’s and #1’s to count, little slippery waxed traps in marten boxes equal owies. The SC 4.5 kind of stands out. It went snap, I said “hmmm”, doesn’t hurt. I moved a little and those springs came up a bit and squeezed on where I was struck. Those traps have some grip and the springs aren’t easily compressed.

I was about 13. I had a tote box wired onto the back rack of my Honda 185 3 wheeler. For some reason, I had garbage bags in the tote box. I caught and shot a coon and threw it into a garbage bag in the tote and tied it shut. Came up on a second coon. Shot it, untied garbage bag and added second coon. Came to a third coon. Shot it... untied garbage bag and Coon #2 came barreling out of it like a pitbull on meth. I fell down, the coon ran over me, but I rolled over and shot it again before it got away. I made sure ALL 3 were well dead before stowing them away again and going on, loil.

... lol ... ol Jesus coons ... they rise from the dead every now and then

Threw a mink on the floor board of the truck in high school after I thumped him in the head he came to but my jack russel champ was in the truck and the mink didn't fair well but it was also an expensive lesson in the dog tore some holes in the hide . This is a good thread.

Without a doubt it was attending college classes full time during the boom years when I should have dropped out and trapped full time.

However, Philip, my college room mate would have argued it was leaving a bag of smelt guts I had saved out for coon bait in my closet over winter break when I went back to the farm. Guess I forgot about that, He was the first one back from winter break......

I concur! That liberal college you attended had lifelong negative effects! lol

Trapping yotes in the Ohio River bottoms between Evansville and MT Vernon IN on the 3rd day of a 3 day rain. Big wide fields nothing but slick mud. Not a house around for probably at least 3 miles. The path/road I was on was narrow and I got off of it with one tire and ended up in a combine rut filled with slopy silt stuck as I could get . Forward and back nothing. Now that was bad enough but It was rainy steady and I had my 5 month old daughter with me and it was before I had a cell phone. It's amazing how much dirt you cam move with a traping trial. After som digging my muddy wet hind end got back into that Toyota 4x4 and gave her heck. Red lined it but unbelievable I drove that truck out after some back and forth.

Had my daughter trapping with me when she was 2. I was seeing a trap when u heard her squeal I jerked to look behind me to see what was wrong with her shaping my thumb good and solid. To my relief she squealed in delight becuse she had discovered small frogs in the puddle behind me.

I flipped my kayak beaver trapping on a day I was barely able to bust the uce enough to get the kayak across the lake. Lost the rifle but recovered it a few weeks later with a salvage magnet. That was a cold wait for the kayak to drain when I got it to the bank and check my traps. Finally made it to the truck. Started it turned the heat on high and stiped necked to drive to my inlaws that was the closed place to whare I was and I also own the house and keep a bedroom there where I stay when I work. Thay didn't say much when I pulled in and walked around back to my room in the walk out basement. After all these years I don't think I do will surprise them any more.

I have a habit of going too far into places than I should. I have had to get pulled out of the snow 2 times this year and been stuck 2 other times, 1 in the snow and 1 in the dirt. I got stuck just today, I have terrible luck trying to find places to turn around so I can get out of my mess.

Another mistake is listening to a rancher tell us he wasn't going to shred bales for a month and then a few checks later, we had a lot fewer bales and traps. Lost I think 2 dogproofs and a couple of footholds, one of which was one I found in a prairie dog town with a tent stake attached to it. So I learned my lesson there, don't set the trails in bale piles even if they say they aren't going to grind for a month.

That's about all I can remember though, I haven't done much else that's too dumb.

I didn't make sure my traps were bedded solid after a thaw in a worked up cornfield. Ended up having 2 traps uncovered. Rookie mistake.

Ha! First time I ever heard liberal and Oregon State University in the same breath. LOL Besides, I was in the school of Ag science.