How I Got Started Trapping

By Franz Lichtner

I live in Pennsylvania.  I got started trapping because my father and uncle used to trap all the time when they were my age of 14.  They tell me stories of catching rabbits, muskrats, minks and all sorts of animals.  This got me interested.  I read up on trapping and all the trapping articles that I could get.  There are not many muskrats left around where I live and actually I have never seen one.

This is because of their habitat being lost and more predators that they have never had to deal with they now have to deal with in excess, mostly the house cat.  These cats have been let loose to fend for themselves and are killing the muskrats and rabbits.  I do not have that much land to trap but I do with what I have.

I mostly trap groundhogs and squirrels but there is the occasional opossum and raccoon.  I have a lot of fun trapping.  I mostly use conibear #220 or I have number 2 coil springs, which I set in the dirt that the ground hogs dig-up.  I really like to use snares mostly because they are fun to make and set, I have not caught anything in the snares but I am still trying.  I am still trying to get more land to hunt on and trap on for future seasons.  I love to hunt and fish and this was my second year of hunting and I have many memories especially getting my first deer and almost riding over a spring gobbler on my mountain bike during spring gobbler season.  I hope more people try to go hunting or trapping after they have read this article or try to get a friend involved, it will make your season double the fun.