kick it off with some pics

[hatracked]

Heres a few pics from my trapline .

Old man Red stuck in a victor 1 1/5 softie.



All boxed up ready to go to the fox pen



Halfway to the box with a grey . I caught the male and female out of the same set two nights in a row. Usually happens like that.

Female the first morning



Heres the male the next morning



Another female grey



no ones immune from Mr grinner.

[eshoremd]

excuse the ignorance. how do you kill them. i gather you dont want holes in the fur. can you kinda explain the process from the baiting to the market or when ever you get rid of the fur. and where does it typically go once you get rid of it. what kind of fur is worth the most?

[hatracked]

I sell most all my canines live. Bobcats get a 22 or caught with a catch pole and caged. Thats a fun job on a 30 lb tom caught by one or two toes. LOL That usually ends up with a bang.The "trash on the line "possoms are dispatched , coon are released most times . .

I have very little fur experience as the market for southern fur basically sucks and is nowhere near as profitable as trapping for the live market.

[ncboman]

Todd,

Back when trapping was profitable, most trapline targets were water loving critters; muskrats, raccoons, mink, beaver, otter. A good trapper would design sets in such a way to drown the catch. This prevented losses and also usually kept the set hidden from thieves.

It only takes a few inches of water to drown an animal and there are various methods of doing it, the most common being using another stake beside the one the trap is anchored with. The animal winds the chain around the offset stake and soon wears out and sinks with the weight of the trap.

Foxes are most often caught on dry land and coons are the reward sometimes also. Before live removal became common, some used a 22 short right in the ear but the most common method of dispatch was a club. The idea being to dispatch the animal with one sharp blow around the ears. This kept bruising minimum and made skinning the catch easier. Raccoon meat is a marketable item and the animal is sold whole with feet and head attached to verify that it indeed is a raccoon. Little bruising, etc, makes the meat more acceptable to the buyer.

When I was trapping heavy, we froze the entire animals and once the freezer full, a furbuyer was called and we sold the entire lot. The furbuyer had many freezers full of animals and he had 'skinners' in his hire that worked full time skinning and stretching fur.

When you think you know how to take down game, it's an eyeopener to watch a professional skinner do it. About one minute on a furbearer is common and the result is a hide that needs very little fleshing down. The common rate of pay was 6 cents per rat, so a guy skinning 50 to 60 an hour was making over twice minimum wage... good for the times.

Like I say, we sold the animals whole usually and avoided the cold cut fingers of the fur barn. Nowdays, unless animals are sold alive, skinning and stretching the fur is required. This usually seperates the enthusiast from the sport to a large degree.

Sportsmen that really know how to handle fur are a dieing breed.