Old School Muskrat Trapping

My friend Jeremiah Wood over at Trapping Today posted a link to this book, which I found informative and entertaining, so I thought I'd pass it along.  The Accomplished Muskrat Trapper was written in 1922 by A.E. Schmidt and is now freely available from Project Gutenberg because the copyright has expired.  I love these old trapping books.  They are still very informative and the writing style is intriguing.  This one is like a snapshot of trapping history with the literary flare of another age.

For example, the introductory sentence:

 In placing this booklet before the great fraternity of American trappers, the author does not propose to exercise any pedagogical influence upon the truly professional trapper, who, seasoned in the hard school of experience, knows the animals he is seeking, like a mother knows her child. It is his wish, however, to assist and guide the amateur to a greater success.

Enjoy this little slice of trapping history!

      

Fox Trapping by A.R. Harding

I always enjoy reading trapping books from "the good old days."  It's fascinating to see how methods have evolved, and just as interesting to see what techniques remain the same.  One of the things I like most is the style of writing from a century ago.  There's always a turn of phrase or memorable quote from these old timers.  I recently stumbled on this old fox trapping book by A.R. Harding from 1906.  It is available free online at this link.  Here's just one snippet from page 11 that I find very amusing (click "read the whole story" below).

Hunting Arguments by Tom Rakow

In my internet wanderings I came in contact with Dr. Tom Rakow, the author of Hunting Arguments: Biblical Responses to a Loaded Issue.  He was kind enough to send me a copy, which I read with great interest.  This book is an excellent defense of hunting from a Biblical perspective, and it is very easy to read.  Although he focuses on hunting, the same arguments in the book apply just as much to trapping, fishing, etc. 

The main premise of the book is that God endowed mankind with dominion over the lesser creatures, and they were created for our wise use and benefit.  Dr. Rakow brings both common sense and Biblical truth together in a cogent argument that exposes the fallacies of the "animal rights" movement.  He also makes positive arguments on the benefits and necessity of hunting.

This book is designed for the average reader, and I appreciated the fact that each chapter includes discussion questions for small group study.  If you want to be a more informed hunter or trapper, this book is very well worth $14.95.  I highly recommend it!

You can order the book at this link:  Hunting Arguments

And here is a helpful review and summary of the book from Crescent News website:
Book Shows that God Approves of Hunting

A Good Read for Trappers

I'm always amazed at what a Google search can turn up.  Just recently I found the following document on furbearers and trapping, compiled by the Northeast Furbearer Resources Technical Committee.  It is packed with great information and presented from a pro-trapping standpoint.  It would be especially useful for explaining the importance and necessity of trapping to non-trappers from a conservation standpoint.  Have a look....

Trapping and Furbearer Management in North American Wildlife Conservation

Foxes by the 100's by Russ Carman

Book Review by James Holm

      Lets go back a few years and look at a fox trapping book that I recently reread and was amazed at how even now 20+ years later it still has very sound and very usable information. The book I am referring to is Foxes by the 100's by Russ Carman.  The information in this book is more than solid for fox trappers of all experience levels. Russ makes it no secret that he believes the dirt hole set has been used incorrectly for many years by many trappers!

      I am personally not a K9 trapper with any real experience with coyotes, but I have caught some fox over the years and this book makes sense to me.  Anyone with even a small population of foxes can and should be able to increase how many foxes they are catching every year. The illustrations and pictures in this book do a great job of explaining the sets and how they should be used. Also in the book are locations with photos to help novice fox trappers succeed immediately. I am not saying this book will make you a professional fox trapper after your first or second year out, but it will definitely make you a better fox trapper as soon as you start using the methods Russ advocates in this book, no matter your skill level. I also think that you can take the information in this book and cross it over to other animals with a little thought and increase catches in other areas of your trap line. See you on the line…

Amazon Link to Foxes by the 100's

Modern Gray Fox Trapping

by Tracy Truman

     Perhaps the only trapping book focused exclusively on gray fox, this 69 page work is dedicated to helping trappers understand the biological make-up of the gray fox and how to use that information to take more fur. With over 30 years of trapping experience, the author highlights the unique characteristics of this interesting furbearer. Tracy covers fox trapping equipment and set location, and also discusses the best lures and baits. He also provides a wealth of lure and bait formulas that have been tried and tested to appeal to grays. Tracy was one of the first trappers to test lures, baits and set construction with trail cameras, so he could see for himself which odors were most attractive, and what type of set construction cut down on misses. The book is a total of 69 pages, and uses dozens of full color photos to show set location, construction and equipment. Many of the photos are from trail cameras and show exactly how grays approach and work a set. (Tracy also produced a DVD with the same title, using actual video footage of fox working sets, lures and baits).

     This book also includes a host of scientific studies and references to flesh out gray fox densities in different geographical regions, as well as home range, Fall dispersal issues and family size groups. All of this information can greatly help you on the trapline to connect with more fox in a shorter period of time.

     Tracy is a native of Nevada but has trapped much of the West. He started trapping as a young boy and paid for most of his college education as a trapper, working on coyotes during the summer for sheepmen, and trapping bobcats, fox, coyotes and badgers during the winter fur season. He is an attorney by profession and still manages to make triple digit gray fox catches every year, as well as getting his share of those high-priced Nevada bobcats.

You can find his website here: Modern Gray Fox Trapping