Any trappers on here wanna share anything

[slystuff]

I live in Alexandria, been here a year (wifes) home town,fishin is great hunting opurtunities are very good;jobs are horrible; I currently find myself unemployed again.We picked up our family and moved here from 10miles away from zipple bay as a crow flies;great job great hunting/fishing/camping/berry picking/ mushrooming/snowmobiling.
 work has been slow as I stated lately have been noticing lots of push-ups in area ponds and wetlands; so I think I want to try and trap some muskrats and help to keep my family housed,clothed and fed;there is myself,wife boy 6wks,girl,18months,girl 3 1/2yrs,girl 11,boy,13,boy15,girl 17; and an out of home boy 18.Our fam is large however the good lord Jesus holds us strong!

[bonecollecter82]

So what you looking to know about trapping?? You wanna know hoe to catch the skrats under the ice??

[slystuff]

yes and above if possible; my pastor up in baudette would trap em keep em froze and not touch them till he had a bunch to take to brainard and sell them to someone that would buy the whole works and take care of the skinning gutting and such.

[Mayfly]

Griz comes through here from time to time depending on work. He has a lot of good to say and is very helpful.

Do some reading in this "trapping" forum and you will learn quickly who he is.

[bonecollecter82]

I typically use 110s under the ice. I just go and find a good slough that I wanna trap. I then walk out and start looking around the skrat houses for air bubbles and runs going from house to house or little feeder houses. Its really pretty easy to see where there runs are once you get a little expieriance looking its all just trial and error. Then once you figure out where you wanna set your trap you going to need to make a hole in the ice if its just a couple inches I will use a hatchet but as the ice thicken I will use a spud bar. Then once I got the hole chopped I try to clean all the ice out of it the main thing is to try to get any chunks that are under the ice out or it minght make the rat o around your trap or maybe I am just a&@L about it I dont know. After you do that your going to have to set your trap obviously I use a 110 coniber I have stakes that I have cut to fit in between the the springs of the traps Then I turn it to the side so it is tight when you set your trap under the ice you just want to get it below the ice a 1/2inch or so just to alow for if the ice gets thicker over night. I alway try to set my trap along the reeds or what ever I can to funnel the rat into my hole rather letting him swim around it So its stake on one side reeds on the other. Be sure to check your traps on the way out too many of times I have had traps set off by the time I was done setting the other traps. I hope you can understand this I aint the best teacher in the world lol

[slystuff]

thank you I got an idea now and some great info.one other thing i'm not clear on...I was born in 1971, do I need to take a class b4 I can purchase a license or am I good to go?

[bonecollecter82]

I would think you are good to go. You got snow up there it might be harder to do and maybe not worth it either. I also dont usually leave a trap in one spot more then a couple days unless it catching something everyday sometimes I will movetraps the next day if I didnt catch one in it to

[bonecollecter82]

One last thing be sure to let me know how it goes for you!!!

[GRIZ]

What have you got for equipment?

There are rats around here, a good population but not a ton. There are places with litterally thousands of them. If one can afford it money and time wise, the reward would be good. A friend took over 3000 in 2 weeks.

It would be hard gruelling work and the weather ain't always cozy either. I'm not kidding.

This time of yr ur not going to catch many if any above the ice cept on some open creeks maybe. As bone mentioned 110's in the runs works but with the weather we've had, rain and sleet on top of the ice you can't see any air bubbles under the ice or anything else for that matter. About the only feasible way is to go hut bustin.

Here is a topic that has some stuff in it but the pics have been down sized so one can't even see them much. Maybe you could enlarge them one is a pic of a shelf in a hut, that's where ya set ur trap.http://mnoutdoorsman.com/forums/index.php?topic=2614.0

[MTCOMMER]

I have always wanted to try trapping, but always thought it was tough and expensive.   
I was looking online and noticed that you can get traps for like $10.... is that too good to be true, or will they work. I think they are smaller, for muskrats and stuff, but what would a normal trap cost for a muskrat, beaver, etc?
I am trying to get into some new stuff, we have alot of beavers on our land, daming up our creek and causing some flooding, so I wouldnt mind getting rid of them.
Is there really that much of a demand for the fur - I know some animals get more than others, probably due to the rarity and size of the pelt.

[GRIZ]

$10 awful high for one mink coon rat fox trap. They can be had for little as $50 a dozen new. Now if it was a beaver trap then it'd be awful cheap.

To answer the ? is there that much demand for fur? Yes/No The economy of countries like russia and china are doing better and how many billion people are over there. On the otherhand 23 yrs ago I was getting 3 times as much for my fur.