The Trapperの September 2025 の目次

The crawfish ponds were flooded some time back and the farmer was starting to think about harvesting when he noticed a big pile of shells and claws on the levy between his ponds and the drainage canal behind the farm. Otters! Time to call the trapper. Let’s be certain: on the list of threats to aquaculture, otters are way down the list. Maintaining water quality (for fin fish), a host of avian predators and labor and market forces pose a bigger economic risk to the farmer than a few furry predators. But the farmer can’t do much about these other forces. And without a trapper, he can’t do much about mammalian predators either. Aquaculture is a catch-all category for farming a wide range of fish, plants and mollusks. Salt-water aquaculture…

I’ve always marvelled at those old timers who moved a winter’s worth of grub and iron to mount a trapping campaign mostly by muscle. Packing in load after load took days, if not weeks, as anyone whose shouldered a ton or two knows well. Small wonder that the first all-terrain machines were so quickly accepted by the trapping fraternity. But as is often the case in life finding the ‘best’ ATV is much like poor Goldilocks and has led this trapper to all sorts of confusion. TRIPLE POWER Back in the early 70’s the motorcycle industry got the notion to create an off-road machine for the sporting set. What followed was the ATC 90 – a balloon-tired beauty able to cover serious country. I can still see the local shop…

Encounters with foxes are on the rise. As people move into foxes’ territory, the animals have no choice but to adapt to their new environment and sightings are more and more common. These occurrences frighten many people who are not familiar with foxes. Even some that have been around foxes for a while can become a little apprehensive around these animals. In most cases foxes will not attack humans, but domestic pets and livestock are at risk. Not only pets and livestock, but other wildlife is preyed upon by foxes. It is no secret that turkeys, deer, upland game and other furbearers are a favorite food of canines. As conservationists, we owe it to all animals to protect them from foxes, to feel safe in our own backyards and control…

Fisher prices have been on the rise for the past few years, and their numbers are also increasing in many areas of the country. Historically, many fishers were captured in traps set for raccoons, martens, or in canid snares. Today, trappers that want to focus on increasing their fisher catch must pay attention to a few of the basic ‘how-to’ tips, regardless of where you trap. Fisher are great wanderers; they are notoriously hard on gear but are easy to trap once you master the basics. Here are some of the tips I have learned over my years of longlining fisher that may help trappers across the country. FIND A LOW MAINTENANCE SET Fishers roam over large areas, and they may not come around to visit your set until several…

It’s a great feeling to know your target animal’s behavior. I grew up with the coyote and it dominated most of my trapping career. He is quite the predator and resilient as shoe leather. Some coyote men say you must hate the coyote to be a good trapper. As for myself, it’s just the opposite. I respect the coyote for the predator he is. He is just doing what God created him to do. Here in Colorado, the wolf is dominating the headlines. Especially for cattlemen and depredation issues. The wolf was introduced about 6 years ago by popular vote of the “people” of Colorado. The latest census of wolf population stands at 30. That does not include the litters (uncollared pups) that they have had over the past years.…

Follow me down a gravel-washed creek that spills into the Ohio River Valley. This habitat has changed dramatically since the time of settlement. It was once a wide and deep creek that snaked through alluvial silt as it slanted westward into the Ohio. In the days of the pioneering white people, there was once a log dam (a dam constructed by laying logs long ways in the creek) and a side cut for a grist mill on this creek. As more of the valley and the surrounding hillsides became cleared, the water moved faster. When they took mule teams, and ultimately bull dozers, in the hills, loosened gravel washed down stream. That dam blew out a hundred years before I got there and tons upon tons of gravel had washed…

There was a time, only recently past, when I was convinced that calling in a critter was semi-simple. Get somewhat hidden and blow a passable rendition of the dying rabbit blues, I figured, was all that was needed to convince a crafty critter to come loping in, anxious to give up his hide. I have called more critters than I care to count using that simple system and would likely be calling that way today if I had not hunted with folks smarter than me – folks like Chuck Spearman and Larry Gates and a bunch of others. The thing is, these folks (unlike me) have an analytical mind and use that mind to figure out the intricacies of critter nature. These folks, bless ’em, are not satisfied to call…

As I sojourned in West Tennessee just, before and after the turn of the century, I learned to equate food with camaraderie and congeniality. I had a good friend there, Jerry Chillicut. Jerry was a local trapper from the Brownsville area. He was on the payroll of the “Beaver Team.” As such, he and his wife Judy, were invited to dinner at the local café every Friday hosted by the timber company. We also had a tab for Saturday night. There was a big shift in our arrangement after the timber company owner passed on. The bounty on the beaver went way up, but the meal ticket went way down. We were on our own. We continued to eat at the café, but Jerry and Judy had a 50 mile…