Lessons learned

This going to be a thread that I hopefully will keep up with. But it is basically going to be a list of things I learned my first years trapping.
Feel free to add your own lessons if you want.

BTW- I snare, and I live in NJ, so majority of my post will be about snaring and winter conditions snow and ice. Hope this will still help you steel setters.

1. Set on frozen streams, as fox run them.
2. Don't bother with store bought meats for making sent trails.
3. Don't set conibears under ice without a good way to get them out.
4. It is hard to snare coon in areas with no known trails. (they like to wander)
5. Catch it, hang it to dry, skin, and freeze until ready to flesh.
6. The best way to make your own stuff such as wooden boards and snares is to buy a couple pro ones and copy it.
7. Alum tanning is the cheapest easy way to tan. If garment tanning, vegetable tan after alum tanning.
8. Remove ALL the meat from the hide while tanning.
9. If someone pays you to get rid of an animal, you get payed by the animal removed. Not by how many times you went out.
10. Know your area so you know what traps to buy.
11. Don't buy a fleshing knife for less than $30, unless you really are that broke. Even a lawn mower blade is better then a $10 knife.
12. Short fillet knifes are good skinning knives.
13. Trap before school.

To be continued...

If I may add.

•don't add blocking that will keep the trap from closing all the way.
• and KISS

-Keep a spare change of dry cloths with you
-if 2 traps are good three is better
-box cutter with hook blades and straight blades are cheap and amazing
-always let someone know where you are going and how long you plan to be gone

........"K.I.S.S.!!!!!!!!!"

........"Don't fry bacon with your shirt off!!"............Trust me!!

If you are planning on running a spread out line you'll want a ride.

Don't try to wrestle with a badger. They are very slippery.

Water is wet and cold in the winter.

-don't get sick during trapping season
-invest in connabear setters
-box cutters work wonders
-if everything is frozen and snowy put your trap in the corner of a trash bag and put a dusting of light snow on top

- Hunter Girl, when I got sick I just sprung all my snares, the local officer said he was ok with that, otherwise find another trapper to check them
- mink love to check out abandon muskrat huts
- If your worried that some animal right activist going to give you a hard time- "What do you do?"... "I am a wildlife manager and technician."... "Oh, that sounds like a great job." Works every time.
- Spray paint conibears and lightly on snares
- wash hides in water before fleshing

-be careful when trapping squirrel you lose a 110 body grip.

Depending on type of trap, try to make it look natural

-After removing the animal, check the catch circle for turds. Bring them to other sets for lure.

Very nice learning curve..I charge $50-$70 each day I check however. Just depends on ones circumstances tho..

Hoho, yeah, but when you stink because its your first years trapping, or the person doesn't really have an animal problem like they think, then they feel ripped off. Thats why I do the way I do. I guess if I was confident enough I'd do your way.

- Camo your traps, from animals and PEOPLE!
- Know your laws, if someone messes with you or your traps, report them to the game warden. I had someone messing with my sets, but never found out who they were.
- Muskrat are not afraid to live right next to beaver. Another thing I learned the hard way.
- When setting snares, wrap the support wire around a stick stuck in the ground. It is more natural this way and blocks part of the trail. You can also use smaller wire.

- another brilliant discovery- if you want a cheap way to label traps you can cut soda cans into strips. Experiment with pens to see what one shows up the best, be sure to press hard so it indents the metal. Poke a hole for wire. Only use this for traps that kill the animal. It can be attached to wooden stakes with tacks.

Never wire a dp to a short stump.

The only thing I really learned is that catching foxes is easy. lol. Oh, I did learn that vise-grips work wonders on stakes that are frozen in the ground.

Muskrat eat acorns!
Fur primeness is based on daylight not temperature. Just because it's a warm fall doesn't mean the fur is less prime than a cold fall.

Make sure conibear safteys are attached securely.
Don't put traps in a creek when you are going to get 3-4 in of rain

When trapping muskrats watch the weather. If you are trapping a pond and a big cold snap comes you may find some of your traps iced in for a long while. Ponds don't have currents so like water like that freezes before moving currents do. In my first year of trapping I had like about half my traps froze in our pond for about like a month till the ice got thin enough to bust to get them out.

always carry enough traps. A carpenters hatchet is one of the best tools to carry because its can hammer in stakes cut new stakes, and cut other things like saplings that are in the way, or ice. its a tool that i never go without.

Keep your pistol holster clipped shut...... Learned that the hard way...

Ouch:(

Don't set off a #220 connibear with your hand...results in a fractured thumb

-Make sure all your required gear is ready the night before you set.
-when trapping a creek during the spring don't slip
-make it separate packs one bag for water gear the other for land(organization is key)

ttt
Anybody learn anything this year theyd like to share?
Heres a few to start it off
Always put salt on your sets, even if its only going to get close to freezing.
remake sets after snow, or make sure they are working
gang set, always chances for doubles or triples

-Watch and take advantage of the weather
-Try to set as many traps as you can tend, if you have good locations to set them in
-Trapping early season has its advantages
-Put up your fur the day you catch it, it is better than freezing
-Always keep your sets operational before and after bad weather
-It's better to have your mink traps spread out on as many different cricks as possible, rather than setting all of your traps on a few streams
-The key to putting catching good numbers of fur is to have a system, be fast at set making, and set a lot of traps in good locations

When trapping in muskrat push-ups put the trap as far from the ceiling as you can get, eliminates clogged traps when sprung. Also smaller traps are better, even no. 0's work well.

Even if a road looks not traveled it still may be traveled once in a while. Set your traps off to the side so as to avoid catching said persons dog.

The metal plates used to hold the rail section to the rail road ties make great drowning weight for beaver. I'm just guestimating, but 2 plates probably weigh at least a good 10-15lbs more than a cinder block, and take up a fraction of the space. Just spend some time walking along a rail road and you can probably pickup a half dozen or more that have come loose and are laying in the gravel without too much searching for free.

Also,cable is awesome. A drowning cable is so much nicer and easier than a drowning wire. It'll go through multiple catches and can be rolled and re rolled with out ever showing developing a single kink.

Investing in a pack basket is very much worth it. I used to carry all my beaver gear in an old ALICE surplus back pack. I got a beaver trapping basket, and can haul 8 330s, 2 220s, plus snaring stuff, lure and other tools, which is 3 times as much as I could carry before, and takes half the effort.

I know a bunch of guys around here that use railroad plates to anchor their mink traps, myself included. I started using a cable with a piece of steel on each end. It works kind of like an earth anchor, you turn it sideways put it through your hole on your plate once or twice, then turn it sideways. Do the same with the swivel. It works pretty slick because you can stash your plates the day before, then come to set and connect in less than 30 seconds.

Don't use sheep wool for an underall! Animals WILL dig it up!!