# Trappers?



## HillRunner (Jun 28, 2010)

Anyone trap on here? What where ya'lls takes last year? Mine was 30 Rats 4 Red foxes 5 ***** and 2 minks.


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## maleyfarm (Jun 28, 2010)

I usualy trap real hard from the start to end of season, last year I didn't trap near as hard as low fur prices where predicted (talk about a bite in the but at the end of year when prices where decent) but still caught a few. I'm not sure on exact numbers but somewhere about 60 *****, 100 possums (or more) about 2 dozen rats, 1 mink, a few otter and some beaver. 
I didn't hardly land trap last year at all but still caught a couple mangy yotes.

I know the numbers may seem high to you but they are low for what I do most years. but most years I run 40-50 sets daily and jump from area to area, trap hard and move on. most of my trapping last year was under bridges on my way home from work. I have a 35 mile trip from work and have several different ways to travel and its all country roads. 
try not to get to caught up on numbers but figure the number of traps you run, I try to get a 20% target catch ratio. (i don't count possums as target catchs) some days I do better than others, there has been days when I've checked 50 empty traps and days when I can't get a brake from skinning.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

What were **** and fox selling for last season?


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## whatrset (Apr 13, 2010)

**** 32
possums 15
Yotes 2
G fox 4 
Bobcat 1 
Beaver 1
Otter 2

Fish, ***** were $3 tops and Fox were $5 tops here. I amade more on **** meat at $10/ea


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## maleyfarm (Jun 28, 2010)

I sold some of my best **** to a local buyer and averaged $6 and he was very selective on what he took. I shipped the rest to NAFA and averaged $13.22 per pelt. I'm still kicking myself for selling to a local buyer. but I needed the propane tank filled so I had to do, what I had to do.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I think the last time I did any serious trapping I got $50/****, $70/fox and even $70 for a really nice silvertipped badger.

Even at $10/**** a guy could make some decent money on **** in some places.

What do skunk bring?


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## maleyfarm (Jun 28, 2010)

I only had a couple skunks and depending on how much white they have makes a huge difference. my low skunk brought $1.50 and my high brought $13.00 and both graded as SEL.


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## Owldancer (Jun 24, 2010)

Well I don't trap, but I do use furs in my reenacting.

Does anyone know a place to get tanning done inexpensive but good quality?

Then I would be interested in buying some of the furs. Especially beaver, mink, bobcat, etc. Ok so most anything that would of been in the New French region around 1700.


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## Trapper (Jun 2, 2006)

Been trapping for a lifetime and just never grew out of it. Last year was my fiftieth first year of chasing critters with steel. The experience of this last year was one I am sure I will be writing articles about in the future. It meant more because I have been blessed with a recovery from a contest with cancer. Believe me when I say that I have had much better years as far as numbers and monitary returns. The idea of having the strength and stamina to persue the challenges it takes to set maintain a active trapline and to also to keep up in the furshed left me with plenty of pride and satisfaction. Ok now the numbers......1,333 muskrats, 8 mink, 61 **** and 14 beaver (two blankets that went over sixty five pounds). I also caught 4 otters but released tham all as I did not have a tag to keep one. When I sold I thought I got a good price only to find out that muskrats jumped in price over $2 just a week later. I just finished dying my traps this last weekend and am planning to a bigger effort for my 52nd anniversary:sing: Trapper


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## nitestalker (Jan 13, 2007)

didn't trap, but took 147 ****, plus bobcat,badger,coyote and fox with my terriers. average 11 dollars on the carcass on ****


brian harlow


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Last year was my 34th season. Low rat numbers hurt us but we still managed just shy of 300 which was our target. Released all the greys but a few the FIL killed before I got to the retreat($12 or so each). Got our 3 badger limit from the 2 zones($10-$20?each). Mink numbers were down but we still got into double digits(males$10-$12each, females $5 or so). Tried releasing all small and medium ***** but the few from conibears and the large+ sizes we hovered right around 100($1-$8 each). Too many possums(.10-.50each) and skunks but the skunks brought good money from essence(around $20 oz.) and the meat is a big factor in our canine baits. Only sold a few of the skunk and they were green skinned and brought around $4-$6 if I remember correctly. Friends take all the hides we will give them and tan them for the buckskinner market. They sold all but a few tanned skunk already and are ready for our season to open back up. They sold good on Ebay last year but it was flooded this year so they sold them at the shoots for $12 small-up to $20 for largest. We whacked the yotes good during the summer ADC hunt and trapline so the fur line catch was down but they were worthless here anyhow, offers of $1 for 2 or 3 out of 20+. Friends tanned all the yotes we didnt sell too. Had a decent catch of reds and they brought $10-$14 or so stretched and dried. We only finished rats, mink, reds and greys and sold or gave away all others just green skinned. Beaver were plentiful but we prefer to wait till late winter or spring to do our bulk of the trapping for them(castor!) but I busted my ankle so missed the spring season but the kids of the family did ok with 18 or so and the castor sold well but the hides were a downer around $6 tops for prime plews and the few 8 or so off the fall line were around $4 tops. We enjoy the meat so that was a big plus from the cold/cooler water catch's. Rest were used as fresh bait or tainted in jars for next year. Some of the smaller beaver the friends tanned and made some beaver hoops some with feathers and all and some without and they sold all of them in the first 3 shoots they attended($15-$45 depending on setup/decorations). I tried starting a monthly trapping thread or least a topic thingy but interest in it seemed to wain so I figured we'd wait till closer to fall? We sold our rats too early but still got around a $7 average. They took a big $1.50-$2 jump here about a week after we sold but the kids split the money and got their Christmas bought with some of it. Im guessing at some of the prices and totals as all the reciepts etc are downstairs and I dont go there for awhile yet probably.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Owldancer I meant to comment about your furs you'd like to buy. Most probably wouldnt be that expensive shipping and all but the bobcat would or could get real pricey, some brought over $500 each from the western/mountain regions. Ive got tanning recipes if you want to do it yourself? Friends sold out of about everything now, last time I talked to them they had turned the last of the yotes into purses for the state fair and motorcycle seat covers.


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## Owldancer (Jun 24, 2010)

backwoodsman thanks for the reply 

Since I live basicly in the city there is no way my wife or the city would allow me to do tanning. I would be interested in your tanning recipes. (Thank you ahead of time) So I would have to get it done commerically (do have a reenactor friend who does some tanning). But if the furs are inexpensive I would take a chance on tanning them at a friends place in WI (depending on the time involved only have weekends).


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## Native87 (Jan 21, 2010)

Last year was a bust for me. We had a snow and the next thing I knew.......... I went through the whole blame winter and got to see the ground 3 days out of 3 months. LOL It was the worst weather we had her since in the 60s. I really look forward to this year. One of my sons is interested and I would love to show him. We need these up and comers folks. If you can take a good responsible person with you and teach them this skill. The money may not be there anymore but the fact that these critters need balance will always remain. Also, the predator population here is devastating turkey grouse quail populations. I would like to keep a bit of all animals around. What say you?


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Your welcome, no problem. Owl you can do smaller hides in 5 gallon buckets, one for salt and one for Alum solution. Heres a basic recipe and method for hair on tanning. Scrape all fat/tissue from the hide and place it in the salt container. Each day take it out and scrape the hide again. After 3 days it should be clean enough to tan. Rinse all salt etc off the hide and place it in the alum container(heres where it gets tricky) some hides only need 2 days but some may take up to 7 days like deer etc. After 3 days is a good time to check it and every 2 days after. The hide will be a white(ish)/light yellow. Rinse all alum etc off of it and let it dry. Some have good luck rolling it everyday till it loosens up and becomes very pliable. We like to stretch it out by hand and then rub it over a counter edge etc. Some like rock salt for the solution but we've used table salt for years. 10lbs per 30 gallons of water is about right. In a 5 gallon bucket I'd salt it heavy myself and go with 5lbs. The salt really loosens the fat and tissue up. Alum can be bought at most drugstores/pharmacies. 3 lbs to 30 gallons of water is a good starting point. In a 5 gallon bucket or similiar I'd go with 1 1/2lbs. You could easily do **** hides and smaller in your apartment. I'd start with the cheaper hides possum, skunk, weasel etc or even non furbearers like squirrel, groundhog. Let me know if you need more info or encouragement. Its alot of fun also. There shouldnt be any rules or laws against this type of tanning anywhere that I can think of? If a person was using some of the mercury tans etc then yeah there probably would be a conflict.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

A taxidermist I talked with said that he uses an unheated clothes dryer to soften hides.


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## IndianaWoodsman (Mar 17, 2009)

Been trapping for most of my 30 years. Last season was by far my worst and that was because prices were down. I don't trap only for the money but even as bad as coyotes are around here, I can't just shoot em and leave em like my fur buyer told me to.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

We destroyed quite a few last summer as they are a pest here. The few we trapped and shot during the fall and winter we gave away. Had pitiful offers of $1 for them, almost an insult. The summer ADC line we are required to destroy the carcass and cant salvage anything. We did do "necrocropsies" on the carcass's and found deer hair and cattle hair in abundance but if it was from dead ditchs or roadkills or predatory kills we have no way of knowing? Tan those yotes up Indiana. They are great as a conversation piece or worked up into possible bags, rugs, wall hangings etc etc. Prices were decent for some fur last season. I remember trapping ***** for .50 and that wasnt all that long ago, early 90's and also early 70's. In '91 or '92 I was offered .25 for stretched and dried 'rats. We averaged around $7 for our rats this past season. Fur looks to maybe see an increase this year. Economy of several countries and cold weather will be the deciding factor plus price of crude oil. Wish we could trap some of these otter and bobcats that are everywhere!


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## Owldancer (Jun 24, 2010)

Son of a gun, Backwoodsman your in Illinois. LOL Thanks for the taning info, and do want to try it. Now all I will have to do is put out the word to a couple friends and see about some squirrel, rabbit or something small to try out. It will most likely come from WI, where a lot of my friends live. I bet I can get someone up there to save me something. And a great excuse to go up north to shoot as well. Most likely it would end up as a possible bag or a hunting pouch depending on the size.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Haven't Trapped serious for years.Just enough to keep numbers down.I eat my ***** all else is just killed.We're told if we see Otters in Ponds to shoot them.People hate them here.

big rockpile


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Pop keeps telling me I'm crazy to toss good **** hides in the trash. So how do you sell hides and meat? Advertise or is there some place to go or someone to call? I would like more info on this. Sounds like a decent way to rid myself of varmints and make a little ammo money too.

BTW, does anyone buy squirrel skins?


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## mickm (Jul 23, 2010)

Danacus, you have to skin them unless your furbuyer will buy on carcass.

Make sure it's legal to sell the meat before you do it. We can sell furbearer, but no other kind of wildlife meat. 

Yep I trap and have **** dogs too. It's part of how I live, but ya gotta be creative now.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I think **** is legal to sell, in season. You can trap and use them yourself any time of year. I wouldn't be selling squirrel meat, we like it too much. 

As for the skins, do you leave the feet, tail, and head on? The head would get nasty I would think. And squirrel tail is awful difficult to skin out for just a couple bucks. I could work on it though, not like we're going to run out of raccoons and squirrels any time soon.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

For ***** and squirrel you dont have to leave the feet on. You have to skin the head out. I could describe how to do it but a pictures worth a thousand words they say. Interent search ought to provide you with a furbuyer localy and how to skin and preserve your catch or theres several trapping sites you can visit too. WAT, Wildabouttrapping and North American Trapper are two good ones. Hunters Hideout, Bandits Den and Carolyn's Corner are also good and theres people from Ohio there too. Youtube has a bunch of skinning videos and worth a look for sure.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Thanks for all the info.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Danaus, FF&G is predicting a profitable fall season for **** this year but not for the early hairy junk. Let those **** prime up a bit before going after them. Northerns are projected to start in the $15-$20 range for heavies. I'd skin **** all night for that. In 1970, had 108 hides and got $130. Made more off the carcasses than the fur as I was getting $2 straight for them! 10 years later, 1980, had just over half that many and fur check was $1,230.

Martin


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

For that price I could learn to skin out tails and heads. Shouldn't take more than an hour to skin one.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

You'll learn more the more you search around about fur trapping. Once you get the hang of it you can skin a **** in just a few minutes. On a warm one I have pelted them out in less then a minute in a pinch. Only the primer fully furred ones will bring the top price so let the smalls etc go unless they are destroying stuff and being a nuisance. Our season opens November 5th most years but the **** really arent fully prime until almost December so we lose maybe 10%-20% on the earlier ones. If you start trapping when your season opens you should be fairly close to having some prime ****. Its a trade off if you wait for the ***** to get fully prime then theres fewer to trap due to others not waiting and if it freezes up and ***** den up then your stuck also. Check your laws and follow them to the T. Dont set conibears or snares where doemstic animals could be caught. Check your traps at least once a day. Our law is once every 24 hours. I'd highly recommend getting a subscription to Fur-Fish-Game, joining a trapping organization which I believe Ohio has a few and becoming a member of several good trapping websites on the net. What size and kinds of traps do you have?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

All I have right now is a **** size live trap. Did pretty good with it getting rid of the ones trying to get my ducks and raid my corn patch. Early this spring I took 5 **** but didn't skin or eat them. They are way overpopulated and a nuisance.

Law states, trap has to be checked once every 24 hours, has to be tagged with the owners name and address, I think it has to be secured somehow (it would need to be when trapping **** anyway), cannot release a **** somewhere other than the property where it was caught so I would have to shoot it anyway. I will be picking up a copy of the hunting and trapping laws next time I go to Meijer. I don't intend to break any hunting or trapping laws.


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## backwoodsman (Jan 21, 2010)

Footholds have to be secured by either staking or using drags. ***** are escape artist and smaller footholds work better so the **** cant get under the jaws and work on the trapped limb. No.11's are our pick but some like 1.5 coilsprings. I like the no.1 size in single longspring or coil too but they can be lacking for bigger boars and sows in some areas. No.1 1/2 single longspring is popular too but I dont care for the higher jaws. Double jawed footholds are good too and a good compromise in 1.5/-1 1/2 size so you could chase fox etc too on down the road.


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