Are there any Trappers in the House ???

Hobby Climber

TreeHouser
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Ontario Canada where Detroit River meets Lake Erie
I while back I took a Fur Managers (Trappers) course.

Given the population expansion in rural areas in my area, getting permission to hunt on local private land have been increasingly difficult !!!

But as a trapper, these same landowners would welcome you with open arms to trap nuisance animals on their property. Go figure.

I have been involved with the National Trappers Association and volunteer my time at their national conventions as well as the Michigan State show in Evart MI.

I'm also a member with two Ontario trappers councils, Chatham & Aylmer district. And attend the Ontario Trappers Rendezvous if distance isn't to far.


For the past few years, fur prices have been very low in part due to trade embargoes with Russia and back room deals between China and Korea !

If I were to only do it for the money, I would have quit long ago. But I do it for the fun of it and if I can make a couple of bucks along the way, I will.


The local area I trap is just inland from the Detroit River on the Canadian side of course.

Mostly for raccoons, mink, muskrat, the occasional coyote & believe it or not Beaver. Beaver have been migrating up from Ohio into the Great Lakes and are thriving.


Are there any other trappers here in the Thee House ???
 

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My brother and I used to trap muskrats in New Jersey back in the late 1960's. Well, he trapped, I just sort of tagged along getting in the way since I was only about 8 years old or so.
 
I almost got into it, got buddies that do it hardcore. One of them actually had the super outdoors driver's ed teacher, so his driver's ed class in high school was literally driving to check lines 🤣
 
I have a buddy who I call Trapper Dan. He has quite the operation and has made some good money doing it. His garage is all set up but looks like a horror movie set.
 
You don't use mousetraps? Most trapping uses the exact same mechanism. I use a conibear 220 for groundhogs occasionally, when i can set one safely so pets can't get in it and it's causing enough damage. I'm overrun with them here, same with coons.
 
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  • #7
Cruel way to treat animals ???

Not so in Ontario, we are govern by a body that goes to great length to ensure there is NO cruelty.
They regulate what traps we can use and with the live catch foot hold traps, there is no harm. At that point, its either released or harvested.

But yes, it's not for everyone. Just like hunting, fishing and many other things in life.

Myself, I enjoy it.


To each their own.
 
I may have spoke out of turn, from ignorance.

So, today's foot hold traps are padded, so they cause no discomfort to the trapped animal?

Gone are the days where members of the weasel family would chew their leg off to get out of the trap.

Please educate me.

I'm pretty open minded about killing animals, for a vegetarian.
I've probably killed more cats than you have eaten peas, if one can compare those numbers.

Personally, though, I'd prefer a fast, clean death to sitting in the rain, waiting for the trapper to show up, while I'm panicking because my leg is trapped.
 
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  • #10
The reason critters chewed their foot off in the past is because they could no longer feel their foot.

I can't speak for other areas or countries but here in Ontario, we are not allowed to use such traps.

Live catch traps are just that, live catch! They are designed to hold the animal securely but not cut off it's circulation or damage the critters skin.

Our leg hold traps (live catch) are generally offset and generally have a wider face that grips the leg and/or have rubber on the grip pads.

This offers the trapper to be selective with his harvest so he could release a non-targeted animal unharmed.

Kill traps on the other hand are also just as the word means, the are designed to kill the critter humanly to prevent it's suffering.

All care must be taken to prevent accidental catches of non-targeted animals. But you need to take the course to learn about that area.

In Ontario a non trapper can possess certain traps that I'm not allowed to, and I am only allowed to possess certified traps, some of which a non trapper cannot.

Reason being, the traps that are allowed to be used by a licenced trapper must be approved by the Canadian Wildlife Director and certifies through the "Agreement on International Humane Standards", (AIHTS).

In other words, we in Ontario are heavily regulated !!!


Had it not been for the fur trade, Canada would not have came into being.

In fact, the fur trade (or trapping) is the oldest continuous industry in Canada for over 400 years, (since the 1600's).

On our licence, it indicates we are a "Fur Manager" not a trapper.

Through proven methods, we manage our trapline or trapping area to ensure it's sustainability for future generations.


Again, it's not for everyone, and that's ok.
 
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And a padded jaw trap. Both go a long way to avoid breaking the bones in the leg, as well as prevent circulation being cut off.

I bought an assortment of traps years ago, intending to get into it, but got busy with other stuff and never did much. I've trapped a few groundhogs and such that were eating up the gardens but never got into fur trapping.
 
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Living close to the Detroit River, we have a good number of Muskrats in our area.

Being cheap, I tried to save some money by building my own colony traps instead of buying dozens of commercial traps..


(A colony trap is a cage trap used underwater that more than one muskrats can enter in but cannot get out).


After making a few using 16 gauge wire, I found they deform way to easily and don't hold up very well over time.

What I wanted to use was 14 gauge wire mesh. Same size wire that's used in the Have-a Hart live catch box traps for larger animals.

But that stuff Is impossible to work with unless you have some way to get it flat after taking it off the roll it comes in. (100' x 36").


What I needed was some kind of roller machine system to flatten the wire mesh after it comes off the roll.

After searching the internet and coming up empty, I decided to see if I could build my own roller machine.

It had to accept at least 36" wide welded wire mesh cage material and have some way to increase & decrease the height of the upper roller to compensate for tighter & looser wound wire mesh.

As you get close to the end of a 100" bail of wire, the bend is tighter and requires more pressure as it passed through the rollers to flatten it.

I ended up finding a place that would make it for me but had to provide most of the materials.

Took them a while to get around to building my design, but I was very happy with the results.



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Holy crap man, how many traps are you going to build? A custom built slip roll, wow!!!
 
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  • #18
I didn't weld it, I just designed it and had someone else do the welding.

Though my old man was a welders (among other things), I never did learn how to weld. But wished I did !!!


The colony traps in the pictures were build my myself and are also my design.

I didn't care for the flimsy wire cage colony's other made using j-clips secured with plyers.

After talking with a number of other trappers who also wished someone made a better cage trap using proper gauge wire etc, , I decided to look into being that someone.

So I had that roller machine built.

If you look closer to the clips that hold the wire ends together, you notice they were installed using a pneumatic clinching machine.

I found a good used clinching tool on e-bay and bought it because its makes for a more professional looking product.

That & it shortens the build time per trap !
 
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  • #19
Your basic colony trap is very simple. It is a wire box with an angled door at both ends that flip up with little pressure.

Once a muskrat enters threw the angled door, its near impossible for it to figure out how to escape before expiring.

The problem with this original design is that the muskrats tend to bite at the door while attempting to escape only to be locked to the door with what's know at a "death bite" when you pull the trap out of the water.

There have been a few different modifications over the years in attempts to prevent the door from being blocked by the previous muskrats "death bite" but with limited success.


A few years back while attending a Michigan State trappers show, I met a fellow who was using very light gauge wire mesh and bending the wire over the back of his pickups tailgate to form it.

They looked like crap and the poor fellow could not even sell them at cost.

But his design was different, he only used the bottom 4" for the door to flip up and the top 4" was bent on an angle and it flattened out like a shelf over the door.


Though the execution of his build was hideous to say the least, his design concept was solid !!!

With the implementation of a shelf above the door, and a muskrats natural instinct to swim upward for air...the shelf prevented any muskrat from blocking the door with a death bite thus allowing for more muskrats to enter the colony trap for a higher harvest yield because the door never gets blocked !!!

I looked at his shelf design and recognized its simplicity and it merit.


In my above pictures, the smaller 8x8 trap was this fellows design using the shelf above the door. All I did was use stronger wire mesh & held it together using that commercial pneumatic clinching tool & its clips.

But that larger colony trap, 18W x 8H x 27L was my design that incorporated this "Top Shelf" concept.


This larger trap replaces the older style culvert funnel traps that were round & bulky and used under bridges or in culverts.

It still sports the funnel at each end as well as the Top Shelf that prevents the door from being blocked allowing a higher catch volume.

Yes the door height is only 4" high and that's all that's needed because muskrats either swim on the surface or run on the bottom.

They do not swim suspended in the water so 4" is all that's needed.


Even if you have a crick or river that's 10' wide, ...just look for the trench (muskrat runs) that was made by the muskrats and place the colony in the trench !

Muskrats run on the bottom of this trench and use their sharp claws to grip the solid (usually clay) bottom to move more efficiently under water.

And that's why you only need a 4" high door !


I build and sell the "Top Shelf" colony traps to other trappers and that's why I spent the money to have the rollers, the bender/break, electric wire cutter etc.

Plus they are fun to build and I can crank out a bunch over the winter when there isn't much else to do.
 
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A few years ago now, my dad lost his fight with cancer and I was tasked to sell off the machinery, tools and items in his shop.

One of the items I sold was a older heavy duty 4 cylinder gas welder.

And I'm still kicking myself in the ass for getting rid of it !!!
 
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That was likely a Lincoln sa 200....aka one of the (if not the) best welding machines ever made....

Here's my '72.

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Similar shape but his was bigger and had to towed on its own trailer.

It would never fit sideways in the back of a pickup box.


Funny story I juts remembered... back when I was around 11 & my older brother was 12 years old, our dad bought us a small A/C-D/C stick welder to share for a Christmas present, a "Buzz-Box" he called it.

May as well have bought us a jet plane while he was at it. He didn't teach us how to use it and we couldn't touch it either !

And back then, I would have been so much happier with a Red Rider BB-Gun.

I know someone got a lot of use out of it but it wasn't my brother or I.

Here is a picture of a pneumatic clinching tool similar to the one I used to attach the cage traps together.


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On a trailer like this? You would be amazed at what will fit on a truck... that old buzz box will work for you too!
 
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