Young Trapper Tales
This is a new part to Trapping Tales any young trapper under 17 years old that write a story that is put up wins one free video and one free bottle of lure. The writer can choose which videos and lures. Here is the first one. Thank you Cody.
Cody's Story
Trapping tales from a new Young Trapper. I'm 14 and I live in Superior, Wisconsin, a town of 30,000, on the shore of Lake Superior. The way I got started trapping is I was over at my grandpa's house one day out in the garage and I saw some traps hanging from the wall. I asked him what he trapped and how, he took the traps down and showed me how to set them.
In the house he told me stories about trapping in North Dakota were he used to live. He told me of trapping Mink and Muskrats, back then the mink were worth $60 and he helped his family with that money. That day I asked him if I could use some of his traps, he said go ahead take as many as you want I took 1 doz. #1 ½ Jumps 1 doz. # 2 Jumps and 2 doz. #1 Stop-loss. He helped me clean them up and dye and wax them. The traps were all ready to set. He also gave me some homemade 21" stakes. When I got home my dad gave me some 110 conibears and showed me how to set them. There was still a month before trapping season opened.
A week later, when me and my cousin were fishing, we saw a 3 mink coming out of a hole along a bridge I told my cousin that I was going to catch them, so the next day my cousin and I put 2 little buckets with a notch in them for a 110 to fit in but we didn't put the trap in. We put along the bridge wall and put a piece of fish in them. I took 6 days for the mink to eat the fish.
Soon it was trapping season and I went down to the bridge on my bike and put some more fish and a 110 in the buckets, then I went to a pond behind my house and set #2 in a pocket set for Coon or Mink and a dirt hole set for fox. The next day I went and checked them all the traps were untouched I was disappointed but my grandpa's told me to be patient. That night, I went and bought a 220 for Coon, and when I got home, I boiled it and made a bucket. The next day the coon trap was snapped but nothing in it, which was very frustrating. I set the 220 bucket with a fish head in it.
The next day I walked up to my mink bucket and there was a 23" buck mink in my trap. I was so excited, it didn't even make it out of the bucket. I never rode my bike so fast home. When I got home I showed my dad, he was happy for me then I called my grandpa up and he said he would come over and show me how to skin it out. So I went and checked the rest of the traps and something stole the fish head out of the bucket so I re baited it and went home. My grandpa was waiting for me. He showed me how to skin it and stretch it.
The next day all the traps were fine and my dad said he had seen some Muskrats in a pond by the road and he told me I should go set for them. So the next day, I checked the traps there was nothing and I went to the pond with 10 stop-loss 3 110's. When I got there, there were 4 houses, so I set the first one with 1 stop-loss on the house, the second one with 3 stop-losses on the house. I saw 3 muskrats come out of there, the third house with 1 stop-loss on the house and a 110 in the runway the last house 1 stop-loss on the house. The rest of the traps in bunkhouse. The next day I checked the traps I got a Gray Fox in the dirt hole set -- I was so excited! I went and got my dad and he shot it with the 22. Then I checked the Muskrat traps the first house had nothing, the next house had 2 and the other trap was snapped, and the next house had 1 and the last none. I caught 1 in a runway.
That night my dad showed me how to skin Muskrats and Fox. The next day I got a skunk in my 220 and I got 3 rats. That night my dad skinned the skunk and I did the rats.
The next day, I got 4 rats and a one got ate by a mink. The next day I got 1 rat and I set a #1 ½ for a mink. I put a hole in the house and set the trap next to the hole and baited with muskrat and covered the trap with cattail duff.
The next day I got a 21" female mink, I was so happy, and 1 muskrat. I skinned them out and didn't even put a hole in it. The next day I got to my mink set and my trap was gone. I thought someone stole my trap so I pulled the rest. When I got back, I was looking out in the water for my trap when I herd a stick snap, so I looked up here was a big male red fox looking me in the eyes. I was in shock that I caught a fox in a mink set and he almost took my trap.
I pulled all my traps that day cause we were going on a hunting trip. When I got back, I didn't set them until 2 weeks ago. I set for otter on a little creek channel and beavers. I got an otter in a 220 in a deep channel and a big beaver 50 pounds in a 330 baited with an Aspen branch. I really like trapping and I hope I get lots more furs, but if it ended today I would be happy. Good luck trapping -- keep putting fur on the boards.
--Cody
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