When you miss a critter. For me it depends on the circumstances.

For instance, this morning I missed a coyote and am a little disappointed but didn’t get to mad about it. At another set I missed a bobcat. This made me mad at myself and very disappointed. It’s the second time I’ve missed a cat at this set in the past couple weeks. Last time I made a few minor adjustments but still had a miss this morning. Tracks on top of both jaws but didn’t step on the pan. I’m pulling everything this coming weekend and not sure the cat will come back through before I do.

I did catch one coyote this morning so that made me feel a little better but still thinking I should have two coyotes and a bobcat in the back of my truck right now.

Can't catch em all. Doesn't bother me unless I'm at a beaver job that calls for complete eradication. Then if a miss that one last beaver I get down right "rankled" and have to out think ole' bugger.

Lets put it this way, I never worried about over trapping a spot, there was always plenty of seed left !

I took some trail cams with me this year down south. Only had a couple misses but I learned a lot. Next year I will have more cams.
I have one video off an otter launching off the bank and slamming the top of a 330 knocking it over.
Yes I got lazy and didn't have enough debris on top to encourage him not to jump. The good part about is i got to see it and learn.
So not all misses are bad if your learning.

I missed a huge Tom back in January.
I had tried to force it where it didn't want to step. I shouldhave had a backup set . I knew there was another trapper down the ridge about 5 miles.
The cat had taken 3 weeks to return so I figured I had one more Crack at him unless he got caught.
He never returned as far as I could tell. Very well could have ended up in my competitors set.
Can't get them all. But complacency got me on that one I believe.

When I miss a catch, I get motivated to improve the set. I usually add more blocking. If it's a coyote that seems trap shy, I will often add an extra trap or two farther back from the point of attraction.

Keith

Disappointed but want to learn from my mistakes.

If I have a miss, I take it out on the next catch. lol

I take it personal lol bothers me when I miss cause I know that I had the animal there, and I just didn’t finish,

I kicked off some traps because of potential ice storm. Wasn't much of a storm but I put off setting them back a day because of time constraints. Of course when I returned there were cat tracks all over my sets. I just chalk it up to if I were a good bobcat trapper I wouldn't have delayed the reset. Disappointed more for my sloth than not catching the cat.

I get mad if it’s my fault, disappointed if it’s the animals fault, and somewhere in between when it’s something odd. I had a cat caught the other night and had a trail cam send me the pics. I went over there at 5am to get him out. Stepped out of my truck, turned on my head lamp, and then watched him make one more lunge for freedom. I wasn’t mad or disappointed, just regretted getting out of bed that early

Very True

That's what makes trapping fun, trying to match wits with whatever it is that you're trapping. Like trying to outmaneuver an educated beaver. You want to catch it ending up trying unorthodox methods and when you finally do, for me that's the thrill of it all.

Don't get frustrated, just have a good chuckle. It's really a game between you and the critter on his turff. A muskrat can make a fool of an experienced trapper.
Enigmaticgwechin has the right attitude in his videos, the real pros aren't afraid to tell about their misses.

if it were easy you would lose interest

trapping and hunting is in many ways , how much sweat you put into the learning but just also being out there over and over , the game between you and your quarry.

even some one who has like master class level knowledge and experience might be connecting 33% of the time

game cameras show us so many times how much more was missed than caught

the difference in a master trapper is if he connects 33% of the time , he may only need that animal to pass by his set 3 times . so he sets where there will be the traffic to put several a night past the trap less so with cats and coyotes but still hitting the highest traffic points

setting on sign.

in hunting I get mad when I blow a shot I know I should have made mad at me not the animal or anyone else , analyze what I did , what happened learn from that and that makes it happen less in the future.

in trapping it is learning trying to figure it out , not every animal walks the way it "should" , does what it "should" those are overly bold statements or averages laid out in a text book not life. so you might need to do different things for different animals

On those questionable spots put in a second trap nearby......Just my way of doing things.....jk

Yeppers! That's why it's called "Trapping" and Not "Putting up Fur"!

I use to, but don't bother me anymore.
Only time now is if it's a pay job, just gotta work harder.

… I break a longneck bottle over my head and punch myself in the nuts