This is Troy Brue and this is my story,
This is Troy Brue and this is my story,
I started trapping in upstate New York at the age of 8. I started trapping
after being influenced by my father Peter Brue. I had gone trapping with him
from time to time and chatted on Paul Dobbins trapper chat site. When I got
really interested in trapping at 8 and my dad thought I should take my
trapping test. A few weeks later I took my test. I passed it. The first day of
trapping season I had out cage & leg hold traps. The next day one of my cage
traps held a coon. Wow! My very first coon! Over the next couple of weeks I set
more traps. In a couple of weeks I had caught a few more coon, then the
miracles started happening. The next day I caught a fox. The first fox I had
ever seen trapped! I was tickled pink! Over the next 4 or so weeks I managed
to catch 1 fisher which was caught on fish eggs,3 or so coons, and an
fisher. These were what I thought were the best weeks of my life{which they
were}.My mink was caught during the day at my dads work. Every day I would
get home from school I would call my dad to see about the traps. Every day
nothing. Then one day while my dad was interviewing a guy I caught a mink. So
I rode my ATV to my dads work and attempted to recover the mink. The trap was
gone. I was bewildered. I just looked in a pipe, which was next to the trail in
which the trap was set, nothing. Just then I heard something moving behind
me. Fifteen feet or so behind me a board kept moving. I lifted up the
board. There was the mink. I grabbed the wire on the trap and carried it up
the hill the mink was on. Coming out of the office was my dad and the
interviewee. There I was with a live mink. My dad was surprised it was still
alive. The interviewee had a trapping trowel and I finished the mink off. Over
the next 3 weeks I caught some coon, 1 more fox and a couple of rats. By the
end of the season I caught 18 coons, 2 fox, 3 rats,1 mink, and 1 fisher. Over
the next 2 years I caught around 25, coon 2 mink and 8 rats. In the 2001
season I mysteriously caught 2 moles in 1 110# conibear, one on the top jaw
and one on the bottom. This year I would catch 15 coon,5 rats,2 mink, and I
sniped a jet black woodchuck at 110 yards with a .22 magnum. This 2002 season
I got my hunting license. I shot 1 grouse after my dad broke its wing. I also
shot a black duck. I trapped 11 coons ,7 mink,6 rats, and 6 skunks. One mink
had one trap properly placed around the neck and one on its hindquarters. I
had to drown it. After x-mas I bought a Remington 11-87 12 ga.
w/interchangeable chokes and in mossy oak camo and a 3 inch chamber.
Bad weather beavers
Winter beaver trapping in Maine is not a sport for the faint of heart. You will never hear
a beaver trapper being called lazy, crazy yes, but never lazy. I set up a couple of
colonies of beaver in late December. I had canoed the stream earlier in the fall to find
the beaver and had located two colonies. I had waited for there to be enough ice to
support my weight before venturing down the stream to set up thecolonies. It was about a
40 minute steady walk to the first house and about 10 minutes more to the second. I put in
4 sets at each house and waited a week to go back. I had 3 sprung traps at the first
house. One held a nice blanket, the others were empty. I reset all the sets and went to
the second house. There I had 2 sprung traps, 1 with a medium beaver in it. I reset these
also and walked the 50 minutes back to my snowmobile. The following week we had about 8
inches of snow followed by some heavy freezing rain. When I arrived at the stream there
was a good foot of water on top of the ice, and it definitely was not safe to be on. I
decided to wait for some cold weather to firm up the top layer of ice. We did get some
cold weather, it was -22 one day and below freezing for several days the next week, but we
also got about 8" of fresh snow andmore rain. I then checked the extende forcast and
found that we were expecting 3 days of rain. If I did not get those traps out I could
count on losing all 8 traps and any beaver in them. So I headed out with the intention of
pulling those sets. The stream had flowing water over the ice in many sections, so I had
to make my way through the woods on snowshoes to get to my sets. The walk that took me 40
minutes down the stream now took over 3 hours of hard walking through 3 feet of snow. The
first trap I pulled held the other blanket in the first house and the rest were empty. I
pulled them all. I went to the second house and although all of the sets had been visited,
none had connected, but none the less I did get my traps. It only took me 2 hours to drag
my gear and the beaver back to the snowmobile to finish the ride out to my car. I ate my
lunch as I drove home wondering why I do this. No one could say that I do it for the
money. I had just spent 6 hours getting a beaver, and I still had to skin and stretch it,
which will take the better part of 2 hours. I do love it though, and I never see any other
people where I go, so it is peaceful and quite serene. Beaver trapping is definitely not
for everyone, but it is for me. Author Richard Theriault, thanks Rich!
Winter sets By Sean Breed
I have recently become involved with a sport that goes by the name of paintball! That led me off my trapping craze which mad me think twice because with one less young trapper the trapping world might be affected because we are of a rare breed. So I looked through the web pages on the internet related to trapping, to get me back in the jive of the whole trapping thing, and it sure did work! Now I am happy that I did do that because I made a promise to myself to set some traps the next day, and by golly! I did set one out in my back woods. I made a almost natural cubby set with a tree shaped in a funky way it had the bottom cleared out so it was like a tunnel, but short one with a wide space there to set a trap, the opposite side was snowed in, but the side I was looking at was clear as day, and I swear I saw a sign above that cubby saying Cubby set which sorta scared me but I thought hmmm maybe I could get some fur out of this, so I went on doing the task of CHOPPING! At nice FROZEN! Dirt that took a while to make a small hole to fit a 1.5 coil spring with a earth anchor stake in with it, I pounded in the earth anchor and filled the hole that was a little too deep with some of my Special Dirt Which I pre-made before the season out of ant hill soil and salt(ant hill soil is freeze proof if you didn't know, I read it in a trapping book)But I put a large amount down, then added some wax paper to the set on top of the dirt, then pounded the stake in after some huffing and puffing! I put the trap in the small hole with another sheet of wax paper to cover the top, and poured a good hefty handful of dirt over it, (didn't use hands) and pushed snow on it and blended, always use stepping sticks! Then that set is done, I made another one later that day in a different location in a field where it dips down, and I made another cubby in the snow with the same trap. P.S. I used fish at the first set, and fish oil, made by Charles Adams if you would like some contact me at Smurf707@yahoo.com I promise this is some of the best fish oil in the world, and comes in large amounts, like a gallon at a time. But I am writing this the night I set the traps so, we will see what the trap beholds in the morning. Good luck on the line! And remember, send in those stories please!
Part 2 Well I have had success, it may not be great, but it is good enough in my book, I caught a possum in the first set I made on the second morning in the "tree set" I was suprised to find him curled up in a little hole he dug in side the cubby, boy did I have fun getting him out of there, I poked to with a stick, and he turned and seemed like he had a crab of his butt, but I would act that way to! I shot him in the head, with a simple shot to dispatched him and got him out of the trap, but the place was to messed up to remake the set so I said forget it. I skinned him out and was happy to see his leg was in working order, and had just a small bruise and nothing else, so take that you anti's! That the end of my story! hopefully something in the second one tomorrow!
Chucks
Well guys, I was talking to a friend of mine and he asked me to help work for him, like
raking up stuff, and things lie that. I accepted and when we were finished, we sat down
and had a diet coke which tasted really good in my dry mouth. We talked a little bit about
me trapping and stuff, then I asked what was beyond the tree line about thousand yards
ahead of us, and said it went almost straight down them flattened out in to the chemung
canal, them I said not a moment later "does it have muskrats, or mink?!" and
sure enough he said it had rats, but wasn't sure about the mink. Boy was I happy! I then
got to thinking I could get sum of them because I have been wanting to trap rats, cause
they a re easy and fun to catch! Then he said he had a problem with chucks, then one
popped out and started eating grass. They were digging under his shed so he didn't have a
clue of what to do. Since this guy is so nice I decided to trap the little buggers for
free! He was very happy that I would trap them, and asked when can you do it, I said
anytime! So later that day my mom brought be over and I went right over to where he showed
me there digging and the hole. I knew I would have one in a short time! I set a 220 mag,
in front of the hole, which is deep, and put a small piece of apple on the trigger, then
went to the trail leading into the hole and set a 1.5 cs in the trail! (this is for free
because I am trying to brush up on my skinning and trapping skills) My mom wanted to go
grocery shopping because we hadn't gone in 7 weeks ( we get a lot of food cause my mom
hates shopping) so we stopped back on the way home from the store and I went to the set
with gun in hand, and was happy to see a chuck held neatly between the jaws of the 220! I
took the chuck out then started to compress the springs, which took a minute. Then I went
and got another apple from one of his trees and cut a piece of it off, SLIP! the knife
went right through the apple into my hand, between my thumb and pointer finger, and I have
it right now! I couldn't reset the traps cause blood was every where, so I dropped the
apple, grabbed the half set trap, and knife. I went to the car very happy that I got a
chuck then mom sees blood dripping off my hand, and I say "got cut" while
smiling! SO she is like it needs stitches and I am like no it doesn't, that went on for a
few minutes then we went to the ice cream store for something (that was our original plan)
cleaned it up and went on with life. Skinning him that night was a pain! and fleshing,
gotta go finish fleshing now!, and questions? e-mail me! see ya on the line!
Trapping? Fishing?
Kevin Watson wrote: Trapping in Canada during the winter months is very challenging and i`m always in search of open water along creeks and rivers where i can set for river otter. One area i was familiar with was two large bodies of water divided by a causeway and in the middle of the causeway was a bridge that allowed the water to flow through and this always remained open and didn`t freeze over so i took a drive by one day and sure enough there were otter tracks on the edge of the ice leading into the water. My problem was the opening under the bidge was about eight feet across which was too wide for a single trap so i thought i would try a gang set with four 280 conibears thinking that there was also a good chance of getting a beaver that might be crossing under the bridge as well. I pulled on the chest waders slid down the bank with traps, stakes,and an eight foot pole to fasten the traps to. The current was strong and anything that touched the water would turn to ice due to the cold so i had to try and work fast to get everything in place which took about twenty minutes. Finally the task was complete and as i got back in the truck and headed home i had that good feeling trappers get when they know a set is going to be successful. Well, i went back to claim my otter and as i climbed down over the bank i couldn`t believe my eyes! What i had trapped was an eight pound pike, it was still in an upright position caught by both bars of the 280. Now i like eating fish but i`m so busy working during the summer and trapping during the winter i never have time to fish and consequently don`t have a fishing licence so when i got back home i had to make a call to the game warden who happened to be very understanding and allowed me to keep the pike. My wife and i had fresh fish the next night and was it good! By the way, i was rewarded with an otter a few days later but to this day i have never caught another fish. All the best! BY KEVIN WATSON, GOOD MAN AT ALLOUTDOORS
The wonders of Trapping
Hi! My name is Sean Breed, and I have been trapping, VERY LITTLE, for the past 3 years. This past season was a bit serious for me. I hadn't had any of the correct traps to go for what I wanted to, COON, and FOX! But I was a bit off in $$$ and supplies. So I saved up, and asked for $110 in trapping supplies for Christmas. Which isn't that much in trapping supplies. I went out with a ton of traps and only used 3 of the 7 I had, I DIDN't SCOUT! So I had to pay, but with those few sets I made I felt very confident. I went out and checked my traps the first day. NOTHING. Second day! NOTHING Now after the 5 th day I was really getting down. So I was worried that I was a terreble trapper, but I knew it took time. So I waited and waited, then the weather turned bad, and the creek started to ice up! I knew this was bad, especially for pocket sets! But the next morning I was suprised to find a coon, who was pretty darn shocked. After I dispatched it with my new .22, I went walking with all the pride in the world. I brought it into my garage, and skinned it out, then streched it. I had many complications in the streching process because I wasn't sure where the legs of the coon would go. so I just left them hanging, until I found out later that they are supposed to be on the spike things (NAME?) on the strecher. That is the story of my first COON!........
Sean Breed
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