Post by slyfox74 on Dec 8, 2010 13:54:38 GMT -5
I grew up with a father who was a hard case. He and his father were as close to actual long liners as there was in the 1960's and 1970's, They were both old school woodsman and taught me to trap and hunt the old way.
I started running a 'trap line" by myself at 7 years old, before that I trapped with my father. Every so often dad would go along with me to offer advice, critisism, or a hard kick in the pants whenever needed.
My big line consisted of about 20 traps spread out over a small network of ditches and a cow pasture.
In the fall right before I turned 10 years old, I was checking traps one day with my dad accompanying me. I had this one bank set for muskrats, I remember the muskrats had made a trail coming from the water, up on the bank where they were eating roots and such.
I had a #1 Victor long spring, it was the kind with the "shorter" long spring (my father called them shorties). anyway, I had it wired to a piece of red buck brush that I had cut and driven in to the creek bottom in about 2 feet of water, another piece of buck brush was driven in next to it as a tangle stick.
I caught a handful of rats in that set over the course of the fall, and I was fairly confident in it. Upon laying eyes on it my father had an entirely different opinion. "You have a trap wired off to that puny little sprout"? , he asked when he saw my anchoring technique. What the hell is that going to hold? That's the laziest thing I've ever seen.
On and on, he went. He was a freak about wiring traps so they would hold a bulldozer.
He asked, "What if a beaver steps in that trap"? You know what you'll have? A missing trap!
I aught to make you pull all your traps and give you a kick in the (substitute) donkey.
He pointed out a much bigger, stronger dead pole that would work perfectly for wiring a trap that would hold a mountain lion, he made me re fasten the trap sink the post deep in the bottom of the creek and use my original as a tangle stick.
Needless to say i was angry but knew better than to argue. I fixed the set and we went on our way. The rest of the checks were un-eventful.
The next day, I was checking traps solo again, I walked up on the set my father scolded me about and heard something splashing and thrashing around. I walked up and looked over the bank, and there was a big red fox! Splashing around and trying to get his 4 toes out of my #1 Victor. He of course was held very securely by my previous day's modification.
Obviously at just a hair under 10 years old I was elated, and my father was quick to point out that he had told me so, when I came back carrying the fox and telling him where I had caught it.
Rarely do I fasten a trap when I don't think about that lesson.
I started running a 'trap line" by myself at 7 years old, before that I trapped with my father. Every so often dad would go along with me to offer advice, critisism, or a hard kick in the pants whenever needed.
My big line consisted of about 20 traps spread out over a small network of ditches and a cow pasture.
In the fall right before I turned 10 years old, I was checking traps one day with my dad accompanying me. I had this one bank set for muskrats, I remember the muskrats had made a trail coming from the water, up on the bank where they were eating roots and such.
I had a #1 Victor long spring, it was the kind with the "shorter" long spring (my father called them shorties). anyway, I had it wired to a piece of red buck brush that I had cut and driven in to the creek bottom in about 2 feet of water, another piece of buck brush was driven in next to it as a tangle stick.
I caught a handful of rats in that set over the course of the fall, and I was fairly confident in it. Upon laying eyes on it my father had an entirely different opinion. "You have a trap wired off to that puny little sprout"? , he asked when he saw my anchoring technique. What the hell is that going to hold? That's the laziest thing I've ever seen.
On and on, he went. He was a freak about wiring traps so they would hold a bulldozer.
He asked, "What if a beaver steps in that trap"? You know what you'll have? A missing trap!
I aught to make you pull all your traps and give you a kick in the (substitute) donkey.
He pointed out a much bigger, stronger dead pole that would work perfectly for wiring a trap that would hold a mountain lion, he made me re fasten the trap sink the post deep in the bottom of the creek and use my original as a tangle stick.
Needless to say i was angry but knew better than to argue. I fixed the set and we went on our way. The rest of the checks were un-eventful.
The next day, I was checking traps solo again, I walked up on the set my father scolded me about and heard something splashing and thrashing around. I walked up and looked over the bank, and there was a big red fox! Splashing around and trying to get his 4 toes out of my #1 Victor. He of course was held very securely by my previous day's modification.
Obviously at just a hair under 10 years old I was elated, and my father was quick to point out that he had told me so, when I came back carrying the fox and telling him where I had caught it.
Rarely do I fasten a trap when I don't think about that lesson.