I have been trapping off my four wheeler because the ranches I trap don’t have much for field roads, some none at all. It has worked well for me. Some of you may know my wife has dementia which has been exacerbated by a stroke she had on March 31. Physically she’s doing well but she cannot be left at home alone.

So rather than sit at home all winter watching trapping videos and feeling sorry for myself I bought a side by side four wheeler so she can go with me on check days. She always like going with me on the line in the past. The fresh air and exercise will be good for her and I’ll still be trapping.

So I got my new ride home last week. It’s a 2014 Arctic Cat Prowler 700. I’m going to set it up for trapping. This thread will be a trapper’s version of pimp my ride.

I had a small truck cross bed tool box I was going to sell but it fits the bed of this machine. I had to cut a filler block since the bed side is sloped. There’s still room for two totes of waxed sand and my Weisser bag with tools and lures. There’s room under the tool box for my trap release tool and a couple ammo boxes with whatever extras I need to carry. The front has a generous coyote rack.

I’ll add a couple holders so I can secure my trapping shovel and catch pole. I’ll put an over head two gun rack in the cab to secure a rifle and shotgun. One of my ranches has geese flying over low and slow so having the ability to carry a shotgun also is a plus.

I’ll update as I add more stuff to it.

I don't know much about the prowler, because they are too big for my uses. But that 700 that is in it, is a really good motor. I've two fourwheelers with that same motor. Both with over 20,000 on them now. I may have worked on or replaced everything else on the bikes, but neither motor has ever been touched and they are both going strong

This one hasn’t seen much use. 1840 miles. I would prefer to use my 650 TRV but I have to be able to take Etta with me.

Great idea I hope it goes as planned for you both.

Nice!
I’m so tempted to pull the trigger on one, it’s just their size holding me back…….but I guess they’re not much wider than my 06 H1 quad.
One of these days I’ll join the club.

Let e my Polaris Ranger 500 for trapping and hunting. Gear on the back critters on the front rack.

Good Deal Marty. I have been in your shoes for several years now. The wife can't walk and has advanced Dementia so I have had to give up the traveling and leaving for errands for any extended period. I make it work, at least I can still work the shop business.

If she could walk and was more mobile that side by side would allow me to do local lines at least. I hope it works out for you. How is that finger healing up?

The finger is healing well though there is a bit of a spot on the side of the pad that still hasn’t much feeling. The nail is about half grown out.

Etta has word salad as a result of the stroke. So every conversation is a guessing game. It’s hard to get any traction on projects because every little while she’s back out to the shop with a question or problem. Can’t get the TV on. Can’t get it off or has it stuck in the menu. Asking what she should make for dinner but she hasn’t been able to cook for several years. The list of questions is myriad.

I have to stop a lot of times and have her show me what she’s talking about. If she always chose the same words for things, even if they were the wrong words, it wouldn’t be so bad. But with her speech center so heavily impacted by the stroke, it’s often a different word each time she asked about a particular item or situation.

But she seems excited each time we talk about trapping this fall and going together in the side by side. She doesn’t remember each conversation but each time she seems excited about the prospect. So I’ll bundle her and dog up, take along some sandwiches and a thermos of tea for her and we’ll go trapping. I’m on 72 hour checks in Idaho so we’ll run Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. That way she can have some rest days and I can stay ahead of putting up fur.

We learn to make it work. I completely understand the word salad. I get it daily also. Not sure at times what is being said like you said it is a guess many times. Just have to play along and do the best we can. The wifes mind is just a miriad of thoughts and memories all put together and they all come out whenever it does.

She’s kind of entertaining when we take a drive anywhere. That seems to make her talkative. It may be about the crops or the mountains in the distance or people’s houses or any other topic but she just jibber jabbers the whole time. I can somewhat sort it out based on what we’re going by or by a word or two that makes sense.

Sweet rig you got there!!

That is gonna be a lot of fun for you and I hope it gets your little lady a talking about whatever is on her mind! She will enjoy accompanying you.

Sorry to hear about your wives , Marty and Bob....it's a hard to watch disease...all you can do is live in their world, best wishes to anyone in those situations...

Not a sexy addition to the new ride but a handy one. I took the holders off my old four wheeler and mounted them on the new one. They carry my trapping shovel. It’s a florist’s shovel with a hook screwed in the top of the handle. Invaluable for finding drag chains in the snow or drowning wires or reaching an item in the front of the truck box. I need some new retaining straps. Either that or the old standby bungee cords. There’s enough room in those that I can probably carry a catch pole as well in the same holders.

You’ll really like it!
They are a fine rig to trap out of.
I’ve never had an Arctic Cat, but I’ve had a Polaris and currently a Honda. Caught a ton of critters off both of them.

Nice set up

I never did like carrying much of anything that extended beyond the width of my ATV in that manner. Too many things to catch hold of what ever is hanging out beyond that width area.

I made some saddle gun style scabbard rigs from PVC 2" & 3" pipe and bolted them to the side of the ATV. I carrry my Snare pole and small broom in the winter time to dust off my trail sets.

I used my Kubota RTV 1140 for part of my beaver line last spring, it felt like cheating. Sure beats carrying stuff around in a pack basket, and made the beaver line miles longer than I would've been able to do on foot. Nice rig.

That shovel is right at the same width as the SxS but quite a bit longer than my old four wheeler is wide. And I have caught it more than once. Usually going through gates.