Started trapping beaver.

If you have been a trapper foe a long time there is way more than one dumb thing that we would prefer to just forget . Once after making several fox sets I was returning to my truck To save a few minutes I took a more direct route back to the truck However now I needed to go down a steep bank along the road to get down on the road . Well my feet got tangled in some weeds at which point I fell head first down the bank on to the road I am laying on the road with everything spilled out of my pack basket on to the road .Both of my knees and hands where in a considerable amount of pain because I had landed hard .It was hard to move due to the pain And with everything scattered about there was no clear path to just roll over and get up .And than there was the time i had a large boar coon in a steel culvert .I had cleared enough area of brush and briers when I set the trap in daylight hours . Now using a flashlight while checking traps on the way to work I had a big unhappy coon .With all the junk in the way I was having a tough time trying to shot it I was somehow squeezed into position to shot it I thought .However my aim was not so good .The bullet missed the coon and splattered against the steel pipe . And some of that splatter hit me .It was not like it really hit me to do any harm but not a smart move to be sure I hit what I was aiming at , Missing my target allowed the bullet to hit the pipe and come apart .And just one more to show I am sometimes a slow learner .I had set up a well used coon trail with a 1.5 double coil spring I just wired the trap to a small tree next to the trail I did not make the wire tight against the tree . A few mornings went by and on a rainy morning as I approached the set while carrying a flashlight could see that it was a huge muddy mess But my trap was gone. My first thought was someone had stole my trap and catch .AS i WAS BENT OVER TRYING TO DECIDE HOW MY TRAP WAS MISSING and getting more angry by the second As I back up away from the tree I looked up .And about 2 feet from my head was a mud ball of a coon that had climbed the tree until it was wrapped around the first small branch of the tree . Had he let loose of the tree HE WOULD HAVE BEEN IN REACH .OF MY NECK . I could go on but you get the picture .

Hi Steel Jaw, sounds like you're getting your trapping start later then most,since your driving.

My 1st year trapping I was 12.1st skunk. The suns just coming up. It's still dark. I can see the skunk pulling on the trap. .22 in hand I close the distance till about 10 ft. About the time I can see the sights it lets go at me. I got blasted across the knees. I shoot and he's done for. I walk into the house and my mom starts screaming bloody murder. I didn't think I smelled too bad. I must have.

Next boo boo thumb in a new #3 DLS. Right across the nail. Ouch! Turned a wonderful shade of colors I haven't seen before or since.

If you trap long enough, things happen. As you've already found out. But don't give up.

I tried killing a wolf with a hockey stick while it was in a foothold.

Got the snowmobile stuck in some deep snow while driving across the bog. Pinned it, and sunk down into the wet bog. Sank it down to my seat. Burn’t the belt doing so. That’s how I learned snowmobiles aren’t like quads, can’t keep spinning the track trying to get out. Finally dug it out. Ruined my life for a bit!

Hahahaha

Left a bottle Backbreaker and violator 7 in my Carhartt
And my wife washed and dried it with all the clothes we threw away,
Lots and lots of loads ruined bc just when you thought it was gone the dryer found more
Scent somewhere lol

Pretty presumptions of you to think I've peaked.

I was sober when I did it. I bet you were too right after that cold bath!

Great thread. My first mink was in a foothold in a creek, I pulled the chain and up comes a beautiful buck mink. The next time I did that , I pulled a skunk out from an under cut bank. You find out who your friends are. I just snapped a 330 across my knuckles this week while trying to clear debris out of the set trap. You live and learn, then you die. Or you just die stupid.

Then there was the time I pulled my boat up onto the boat ramp unloaded my fur (3 otters and 7 beavers) connected up the boat and went home (75 miles away) only to discover that I had left all those critters lying on the boat ramp and didn't get them in the pick up! Discovered it the next morning and high-tailed it back but by then high tide had already removed all the critters. Didn't find a one.

Cut a snare off an out-of-season otter...thinking it would just run off away from me...WRONG! It ran me 75yds thru the flooded creek bottom b4 it gave up catching me.

Released a 50lb bear cub from a foothold with momma bear watching me from up an oak tree. I was worried about her, but should have been worried about that cub when I released his foot and slid the chokestick off his head. If my truck had been 10 yds further away that cub would've got me good and bit up my legs. He did snag his claws in my pants legs, trying to pull me too him to bite me....but I was a fleeting target...jumped on hood of truck and cub ran on away....Momma bear climbed down and followed cub. I pulled that trap...

So excited for the first morning of trapping season I backed the quad out of the truck without a ramp.

Well.... A few weeks back I released a bobcat and it wouldn't leave the trap bed. So I attempted to encourage it to move on after 10-12 min of waiting. This involved me using a stick to kick up grass at so it would move on...
This is the bobcat


This is me after the fact. The bobcat was free for a good amount of time but after the split second encounter he chose to stand and bang with me where I quickly got the choke pole around his neck and took him home. He was the first bobcat I harvested this year and the 5 catch I made. I ended up releasing the next bobcat but not long after that the fur started to look real good and have harvested 6 more since then

I got the whole thing on camera so I'll post it later in the year when all the editing is done.

Don't be dumb like me lol

Nice looking cat.

lmao

I set the world record land speed for running in chest waders, chasing down a runaway Jeep which I had just got done easing out of a muddy patch in an ag field.
I couldn't get it to budge in neutral, so I put it in reverse, but without some pressure on the gas pedal that wouldn't work either.
I got a brilliant idea to put a stick between the front of the seat and the gas pedal and ease the electric seat forward until the tires started spinning ever so slightly.
I was then able to nudge it out, pushing on the front bumper. Genius, i uttered to myself.
Then watched the Jeep take off at a pretty good clip, heading to a ravine.
I ran it down, but since I had initially pushed it in reverse, I had to run around the door, dive in to snatch that stick out, then duck under the door so as to not be decapitated, and then not get run over, all with chest waders on, mind you.
I'm telling you, I was one scared 'democrat'!
Well, I didn't die, but the next day I could barely move from the whiplash from that door clobbering me on the back of the head.
I shoulda tied a quick-release rope to my gas pedal stick, but then I wouldn't have a "dumbest ever story" to tell, would I?

Got caught in a belisle 330 once.Like most f-ups-trying to cut corners/save time.
I was re making a tee pee set and didnt have the safety grippers,so i proceeded to reset the trap without untieing the cross wire on the bottom of the tee pee.
Anyone not familiar with a tee pee set,you cannot reset the trap and hook the spring safetys(thats where the safety gripper comes in) unless you remove the bottom crosswire,set trap,then re wire.
Managed to yank my hand out,with only skinned knuckles.

I had someone tell me to use walnuts for trap dye when I was younger, needless to say I went to school with stained hands for about a month. When I wasn't old enough to carry a gun when checking my traps, came up on a skunk I caught on Christmas day. The only thing I had was a slegghammer handle, ended up getting sprayed in the eyes because the wind shifted and a cold bath from the creek I went into.

Don’t remember the details except it happened on a truck tailgate. Caught both my hands at the wrist in a 330.

Lifetime membership right there.

I have been trapping for 71 years and have done a lot of dumb things:
I used to drown live mink by holding them under water until they drowned, then take them out, holding them by the hind legs, and shake them to get off as much water as I could. More than once this revived the animals and I had live mink in my hand.
Twice I've been through the ice while beaver trapping.
Got into quick sand once and way I got out was by grabbing an over head branch.
Put a twig into my eye and had to have laser surgery to repair it.
Bitten twice by red foxes.
Hopped across a brook one time, caught my boot on a root, fell hard onto the bank, and smashed a bottle of fox lure that was in my pants pocket.
Trapping nuisance beaver for the state I got caught myself with a 330 because of a sloppy trigger. Only way I could ease the pain was shove my hand and trap down into the cold water.