First traps were gopher traps my intro to trapping and everything went on from there.

No one in my family trapped, but when the muskrats got so thick in the little creek in town that they were stealing from my uncles garden, he bought me a few small traps to catch them at the local western auto.

Grandfather was not a trapper but a heck of a woodsman in the north country after seeing cat tracks by our deer camp he nailed a piece of plywood to a tree about 2 foot square baited a 330 with hamburger and caught a cat. That cat stuck in my head he gave it to my Dad it was the coolest critter I’d ever seen.

Before the Captain Obvious crowd starts up this was before the 330 on land regs over 60 years ago. Never set a 330 on dry land unless it’s allowed and safe like in Alaska or wilderness areas!

Victor 1.5 SLS for Christmas when I was 10 years old. got 3 of em

my first traps were a no.1 long spring and no.11/2 long spring my mom bought at an at auction in a bucket of junk.
Our first furs caught in them was a muskrat, which we didnt know what it was at the time and a possum. That was back in 1970. Haven't missed a season since.

Conibear , for muskrats way too long ago.

Victor #2 longsprings. Caught a lot of coon with those traps I still have them.

Made a wooden box live trap when I was 8 or 9. I would trap squirrels and rabbits and let them go just to see if I could catch them again. Would put a splash of paint on them as a marker. Just liked seeing the door down on the trap. Then my dad gave me a 1-1/2 long spring that had been hanging in the garage for several years. That lit the fire which has never gone out.

My first real traps (aside from the rusty relics out in the garage) were Victor 1.5 longsprings I bought at Jim's Sports Haven in Waukesha, WI. some time around 1967. I had decided I was going to be a Fox Trapper and came home with 6 of them, proud as could be with visions of the side of our garage covered with pelts running through my head. I was in such a hurry to get out trapping I did not take the time to boil or even dye the traps.

The area I trapped had a fair amount of Reds but was about 2 miles back in the woods. I was very persistent, checking my sets for about 2 weeks but got nothing. I finally figured I would give it up for a while and pulled my traps. I always figured I would head back out again soon so I buried them next to a fencepost. I never did get back out after Fox, as a water line had gotten my interest and energy. Either they are still buried by the fencepost, or I am hoping some youngster came upon them and is using them now.

Moosetrot

Bought 4 dozen victor pinch pan 1 1/2 coilspring traps from Bruce Gould a fur dealer here in Maine

I enjoy it all but coyote probably gives me the biggest headache. Once I start having trouble it turns into game. And I hate to lose.