Land trapping here in Illinois closed yesterday..I learned a a few things..
What did you guys learn from this past season?

For me it was 1. coyotes work the back side of a set more often than you think… 2 . be careful when fleshing a skunk tail because they can tear pretty easily…3.if you think you have enough dry dirt for the season, better get some more.

4. Pan tension on duke 550 is NOT ready out of the box. Was my first year using the dukes and I had a lot of snapped empty traps which I don’t believe was caused by deer. Next season I’m gonna try using foam pipe insulation or pool noodles under the pan to see if that helps.

Im decaying faster now.

This^^^^ is what I learned and still learning as of this morning's trek to & across the beaver dam.

Learned a lot about how critters work a half mile of a creek bottom and how they work baited cubbies and pass through that area. I still need to break it all down from the timeline but it looked like a cat or different cats came through that area weekly. Coyotes came and went no consistent presence in that area the same with the deer and turkey. There then gone then back again no patterns to it.

Not the best year with the warmest winter I can remember seeing to go by but still a lot of info to think about with unanswered questions that I have. Except for a deep draw with civets in it not one striped skunk was seen visiting any baited cubbies on either side of the river I found that odd. Not one coon caught in a baited cubby either again that’s odd too. Skunks and coons all over my cages in one area like normal no shortage in that spot along with a few grinners.

Still can’t get my head wrapped around yotes working cubbies and actually taking the baits out of the barrels and not just the one time. I’ve had them get close before and scratch at the ground with outreached legs but never submit to totally working one.

Always things to ponder that’s how we learn, the cell cams were interesting and informative saving me miles of driving the 50 mile distance one way and knowing when I needed to head down to recover or release a catch right away. Can’t wait to try the new satellite model Spypoint is coming out with to see if they work in the worse locations a real game changer if they do. It’s call the Flex M2 model I believe that’s coming out this year.

Elk season made that a reality for me my butt was dragging for weeks I’m glad I did it when I thought I could. LOL

Need a new quad

The starter broke completely off the frame,,,

Carried on for a few weeks pull starting,,,which really sucked!!

makes a guy appreciate electric start!

Finally I just pulled all traps

It was 23 years old and got way more than my moneys out of it

Time to upgrade before next season

Learned im not as young as i use to be!

Age does play a role in how fast and how hard you can run daily and still walk the next day.

Driving along narrow beaver dams with thin ice down a steep edge with a Tundra long track is friggin dicey. Reverse is awesome!
How fast an animal can learn, when the “never do this” becomes the only way to connect…..lol.

I learned there is zero reason to fire up the snowmobile and get in deep to catch fisher. We ended up with so much early snow that I didn’t feel like making trail on my bravo. Instead I just set boxes from the truck within 40 yards of the grid road. I caught a couple a week on average doing that until I decided I’d taken enough from the areas.

Still not as good as I would like to be.

A 280 set with the top jaws at water level, in a drainage ditch, that freezes 6" thick, even with day temps in the 40s-60s takes longer than you think to thaw out.

Having to re-learn how to trap muskrats after over 40 years of trapping completely different critters in a completely different locale, my main lesson was that there can be a lot more rats in prime muskrat marsh than you might think. Every time I thought I put a good dent in one small area and moved the traps, I would see more rats swimming around. And I also learned that rats don't need cat tails to make a living. They are just fine with eating aquatic roots when everything is dead above the surface.
Oh, and I discovered those 110 brackets that MTP sells that bolt to the jaws of body-grip traps, (they are shaped like a U with a threaded stud welded to the center), are the ticket for setting underwater rat den entrances.

When your as old as me, sometimes you can't hold it until the next set.

Learned that OT may pay better but trapping is much more pleasant. Missed trapping but my knees didn't. Lol

Learn where snow is going to drift and stack up when making sets out here on the plains. Never had to deal with wind drifts too much in the timbered mountains of North Idaho.

Hahaha... thanks for that. For me I never have to go when I'm at home before I leave, but once in the truck with coffee and some nicotine, combined with a dirt road and I gotta GO!

Learned i need a hip replacement

A couple of things.
One, I learned that I can with confidence and intent trap & catch otter through the ice in my waters. I also have to give credit where credit is due to Boco for dropping a small comment about trapping otter that made me think.

Two, the exact same BE set locations still produce mink after 20+ years of absence.

Haha, absolutely! People say that trapping doesn’t pay when you look at the time invested. Well, then they should go pump gas or run the till at McDonald’s in the evening and weekends…..lol.
I generally work OT when it’s available or asked of me, but trapping doesn’t take a back seat. Why sleep when you could be skinning? There’s some real late nights……lol