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Post by Forrest on Sept 9, 2010 16:07:36 GMT -5
furfishgame Email: Trapper4him@ymail.com (hidden) Birthday: 01/13/1996 Age: 14 Gender: Male Location: Big Lake, AK first, I have to go back to the day I showed my dad a picture of a weasel box, and an article on trapping weasels in Fur-Fish-Game magazine. me and my dad read it probably 20 times, and every time, I said, "think it would work?" and every time, he would say "I don't see why not". So I went the the local gun store, and asked them about traps and trapping, and they took my to a short pony wall, filled with snares, traps, lures, wire, chain, predator calls and meat processing equipment and told me everything they had read out of F-F-G about trapping. I grabbed a duke # 1 long spring (just like he told me in the article) and looked at the price tag, $ 9.75 I think it was. Well, I, being only 11 didn't have much money, I only had $4.23 cents there, and most of it was dimes and pennies that I had found on the floor of grocery stores. So, I told dad about the trap, and he "loaned" me the money, he said when I make millions selling fur, I can pay him back so, I took my trap home, and practiced setting it (my fingers were mighty bruised until I found out you can lift the free jaw up and adjust the pan). The next day was Wednesday, and we had just got 2 more foster kids the night I got my trap. So me and dad were busy till dark. On Saturday, I grabbed a shoebox with a hole in it, some rope, my trap some bacon grease and some hide from the pigs me and my dad had raised earlier in the year.(I hadn't boiled the traps or wore gloves or anything) and we went and made a set about a mile and a half up a ridge. One day about 6 weeks later, I was out checking my trap with my trusty malimute/saintbernard hunting dog Murphy, I came up on the set, and Murphy started barking and growling, and I heard the chain rattling. I though, I bet its another squirrel (which I would have been more than happy with) and as we came up on the set, we found some "tiny fox tracks" as I called them. Turns out, it was a little red-pine marten, after dispatching it, I took it out of the trap with shaking hands, reset the trap, ans ran the mile and a half home, doing cartwheels most of the way, when I walked through the door with my "fox" I showed it to dad, and Jumped up and yelled WAHOOOO!!! after our little celebration, he said I should take it to our neighbor(who is a taxidermist) and ask him if it is the same as skinning a coyote, for a week after that till dads next day off, I showed it to everybody that came to our house, and every body smiles and celebrated, but not even the marten it-self made me as happy as seeing the smile grow on dads face as he blurted out, "ITS A MARTEN!" since then, I haven't caught(and kept in a trap) another furbearer, but for some reason, that marten was enough to keep me happy for 3+ years of trapping. Thats was defiantly the best day on the line, and prolly the best day of my life. CameRon J Hogate.
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Post by Forrest on Sept 9, 2010 17:45:57 GMT -5
thefurtrapper Email: kyle.mccoshtrapper@hotmail.com Birthday: 03/05/1996 Age: 14 Gender: Male Here's The Story of My First Trapping Expieriences. Its Longer and Probably Won't Win anything, I hope it will but anyways here it is. My First Trapline By:Kyle McCosh Im 11 and a half years old and I live in Manitoba Canada. This is the story of my first trapline, It was the Begining of trapping season (October 1st) And I was getting the few traps I had ready for the winter. I had trapped before but only little animal like squirrels and muskrats so all I had for traps was about 7 #1 stoploss traps,5 110 conibears and 2 160 conibears and a double door live cage trap. I had saved up my alowance plus the $50 dollars I had made from trapping muskrat,squirell and a mink. All of the money combined equaled $157.34, Tjsi money was going to be used to by myself some new traps and equipment. Finally the dya came when their was good enough ice to go trapping I souped up our ski-doo and sled filled it with traps and went out and found a few muskrat houses on a small swamp near my house, I was excited to get right out their and set but I forgot my testing pole(used to test ice) So their i went marily along to set this rat house and CRACK!!! My leg Went through, thankfully not deep water I pulled my leg out and drove back home quick and changed my pants and sock, Then I went out again this time with a testing stick and set the houses I did npthing more than make ssimple drowning sets with the stoploss traps, I got 4 houses set their and 2 days later when I came back and checked I had caught a rat in the 1st house and the 3rd house both small rats but better than nothing. So I reset and left. The next day we went too Lundar,MB and saw Kris Fjelsted, I bought with the $157.34 that I had saved 3 330 conibears,1 RAM #1 Power Snare,3 220 coni's,1 #3 coilspring,6 beaver snares and a can of "Andy Stoes Speed Dip". So when I got home I waxed all my new traps to get the factory grease and smell off them and I was ready to go the next day. The next day I went and checked my muskrat traps on the swamp and only caught 1,BUTT it was a big one it weighed probably like 3-4 pounds. I went on the ski-doo down the snowed in road East of our Farm to the next slough, This slough is actually a lake beacuse it drains into Eriksdale MB. The first thing I spotted when I got to there was a large Beaver Lodge and to the left more a large rat house, I knew I couldnt go anywhere near the beaver house with out an adult so I drove over to the rat house,speared it,sure enough it was a live house so I opened er' up and set 3 traps inside all #1 longspring traps. I went back to the shore and kept heading East along Stuart Lake and about 25 yards ahead I spotted 2 more rat houses,In the first one I se t a 110 coni on a wedge in a long stick and stuck it down the rats hole as I got up to the second one I realized it was actually a pushup so I decided to chop the top off and put another 110 on a stick with a board on top the ice guarding the stick, keep in mind when muskrat trapping to always flag your sets to notify other trappers that you claim this lodge.I did the same 110 set with the rest of the muskrat houses that I had traps for.When I ran out of muskrat traps, I went Out west with my coon traps and sets some coon traps at a friend of ours building "Garth Monk". I set 2-220's in cubbies and 1 220 on a trail. After I set those I went down the road a couple of miles and set a skunk live trap for a skunk. I continued the same routine of catching and checking these traps up until about February 15,2009 by then I had caught over 25 muskrats (not great), 1 black mink in a muskrat house,5 raccoon and a couple squirrel on a little line 'round the cabin. Come February 15,2009 I went down a gravel pit road to a beaver dam and set all 3- 330's at the dams, i couldnt get to the lodge because there was open water all around it so I could only set the dams. Come march 5th(my bday!) I was checking beaver traps down that gravel pit road and I moved one of my 330's to a dive set down another road on a run. I caught 2 beavers this way within a week. since there was some trappers in there before me I must have trapped the last 2 beavers in the lodge. Out in the East of Camper there is tons of Beaver so I wasn't worried about not finding anymore, The beavers are a problem so thats why I am trapping so many. the same routine went on until March 28,2009 a trapper workshop was coming up on Stuart Lake east of my house for Muskrat and Beaver. So I went out a few days ahead of time and set up 4 muskrat sets in lodges right around where we would be meeting. When I say "we" I mean Steven Tindall,Neil Brandstrom,Kris Fljested and some other guys from Glenborough. Two days later it was April 1st the 1st day of the trapper workshop I checked my 4 traps and only caught 1 rat, HE WAS A BIGG'UN at least 6 pounds!!OOH and before I forget I had my friend Skyler Hernandez with me, Shes not really an outdoors trapping person so she only came with us the 1st day. Which is too bad for her because the second day she won a whole bunch of cool prizes!! after the workshop was over I continued trapping mainly just beaver and muskrat, I caught another 18 muskrat by the end of the month and 8 more beaver! So it was a good winter of trapping especially since it was my first "real trapline". P.S. I froze all of my pelts and I was gonna flesh them in Spring. I opened the freezer (HOLY CRAP!!) I yelled I have alot of work. Thats okay my bus driver Willie Muenchow said he would already help me! Thanks for reading, Happy Trapping!!
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Post by Forrest on Sept 12, 2010 16:45:29 GMT -5
Name: ray12 Email: treesrus@wifi7.com (hidden) Birthday: 06/29/1996 Age: 14 Gender: Male Location: ohio
My favaorite day was when i caught my first muskrat it was also my first animal.we had a little pond and there were some rats in it and they were getting out of hand so my dad decided to trap them . i woke up one morning to check our little line i checked our traps we had nothing except for a few knocked over traps then i came up to the last one and thought something looked odd and pulled up the trap and the trap held a muskrat in it i was so happy. I ended up getting about 10 more rats out of that pond...
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Post by Forrest on Sept 12, 2010 19:57:33 GMT -5
Name: bryton Email: brytonkinney@gmail.com (hidden) Birthday: 05/15/1995 Age: 15 Gender: Male Here's my entry Two years ago, when I was 12, I decided to start trapping. I got permission from my uncle to trap on his land, and I spent the summer preparing everything, buying some traps at my local fleet farm, and rusting and dying them, along with many other things. I was so excited the first day of raccoon season, I couldn't sleep the night before. I biked to my uncle's house after school to set up some traps and sets. As I was searching for a good set location, I found a cinder block near a 4 wheeler trail. I figured this would be a great spot for coon, because it stood out to me, so I figured it would stick out for a coon. I put some lure, which my brother had bought for me at the Wisconsin trappers association fall rendezvous, and put it on the cinder block, then I dug a hole and put sardines in it. I dug my trap bed and then staked it in and bedded it. I set out a few more sets and left. The next day I woke up early to check my sets. I went to the cinder block set and, and found an amazing surprise. A big, fat coon was sitting in the set I had set the day before! I was so excited, I ran to my uncle's house and we dispatched it quickly. I had no luck at my other sets, but for me, one coon was awesome enough. My uncle sent it away and had it tanned, and now I hang it on my wall with pride. Thanks! Bryton
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Post by Forrest on Sept 15, 2010 13:54:15 GMT -5
Name: trapperfan6 Email: tim_smith3162002@yahoo.com (hidden) Birthday: 08/15/1994 Age: 16 (hidden)
Tim Smith Age:16
My best day would have to be January 1st, 2007. The reason i pick this day is because it was my first year and it was a great day.also it stands out as a best season too... a coyote on vetrans day and my first animal/coon on halloween... It started out as a usual day with no school I got up ate breakfast, got proper dressed, grabbed the 22 and headed out. I got to the 1st trap next to an apple tree and there was nothing. but also as I got thinking i thought there was to much snow on the traps to even catch anything ... but i figure it was a beutiful snowy day out so i continued. i was walkin to my 2nd trap on an old loggin road. Next thing i kno is this big brown thing bouncing around, then it hit me a Bobcat. i sat there trying to figure out what to do and i had no idea so i quick ran to my uncles house that was near by and he was plowing the drive way. so i hopped up on the tractor and told him i had a bobcat and he just asked me if it wasnt just a big barn cat ... i said NO.... so he called my other uncle thats been trapping past 30 yrs ... he comes up and we take 2 catch poles cause never in his 30 yrs has he caught one so another thing im excited about is i beat my uncle at catching a bobcat ... so it was good we got pics released it and i didnt have anything else... but it sticks out as a great day .... thanks for reading my story.... Ill never forget that day.. and i still brag to friends cause none of my friends have ever trapped so im still happy ....
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Post by Forrest on Sept 18, 2010 19:59:51 GMT -5
"gary" <ggudz@mtaonline.net>
this is a story my son jacob wrote for the alaska trappers magazine last year. He is 11 and is the fourth generation of trappers in our family. This story is about our annual beaver trapping trip we do each year. I'll get him signned on here in a bit...these contest are a great thing you all are doing for kids in the trapping community. thanks, gary gudz
BEAVER ADVENTURE! We headed north for the week. We went in my dad’s big blue truck when we got on the road we went very high up on the road. Most of the time there were no guardrails. When we got to the spot we set up camp and got out the atvs. And started our adventure to look for places to set our traps.
The next morning we started out on our 30 mile atv journey. This was my first trip on the full size 4wd atv. The trail led us up a winding, steep, high, and treacherous trail that crossed many streams. We searched every creek and beaver pond we came to. Many of the beaver ponds were long abandoned by their previous owners like the old trappers cabin that we saw. The cabin had a dirt floor and a roof made of 55 gallon drums smashed flat. It was very neat.
Finally we found a spot! We gathered all our gear and headed off through the willows and it was hard to get out of them. We carefully went down a steep hill to the pond below. I had to grab at some willows because it was so steep! When we finally got down that steep hill we had to wade through hip deep cold water to get to the dam. I’m sure glad I had my chest waders on. I had to balance on the thin dam! We made 3 different sets at this pond. We made a “crossover set”, a “castor mound”, and a “dam break set”. As we were moving though the tall thick willows we heard a “woof” ”woof” a sound we had never heard before. We thought it was a bear at first so my dad told me to “high -tail it” out of there. We made back to the atvs, as we sat catching our breath we looked down to see two otters playing in the pond. As we heard them make the scary “woof” sound and realized it was them all along. We finished the day heading back to camp setting each pond we found sign at. As we arrived back at camp it was starting to snow!
We woke the next morning to find frozen boots and snow everywhere! We brought our gear inside the camper and had a nice warm breakfast before we headed out. It was still snowing as we headed out for our check. We had to drive slow because the snow felt like needles on your face. We drove to our furthest sets, to find a big fat beaver waiting for us at the castor mound set. We decided to pull these traps as it was too far to travel in the snow. As we headed back, we kept our eyes open for the elusive “spruce chicken” Otherwise known as the “stupid chicken”. As I was eager to try my new shotgun! We ended the day with three beaver and two spruce hens. I really like my gun despite the kick that my dad warned me about. My shoulder was sore but it taught me too keep it tight to my shoulder. We spent the rest of the day with dad skinning beavers, while I chopped wood for our campfire. We went for another ride to look for birds and stumbled upon a hidden beaver pond. We ended the night by the fire, eating junk food and just hanging out with my dad.
The next day we headed to the new spot we found the night before. We made two castor mound sets and found a tiny chickadees nest. As we headed back down the trail we spotted three spruce hens. My dad told me to shoot the one closest to the trees and he would shoot the one furthest out. I pulled the trigger and two tumbled over instantly and the other flew off into the woods, but was falling fast. Dad didn’t even get to shoot as I got all three with one shot! We found the other by a spruce tree close by, I said “ It is a lot easier to hit my target with this gun, than my .22.” We moved on to our sets and found two beavers that were medium in size waiting for us. When dad skinned them we found tiny green leeches in one’s eyelid “yuk.” We headed out in search of fire wood and dragged back two beetle killed spruce trees for the rest of our trip. Then went for another ride to look for more birds. We ended the day sitting around the campfire talking hunting and trapping with some people that camped next to us.
We continued our trapping and bird hunting for the next few days. We caught four more beavers on our trip and found some beavers that knew about conibears as they climbed around and stuck sticks in everyone we set for them. So we have to learn some new tricks for those guys before next year! We ended the trip with 9 beaver and 8 stupid chickens and lots and lots of fun and excitement. I love this place and these times together with my dad.
BY
JAKE GUDZ
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Post by Forrest on Sept 26, 2010 12:26:04 GMT -5
Name: trappingfool Email: cody_kurelic96@yahoo.com (hidden) Birthday: 10/21/1996 Age: 13 Gender: Male Read more: londonlureco.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=trappingfool#ixzz10epY1FnXMy! what a beautiful morning!! its October 23 and me and my dad are going to set some coyote traps. This is my first year trapping and i was so excited. My birthday was two days ago and i had got me some lures that i just had to try. So were off on the quad to set traps. I make me a dirt hole with some predator plus and fox frenzy. We made about 8 more sets then left to go home. My dad called my aunt who wasn't going to live very much longer to go check traps with us she was so happy. So we get everything ready when we wake up the next morning to go check the traps we pull in the driveway and go back to our sets...and to my eyes i see a double. I'm jumping up and down i couldn't believe it!!! So my dad goes up to one and says this one i caught then he points over to a beautiful blond coyote and says "good job son hes a pretty one!!" "I'm proud of ya" I couldn't believe it my first coyote was a big male blond coyote! And to this day i will never forget it. That was probably the best day of my life and of course after that i caught the trapping bug Read more: londonlureco.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=pmview&view=1&id=3773#ixzz10epIdH00
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Post by Forrest on Sept 28, 2010 18:29:14 GMT -5
Name: trappingaddiction Email: trappingaddiction@hotmail.com (hidden) Birthday: 01/18/1996 Age: 14 (hidden) Gender: Male Location: Minnesota Posts: 25 Read more: londonlureco.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=trappingaddiction#ixzz10rztzIlDHi, here is my story about my first red fox for the kids contest. I am 14 years now, and was 12 then. My quest to catch my first red fox was an interesting, and exciting one one that I will never forget. It all started a couple of trapping seasons ago after watching and helping my dad make some sets, and make catches of red fox, gray fox, coyotes, and raccoons. One day, I decided I would like to try and put a set in and see how it worked out for me. On that cold and frosty fall day, I went with my dad to check his sets like normal on weekends. I then asked him if I could take a shot and try to trap something like he did. He was happy for me wanting to try something new, and gladly put the trap on the ground until I was ready. Before he handed my over the trap, I slipped on his rubber gloves to try to keep scent limited as much as possible. When I grabbed the trap, I had seen what kind of trap it was. The trap was a Victor 1.75 offset jaw, which was and still is his favorite trap to use for canines. I tried to copy what I had seen him do when making a set in the first few weeks of the season. The set location I pick was on the side of a well used trail in some long grass, and a few feet from a treeline. I dug out the bed as best as I could with my hands and a trowel. When the bed was dug out, I continued making my set by using a trowel and my hands to dig out a dirthole slightly in front of the trap bed. The dirthole was pretty rough looking, but I was happy with what I had did on it. When I had everything ready, I used the jackhammer to pound in the rebar stake into the soft and sandy soil. Once the stake was in, the trap was set and adjusted so the pan was just a tad higher than the trap jaws. I was surprised I had not snapped my fingers in it, but I had not adjusted it perfectly since I was really trying to not snap any fingers in the trap. Once the trap was set and the and properly bedded, I had grabbed a pan cover to cover the pan of the trap with. At the time, our pan covers we crumpled wax paper cut into squares and a little spot for the dog cut out. I cover the trap pan as best as I could, being extra careful not to snap any fingers in it. After the pan cover was in place, I had dragged out the scrappy, old metal sifter from the 5 gallon pail that held many of the supplies we used. I walked a few feet away from were the trap was set and scooped up a little sand in the sifter for sifting over the trap. Since it was sand, most of the sand sifter through before I was ready, but I sifted the most sand I could get out of it and went and got some more. I repeated this a few times until the trap was as level as possible and completely covered. Directly after that, I took out a bottle of lure and a jar of bait that had worked well for me and my dad. I slowly dripped a couple drops of the lure above the dirthole on a small twig, which I had found next to the set. After I was done with luring the set, I put the bottle back in the bucket and took the lid off of the bait jar. I took out a chunk of the fragrant bait, and put the bait and a small twig down the dirthole as far as it would go. I then put the lid back on and put it back into the bucket. When the set was completed, which probably took around 10-15 minutes, I had packed up everything back into the bucket and continued to check the last couple sets on the farm and for the day on our small trapline. The next morning, was a Monday, which ment I could not go and check traps since I had to go to school early in the morning. The school day went very slow, as always during the trapping season. When the day was over, and I got off the bus and got home. I opened the garage and went over to the other side of the garage and see what our catch was for the day. On the tarp was a average size red fox with nice, long fur. I didn't think anything of it, since we had caught a lot of fox on the farm that we had had around half a dozen sets on. When I went into the house and called my dad to see which of the 6 sets that we had caught the fox in, he told me we had caught it in my set. I was so happy we had caught it in my very first set on the very next day that I went out and looked at it again admiring the fur and the animal in general. I was very excited about my first red fox, and my first furbearer all by myself. When my dad came home from work, he skinned the animal and put it on a stretcher. When it was ready to be taken off a few days later, we took it off like a normal animal and he told me he would like me to keep it and he would get it tanned to hang in my room someday. This also made me very happy and got me looking forward to that day. The red fox was just another average fox, but to me, it was the biggest and best red fox out there and I was very proud of myself and my catch. I didn't catch anything else in that set in the couple weeks I had it there, but that was okay with my, as I had already caught enough to make my season. I still have the red fox and will probably have it forever to remember that day and think of some of the past memories on the line for years to come. Read more: londonlureco.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=pmview&view=1&id=4286#ixzz10rzVGxox
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Post by Forrest on Oct 2, 2010 9:20:24 GMT -5
Name: coyotenoob Email: redwall@wtrt.net (hidden) Birthday: 02/09/1994 Age: 16 Gender: Male Posts: 2 Date Registered: Sept 30, 2010, 12:33pm Account Status: Not Activat
Hello I am new, I saw your contest and I wrote this. Hope you like it. CoyoteNoob
Skunk it.
As I stepped out of the pickup, I scanned the large pit before me. The pit was about a hundred and fifty yards long and twenty yard wide. About half way down were several cement sewer pipes that the owner of the pit dumped there. Behind the piping was a small pond, and then the ground sloped upward. Looking through my binoculars I checked five different spots to see what I caught. Up along the left side I observed a rabbit caught in a number 1 long spring. Down in the middle of the pit a striped skunk, caught in a number 1 ¾ Monty coil spring. The last three traps were empty; going to the back of the pickup I set my binoculars down and picked up my trap bucket and my .22 Henry lever action. Walking first to the rabbit I dispatched it and pulled up the trap and stake dropping them in the bucket. Working my way upwind of the skunk, I was able to get a good shot and dispatch it also. My adrenaline was flowing because even though the air was full of a horrible stench I had finally trapped something for the first time. The skunk was not the large coyote I hoped for, but hey I was a beginner and we take what we can get. When I finally removed the skunk from the trap I dug a hole and buried the skunk (my parents said if I skinned a skunk I was not allowed into the house). After putting the last shovel of dirt on the skunk I pulled up my traps and put them in the bucket. Gathering my other traps I started my trek back to the pickup. On my way back I thought about other spots that I could make some sets. Also I thought what a great experience this was, and how much fun it would in the future days I could trap. The next week or so I caught six more skunks at the pit, I also realized about a week later that I was allergic to skunks. Yes. Crazy isn’t it? So even though I can’t see out of my eyes if I come in contact with a skunk, the joy of trapping spurs me on.
Davin S. Waters Age 16 Bovina, TX
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