“You can only catch em once “

Paul, if I recall correctly, I think I saw on a Dale Billingsley video where he quoted your dad and said something along the lines of " if you don't want to catch a beaver in that set, you're going to have to stand guard over it all night". Sound correct?

Yes, that is true.

He had other good ones, to be a beaver trapper, you would wear a size 5 hat and a size 44 jacket.

My wife has a group of friends that she often complains to about the smells that go along with me and trapping. They gave her a T-shirt that said. "BETTER STINKIN' THAN DRINKIN'

Lefty
I like ur style

About someone you think isn’t a very good trapper…He couldn’t even trap a fart in his waders.

It is impossible to take junk fur and make it into a top lot pelt . But a Top Lot pelt can quickly become a junk pelt .I have learned this many times over .

Can’t catch a double with only one trap set. I had a friend ask Charles Dobbins if he had a secret to trapping beaver when it is starting freezing up. Charlie said turn that radiator south kid. Best quote ever

My uncle Jack Rios used to always say when we got in the fur shed,Take your coat off and stay awhile!

"Show me a chukar and I'll show you where I can catch a cat." Joel Blakeslee, President Nevada Trappers Association

I read somewhere that Charles Dobbins was asked how his trapping season was that year, by someone that didn't know him well. His response was "I caught a few dumb ones".
I like that quote so much I hung a sign over my fur shed that says, "Hanging only the dumb ones".

Mark I have one of Leo's baskets hanging near my gear too. I have never put anything in it and just looking at the basket helps remind me of the heritage that we have in our trapping ventures. Leo was one of the last wolf bounty trappers in WI. My first ounce of lure delivered through the mail was one of Leo's when I was 15.

Another Leo story told by Trapper Art at one of his canine demos several years ago. Leo and Art were trapping together in northern WI after coyotes and fox. This was late 90s or early 2000s and they had caught a wolf.
Leo carried a side arm and was drawing it out and Art grabbed his arm and screamed no Leo no!! Leo did not shoot the wolf, but I bet he was not happy to release it either. He could give a demo and talk freely while clean skinning a beaver during a demo with guys asking questions etc.

Bryce

I was at a trapping convention one time and Charlie Dobbins was doing a demonstration .And he mentioned about wearing a size 4 hat and a size 44 jacket ..He had a great sense of humor and was always saying funny one liners that where both amusing and very true at the same time .

" I started out a prosperous, good-looking trapper and now I don't even have a slave." Burt Lancaster in "The Scalp Hunters."

Put that smell down boy. Won't come around without that smell.…..Jeremiah Johnson

"When you move a hundred miles you have to learn how to trap all over again".

"A dyed and waxed trap, just looks smart!" - Pop

"Be in thar'" - My old Partner Arnold when we would be driving up to a set

"Trappers are the salt of the earth" - Asa Lenon

I guess Leo Hoeft gave us a few to remember:
In high school I walked an ADC Beaver line with Leo in late October… we were at County Sites where he talked to and knew everyone… he would show me set locations and what to look for, I was naive and asked where are the traps about 1/2 way through… he turned around and said : “I never trap a beaver until they’re chewing an inch of ice”. He obviously maximized his bounty and a little primer fur, he said when they see me they assume I’m trapping.

Anything can happen....when your trapping! And that's the truth!

Camped right beside Leo at the Owatonna, Mn NTA back when ever that was. Got to know Leo and Stan pretty well in thos 3-4 days. Was a good time for sure!