I have been waiting a long time to make this post! Trapping season opened up here on November 11th, but I've been waiting to finish up the fall school semester to get started. Having wrapped up the last round of exams on Monday, that time is officially here.

The property I'm trapping this year is a piece of private land buried within the Ozark National Forest. I actually made a thread about this line two years ago, which happened to be the first year I ran a line with more than a handful of traps, and the first time I really tried going after coyotes and fox. I didn't make much of a catch although I learned a lot. Last year I trapped the same property for awhile and had more success, but I will say that my catch rate in the National Forest is lower than it is in hayfields and pine thickets on farmland here in North Arkansas. I won't promise a bunch of numbers on this thread, but I'm usually good for a coyote or two.

Worst case scenario, I'll take a bunch of sappy landscape photos. There aren't many spots like this in crop fields alongside the highway:



I hope to be standing right there in the morning.

There's more to come!

Nice pic shud be loaded with fur, Hammer Down.!

Good luck trapping.

Where you from up in NWA

Looks catty Mike Joe.

x2 on the cattiness

I'm from Pope County, about 30 minutes outside of Russellville.

I put out half a dozen sets today, some footholds for coyotes and cat snares. I caught my first bobcat out here last year and I'd sure like to catch another one! Haven't cut any tracks yet but I know there are some in there. Am going to set out some more footholds and a few beaver snares tomorrow.

I'll do a better update with pictures tomorrow. We're out of power at the house right now and I'm typing this on my phone.

Looking forward to this. I always enjoy your post.

Yesterday I parked the car and began the walk into "the field" as we call it at about 6:30am.



It's a three mile trip one way. The walk in there carrying a pack full of trapping gear, the bait/lure bucket, and a rifle just about wore me out. After the first trip I leave all of the set-making gear at the cabin, so I don't have to carry it 6 miles everyday.

Here's a picture of the trail: The field is just beyond those pines in the distance.



Entering the Field:



Lots of sign on the ground:




I used to say it was nearly impossible to find tracks in Arkansas, but I've learned over the years that I just didn't know where to look. Mud puddles and ruts are the first places I check out when scouting a road.

On the first day I spent most of my time setting up locations that have produced fur in the past. I put in a set under this root where I caught a coyote last year. The main reason I originally chose this spot is that the root would hopefully prevent the trap from being run-over if somebody did drive a pickup through the field, and it just happened to make a great backing.

The location:



The set:



Also put in a fox set in a location that has taken grays and coon each year for the past two seasons:



And some snares on the trail that produced the bobcat last year:

Been a fan of Arkansas trapping ever since I discovered the Hoosier Trapper Outoors series on Youtube. Looking forward to following your post here, thanks Mike

Thanks Hover-Lover. I'll have to check that series out.

Today I walked in and checked those sets. I didn't catch anything yet, although a gray fox uncovered a 550 at a flat set.



This is disappointing because it's a missed opportunity, but I was glad to already have had some action on the first check. I don't think this trap was contaminated, and although I wouldn't have left it there if I didn't think it was bedded solid, I have definitely made more than my share of mistakes before. The trap was covered in buckwheat hulls, to try and prevent it from freezing (we're having lows in the mid 20's and I've been setting in shirtsleeves by noon). I've never used them before and I wonder if it just felt the hulls which are a lot softer than the surrounding ground and started uncovering the trap. I don't know.

The trap was working and I put it back in the ground bedded solid for sure.

I also put in a pair of fox sets on this road:



And a couple of beaver snares at this location:



I've never set a beaver trap in my life but I'm going to give it a go and see if I can't catch one or two to use as bait on the snare trails.

I did manage to kill a few gray squirrels while checking/setting so I didn't walk back out completely empty handed.



That makes 10 sets to check in the morning. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

These guys come down from Indiana and run couple weeks in the national forest in Arkansas (unsure which one). I enjoy the series; the terrain and landscape looks real similar to where you're trapping. Maybe ... maybe not. Check it out if you have time.

Yesterday I made the walk into the field, came around the first curve, and saw a coyote standing in a catch circle. I caught her in the set made in the road with the root as a backing. From a hundred yards out, she looked like the nicest coyote I had ever trapped.



Once I got closer though, I noticed the bald patch on her hind legs, and found these spots after the dispatch:




That sort of dampened the excitement of catching the first one of the year, but, it's just part of it I suppose.

I caught her in a four coiled Bridger #2, with fresh raw eggs down the hole along with some of John Graham's Cow Country.




An update on the beaver snaring attempt—

I found one of my two snares pulled down to a small loop at a set yesterday:



The guy that showed me how to make this type of snare set is a local trapper named Doug Henderson, who gave a demonstration at an Arkansas Trappers Workshop in October. He explained that oftentimes if a snare is pulled down like that, the loop is too big, or a small beaver swam through it. So, I reset the snare with a smaller loop, which was just a bit bigger than my hand.



This morning I walked into the field to check traps before daylight, because I had to meet a friend at Ozark at noon. When I walked in to the location on the bayou, I found a beaver neck-snared in the set. This was my first beaver, and just my second snare catch. The more I use cables—the more I like them!




This is what the set looked like:




I just set the snare on the little point sticking out from the bank, then drove a pole into the creek bed on the other side, and put some castor lure on the root ball above the snare.

I also found where a coyote marked my backing at the remake where I caught the female yesterday.




I think it is only a matter of time before this location produces again.

I have put over thirty miles on my boots since Sunday, and am having an absolute blast.

If you ever take the notion to catch a bunch of beaver Mike Joe it's hard to beat cable. Congrats on the catches.

Nice pics. Pretty country.

You need an atv...or just drive your truck.

A lotta fun

Great Pic's

Thanks for the comments guys! I'm still pretty impressed with how simple it is to put out a string of beaver snares.



This is my trapping vehicle :




I have trapped out of the car on farms that are easier to access than this property, but I love trapping in the national forest, and although it will keep me from putting up a bunch of numbers, I really don't mind the walking. At some point in the future I plan to change pace and make a run at a longer line, but for now, days spent hiking the trapline are a welcome break from the last 17 weeks spent in a classroom.

That being said, I walked a long ways to draw a blank today. I had another set marked by a coyote, and am having traps dug up by fox on the road between the field and the bayou. I've never had this much trouble with traps being dug up before, this one made 3 in the last 4 days on this road.



I'm about to devote some time to catching the culprit(s). I have been mostly setting for coyotes up until today, but I fixed some sets up specifically for gray fox this afternoon. We're expecting warm nights, so I skipped the buckwheat hulls, lightened the pan tension, and traded gland lures for greasy foodstuffs down dirtholes with large patterns.

Nothing in the traps today or yesterday, so I guess it is time for some of those landscape pictures.





I walked across the bayou today and scouted the road out that way. I found a lot of thick brush and pines scattered amidst the hardwoods.



Also found another beaver dam:



And a few of these:



That track definitely put a smile on my face!

I've never trapped this area before but I found some good locations to set up tomorrow.

Dang it man,that's some pretty country your trapping.
Good Luck..