Tabla de contenidos para October 2025 en The Trapper

He’s an unlikely hero, but it appears the lowly skunk may be wearing that title for this coming fur trapping season. Fur Harvesters Auction’s most recent sale (last June) saw 2,024 skunk pelts offered for sale. The clearance was 100%, and the average price was…wait for it…$79.96 per pelt. The top lot went for $95. Those are not typographical errors, folks. Four cents shy of 80 bucks for an average. For skunks! There were some bright spots with other species, too, but I’m not going to turn this into a boring recitation of numbers. Here, though, is a brief recap: Bobcats from all sections had a strong showing. Those high-country Western cats led the pack, of course, as always, but cats from all sections sold well, with near-complete clearance rates…

TRAPPERS’ VOICE: From Facebook: Alright, let me set the scene. You’ve got a pesky trash robber on your hands. What are you reaching for to take care of him? TJ Morris: Deadfall or maybe pungy sticks first, then a DP with mini marshmallows. Bradley Lamont: A Duke dogproof, some cat food and corn mixture and some moonshine lure on the rim. He will be there. Wayne Worthington: DP with dry cat food or mini marshmallows. I live in town so will use a stout stick instead of a .22. Raymond Clare Jr: A DP and a couple crawfish. No raccoon can resist! PRODUCT OF THE MONTH Jameson’s Ultra Blend – Mouse Musk Oil Looking for a bait for early or late predator control? Jameson’s Ultra Blend Mouse Musk Oil gets…

Colorado Trappers & Predator Hunters Association www.coloradotrapper.com President, NTA Colorado Director, NRA Representative — Dan Gates, P.O. Box 128, Canon City, CO 81215, 719-275-4077 or 269-7972, Dan@ColoradoRidACritter.com Vice President — Adam Warren, P.O. Box 734, Dove Creek, CO 81324, 970-739-9404, adamwarren64@yahool.com Secretary-Treasurer — Karen Gates, P.O. Box 193, Canon City, CO 81215, 719-276-4260 or 719-275-4077, office@coltpha.com NW Regional Director — Kevin Herrman, P.O. Box 1862, Basalt, CO 81621, 970-379-5976, kherrman@advantagebuildersco.com SW Regional Director — Christy Bryan, 2375 Road 1.7, Dove Creek, CO 81324, 970-739-6437, skylinetaxidermy77@gmail.com SE Regional Director — Ethan Gates, P.O. Box 750, Canon City, CO 81215, 719-371-6401, ethangates21@gmail.com BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sept 1st, 2022 – August 13th, 2023 NE Regional Director — Naomi Yates, 38921 Poudre Canyon Hwy, Bellvue, CO 80512, 970-420-4250, naomiyatesgtb@gmail.com Wildlife Commission Liaison — Dan…

When it comes to nuisance wildlife, many people do not think of whitetails as problem animals. Whitetail deer are often considered animals that are hunted. The truth is that whitetails cause millions of dollars in crop damage to farmers, destroy landscapes, gardens, and trees in suburban areas, and cause hundreds of thousands of vehicle accidents every year. States are doing what they can to lower deer numbers through hunting, special suburban hunting seasons, trapping, transplanting deer, and other methods. But this is not enough in many situations. Many state conservation offices will issue nuisance permits if you are experiencing, and can prove, damage to your property from whitetails. These permits often allow hunting year-round with any weapon and at any time of day. This is great if you are a…

The biggest auction sale of wild fur in the world for 2025 concluded on June 19, 2025, in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. There are several local sales all over the United States and some in Canada also, but this international auction sale always seems to “set the stage” even for prices paid by local dealers in the countryside. Historically (prior to 2020), there were two big auction houses for wild fur: Fur Harvesters Auctions in North Bay and North American Fur Auctions Inc. – the latter no longer in business. Fur Harvesters Auctions Inc. thus remains the one and only international Auction House for wild fur, and the prices paid for skin at this auction usually are a solid reflection of what the world is willing to pay for skins.…

Often trapping in the rocks means walking a good distance from the truck to find the right spot. Carrying your equipment, and the predator you trap, back to the truck can be a chore. Unless you have deep snow, dragging the animal is out of the question and carrying it over your shoulders may look cool but it’s a great way to get fleas. With a little preparation, you can carry a bobcat (or coyote, or fox) easily by tying one hind foot between the two front feet. A flat, tennis shoe shoelace works perfectly, but any similar piece of string will do. I make two laps around the three feet and tie it in a bow so I can easily untie it back at the truck or ATV. The…

To successfully trap coyotes, one must pick the best location to place your traps. The best way to describe locations is by using the three terms that describe them: primary, secondary, and micro. There is a fourth but as far as I know, there is not a descriptive word to categorize it. For the fur trapper, trapping a ranch that has a lot of coyotes that have not been molested, primary locations work the best. Some examples of primary locations are 2-track roads, ranch roads and ATV trails. Primary locations are those places where coyotes like to travel. Ranch roads and 2-track roads are access travel ways on large ranches that also go to cow water tanks. They usually travel from one section of a pasture to the next and…

It’s no surprise that things have changed over the past 100 years. But looking at the dismal figures over the past few years that have plagued trappers everywhere had my mind racing about how those numbers compare to other prices over the ages. The 1920’s were a transformational time in the United States. From prohibition to lively flappers, there were huge changes shaping our history across the country. Of course, changes are harder to see while you are living through them and it very well may be that someday, the times we live in will be looked back on with the same wonder and awe. With that said, let’s compare prices between the mid 1920’s to our prices now. WAGES & INCOME In 1925, the average American worker earned about…

This is one honest-to-God true story. It dates to the mid-90’s when I trapped with Carl Jones, and Charles Dobbins in the Hatchie River bottoms. Carl Jones, God rest his soul, was a tightwad. His boots were so old they had once been worn by Jimmy Carter over in Georgia. They had patches upon patches. Every night he would come into camp complaining that his feet were wet. Charles called him “Drip Dry Jones.” Then Drip Dry would try to put a patch on the patch that didn’t seal over the patch that he put on last week. I even helped him some. Maybe some of you antique trappers remember the “vulcanizing” kits. Where you literally melted on a rubber patch. The patch was on the bottom of diamond shaped…

I’ve made a very simple set right in the middle of a beaver channel carved through shallow water. The channel is not much wider than the No. 330 I have set there. It is almost sure to take a beaver. Walking up to the set. I can see that my dive pole is still in place. I found a good wrist-sized limb to lay across the channel to serve as a dive pole. If a beaver had been caught in that trap, it would thrash around and knocked the dive pole away. To maintain the integrity of this set, I staked the trap way off to the side of the channel so the beaver would not tear up the set or be lying dead in the channel and scare the…

If you trap fisher long enough, you will rapidly realize that picking the right location has a lot to do with how many fishers you will catch, and depending where you live, some locations outproduce all other on your line. When I first started trapping fisher once I moved back to Canada in early 2000s, I asked around to friends and trappers I trusted about where to put fisher sets. There is this thing about fisher – you almost never see tracks (unless there is snow), you never see scats, and well, you never see animals. You know they exist, the odd hunter sees one while deer hunting, but overall, the only way to confirm fisher presence is to set traps and catch them. But where can you set traps…

NAME THOSE FURBEARERS 1. EYOCOT ______________________2. XOF _________________________3. CRONOCA ____________________4. MNIK _______________________5. FIESRH _______________________6. KSKUN ______________________7. SUOOPMS ____________________8. UMTARSK ____________________9. ALWEES ______________________10. NTRAEM ____________________ ANSWERS: 1. Coyote 2. Fox 3. Raccoon 4. Mink 5. Fisher 6. Skunk 7. Opossum 8. Muskrat 9. Weasel 10. Marten COLOR ME! A TRAPPER’S PACK BASKET CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Sly as a… 3 Best price on fur at the moment (plural) 4 The masked bandit 11 Cushions for kneeling 13 Best trapping resource 14 Toothy critter 16 Clever canine 18 Home state of Duke’s Traps 19 Process of preserving fur 21 They can clean out a pond in a hurry (plural) 24 Longtime Trapper writer 25 Beavers stop water with this 27 What you use to catch an animal 28 Popular fur for coats 29…