Question for some of you serious trappers.

rh, it will be a hobby that pays dividends on occasion. I started trapping about 40 years ago, went through the fur boom in the 70s...that was fun...but also went through lots of yrs that I didnt make money. I cant think of any other outdoor hobby that pays though, and the only animal that you split down the belly to skin now days is a beaver...the rest are skinned cased. Its a great hobby, and you can learn a lot online now days, You will do fine, dont quit your day job, the big boys even have a day job now! Good Luck

Well, I tryed my hand as a longliner some years ago. Thought I was big candy out there too, setting traps all day and skinning all night. When I first made an attempt at it though, unforseen things got w-a-y to overwhelming. At home in the easy chair, I did my dreaming, planning, phone calls, and I thought I had the whole system ironed out... not quite!!! It was easy at home to figure how many traps I could set in a day, roughly how many animals I'd have to skin out at night etc. etc. etc. Well not to put a damper on the issue, but that first year of going big, almost killed my interest in it for a few years. Romantic, it was not. You see, I did not realize that set locations that I had on paper, might not be what I expected in person. Your location too, might have changes made by humans, or nature etc. and when you have to take the time to scout a new area, you are already behind in the game. Then you got Mother Nature to contend with. I mean can one really plan for all your sets to be reduced to mud? Or how bout a heavy snow storm, hundreds of sets all out of commision just like that! Try chipping out trap beds in frozen ground too, talk about time consuming, energy burning, and sometimes not even possible to do. Don't forget the fatique of early mornings and sleepless nights. After a day of setting and tending traps, and the high dollar gas you burn all day, all you want to do it go home and crawl in the sack... but if you had some luck that day, your night shift has just begun, cause those animals won't skin themselves. I kept all this real broad, but you get the idea. I love trapping and the good it does to help out the health of the animals, but I personally will keep it at a comfortable level these days, so I can enjoy it, and not fight it. If you lived in my area, you'd be blessed with $30 to $40 coyotes, $60 badgers, and $300 average on bobcats, but with the gas prices right now, it won't make you a whole lot of extra living money. I vote for "comfort" instead of the pains of longlining in IMO. However, I still will run 150 to 200 traps some years, but I still try and keep things managable, efficient, as pleasant as possible. One has to remember that it is really all about the animals and the great outdoors... don't loose site of that. Joel

P.S. just wanted to add, that one can make good profits with your furs on a smaller scale, if you tan them up for resale. The taxidermy market is something to look into, as you may be able to establish contracts with them every season. Also, just harvesting a certian amount of your available species, will help do your part in controlling the disease spread amongst the area's populations. If a certian percentage of critters are harvested annually, their health will remain in check. good luck.

The best money in trapping isn't in the pelts, it's in nuisance trapping.