Trapper's Post

Yeah, Bob Noonan is a friend, but he doesn't know I'm posting this. I just received the latest issue and I thought I ought to bring

it to everyone's attention that our very own Jonesie has an excellent article called "Deadly Cage Trap Baiting Strategy." Mr.

Noonan also has a good article about the proliferation of raccoon. Trapper's Post is also starting to print chapters from Charles

Dobbin's book "Trapping Through The Years". There is also an interview with another friend of mine, Mike Tucker. Mike runs a very

successful ADC business out of Bloomington, Minnesota. Since a lot of you guys are new and want all the information that you can

lay your hands on, I thought that I should bring this magazine to your attention. I can't help but believe that with fur price

quite low, more and more ADC stories are likely.

P.S. Major Boddicker even wrote one just for me: "How To Keep Trapping When You're Old And Dinged."

Looking forward to receiving mine

The July/August issue always leans more toward the ADC field because it's the season. However, each issue of Trappers Post has an ADC department and other articles of interest in that field.

As always Paul, your comments are appreciated, thank you!

I think that it's funny that Mike should post today. I just finished reading his Fur Market Report column and I was telling my wife

about the interesting information about the foreign countries that use and produce fur. I had never read a lot of the things that

Mike has to say about Russia, China, Japan etc. etc. All in all, a very informative read. Thank you, Mike.

You know Mike you can give me a little better outlook on coon at least stretch the truth a little lol

I can't even stretch the truth on coon right now! But, you'll never know what you could have got for them if you don't have any to sell.

I guess my line of thinking must be twisted. I always feel that an animal's hide is way more valuable if it's still on the animal.

People pay a service call for me to set the trap. ( Nobody ever paid me to fur trap ) Then when I catch the animal, they pay me again

and it's way more than the hide is worth. Now here's the best part; no blood or guts because I don't have to wash, dry, skin, flesh,

or stretch. And as an added bonus, I can let the animal go and get paid for catching it or its offspring all over again. And what

makes me really proud is that by not selling fur, I'm probably helping the kid that is fur trapping to get a higher price.

For you guys that have been in ADC during the ups and down of the fur market. Do you feel you get more ADC work when fur prices are low? I would think this would apply to beaver and to some extent on coon. Any others?

I wouldn't say your thinking is twisted but your comment is definitely an opinion based on your business, nothing wrong with that either. No different than my way of thinking is nothing more than an opinion to others, again, nothing wrong with that. However I/we are just as passionate about our opinion as you are of yours.

There's enough coon to go around for your profit and for the "kid" who's fur trapping without catch and release. Again, my opinion.

Mike, you ain't wrong about the number of raccoons again this year. When Arnie mentioned that the raccoon population was down in

district 11 last year, I wondered what state he moved to.

No the calls in ADC come from population densities and damage in homes and such in a serviceable market. Farmers are not going to pay for coon or even beaver to be taken out here in NJ. But home owners and business will. Fur and ADC are Two different ball games. Right now my ticket critter is Groundhogs and bats. Both have nothing to do with fur. coon are high on the call list in my area this year also but has nothing to do with the fur prices, has everything to do with denning, safety and low mortality in the young when living in a attic. people don't like to hear them walking around on their ceiling at night LOL

Ron, you got me with "ticket critter is groundhog and bats". If we do one hundred woodchucks in a year, that's a lot. I assume you've

got the kind of ground to support a lot more? We can't do wholesale bat exclusions again until August 15th, so that's not a big

ticket item right now either. We can still remove the home invader bats and we can do special permit exclusions but we try to avoid

those. How do you keep so busy with these two species?

Paul We are in an up cycle for the hogs right now, but again even when our down cycle is low we still do a lot. What most folks do not know about NJ is, yes we have a lot of people and homes, that are service oriented, but also a lot of farms and forests. Our habitat is some of the best for wildlife. Everyone knows about our black bear problems. NJ is also fast becoming one of the states to come to if you want to kill a big buck. Also one of the biggest turkey populations on the east coast. Among other critters that I do not want to let the cat out of the bag about LOL The point is and you already know, If the habitat is there the critters adapt fast. So when you have 100 homes settled in among farms and forest. every one with decks, sheds, patios and built in pools that are buffered by green belts and hedgerows, then add in the industrial parks that do not look like a industrial park, our Whistle pigs have everything they need. For every one person that calls someone to take the gh out there are 5 more that do nothing. With average family groups being 4 to 7 hogs there are alot critters to catch. But also when Dispersal in August comes the old dens get used again. I do very few animal walls, my cost to do one is high and most folks will not have me do one, I tell them how to do one but you guessed it they don't, so I have customers that call me every year to take whistle pigs out. A lot of our calls are hogs come from next door or the farm behind and eating the prize flowers or garden. just wide open space no fence or pinch points. I guess that is why I can bait and lure them! a lot of practice LOL July to Oct will be a lot of Groundhog calls.

Thanks for that very complete answer, Ron. I find it interesting the states like New Jersey have such a fantastic wildlife population.

I recall that an ADC guy in Canada caught as many on one very large horse farm as we caught all year. Our last house was in a

subdivision that was mostly gravel. ( There is now a huge, active pit across the street. I'm glad we moved ) We had every kind of

digger from badgers to thirteen lined ground squirrels. And we still have customers there.