Some of you wanted to see my mountain lion after it was mounted. While I haven't picked it up, my taxidermist sent me a picture of the finished product. I trapped it in Utah in 2023.
I added a picture of my last critter on my lifetime bucket list. I caught him in Arizona on public land last month. The coati is species number thirty-three in my fifty years of trapping. I had taken two ringtails in the exact same set earlier in my trip. As I approached the set six days into the trapline, the sound was unmistakable, and that sound told me the catch was going to be much larger than a ringtail. As I looked around the corner of a fallen tree in a middle of a remote canyon at about 5,000 feet, this fellow was looking back at me. You know it's a good day when you do a fist pump when no one else is even remotely close to your location.

Stunning!

Trapping 33 different species of fur bearers is a great accomplishment. Congratulations!

Keith

Thanks! Although I've posted my list before, I sure do enjoy typing it one more time. I got my list from the species that were legal to take by trapping methods in the book "Wild Furbearer Management and Conservation in North America" which was printed in the mid 1980's.
Least, short tail and longtail weasels, mink, otter, badger, wolverine, fisher, marten, red, grey, kit, swift and arctic foxes, coyote, wolf, mountain lion, lynx, bobcat, muskrat, beaver, red squirrel, nutria, striped, eastern spotted, western spotted, hooded and hog nosed skunks, black bear, possum, coon, ringtail and coati.
All species were legally taken and harvested by trapping methods.

I have caught 20 off your list and never caught a possum. It is all in the location.

That is a great mount.

that is great lots of those critters are dont have over lapping home ranges do you have black bear on that list because they are on mine and that is an awesome mount looks so life like

Do you have more photos of the coati? I did not even know they were in the north America, just an animal in some books to me up until now. Amazing list of animals that you have.......jk

Congratulations

No... Just the same photos of the coati in the cage trap. He's now in the freezer waiting for a trip to the taxidermist. There are coatis in Arizona. New Mexico and maybe Texas. Arizona is the only state with a season. The limit is one per year. There is also one native nation that allows a harvest of coatis in Arizona. At least that's what I've been told.

I lucked into a couple black bears in Maine on separate trips when footholds were still a legal method of harvest. That was maybe 30 years ago. Maine is the only state in the US that allows black bears to be harvested by specified trapping methods.

My list is completed. I've trapped them all and get one specimen of each species mounted. There are only two species that I've failed to get full body mounts. Black bear and coyote. We didn't have the space or money on the bear, so it's just rugged and I just can't pull the trigger on spending the money on a coyote and have just gone with a garment tanned specimen that at one time was the Missouri state record for weight. 40.2 pounds. I think the record went over 50 pounds when the coyote market was hot and everyone and his brother was a predator caller or coyote trapper.
I can't even imagine not catching a possum every once in a while. In the Midwest, there's no way you can keep them out of your sets. I have a theory that there is a direct relationship with the amount of time it takes to make a bobcat set and the odds of catching a possum.

Congratulations man! What an accomplishment! I would read your story 10 times before I would read a story about someone shooting a Cape Buffalo with a high powered rifle out of the back of a Jeep...etc.

Just curious where you are from in Missouri? You could charge admission to see your mounts.

Ol dad

Up north on the Iowa line. Thanks

wow great lifetime of trapping,

That’s just crazy! Congrats on the accomplishment!

I’m with you on the ole possum, I think everyone should be able to experience making the ultimate coyote/bobcat set on nothing but coyote or bobcat tracks and have a grinner in it the next morning, lol!!

I wish we could trap lions here. Hound guys throw a tantrum and foil it every time we try to legalize it.

Come to a Missouri Trappers Association event and corner Jim and talk to him about all his adventures fulfilling his quest to catch all these critters. If ya want some good advice on planning an out of state trapping trip, then Jim is your guy.
Pretty cool stuff.
Congratulations again.