One of my sons had an account on here when he was 12 or so.
He didn't last long, said it was a bunch of old guys complaining and arguing, lol.


Now, when I get together with folks my age, we talk about our aches and pains, who died, who is dying, etc

Seems like yesterday we were talking about girls and cars. Mostly girls,, lol

Cheap sardines in oil from the dollar store are great bait as well, I secind the 5 gal bucket, cheap or free, and low key enering or exiting the site

That's honestly what most new trappers do when it comes to site ,read the archives , read older posts, see how stuff is now days and see no need to do much more or try and talk .
Goin get their info and leave. From all the young guys and gals in the trapping world I talk to I'd say only about 30% see any reason to be apart of most "established" trapping communities. Same for alot of their forums. The bullet casting. Community being a prime example. Ton of guys my age getting into it and doing it but have no desire to try and be apart of places like the Castboolits forum. Just not worth dealing with all the gate keepers, duck hunters and people with chips on their shoulders .
Same goes for alot of the gaming ( digital and desktop) communities. If I get into something new and find a community now days 7/10times I'll make an account just to see old post and archives get what I want out of it and that's it. There's just too many options now days for someone to have to fight and deal with all this other crap . Back in the day when you only had one or two places and that's it, yeah you where kinda forced to be apart of communities and all the bad that came with them but now days ...egh. call it being woke or easily offended thin skin or whatever but it just boils down to not being worth a lot of people time

This to shall pass!

If I came into a forum and was instantly criticized for being too young and enthusiastic I'd probably leave too.

I think you're probably right but it's just so odd to me. I guess that is the difference between older people and younger people and why the disconnect between the two seems so wide.

I first came to trapperman for info but in no time the info became far less important than the community. My best friends in the world came from this forum. My husband came from this forum! My maid of honor and my husband's best man came from this forum. I've ran fundraisers to help people from this forum and in return received help from people here when I needed it. I can honestly say that me finding trapperman when I did most likely saved my life. And it wasn't because it taught me how to make a dirt hole.

If information is the only thing you want, of course you can come here and get that for free.... but what do you give in return? I think most younger people don't really care. And if gleaning information and moving on is all you do, you miss the very best part of what this website has to offer.

Yes sir, that is the understatement of the day or year even.......jk

This place has changed A LOT since I got on and from talking alot of the old timers if changed even more sense they where on. Alot of us would love to have a community but honestly there's usually just too much of a disconnect and honestly we just get sick of trying. I've brought this up on multiple occasions on multiple forums where it's primarily an older base and it always goes about the same way.
-Somone ask why no young people are talking or being apart of the forum.
- Somone say hay man y'all keep trying to be hard (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) with every new person we get you guys need to chill it's kinda toxic
- eveyone starts complaining about how soft and thin skinned my generation is and how back in their day XYZ yadda yadda we don't give out participation trophies the same type of guys saying the same stuff .
- discussion is killed nothing is learned, forum dies.
Sorry about of us deal with enough crap ( I know I know what possibly can my generation have to deal with ) without having to be apart of some of these communities and the double standard bending the knee stuff.

I have a few forums that I honestly tried being apart of the community genuinely excited and all and the toxic older crowd drive me out . Wasn't worth it what so ever. Prime example is over on cast boolits the other day. Guy posted his first cast bullets pretty excited and some legit said they look terrible and asked why would he even post it and went on a out how he was old school and dint believe in participation trophies yadda yadda? Like why ? Why was that necessary? .
The guy from the Texas Predator Hunting pod cast expand it the best. Lotta peoel on forum are used to being able to treat people any way they want because back in the day peoel had to take it to get the information they wanted . You had that forum and that's it so you where stuck . Now days there's just too many other options that don't involve dealing with that kinda crap..

Also I have to say very very rarely when these conversations happen do people on the forum stop and go " hay...are we the problem? " It's always somone or something else. And the few people who will say " hay y'all we're changing and not for the best " tribe mentality goes into full effect and they get ostracized ,newest thing being " you turning woke now ?!"
Not to mention I have to say, if your just gonna tell people to go read the archives or a book to get the info they want and not tell them anything else and they go do that , I mean... The heck do they need to be apart of the community for ? Most of us are very used to learning things by ourselves anyway and if you basically say " go read the book kid and leave us alone " the. Yeah well just shrug go read and walk off when we get the info . No real incentive to make us want to interact
But I digress

Well said young man-you even spelled most of the words right lol

Most of the equipment I use I made. Connibear setters, disposable stakes, trap stakes, fur stretchers ect.

My first fleshing beam was made from a wooden ironing board, but you can make one from a 2×6 board with a little time put in shaving and sanding it to size

I know I'm most likely preaching to the choir, but for myself I seemed to have lost my first love for trapping somewhere about the time certain groups learned they could make big money for themselves by creating a cause to gain a group of people without a cause to get on board their train of activists and work for them. Much with the same enthusiasm of the anti American sentiments of the Vietnam era. The art of taking over a small segment of free enterprise and making animal rights their cause, not only what we wear but eat as well. Their appetite was not filled there but spilled over into other issues with the environment. That has turned out to be a gravy train with big beaucoup bucks and getting bigger daily.

Losing my love, I've substituted politics and any other blame game that would fill the void. I commend Yotetrapper for grabbing the bull by the horns and trying to turn this long day around. While many don't do it for the monetary side of it, many kids are not fitted to ease into the way of life that is required by just throwing more dollars into it. Even if the heart of our enthusiasm is not about money, just how can the younger generation ever inherit the rich heritage of our forefathers way of life? Maybe the young man has had some naive questions that would give the anti's fuel for there cause, but really don't we all believe they are way past those points already.

Until he proves he is against our community, then if he is not against us but for us with some new enthusiasm.

I really don't think my love was lost as much as it was stolen along with other American ideals !

What did the boy get bent out of shape about? I answered a few of his questions but he sure did have a bunch. Lol.

Well he was getting bent out of shape about a lot, lol... but ultimately the reason he left is because someone locked his post.

An old saying that makes a lot of sense. MAKE TIME FOR THE CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE YOUNG SO THEY WILL HAVE TIME FOR YOU WHEN YOU ARE OLD.

It is easy to send someone to the archives instead of typing out how to build a dirthole. Just remember EVERYONE had to learn how as no one was born a trapper.

I think reading the archives should be a prerequisite before posting. I read on this site a good month or two before even joining. Now we’re referring to a “kid” that had a solution to everything. Baits, lures, etc. I would think he was a seasoned trapper and not a “kid” that everyone is making him out to be. I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t know hardly anything other than what I remembered from when I was 12, lol. I still don’t know much and only post on things I might have learned and want to share which ain’t much. This “kid” had a solution to everything and that which he didn’t know could’ve easily been found in the archives. Sorta like the tick posts, I’ve given a tried and tested solution, but every week there’s a post about ticks. Either we’re all so old we forget, or folks just don’t really read.

Most of what can be found on here, or in the archives, could also be found by “googling”, no?
But the point here is the camaraderie. In my short time here this has mostly become a political forum, which is unfortunate.
All this “kids” posts reminds me of the one about the old bull and the young bull…
It might have been a better option to not respond to every post. And no reason for punching down. If we want this tradition carried on.

It's scared a good many folks away.

Back in olden times ( which many of us still remember) before the internet, it was just an understood that when you were around men you listened more than you talked. You also could tell if you were becoming “pesty” by the looks on their faces and to shut up. This is lost now with the impersonal keyboarding. I’ve seen this several times over the years on more than this forum. I think many would individually help. It’s just this generational disconnect highly influenced by the internet that divides thinking. While we all, young and old, have the same ability to type and appear on here some of the younger ones don’t understand nuances that still exist with older fellows. I spend a lot of time wondering how to incorporate the younger mindset into understanding that trapping is more than just “ look at me” on Facebook and YouTube. Is this what trapping is destined to become? Completely different mindset than we old “pre internet” trappers. Maybe Bill Nelson and O.L. Butcher would think the same of us as they handed the ball off 50 years ago.

An off topic section is needed maybe? The general thread is pretty much wide open. There is the trapping only already, and alotta the stuff in general should be in there. I guess people post it in general to get more of an audience.