X2 on Bob J

I hope my local "competition" doesn't learn about good bait. The crew I just followed took months at one location in 3 attempts with different baits before they were able to coral 4 chucks in baited traps. They had to lose their butt even though they charged quite a bit overall as they had a ton of time in it. Went in after as they had left some behind, followup, with only a couple of chucks remaining it would seem. Set at 6 p.m., got two by noon the following day, 18 hours, maybe the last two??? No sightings since. After trail setting
'cats in the west and 'coon on creeks and in the woods, I would have a hard time doing anything else.

Being a good trapper trumps the best lure or bait about every time.

However, that being said, a good trapper will make any lure and bait look better. You just cant compare a man with your experience with some local competitions ability. Just not a fair fight Jim.

Men with our backgrounds kind of have the decked stacked in our favor just because of our history.

So, good for you for in showing them "Whose the Man". Kind of makes a fella smile every now and then.

It's a guaranteed referral too! Make a customer feel like they were treated right and they'll tell all their friends.

When I got the referral they seemed desparate, not really happy about the expense as you would expect, but especially the lack of closure, still chucks running around. We all feel that way after shelling out good bucks and not getting the results we hoped we were paying for. Anyone can take the test, pass, get a license and go to it, but they can't get experience over night and often don't know where or how to find what they need in equipment and methods to make it work. When people talk about hard work, that's just hard. I like to think of working smarter. Have to when you realize that 65 is not middle age. There has to be some benefit to this high mileage.

Yes, benefits do come with high mileage. Its that darn body work that you need to keep up with that wears on a man.

If we can keep our catalytic converter from getting plugged up at our ages its all good.

Talking to DEC, there are lots of guys that have to take the test multiple times... if I remember right, it's open book too!

Estimated only 50 percent of my whistlepigs are snared. 40 % are baited cages and 10 percent are going to be positive sets. That's me. My son and daughter when doing hog work is pretty close to what I do with daughter reversed with the snares and cages. My wife about 2 weeks ago came out of the office to help with our ground work with coon and hogs. My wife has run the office work for well over 35 years but never set a trap in her life. she knows the business well just never set traps. I gave her a crash course in cages and how to with baits and lures. well She is cleaning house with hogs and coon. and I have to listen to her every day tell me how good she is LOL, all baited sets she catches skunks also but I have to go pick them up LOL My point is if the set is on location and the cage is baited and lured right they work. but as Bob has been saying the person has to understand what is there. If I go in and I sense the ground hog is a spooky critter and I can force in a few mins of course I am going to do that. If the hog is coming in from a field to eat in the flower beds in a open yard I am setting a baited cage. If I have a family unit of 4 to 6 hogs I am keying on mom with a baited cage and then work on the little ones.

Jonesie hit on a good point. Key on mom and the rest fall pretty easily. Same thing for coon, skunks etc. Set for momma critters, take her first then you may be able to take all or most of the little guys the following day, sometimes by hand. Just had fun nabbing 6 baby skunks by hand and best yet, they were all very polite and well mannered, which was appreciated.