This summer has been a real stinker here in southern Minnesota. Started out pleasant with a great spring and decent early June, then it turned absolutely putrid with consistently high temps and miserable humidity. To add further insult to injury, we are experiencing a bad drought having the few rain storms that have threatened mostly go right around us. The fact that it has been nearly a month since I last mowed the lawn should tell you just how dry conditions have become around here.
To be honest, I am not a warm weather person. I like the chillier temps of early fall when you can easily regulate your comfort by putting on or taking off a sweatshirt. When those temps finally hit that is about perfect and I am in comfort heaven.
Maybe that is why I’ve been hankering for and doing a little dreaming (again this year) to run a trapline this fall. I know the sport of trapping to many sportsmen is about as foreign a topic as trying to pick out perfume for the Mrs., but it really is a great activity in which I hold many dear memories of my youth trapping in the heydays of the 1970’s. Truthfully, whether you choose to hunt with a gun or “lay some steel” you still have to outwit the game if you want to succeed. With that said, trappers share many similarities to hunters with only the tools of the trade being used as the big difference.
So why dream of trapping when the dog days of summer are in full swing? Quite honestly, this is the time of the year when most trappers begin to plan for fall. It may still be months off before the first season opens, but supplies are purchased in the summer and equipment is readied months in advance of the big opening day. Much like most hunters do, the successful trapper prepares for and thinks about his sport 365 days each year.
Okay, so it’s probably been at least a dozen or so years since I have trapped, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t often think about the sport. Last week, in fact, I ordered up a supply catalog from Cumberland Hide & Fur just to better enable a little of the dreaming…but also to see what is new on the market for a sport that’s been around since this country was first settled by the explorers. Turns out, while a lot of things about trapping will likely never change, there certainly are new high-tech influences even for one of the oldest occupations known to man.
If you’ve never been around trapping I urge you to do some reading about it or better yet, attend a local rendezvous to see what goes on first-hand. Some of the best hunters I know have at one time or another accepted the challenge of trying to be a successful trapper. Not only does trapping take great skill and knowledge, but more often than not it also requires a meticulous technique that serves a person well regardless whether or not they consider themselves a trapper or a hunter.
I regretfully acknowledge that in some areas trappers and hunters have sometimes been at odds and often this stems from sporting dogs getting caught in traps. The bad publicity that usually results is not only unfortunate, but usually unnecessary. I put the onus on the trapper for needing to be more diligent and not placing sets where problems likely will result. After all, the one who usually comes out of this situation with a black eye is always the trapper.
Truth is I likely do not have the time to do any trapping this fall. Placing traps out is a real commitment and the time it can consume in one’s schedule is sometimes unreal. This fall, like most falls, I just don’t have the luxury of spare time on my hands to make such a commitment to the sport.
That certainly doesn’t mean my heart still isn’t with the pastime while my mind dreams of days gone by are mixed with what could be, if only I had the time. Trapping is a great sport…truly one of my greatest childhood memories as I got into enjoying the outdoors. I’ve said it before, I almost get as much enjoyment from outwitting a wily ol’ buck mink as I do a buck deer. Perhaps that is one of the great things about the outdoors…the challenges are often where you find them.
Others may find this silly, but I’m placing an order for some trapping supplies even though I likely will never use any of them. I miss the sinus clearing odor of some rotten fish oil. I also miss the sweet anise scented musk of the muskrat lure. I definitely need some new fox urine if for no other reason than to use as a cover scent on my hunting boots. Of course, how would my order be complete without the stench of some good fox gland lure?
Oh, the thoughts of trapping helps ease the discomfort and longing for this long, hot summer to finally be over soon. Even though much of my current life of trapping means living vicariously through my past memories…it also forces me to spend my time wisely in the fall and to make the most of what precious opportunities exist in the outdoors.
2007 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.
Filed under: Trapping
Great post. I know almost nothing about trapping and would love to see more written about it.
Sounds like summer in Minnesota has been a lot like summer here in Virginia!