Early fur trapping

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I retrieved 98% of the beaver I shot floating dead on the surface. I never shot beaver for its fur as I always caught them under the ice for their fur. I only shot beaver as problem animals for the county. And if I didn't retrieve them I didn't get paid

We could continue this ****ing match, that would not do anyone any good.

You started it with this

I am a little confused by a few posts.

. A nice way to say, those folks are full of it.
Then you qualified who you thought was full of it.

Keg River mentioned shooting them behind the ear to prevent them from sinking. Shooting them in the nose is more effective.

Only as you clearly state in this last post, you were talking about beaver control not beaver trapping. You were not shooting them for their pelts, your words.

I have no doubt that a more powerful gun would be a fine choice for animal control where the pelt would not be salvaged.

I could go a lot further but I see no point. The point of this thread was to help a newcomer to become the best trapper he can be.

When you start picking apart another's posts it had better be because they were offering bad advice and you had better know what you are talking about.

You suggest you do know more, because you were once an instructor.
I may not have been an instructor but I have taught trapping skills to many people.
And the last several people I taught had already taken the course.

This is the last fellow I mentored. And btw he is now a much better trapper then I ever was.


Skinning beaver shot for their pelts. We got 28 beaver that day between the two of us.



His catch for the months of November and December three years ago.



I don't have a lot of photos of my trapping days, the few I do have were focused mostly on showing sets for the purpose of teaching.

The few I do have are a lot like this one of me with a Wolverine I caught in 1994








Or this one of a Marten I caught in 1998




All of my earlier photos were lost in a house fire.

BTW, the last photo was taken to show what happens when a set does not work the way it was intended to work.

[Red Bullets]

Hey Keg,

I don't want a p***ing match with you either. I, like you just want to help people starting out too.
I never discredited you or your trapping skills. Great pictures by the way. Thanks for sharing. I am glad you share your knowledge with others too.
I never claimed to know more than anyone because I was an instructor. I was trapping off and on for 20 years before I was asked to instruct.

So lets be friends because we do have the some of the same passions. We are both brothers of the woods.

I won't offer any more advice by mentioning others posts either. You made me aware of this fault, if you want to call it that.

I joined this forum to be able to meet, learn and share with other outdoorsmen and women. Not to make enemies I have never met.

Good luck in the upcoming season.

[KegRiver]

And good luck to you too.

If you are ever up this way, look me up. I'm sure we would find a lot of interesting things to talk about and we may both benefit from learning a bit about how the other guy does things.

My name is James, Jim to my friends.


And, if you know anyone who would benefit from some old trapping books I think I have a few around somewhere. They are not all that appropriate for trapping in the Boreal forest regions but they do have some useful information in them.

[dwightj]

Anyone on this thread interested in buying whole coyotes this winter or know anone who is? my kids and i enjoy going out and ridding the neighboring farm land of a few each winter and would rather not see the hides go to waste but have very little training or time to skin them out myself.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by dwightj

Anyone on this thread interested in buying whole coyotes this winter or know anone who is? my kids and i enjoy going out and ridding the neighboring farm land of a few each winter and would rather not see the hides go to waste but have very little training or time to skin them out myself.

I am sure if you start a thread asking for people wanting yappers to skin you will get some responses. I am not trapping this season due to health reasons.
Some of the hutterite colonies buy unskinned coyotes. You might want to check with them next time you see them locally.