Do you guys remember how yall got your first traps? Mine were 4 old rusty longsprings that I got, from a guy my dad worked with.
Said he’d swap them traps for some sassafras roots…
My first NEW dozen came from Ed Bauer fur company.. dad and I took some ginseng down to Ed’s and dad said that I did good hunting ginseng and that I earned my traps. 1 dozen brand new shiny 1.5 victor longsprings.
I thought I was in heaven.
My next batch came from an older gentleman.. I don’t even remember how we became acquainted… he had some longsprings hanging up in his barn… I’d earn 1 longspring after every time I mowed his yard. He would talk about how he loved to catch mink and fox and I really enjoyed his company.
I hated it when we had to move…I lost contact with him…I had learned that he had passed away not too long after we had moved. I still think about that old man from time to time,,, I think everyone here would have enjoyed his company.

2 Coon Dagger dogproofs that my dad got me for my birthday years ago. It was somewhere between my 8th and 11th birthdays. And before that we had an old Havahart live trap that I convinced my parents to buy at a garage sale but that doesn't really count because it was the family trap, not my own.

I found them hanging up in a shed at my grandparent's house and asked my grandfather what they were. He showed me how to set them, and eventually showed me how to make some sets. First thing I caught was a skunk. They were mostly Victors, maybe some northwoods and B&L. A mixture of 1 and 1.5 LS and1.5 coils. I used only those traps for the first... ohhh... 4 years maybe.

Then when I was about 11 I tilled, planted, watered, hoed, and harvested a pumpkin patch somewhere between an 1/8 and 1/4 acre... then sold the pumpkins by the road. Use the money to buy 1/2 doz Victor #3s from Hawbakers, and some lure... because the coyotes kept destroying the traps I had... couldn't even hold one.

Father died , I was 9. Inherited some traps. Caught my first mink in a set Father had used. Dry set under a stump using. dry salt cod for bait, Lodge brother helped with the skinning. sold to EJ Daley .

Me and my buddy were about 10. There was a store in town called Johnson BB.
We would go there for fishing stuff.
One day there was a fur buyer there and a couple guys selling pelts.
I was hooked right then and there.
Me and my buddy pooled our money and bought 2, #1 victor longs.
We set them for muskrat and immediately learned about wring out.
Well we eventually stated catching rats and took our pelts money and reinvested in victor 1 1/2 coils every time we sold our fur.
"What a long strange trip it's been". I wouldn't trade any of those experiences back then for all the money in the world. Those times shaped me into the outdoorsman I am today. Trapping as a youth taught me responsibility, patience and a love of a nature I could have found no other way.

#0 LS Victor & Blake & Lamb
Weasel trapping for my Dad's Beagle Club. I was 8 years old. Dad's friend, Eddy Kozal, show me 'how-to' Weasels with boxes.

I've never sold or traded a #0, certain I still have them although I bought many more 0's in my early years.
Nowadays I trap anything with four legs & fur and Weasels have a very low population in my area.

A dozen MB550s about 17 years ago. I was in my thirties--started late.

They have multiplied.

I was young10-12 I would guess

Bought a Victor 0 jump spring with my own money

Still have it

Did my best to catch a squirrel but closest I got was a pinch of hair in the jaws

8 yrs old #1 Victor long springs. Caught weasels and my 1st mink with them.

Bought a couple Victor #1 longsprings from an old fashioned hardware store in town...the type of place that used to sell dynamite over the counter, lol, caught some muskrats and possums... Was probably 10 years old

The first trap in early grade school. A #0 Victor I trapped gophers, I have it set in my home for display.

Growing up in town with single mom in an apartment i never had the chance to trap or learn when I was young. Always loved the romantic idea of the mountain men and felt like I was in the presence of royalty whenever I would be in the present of a real live trapper like Jerry Joe Barrett which was not often and I didn't know well.

I was in my early 20 Ironworking going through the apprenticeship and broke when I learned about a local fur buyer that sold traps and supply out of his grage. I went to see him and told me how to make basic sets and I bought a half dozen 1.5 dukes. Typically added more traps each time I had a catch. Day dreamed and thought about how nice it would be to get 2 dozen 1.75 sleepey creeks but they were out of my price range. Got 1 dozen used 1.75 Victor for my first coyot traps instead. Hmm memories you forgot I just lost the last of those old Victor's last year. One of the boys didn't get it staked or tied off well.

Dad picked up some 1.5 vic and B&L longsprings from a guy that ran an asphalt plant that used to trap for me.

In 74 I believe I bought 3 longspring Victor's used, at a local sporting good store in Desmoin IA for a buck apiece.
I sold the frozen Raccoon and 4 Muskrats that I caught in the creek near our house the next fall in 75. That was the start of my trapping career. At 11 years I was hooked.

Dug worms and got nighties in the evenings and sold them to the local little tackle store(I could walk to it) did not get money after May but got dollar amount of stuff. first trap there was the good old victor #1 at first. Next year they had B & L 1 1/2 stop loss, I got them only from then on. Had maybe 25 by high school time, got all my critters int hem, fox and coon too, but they were scarce back then. We had mink and rats, lots of rats.......jk

Bought a doz victor #110 square jaws. And 1 doz victor #2 square jaws (bad choice). Did all my trapping with these 2 doz. Then expanded

Trapped skunks at the grandparents farm in upper MI as a child on visits with random traps that were hanging about. I got serious when the 70s boom started and a wage could be earned.doing it. Some farmer seen the opportunity in central IL and invested big time in trapping supplies mostly Northwoods traps but he had baskets and the other stuff. He had an ad in the Trapper newspaper at the time full page if I remember right.

Did a road trip and loaded up the car bought a pile of 1.5 NW traps headed to the UP a short time later.

Trapped with my old man from the time I could walk. My first traps were some 1.5s victors and 110s of his he let me set. First traps I ever bought myself with some muskrat and coon fur money was some 1.5 dukes. He passed away a few years ago I still use some of his traps but for the most part they just gather dust on the walls.

Victor 110s that I used to catch muskrats in 1978 or 79 bought with money from mowing yards. Used all of my fur money to buy more traps and school clothes and shoes. First buck mink was caught at the entrance of a muskrat den and brought $45.00. Then I was able to afford my first pair of waders. In the fall and winter of 1981, I caught over 100 rats and 9 mink using 1 1/2 Victor Coilspring's and 110s. Caught 2 red fox also that year and thought I was the bomb when it came to trapping. Worked summers mowing yards and at the city park then trapped in the fall and winter. I paid for all of my own school clothes and shoes from 8th grade on. We were very poor, and my dad was disabled it was one less thing for my parents to worry about.

Went trapping with my dad at a young age. He kept all the money he got for the fur. My pay was in traps which was fine with me.