I started In 1953. I walked a line behind the house and caught rabbits and coon and a few rats. In 1955 while I was In HS I would peddle my bike down to the lake. My dads friend lived on this slough and I kept my 12' boat there . I had a 11/2 horse Elgin out board on It and I trapped rats mink and coon out of that boat. I missed 3 years while In the Marines. I'll be 80 next May.

Started trapping in 1967 at the age of 8 snaring and trapping snowshoe hare. By 1972 I had a snowmachine and a trapline catching Marten, Fox, Coyote and Lynx. Sold a Lynx in 1972 for $425.00 and a new Polaris Colt cost $850.00 back then. I trapped all through high school for the income. Missed a few years in my 20's but love trapping I still trap and make a few bucks but mostly for fun now. As long as I can walk I'll be in the woods trapping!

Started about 1952 while in high school trapping rats,mink and the occasional coon and fox. Restarted in 1984 and ceased in 2015 do to medical problem associated with advanced age.

My first trapline experience was running a 'rat/mink line with an honorary uncle and his pal. I was the dispatcher. Used a Daisy BB gun. That was the month JFK was shot.

1974. I was 12 and my dad and I visited an uncle at his cabin. While there he asked if we wanted to check some muskrat traps before he went back out deer hunting. While walking along the swamp a short distance away he started to point out old dens, toilets, and huts out in the distance. Six old traps with a catch of three rats, and I was hooked. Parents bought me two #1 victor longsprings as soon as the local hardware store opened Monday morning. I went to the local creek, which I had fished since I was 10, and immediately noticed a few bank dens and toilets which I had never noticed before! That was the beginning.

Caught my first muskrat at age 4 with my dad and haven't missed a season and I'm 43 now

1972. I was in sixth grade. I was invited by a couple friends to join them while they checked their muskrat traps on the St.Louis bay near west Duluth. I started settling my own traps a few days later. Our family moved to the Iron Range in ‘73 and I trapped my first mink that fall.

I believe it was 1960, and I believe I caught a whopping two muskrats.

Most of you guys have been trapping longer than I've been alive. I've trapped at varying degrees since 2004 when I caught 8 fox and a couple coons in a week while on college break using two garage sale special duke 1.5's. Things sure have changed since then other than the fact of the adrenaline rush when I hear the chains slapping.

2009!

Started in 1974... first fur sale - bought more traps and a 1951 Chevy Pick-Up for $330.00. I was living large lol.

my first memories are around 1979,trapped rats and beaver with dad.i was 14,as dad got older we didn't trap,when my son was young we trapped a few rats,a few years,about 5 or 6 years ago my son says dad I want to catch a fox and we have trapped each year since.

1967, muskrats, (and there were plenty of them), an occasional mink that stumble into one of my muskrat sets and raccoons. I would take the pelts to a local furbuyer, stop at the local hardware store while walking back to the house, pick up a couple more of victor no.1 long springs for .40 cents each, a box of .22's shorts for .50 cents and have plenty of money left over for other essentials that I would order from S. Stanley Hawbaker. Imagine a 12 year old walking into a hardware store now and buying a box 22's.It would be looked upon as some type of major incident. How times have changed.

In 2005 while still living in town I went into the garage and there was a raccoon eating out of the dog bowl, it was the size of a bear and I was terrified. So I welded up a cage trap out of scrap conduit large enough to fit a coon and covered it with fencing. The first one I caught easily escaped so I upgraded the fencing and made a lock they couldn't figure out. The NDOW people said a lot of these coons could carry rabies and I shouldn't shoot them in the head or skin them. Well I caught lots of coons over the years but I thought of it more like trapping mice, these coons were pests.

For the past 11 years I've lived on a mountain in a remote location right in the middle of wildlife. After getting surveillance cameras a couple years ago I noticed lots of stuff happened when the sun went down. I found bears, lions and lots of bobcats on video when I woke up every morning. So last year at 59 I bought 6 traps and made dirt hole sets only catching skunks. Then one day as I was leaving my place and down by my gate in the fresh snow was a bobcat track. I went and collected a couple of traps and made a walk thru on accident before I even knew what I was doing and caught a bobcat within a week.

When I took my hides to the taxidermist, I asked for advice and he said he don't bury traps any longer that he used exposed traps. During the off season I did a lot of research on exposed traps and walk thru's which lead me here. I've caught two cats in two weeks and made them step right where I've wanted, so now I feel like a real trapper. I can hardly wait for the sun to come up because we got some fresh snow and I have as much fun tracking as I do catching. Plus, all I did yesterday was eat and enjoy the family so the traps went unchecked. By law I need to check every other day.

I started trapping in 1945 in Illinois when I was 10. My boyhood pal Dick Daniel got me interested. I have trapped every season since except for the 1954 season when I was in Korea with the USMC. I trapped the 1953 season while on 30 day leave after boot camp before I shipped out to Korea.

Jarhead

I started trying to trap at 10 years old, that would have been 1968

Trap fur when I wanted to in early 72, actually started trapping west coast lobster in 65 before getting smart and making the best decision of my life and moving to Alaska spring of 1970.

1972-3

Thank you everyone for posting on this thread! I am really enjoying all the stories. Some started so early in life and some, like me, got a late start. Seems a mentor or a friend trapping had a great influence on the early starters. I think this is a good indication of what we all should be doing to help the future generation of trappers. Get them out there early. I cant wait to get my grandson started. Will be a few years.

Havent heard from the Boss. Anyone know when he got started? Im sure the traps were hand forged!

1978 here,a church member got me going,he was in his 60's then Byron Cole and Lyle Nelson answered all of my questions.Thank you to all that got me addicted to this wonder traditions,thats why I love passing it along also.Short tail weasel was my first catch Dec 14 1978 caught in the old twin wood culvert at Mt,Carmal church a 1/4 south of our farm.I was 11 in 1978,this is my 40th year of trapping,hope to have 25 or more years left in me......