It looks like I'll miss another trapping season due to overseas deployments. That's OK but enjoy reading about the trapping on these boards. Couple old photos attached. After a career in the USMC and still doing the same things, beaver trapping is still one of the most hazardous endeavors I've enjoyed.

Those are some nice big rats!

JeffM....... I feel for you. There is something about beaver trapping that is addictive. I will be starting here at home in about a week and a half and I will post some pictures for you as the season progresses.

Cheers!

Thanks. It looks like I'll be home for a couple weeks in November but it will be family time. Then I'm back to Rwanda just before Thanksgiving until next June or so. So, no trapping. As I've said before, I've come closer to dying stupid trapping beaver than any of my other bad habits.
Have a great season and look forward to the pics.
Jeff

damn, when i saw the title of this post, i thought you were talking about the night life in Costa Rica...

Sorry to hear about you missing out on the upcoming season! My father and I love to trap mostly for Wolf as they are wary as hell. We were able to snare 5 last winter which is pretty good for the time spent trapping for them. If I could I would invite you to try your hand at wolf snaring if you've never tried. Just something about walking up to a large dog that gets me going!

AR Man, I would love to try my hand at snaring wolves. I've snared a lot of coyotes and beaver and even a couple otter and hogs when I lived in Florida. Otter are tricky and hogs are strong but I had success a couple times.
I took my son on a bear hunt for his HS graduation in Manitoba on Giraffe Lake. He got a good bear but talking with the guides about trapping got me excited. Saw lots of beaver but no wolves although they were around. Wolf and lynx on are on my bucket list to hunt and trap. I've always had more success hunting while I was trapping-just puts you closer to the details of the animals. Cheers and thanks for the kind words. Jeff

I couldn't agree with you more on the hunting and trapping together. It was ironically 5 years ago when I was archery hunting and heard my first howl while entering my tree stand. Year after year a slow decline of our white tails occurred and unfortunately it wasn't until the third year me and my father became active in trapping them. I have been told by many people wolves only take the sick or very old... well to those people I say bullshit! I have found many mature prime bucks killed at the mouths of wolves.. how do I know ? I have trail cameras and there antlers were the same ones on my Cuddybacks. Like everything wolves need to be managed and the youth of today unfortunately are not following the heritage of past trappers. Sad really!

Thanks for your service Jeff. You'll be glad to know that my 16 year old Son and I both drew beaver permits this year. Sadly no otter permits were ours. Hopefully I'll figure out how to post some pic's so you can see how we do. He has 26 rats and one mink so far. Good Luck.