Dumbest thing you ever did trapping?

I may be new to this but I have already compiled a list of not to do's!.

Drove across a field at my in laws that was supposed to be frozen. It wasn't. Burried the truck to the lug nuts.

Drove across a small river we have on our land. Little too much ice buildup at the edges . Ripped the front bumper off and damaged the alignment and steering rack.

I have since learned that if I can't walk to the trap or so it from the road I will no longer be setting them.

Also think skid plates would be nice but in all honesty 2wd would be the way to go. My wife's grandpa always says the difference between 2wd and 4wd is how far you have to walk for help. Starting to see he was spot on.

Any lessons other trappers have learned the hard way?

I tried to dispatch a skunk in a foothold by setting a 220 conibear and tossing it on the skunk. I caught the brunt of the spray with my eyeballs lol.

I tried to punch through a snowdrift with my pickup that was as deep as the headlights on my pickup.

Let me think on it more, I’m sure I have a few more good ones

I picked up a live mink once. Make sure if you're ever going to try it that you have plenty of disinfectant and bandages close by. Fresh snow and a bic lighter will work to clean up and stop the bleeding if you're a long ways from the truck. You should also expect people to stare at you when you go in a gas station after such an event.

Bare knuckle dispatch on a rabid coyote

Waded out too deep into mucky water in a farm pond. One second I was pulling my boots out of muck and the next I was up to my breasts in quicksand muck. Thought I was gonna die of hypothermia. But in the end I unstrapped the waders and laid down on my back and "swam" backwards through the water and mud until I could get out. Went back for the waders later.

Left my stick shift truck idling to open a gate. It took off without me. I finally caught up to it mere feet before it crashed into the barn.

Running the same line day after day you tend to go a bit quicker after awhile. Topped a rise on a day with slushy snowy mud and couldn't stop quick enough to prevent mowing down the fence that hadn't been there the day before.

Thanks for that awesome visual....yotetrapper !

I tried White17’s paper bag dispatch on a wolverine. Either I am not as tough, dumb, or smart as that guy.

Had a 330 slam shut on my wrist. It was tipped over and I thought it was sprung, but really it was just tipped over. I reached at it with my hand to remove the debris that was stuck in it that had pushed it over. Bad idea.

Buddy & I were checking Rat & Mink sets. If they were found alive, They got a wack with a stick. Back to the truck & wrap em in newspaper on the floorboards. Well anyway, Buddy was driving his 1985 Dodge truck, down the road we go, when all of sudden the newspaper at my feet starts to fly a part. All I see is a brown flash run over towards him & under the seat. I'm looking for something to wack it with & up it comes across the top of the bench seat, By this time the truck was stopped. So he decides to grab the big boy & The Mink sinks the teeth into his fingers & he yells out a few choice words, By the time that Mink decided to let go, I think I peeded myself . Finally he made it out the wing window. It was a day to remember.

Got slapped by a 220 cbear over left wrist had to tear my watch off and compress springs with my knees to get it off . Pain is a great motivator LOL

I have had my hand caught in a SC 4.5, Belisle 330, and too many #0’s and #1’s to count, little slippery waxed traps in marten boxes equal owies. The SC 4.5 kind of stands out. It went snap, I said “hmmm”, doesn’t hurt. I moved a little and those springs came up a bit and squeezed on where I was struck. Those traps have some grip and the springs aren’t easily compressed.

I was about 13. I had a tote box wired onto the back rack of my Honda 185 3 wheeler. For some reason, I had garbage bags in the tote box. I caught and shot a coon and threw it into a garbage bag in the tote and tied it shut. Came up on a second coon. Shot it, untied garbage bag and added second coon. Came to a third coon. Shot it... untied garbage bag and Coon #2 came barreling out of it like a pitbull on meth. I fell down, the coon ran over me, but I rolled over and shot it again before it got away. I made sure ALL 3 were well dead before stowing them away again and going on, loil.

... lol ... ol Jesus coons ... they rise from the dead every now and then

Threw a mink on the floor board of the truck in high school after I thumped him in the head he came to but my jack russel champ was in the truck and the mink didn't fair well but it was also an expensive lesson in the dog tore some holes in the hide . This is a good thread.

Without a doubt it was attending college classes full time during the boom years when I should have dropped out and trapped full time.

However, Philip, my college room mate would have argued it was leaving a bag of smelt guts I had saved out for coon bait in my closet over winter break when I went back to the farm. Guess I forgot about that, He was the first one back from winter break......

I concur! That liberal college you attended had lifelong negative effects! lol

Trapping yotes in the Ohio River bottoms between Evansville and MT Vernon IN on the 3rd day of a 3 day rain. Big wide fields nothing but slick mud. Not a house around for probably at least 3 miles. The path/road I was on was narrow and I got off of it with one tire and ended up in a combine rut filled with slopy silt stuck as I could get . Forward and back nothing. Now that was bad enough but It was rainy steady and I had my 5 month old daughter with me and it was before I had a cell phone. It's amazing how much dirt you cam move with a traping trial. After som digging my muddy wet hind end got back into that Toyota 4x4 and gave her heck. Red lined it but unbelievable I drove that truck out after some back and forth.

Had my daughter trapping with me when she was 2. I was seeing a trap when u heard her squeal I jerked to look behind me to see what was wrong with her shaping my thumb good and solid. To my relief she squealed in delight becuse she had discovered small frogs in the puddle behind me.

I flipped my kayak beaver trapping on a day I was barely able to bust the uce enough to get the kayak across the lake. Lost the rifle but recovered it a few weeks later with a salvage magnet. That was a cold wait for the kayak to drain when I got it to the bank and check my traps. Finally made it to the truck. Started it turned the heat on high and stiped necked to drive to my inlaws that was the closed place to whare I was and I also own the house and keep a bedroom there where I stay when I work. Thay didn't say much when I pulled in and walked around back to my room in the walk out basement. After all these years I don't think I do will surprise them any more.

I have a habit of going too far into places than I should. I have had to get pulled out of the snow 2 times this year and been stuck 2 other times, 1 in the snow and 1 in the dirt. I got stuck just today, I have terrible luck trying to find places to turn around so I can get out of my mess.

Another mistake is listening to a rancher tell us he wasn't going to shred bales for a month and then a few checks later, we had a lot fewer bales and traps. Lost I think 2 dogproofs and a couple of footholds, one of which was one I found in a prairie dog town with a tent stake attached to it. So I learned my lesson there, don't set the trails in bale piles even if they say they aren't going to grind for a month.

That's about all I can remember though, I haven't done much else that's too dumb.

I didn't make sure my traps were bedded solid after a thaw in a worked up cornfield. Ended up having 2 traps uncovered. Rookie mistake.

Ha! First time I ever heard liberal and Oregon State University in the same breath. LOL Besides, I was in the school of Ag science.

I was at a trapping convention and was checking a tunnel trap that was on a vendors table. When I picked it up and looked thru it, I noticed the pan was not level so I reached in to adjust the pan. Little did I know it was set and when I touched the pan it fired and caught my little finger at the nail. It bled like crazy and those around me thought I had to be in great pain. Actually for some reason it didn't hurt. This happened about 20 years ago and I still get kidded about it when I am at a convention. I often wondered why the vendor had it in the set position.

Setting all my 220 springs before season on my work bench with setting tongs ended up with 10 stitches between the eyes. Not sure how it happened but think I didn’t have one of the hooks in spring eye good and it got away from me.

As schoolboy trappers my brother and I would ride our bikes as close to our sets as we could get. We'd check the line early, before the sun came up. One morning we caught our first skunk. I tell my brother to shine the flashlight in it's eyes while I sneak in and clobber it. As I'm poised for the strike something rustles in the leaves near my brother and he whips the flashlight beam towards it giving the skunk a clear view of what I was about to do. We didn't have to go to school that day or the next.

A few days later I'm riding home with that same skunk hanging from my handlebars by it's back legs. I'm coming down the big hill by Egan's farm at a good clip and that skunk swung into my front wheel and got all tangled up. I went over the handlebars and picked up a good case of road rash to go along with the faint skunk stink still clinging to me from days before.

To this day skunk is one of my favorite smells.

I started in 1974 and now I can't stop

Last year I tossed a drowning weight (concrete block) on a too short drowning cable into a deep creek. Instead of just letting go when the block hit the end of the cable I hung on and got an icy bath for my trouble.

Gosh, I could write a book on my stupidity.

Drags on foot footholds for coon in a dry creek bed, one of my dumbest experiments. They can climb a cottonwood pretty high with that rig.

Concrete block drag for coon, another dumb one I thought would work. Heavy to lug into a location. A Big boar got it up a low bank and out onto flat picked beam field for all the world to see as they drove by. I stake all my coon sets now.

Had a lot of “dead” coon come back to life in back of the truck between stops. Always a good wake up when you reach for something in the back and one grabs you back.

Making coyote sets without thinking about how visible the target is after a catch, what’s it look like from the nearby road. I Always set over a rise, behind some cover, or so far back it’s not readily visible from the road. Get on my hands and knees and can I see the road? That’s one of my yardsticks for choosing set locations. Made a couple sets and catches early on in my ventures that after the catch were highly visible and ended up absolutely shot up to pieces. Around here you have to hide every coyote catch from every truck driving the roads. Private property is no exception.

I’ve shot a jillion skunks in foot traps, and tried every recommended shot placement and even low speed sub sonic rounds. They all spray 100% of the time and seems like the wind will shift to my direction every time. I quit listening to the advice on best methods years ago and have learned to just deal with it.

Trusting thickness of ice on creeks. Always do a sound check ahead of you with a spud. Most inconsistent ice I’ve ever found in winter around here.

Trusting someone else’s waxed dirt ratios. I know mine works here, and I’ve bought a lot of waxed dirt from others that wasn’t sufficient ratio.

Walking a half mile into an awesome location, seeing I have a double on coyotes all yipping and bouncing around, then walking all the way back to the truck to get the clip full of .22 shells I forgot to bring with me and left them in the center console.

Forgetting to bring the conibear setting tongs hat I left back at the truck.

Not marking sets before a snow storm. Amazing how a long fence line can become fairly featureless after a fresh snow. Now I tie a bread twist tie on the fence or nearby weed, or use marking plastic tape by my nearby sets.

Not calling ahead to make sure my buyer is there and open before I make the drive with a bunch of fur.

Locking my keys in the truck.

Getting stuck.

Not paying attention to weather reports.

Thinking I can just drive across that ditch if I go slow and at an angle.

Was spotlighting coon with a friend one night and we shined our light right ahead through the trees at what we thought was reflective bridge stripes on nearby road below us. It wasn’t a bridge, it was the side of a state patrol car parked along the road near the bridge running radar…on a gravel road of all places. I must have put the beam right in his eyes down through his windshield. We were legal, hand held light not attached to a vehicle, guns not loaded, and walking in woods back to the truck, but still had some explaining to do.

Thinking an old RWS snub nose .22 revolver would be a good trapline gun. Most inaccurate gun ever, couldn’t even hit target at a couple feet away. More accurate if you throw it than shoot it. Wasted my dollars, ammo, and time.

Getting started! LOL

Man I'm gonna have to think about this for a little while. It goes from catching a mule and a donkey to falling out of my f250 trying to pick up a coon in the road. Oh yah there was parking my 4 wheeler upside down so the seat didn't get wet. Then there was that day I chased the ghost squirrel through a field edge and shot at it 13 times. Oh yah with a 22 that was dead on you talk about one tired puppy I had a lot of clothes on and big rubber boots boots. Something else I don't recommend is loading your 4 wheeler on a tilt trailer and leaving your manual truck in neutral. A guy did this in his driveway in front of a fire hydrant when that trailer go's flop it must push the truck forward or something. Spending hours upon hours looking for a coyote on a drag that your new trap line dog is trying to show you which way it went. Of course you don't listen to the pup because you have a much better nose. Sorry zippy (RIP). Back to the falling out of the f250 trying to pick a raccoon out of the road you know a stick shift will go a good way in 3rd gear before it stops. Another thing I remember about that day was the sky was blue. Anyway I'm gonna think on this a bit today while I'm doing something stupid on the line and remember just because a cat passes out don't mean it's dead.

I was injecting a skunk in a live trap couple years ago. First round didn't work, second round I'm filling the syringe and stick the needle in my hand after it has been in a skunk, Had to take the head off send it to Madison for rabies testing, was sweating a couple days til results came back.

Had a rat set on s deep cut bank, traps gone no sign, so I lay down and look under the bank head hanging over when a very angry otter comes lunging out at me face. Chane and wire were just short enough.

Had an owl swoop down at me as I was removing a muskrat from a feedbed set once, that was freaky, just missed my head.

First beaver job in a state park, I step down to grab the drowning wire to a number four double spring. Before I know it a large female is swimming around my legs tangling me in heavy wire and a #4 dbl spring. Good thing it was shallow when the whole ended.

Have not done much dumb stuff trapping, yet

Dumbest thing was using swingset/dog/ double loop chain as drag chain on coyote trap. I will never know but I am 99% sure I caught the black coyote I had been seeing. Chain was wrapped around a cedar sapling a little bigger than my thumb and twisted in half. I spent 3 afternoons looking for any sign of drag marks, sound of a jingling chain, etc before I happened to find the drag and half the chain. I never saw that black coyote again

I have done plenty of other dumb stuff though

I forgot to put gas in the the sno-go before I left. That was an 11 mile walk home.

When muskrat trapping in the winter, I came across a feeder hut that had a hole in it and fresh mink tracks all around it. I decided to set a trap in it and reached in with my bare hand to make a spot for the trap. The mink was still in there and latched onto my index finger and tore the heck out of it. I had to wrap my finger with my handkerchief to quell the bleeding. I set the hut anyway and never did get that mink. I am a bit more cautious about reaching into a rat house now and do it with choppers when I do.

Took the wife!

chopped a small hole in the ice so i could reach down and check a 330 groped around till i realized those thin stiff sticks were the trigger wires
Got permission on a neighboring farm the wife shook her finger at me and said i better not catch one of her cats Sure enough first catch was a housecat Snarling spitting scratching bugger i looked across the field at the house and could feel her eyes boring into me So I managed to release it Sucker ran up a fencepost and jumped at my face the battle that ensued would have made Savell proud As i drove out the Ol Gal was waiting and she thoroughly dressed me down for NOT killing that wild cat wasn't hers and walked away laughing

A couple years ago, I had a beaver drag out the sack of rocks, and head up under the bank. It’s tail was sticking out, and the 1/8” cable was tangled badly on roots and around its back leg.



I didn’t want to shoot it in the butt with my pistol, so I thought I would try to pull it out from the bank. The cable was wound up too tight, so I tried to unwrap it. That didn’t work, so I decided to take the trap off its back foot, unwrap the cable, pull it out and shoot it in the head when I got it out. It had a death grip in hole, so I got in the creek behind it an started tugging with one hand, pistol in the other. Suddenly, it left loose, I fell backwards into waist high water, and the beaver landed on my chest. Pistol was gone, and then the beaver. I was totally soaked, so I left the gun in the creek, and headed to the truck.

The next day, I came back with a long pole with a gaff hook attached, was able to snatch hold of the pistol. I went to check my traps, had that same beaver drowned in a trap nearby. It’s back leg had welts on it from the 1/8” cable being wrapped up on it.

Once setting beaver traps on my farm while slightly inebriated, like Lugnut, I also threw the drowning weight and went with it for a very cold bath.

Took this picture ...










...right before sayin, "Let me get a little closer for a better one."


















I'll take the top 100 dumbest things I've done to the grave with me.

... looks like a clean puncture from a claw? ... don’t put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your pecker is a good rule as far as general safety goes

Packing the dirt down on on top of a finished set.

Once had something kill and take the head off a rabbit in our yard in the middle of the night. I heard it happen and found the body stashed in the bushes the next day. I set set a trap right in front of it and figured I’d have a fox or something the next day. Well that something was a big ole angry great horned owl. I never want to release another one of those.

Started trapping beaver.

If you have been a trapper foe a long time there is way more than one dumb thing that we would prefer to just forget . Once after making several fox sets I was returning to my truck To save a few minutes I took a more direct route back to the truck However now I needed to go down a steep bank along the road to get down on the road . Well my feet got tangled in some weeds at which point I fell head first down the bank on to the road I am laying on the road with everything spilled out of my pack basket on to the road .Both of my knees and hands where in a considerable amount of pain because I had landed hard .It was hard to move due to the pain And with everything scattered about there was no clear path to just roll over and get up .And than there was the time i had a large boar coon in a steel culvert .I had cleared enough area of brush and briers when I set the trap in daylight hours . Now using a flashlight while checking traps on the way to work I had a big unhappy coon .With all the junk in the way I was having a tough time trying to shot it I was somehow squeezed into position to shot it I thought .However my aim was not so good .The bullet missed the coon and splattered against the steel pipe . And some of that splatter hit me .It was not like it really hit me to do any harm but not a smart move to be sure I hit what I was aiming at , Missing my target allowed the bullet to hit the pipe and come apart .And just one more to show I am sometimes a slow learner .I had set up a well used coon trail with a 1.5 double coil spring I just wired the trap to a small tree next to the trail I did not make the wire tight against the tree . A few mornings went by and on a rainy morning as I approached the set while carrying a flashlight could see that it was a huge muddy mess But my trap was gone. My first thought was someone had stole my trap and catch .AS i WAS BENT OVER TRYING TO DECIDE HOW MY TRAP WAS MISSING and getting more angry by the second As I back up away from the tree I looked up .And about 2 feet from my head was a mud ball of a coon that had climbed the tree until it was wrapped around the first small branch of the tree . Had he let loose of the tree HE WOULD HAVE BEEN IN REACH .OF MY NECK . I could go on but you get the picture .

Hi Steel Jaw, sounds like you're getting your trapping start later then most,since your driving.

My 1st year trapping I was 12.1st skunk. The suns just coming up. It's still dark. I can see the skunk pulling on the trap. .22 in hand I close the distance till about 10 ft. About the time I can see the sights it lets go at me. I got blasted across the knees. I shoot and he's done for. I walk into the house and my mom starts screaming bloody murder. I didn't think I smelled too bad. I must have.

Next boo boo thumb in a new #3 DLS. Right across the nail. Ouch! Turned a wonderful shade of colors I haven't seen before or since.

If you trap long enough, things happen. As you've already found out. But don't give up.

I tried killing a wolf with a hockey stick while it was in a foothold.

Got the snowmobile stuck in some deep snow while driving across the bog. Pinned it, and sunk down into the wet bog. Sank it down to my seat. Burn’t the belt doing so. That’s how I learned snowmobiles aren’t like quads, can’t keep spinning the track trying to get out. Finally dug it out. Ruined my life for a bit!

Hahahaha

Left a bottle backbreaker and violator 7 in my Carhartt
And my wife washed and dried it with all the clothes we threw away,
Lots and lots of loads ruined bc just when you thought it was gone the dryer found more
Scent somewhere lol

Pretty presumptions of you to think I've peaked.

I was sober when I did it. I bet you were too right after that cold bath!

Great thread. My first mink was in a foothold in a creek, I pulled the chain and up comes a beautiful buck mink. The next time I did that , I pulled a skunk out from an under cut bank. You find out who your friends are. I just snapped a 330 across my knuckles this week while trying to clear debris out of the set trap. You live and learn, then you die. Or you just die stupid.

Then there was the time I pulled my boat up onto the boat ramp unloaded my fur (3 otters and 7 beavers) connected up the boat and went home (75 miles away) only to discover that I had left all those critters lying on the boat ramp and didn't get them in the pick up! Discovered it the next morning and high-tailed it back but by then high tide had already removed all the critters. Didn't find a one.

Cut a snare off an out-of-season otter...thinking it would just run off away from me...WRONG! It ran me 75yds thru the flooded creek bottom b4 it gave up catching me.

Released a 50lb bear cub from a foothold with momma bear watching me from up an oak tree. I was worried about her, but should have been worried about that cub when I released his foot and slid the chokestick off his head. If my truck had been 10 yds further away that cub would've got me good and bit up my legs. He did snag his claws in my pants legs, trying to pull me too him to bite me....but I was a fleeting target...jumped on hood of truck and cub ran on away....Momma bear climbed down and followed cub. I pulled that trap...

So excited for the first morning of trapping season I backed the quad out of the truck without a ramp.

Well.... A few weeks back I released a bobcat and it wouldn't leave the trap bed. So I attempted to encourage it to move on after 10-12 min of waiting. This involved me using a stick to kick up grass at so it would move on...
This is the bobcat


This is me after the fact. The bobcat was free for a good amount of time but after the split second encounter he chose to stand and bang with me where I quickly got the choke pole around his neck and took him home. He was the first bobcat I harvested this year and the 5 catch I made. I ended up releasing the next bobcat but not long after that the fur started to look real good and have harvested 6 more since then

I got the whole thing on camera so I'll post it later in the year when all the editing is done.

Don't be dumb like me lol

Nice looking cat.

lmao

I set the world record land speed for running in chest waders, chasing down a runaway Jeep which I had just got done easing out of a muddy patch in an ag field.
I couldn't get it to budge in neutral, so I put it in reverse, but without some pressure on the gas pedal that wouldn't work either.
I got a brilliant idea to put a stick between the front of the seat and the gas pedal and ease the electric seat forward until the tires started spinning ever so slightly.
I was then able to nudge it out, pushing on the front bumper. Genius, i uttered to myself.
Then watched the Jeep take off at a pretty good clip, heading to a ravine.
I ran it down, but since I had initially pushed it in reverse, I had to run around the door, dive in to snatch that stick out, then duck under the door so as to not be decapitated, and then not get run over, all with chest waders on, mind you.
I'm telling you, I was one scared 'democrat'!
Well, I didn't die, but the next day I could barely move from the whiplash from that door clobbering me on the back of the head.
I shoulda tied a quick-release rope to my gas pedal stick, but then I wouldn't have a "dumbest ever story" to tell, would I?

Got caught in a belisle 330 once.Like most f-ups-trying to cut corners/save time.
I was re making a tee pee set and didnt have the safety grippers,so i proceeded to reset the trap without untieing the cross wire on the bottom of the tee pee.
Anyone not familiar with a tee pee set,you cannot reset the trap and hook the spring safetys(thats where the safety gripper comes in) unless you remove the bottom crosswire,set trap,then re wire.
Managed to yank my hand out,with only skinned knuckles.

I had someone tell me to use walnuts for trap dye when I was younger, needless to say I went to school with stained hands for about a month. When I wasn't old enough to carry a gun when checking my traps, came up on a skunk I caught on Christmas day. The only thing I had was a slegghammer handle, ended up getting sprayed in the eyes because the wind shifted and a cold bath from the creek I went into.

Don’t remember the details except it happened on a truck tailgate. Caught both my hands at the wrist in a 330.

Lifetime membership right there.

I have been trapping for 71 years and have done a lot of dumb things:
I used to drown live mink by holding them under water until they drowned, then take them out, holding them by the hind legs, and shake them to get off as much water as I could. More than once this revived the animals and I had live mink in my hand.
Twice I've been through the ice while beaver trapping.
Got into quick sand once and way I got out was by grabbing an over head branch.
Put a twig into my eye and had to have laser surgery to repair it.
Bitten twice by red foxes.
Hopped across a brook one time, caught my boot on a root, fell hard onto the bank, and smashed a bottle of fox lure that was in my pants pocket.
Trapping nuisance beaver for the state I got caught myself with a 330 because of a sloppy trigger. Only way I could ease the pain was shove my hand and trap down into the cold water.

Make sure your pole is longer than needed to get the job done. Fox are very fast and have very sharp teeth.

I was dispatching a skunk with a stick. All was going well until a fella drove by on the service road and decided to honk his horn as I was in dispatch. Full blast on me. Surprised how fast a skunk can spin his rear end around. Got the pleasure of smelling it all day on the trap line.

Was cleaning leaves out of a 330 in a culvert set for beaver right under the dirt township road. It was around 0 degrees so I left the truck running with the heater blasting and I just went bare-armed into the water. Apparently the current washed a stick into the trigger and the trap fired.......hitting me across the base of my thumb. The big meaty part where it meets the right hand. I shook it off and grabbed a rope from the truck. Re-set the trap and finished up. Jumped in the 90 degree truck and started down the road.

About a mile down the road.............my hand warmed up................

Dumbest thing I can remember is setting a bobcat set up and it had to be just right and snapped my thumb in a #3 Northwoods. So started over again and snapped the same thumb minutes later. Third time was the charm, it didn't happen again.

Dumb is relative soooo many I hate to try to count!

Shattered a wheel on my truck going across a feild after a coyote once... another time I was using a peice of foam to float back and forth across a creek. I'll try to dig up a picture of that.

Trying to cross a swollen creek

I took to much for granted. I have some good memory's of some truly wild places and remote country. Enjoyed all of it. I don't think i really appreciated it. Just thought I could keep on keeping on. My body is wearing out. Cant trap a lot of stuff I used too even if I was still 50. Dont make the mistake of not appreciating every minute your outside.

Very true We sometimes become so wrapped up in what we are doing ,that we forget how much we love what we are doing ,.I started trapping /hunting in the 1960's A lot has changed since those times .It was in the 1980's until I got a more focused attitude about hunting and trapping .I can see now that I wasted way to much time on things that really did not make me happy or improve my life .As I approach 70 I am slowing down And the rate of speed that I am slowing down is picking up speed .And yet if I think back to say 1990 (I killed my first archery buck that year ) it surly does not seem all that long ago .Do what you want to do when you are able to do it If you miss out on things because you just do not make time for them it would be a dumb mistake for sure

It was 1958 and I was 6 years old. About noon I was setting a #2 Blake and Lamb underspring for skunks at a hole alongside an old chestnut tree by the farm dump and I managed to get both thumbs in the trap, one on each side next to the spring levers. No way to be able to stand on the levers to release myself. Chain had already been stapled fast to the tree. Just before dark one of the farm workers came down with a load of garbage and released me. When I got home my Dad wacked me with a belt for not feeding the calves on time! Didn't give a hoot that I had 2 black and blue thumbs.
Never stapled another trap to a tree..

Yotetrapper30 don't feel bad when I got my frist black coyote went to load the 4 wheeler and shot one of the ramps out and it kick the other one over under the 4wheeler. That was a mess had to roll it off on it side after unloading everything wench it back over on all 4 wheels. Then load everything back on it and try to load it again needless to say I was calmed down a little.

I ran in to check a 220 cubby. Had the family in the car maybe 30 yards away.
Nothing in it. Saw some snow that needed to be brushed out.
Put my glove hand in the trap to just clear it a little.
Bang. Trap chained to the tree and got me behind my thumb on my hand. Almost to wrist.
Bet I was there 10 min before my wife came looking for me. Hand had a big bruise and hurt for quite a while.
Wife was really impressed. Always put safetys on before I act stupid.

My son was checking a weasel trap. He was maybe 10 years old.
Had a weasel in it that he was removing. He said Dad the weasel is soft. I just said ok.
He pulled it out and just that quick the weasel bit him on his glove and He was screaming. It was funny to watch. It never bit thru the glove.
He didn't get the weasel either. He brings that up often. Or we do just to not let him forget.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever done this. Leave a safety setter on a 330 and have a beaver set it off.
Holding the jaws of a 220 with my only free hand and thinking I was fast enough to throw it on the ground without getting caught.

Ten years ago today slipped down a creek bank and tore my knee up hobbled around for six months till I got it fixed

Remind me not to get in a foot race with swamp wolf .

Taking a broadside shot from a canoe in the middle of a lake at low flying ducks with a twelve gauge. Canoe was full of traps and gear, I salvaged canoe, shotgun, and life!

Told another local trapper how I was catching 120+ fox a year

If you know about the location a salvage magnet is great. It's how I recovered my rifle after flipping my kayak.

You're lucky he didn't take out your eye! He came mighty close.

Here's a good one - zero dark thirty I come up on a mid sized beaver suitcased in 330. As I approached the beaver I swear I see its whiskers move, ok so load pistol, BANG! Reach to removed the beaver and the dang whiskers twitch again! OK BANG again, two shots in the head ought to do it. I reach down to remove the beaver now, stiff as a board.

Yep shot a DEAD beaver TWICE!!!!! LOL

These are the ones that came to mind:

I was too young to remember but dad and grandpa tried the old indian smoke trick to get a coon out of a hollow tree... I guess we had our hands full there for quite awhile. lol.

I was just a little shaver and can remember chucking rocks from high on the bank as dad hung limb lines at the waters edge, he said don't throw anymore rocks, so I chuck the biggest one I could lift to be funny, and bonked him right in the head. I don't know how it didn't kill him.

In grade school i was walking along with dad on the rat line and insisted that I had to go set a trap on my own... so he set a 110... I think I got about 100 yards before I stuck my forearm through it.

I had a coon come back to life in the game bag on the back of coat once. My buddies laughed themselves to death when I shed the coat and shot the coon through it.

I shotgunned a yote and it was down but looking at me so I went to step on its neck to shoot it behind the ear with a pistol and it grabbed ahold of the toe of my boot and wouldn't let go. Luckily leather boots that day and not pull on rubber ones.

I'm sure there are more.

This wasn’t while trapping, but I bounced a fist sized rock off grizzly’s head at fairly close range. Won’t do that again.

Had gotten in the habit of pulling quill on skunks after skinned the following day . Well one night was busy skinning and had a skunk opened up and went to strip the tale ( had it hanging by one foot , left hand on rump right hand on tail stripper ) as I pulled I felt what was like a 20cc syringe blasting my cheek and running down my neck . As I run out of the fur shed gagging I couldn't even catch my breath . After I let things air out I finished skinning went to the house , stripped down and went to shower . Nothing I used got rid of smell , after a few days I started to smell like some nasty burnt rubber . Tried to stay out of town but eventually had to go do business . Sure turned people's head's , LoL . Thankfully have a wife that tolerates me

Was trapping along a old train track rightaway for a nuisance beaver job. Set up a 330 and put my castor out and sure enough the two year old comes swimming by huffing and slapping his tail. Well this trail is heavily traveled by the public and there was a gentleman standing on a bridge with his dog watching. Not wanting the beaver to get caught well a member of the public was watching I stood there and scared the beaver off. After the gentleman left I climbed back up to the trail and walked out onto the bridge and sure enough the beaver comes out and right into the trap. Got a nice video of it actually. Back down to the trap I go, remove the beaver reset the trap and throw him into my tote on the back of the ATV. Heading down the trail and I see the Gentleman and his dog ahead of me and slow down to pass him. I hear him start to yell at me but cannot make out the words. I stop thinking I either have a tree hugger that's going to lecture me or a landowner who needs some beaver removed. As I turned on the ATV to look back and talk to him I came eye to eye with the beaver in the tote. It was standing with his front two legs on the edge of the tote, with his head about even with mine.

Well I went off the front of the ATV and the beaver went off the back. It charged straight down the trail at the man and his dog who scattered left and right. That beaver never looked back or slowed down and boy they are faster on land then I thought. Never did talk to the Gentleman just back on the ATV and gone.


Caught the pair the next check. Another trapper in the area called me up about a week later to ask about my new method of live trapping beaver, guess the gentleman had a great time telling the story all over town.

Good story Sask, made me laugh.