Thinking of trying trapping

[Siwulat]

I am thinking I might give trapping a shot this year. My thought is to get a few 110s and try for muskrats. I know I can trap on some public land per the regs. My question is...can I make water sets on any lake that I legally access? For instance, can I walk onto or wade into a suburban pond from a park and set a fully submerged trap?

 

Clearly brand new to this whole thing. I would be doing it for pure fun. Any advice is appreciated!

[Siwulat]

Quiet forum! 

 

Anyways, picked up three 110s from FF and added my ID to them. Just finished setting some bottom edge sets in a creek that meanders through a local WMA. I'm sure they are poorly done but it'll be interesting to see what happens with them. 

 

I also have have an email into the dnr asking about extension of public right of way and whether or not a marsh is accessible from the road. I'll post updates as I have them!

[Siwulat]

Checked them today and nada, which is exactly what I was expecting. I did locate a couple of holes on the opposite bank so I'll give my current sets another day or so then maybe move them in front of those. 

[Siwulat]

Empty again. I moved two of them in front of those holes I found so hopefully that's a productive move. I wouldn't know what a fresh hole looks like but these don't look too bad. Anyways, off to the deer woods!

[Siwulat]

Felt mildly confident in my sets as I checked them tonight. Nada. 

 

How long should a guy a guy leave a set before choosing to move them?

[Todd Caswell]

Buy more traps, it's all about location and numbers 

[Neighbor_guy]

I am toying with the idea of doing a little calling this weekend. The moon is nice and dark, so the first and last few minutes  of daylight might make something happen. It all depends on what I stumble into for sign. The majority of the deer hunters have been done for a while, so the free meals are going to be getting harder to come by. 

[monstermoose78]

I am going out as well 

[delcecchi]

On 11/27/2016 at 2:59 PM, Siwulat said:

Empty again. I moved two of them in front of those holes I found so hopefully that's a productive move. I wouldn't know what a fresh hole looks like but these don't look too bad. Anyways, off to the deer woods!

An amazing amount of information about trapping is available on youtube.  

[bobberineyes]

Went out pheasant hunting today and ran into a trapper setting 330s along a creek for beaver .  I'm not much into trapping but know how these things work, and after having a civilized conversation with him his were all in the water and he let know where they were located so at least the pooch wouldn't get his leg caught in it. don't feel bad, he hasn't caught much either . 

[Siwulat]

Thanks del. I've done a fair bit of youtubing. 

 

checked them again last night and still empty. Now that waterfowl is winding down I may start scouting for some huts in public marshes. I've been avoiding them so as not to interfere with retrievers. Even without catching anything it gives me another excuse to be in the woods. 

[delcecchi]

I saw three or four huts in the little wet area in the lake vadnais area just off country road F.   But they would probably get upset if you set traps there...    right next to the new path that goes south along the east side of the lake. 

[Siwulat]

Well, learned a valuable lesson today. Traps that are set half in and half out of the water will get frozen over when the shallows of the creek freeze! Not gonna catch anything when the springs are froze!!

[Ufatz]

Well, since the real cold is starting and trapping takes a lot of time and effort maybe you could just hold off until next year. Do some more research on the species you want to trap,  the market for their hides and consider the work involved in doing a perfect job of skinning and stretching skins.

Then too,   in today's world a guy has to be extremely careful about placing traps where someones cat or dog ends up in the trap. Seeing a nice Brittany crushed and frozen in one of your traps will probably change your mind about the like of a trapper.

Many outdoorsmen do some trapping when they are younger and most of them find other pursuits soon enough.  Of course there ARE serious trappers who work at it hard every season.

Some thoughts.

[delcecchi]

Pretty tough way to make a living, being a trapper.  

 

But if a guy doesn't care about the money, it could be a fun thing to do.   About the crushed  and frozen dog, shouldn't the owner of the dog be keeping it under supervision?   And yes, body grip traps need to be set in a way that dogs can't get into them.  

 

Haven't figured out how the snaring yotes while avoiding dogs would work..   Any information?   Just for curiosity, since I haven't seen evidence of any yotes here in my yard.   Used to have a fox but it moved on I think, judging by the number of bunnies hopping around.