Jerry's Mississippi trapping trip was a success

This year Jerry was a bit in the dumps before going to Mississippi.

With the market down and alot of people of the mindset that southern fur isn't any good he was considering not even going because while he loves to trap he's not into throwing money away.

One the hand Is worth 2 In The bush and all...

A couple days before he was going to decide if he was going I saw how depressed he was so I started making some calls and it paid off.


I found him a market for 100 dark otter with the feet for good money and a 7 bucks a pound beaver market.

When I told him it was like breathing life into him
He was instantly wired to go.

It paid off.

In 13 days he caught 73 otter and 140 beaver.

He went to a new area this year. One farmer provided him a place to stay.

No bounty but the farmers paid him 2300.00 cash.money for trapping for them.

Some pay some dont ..and its whatever its worth to them..no set price because he wants the permission..the payments are a bonus.


So with his catch and the payments he had a hugely successful trip


Course hes gonna be puttin up fur till April with all the. other fur he's caught this season but hes ok with that.


He went and worked his butt off and it paid off for him.

I'm happy for him and proud of him.

There are opportunities for making money In the fur market its just about working the phones and finding that market

Nice trip. That’s a bunch.

Tell Jerry good job!

Way to go.Congrats

He's an awesome trapper, that's for sure! And he's got a great secretary!

I know when I was in Mississippi the mink were so big they looked like small otters.

Thats very inspiring, the people in Mississippi are1st class. Persistence and hard work pay. Congratulations to your success.

Congrats on a successful trip.

Cool! Do the farmers want the otter gone because they are getting into their catfish ponds and eating their commodity...?

Some.of them. Do want the offer caught. Occasionally he will have someone who doesn't want him to catch otter. He tells them the truth. He will not target them but he lets them know There's no 100% way to avoid them in beaver sets.

He doesn't like it if they tell him that of course but he respects their wishes and truly tries to avoid otter catches.

Guys thank you for recognizing the work that goes into a trapping trip.

The goal is cover as much ground as possible fast and to catch the fur as fast as possible to avoid unnecessary fuel expenses.

He takes a 4 wheeler and freezer with him. He has a freezer down there at a friends house. This year he bought an additional used freezer while he was down there for 75 which he left at the same friends.

He traps his friends property for no fees becauae he allows him to keep his freezers there.
He stays on a guys place who uses the house for his seasonal workers.

He tries to get things done in 2 weeks anymore.

Next year it will probably be a month because he had several farmers contact him at the end of his trip and he didnt have time to trap their property.

He was down in the dumps and you started making some calls for him and found him a market?

I don't care what anyone says, Cathryn, you're alright!!

Good deal !!

Getting paid by landowners is the way it's heading if you want to make a living.

LMAO.. Thanks. .......

I think

I think landowners are slowly waking up to that fact

For Sure

Tell Jerry hi from Wade. He will have to swing back through Nebraska one of these days for another week of fun.

I'm looking for some otter glands if he has any to sell

You remind me of Danielle on American Pickers. She's always lining things up for the boys on their trips.

I only work for one feller though. Lol

Good job on a nice trip. Don't know much about otters. Always thought southern otter were on the pale side, kinda like my beaver.

I bet you don't have all her tatoos either.

Nice job. Love to see a pic of that pile of fur!

It's always inspirational to read Cathryn's posts on Jerry and his exploits. Good job guys, both of ya.

(Won't be long and we'll hear about ramps getting dug and sold for big shillings)!

Youd be right.

I don't care for wall paper.

Ramp diggin' is already being strategized lol

He said all but one of the catfish ponds are gone where he trapped in mississippi.
They've been drained.

Heck of a catch for 13 days of trapping! He worked his butt off and it paid off for him. Good job, Jerry, and Cathryn for helping to facilitate the trip.

WTG that's some hard work

Congratulations

Them crayfish ponds are amazing.

I yd him i posted this. He was a little embarrassed..

I told him I was gonna post what I wanted.

I was proud of him and that was that.

He caught 11 beaver yesterday.

Does Jerry clean skin or rough? Just curious.

11 more beaver.Way to go.

Just curious, whereabouts in MS was it?

Clean skin and hes good at it . They're clean as a whistle and no false cut marks.

He's giving a demo at. Neil Olsons trapping days in maine in August. 14th I think.

He's amazing at it. No BS


If he didn't clean skin hed never get all the beaver he catches skinned.

I've seen him do 25 in a.day..and not 24 hrs. Like 7.

15 mins- 20 mins a beaver.

I help with the stretching

I learned along time ago.. No specifics on actual locations because if I brag on him and give away his location
.all of a sudden hes got competition.lol

And while he can hold his own with competition he can catch alot more with out it.

He used to be in NE mississippi

Totally understand. Like I said, just curious. The catfish ponds area sounds like West Point, Columbus, Brooksville, Okolona. My backdoorstep. Would liked to have shook the hand of Tman fame!

Wow, Jerry is a machine and would be a great mentor to some lucky trapper.

Impressive catch in 13 days.
Clean skinning all the way.

I met Jerry, I think John and their mother back in the day at Olsons. I look forward to saying Hi to both of you and to watching his demos.
Thank you for sharing.

Did he sleep while he was down there?..

Not much and he looked it when he came home

Some questions:
Does he trap for a living? Or y’all self employed?
Can you plz shed some light on where to start on “made some calls”?(to whom, where, etc.)
What kinda company/person pays $7 a pound for beaver?
Thanks!

Blak, you realize she's talking $7/lb for dried pelts right? Probably 1.5 lb or so average weights.

He used to work on a ran

He is now self employed.
He worked on a ranch in Wyoming for 33 years and retired from there last year.. He worked from April till October when trapping season started. In Wyoming and then hed trap in Wyoming for about 3 weeks then come home to wv and start.

He goes to arkansas and Mississippi trapping and the in between time he traps in WV.

This year he has some additional trapping opportunities like beaver trapping in maine and spring beaver trapping in new York.he will still be trapping in Wyoming and Arkansas and wv.

We dig roots and have a very good market for ramps. Last year we made 8000 plus in less than a month.
We will expand the ramp market this year and are hoping for a 15000 dollar season. We can do it but it will be alot of work.

I just start calling people in the fur market
I get the numbers from trapping magazines and the net.
I simply call them and tell them what we have for sale and ask if they're interested.

The fur with the feet market came from a thread I posted here..a man pmd me and it's been 10 years that we've been dealing with him. This year that market expanded to the 100 otter.

The same man buys his 60 inch plus beaver and has for 5 or 6 years
This year that market expanded to some beaver with the lips as well as noses for a native American market.

He sells his beaver tails to a man on here and has sold to Randy for 5 or 6 years.

Dan Webkie quoted me7.00 a pound on the beaver and 75 a pound on his castor so we will be going to Wisconsin.

He caught over 300 beaver this year so its worth the trip

He has a market cats and coyotes with the feet.

He caught 60 yotes and skinned them all with the feet and the man is taking them all

I'm .sorry it was hard to read. I haven't found a good spell check and I have a small keyboard on my phone.

I think I fixed everything

We also haul junk and pick up cans and sell them.

We sell eggs also

Thanks for the responses! It helps

Yes. His mother. Elnora Pingley was a very nice lady and a good trapper I
In her own right.

She trapped with her boys In. Colorado and Wyoming as well as kept them fed.

They don't make them like her anymore.

I was privileged to get to know her and spend alot of time with her.

When Jerry was gone id go stay with her for a week or so at a time.

I spent alot of time with her am a better person for it


She had a rough life but she raised 3 sons up yo be very strong respectful hardworking men with very little help.

A side note..

She bought the first bottle of Backbreaker that Charlie Dobbins sold

One more question. What is he trapping on big rivers/bayous? And out of a boat?

No. Mostly inland slews..

No Boat.

He was able to drive the truck or 4 wheeler right up to the sets

Another Q - how many traps? What ratio of bodygrip, snares, foothold?
Thanks

It was 80% connibears and 20% footholds and snares

100 total sets on a 36 hr check.
Physically thats all he could handle.

Someone else could probably run more but that was all he. Could handle with skinning his catch daily.

And thats how you do it folks^^^^^^^^

...for those that want to trap for a living.

Hence, all the questions. Not that I want to trap for a living, but long line for a week or so.
Also, some maybe to shy to ask questions

I don't mind sharing how he does it.

Everyone will do it differently because they will adapt their ways fo the area they are trapping but in Mississippi That's how he is able to make the good catch.

The conibear to foothold ratio was interesting to me. It is similar to what I do these days. But 100% of my (beaver) trapping is out of a boat.