I believe it is a learned skill that can be developed and fine tuned over time if the interest and ability is there. Your basic learning curve aptitude will affect your success one way or another. The rest is ambition and motivaton.

Any skill set has many facets that are associated with it. Trapping is no different.

Part of that skill will include some science, biology, psychology and a continuing education for those seeking to improve their skill set.

My brain wouldn’t have ever thought of trapping as an art or science. Maybe you guys were breast fed and that’s the difference. ?

I’d put it more in the category of a skilled trade like k snow mentioned. I definitely don’t over complicate things.

Yep

Both with some aptitude tossed in as well. I sill want to know why a lure works for one person and not for another.

Pete my thought is body chemistry. Each of us have unique body chemistry and I think some lure react negatively with a persons body chemistry as they apply the lure and cause avoidance or less appeal anyway.

My two cents

What ^^^^ Bob said.

Y'all are full of hot air.
In my 50-something years of trapping, I have boiled it down to this. Once you have the basics down,
It's all luck, and mostly bad.

"10% brains, 90% bull gang"

Mike

I agree with this. Some got it, most don’t.

I wondered this for a long time. I trapped a lot of public ground and not a lot of private ground. This helped me figure out the reason. I bought all the mainstream super great catch everything in the woods lures and baits. The reason they don't work is because someone has educated the local animals. So, some guy in the next county is stacking them up with something I couldn't catch a cold with.

I don’t have an answer but we all had learn it. Nobody is born a trapper. It does take practice, trial and error, lots of mistakes, and hard work. I lean toward science.

Naw, that's not it. At least not in all cases. Although it's not always the case, if a lure works well for ME, drifter won't catch anything on it. And if it works well for him... I might as well not even waste my time trying it.

I want to believe that I was born a trapper. Can't remember not wanting to trap. Nobody in my family ever trapped but I was always fascinated by animals and fur. Lucky for me I had supportive parents that taught me right from wrong. They taught me respect for people and nature. When I wanted to set my first trap they made sure I took trapper training and got my Jr. Trappers license. I would get up at 2a.m
and run a trap line on my bicycle. Paper baskets on the back and a "grandma" basket on the handle bars. More than once I was brought home by a State Trooper that thought it was wrong for me to be riding around with a baseball bat for dispatch and coons and rats in my paper baskets. Boy oh boy would the old man give them an ear full for waking him up before he had to go to work.
I'll have to side with the "learned skill" as trapping just evolved in me through trial and error with a lot of observation. I still get excited waiting to see what's in the next set.

There's a bait I use that if used in the river valley wouldn't catch nothing but possums. That same bait used 6 miles away in the hills, the coyotes love it. This craft can be confusing at times.

Observation and interpretation is the science. Knowing what to do with it, is the Art.

Observation is how you get there. We act on the science until that one critter isn’t scientific, then we get all artsy trying to get it in the shed.

I know a retired Nasa rocket scientist that wouldn't know a mink if it was in his cream of wheat.

It may depend on if you're a mad scientist or a trapper art !?!?