In a short period of time trapping has become a very important part of my life.  I'm 17 and I started trapping approximately 2 years ago.  I have always been an avid hunter and fisherman enjoying the outdoors whenever possible. And living in east-central Minnesota just at the bottom tip of the forested region I had plenty of areas to hunt and fish, after all, Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 lakes.  Up until I started trapping I thought I knew a lot about animals, nature, and the way our whole ecosystem worked in general.  But since I began trapping I learn more and more how little I actually knew.  But don't get me wrong, I knew more than the average teenager.

My mom had always told me about how she used to trap weasels for money to buy Christmas gifts for friends and relatives, and then I met a new friend at school who had recently moved near and also had an interest in trapping.  I inherited a small number of traps from my older half brother with which I had trapped a few skunks with hap hazard sets.  That winter my friend came over and we went out in the woods looking to put out some traps and catch something with about the least amount of knowledge about trapping we could have.

Neither of us knew that we had to have licenses and that there were certain seasons for many of the critters.  We saw some weasel tracks that went into a hole so we set a trap, and we saw some bobcat tracks and set a trap where it had walked.  We didn't catch anything, but I had some of the best times of my life so far.

We had some beavers that were causing problems on our land and my mom got in contact with a neighbor friend who trapped and asked him to come over and show me a few sets, and he gladly came over.  I borrowed some of his traps and we went out on a cold Saturday morning and we made a couple beaver sets and a couple bobcat sets, and a couple days later we made some otter sets.

Just an example of how little I knew, I didn't know that bobcats and otters were a common animal in my area.  And I have went on to learn about others animals such as fisher, marten, and badger. That winter and spring I had the time of my life!  I ended up catching 14 beavers, 2 bobcats, and about a dozen weasels.

None of this would've been possible without the help of our neighbor who taught me a lot that winter.  He let me bring my catch over to his house and showed me how to handle the furs, needless to say, I can't thank him enough.  People like him are the people that are keeping trapping going strong, and I look forward to carrying on that mentality whenever possible.

Each time I go out into the woods to check traps or scout I learn something new and become more aware of the way nature works.  I have done nuisance trapping work for the township where beavers were plugging up culverts and needed to be dealt with.  Many people would say that the problem could've been solved other ways than trapping, but I don't think any method would have been as effective.

In many areas diseases can put many animals through long painful deaths, and this is where trappers can come into play and try get things back on track.  In recent years the population of predators in the waterfowl nesting areas has greatly increased, in exchange the nesting success rates have been greatly reduced.  Trapping programs have been set up in some areas to decrease the number of predators and try help the nesting, and turned out to be very effective.  Much like the trapping programs to help waterfowl, predators need to be trapped to protect livestock of farmers.

Many animals have adapted to our presence over time, and this can lead to trouble.  Skunks may want to dig under peoples houses and decide to make that their home, what's a person going to do?  I think you already know that question! There is something about trapping that just appeals to me.  I don't know why it appeals to me as much as it does.  Maybe it's because of how much I can learn and the way you have to think about what you are doing when making sets and trying to predict what your target creature is going to do.

Anyone that has ever trapped knows that it isn't how a lot of people picture it.  You don't just get some monstrous bone crushing trap, set it out in the woods wanting to kill anything just cause you want to kill something.  When you look at the big picture, the odds are really stacked against us trappers.  Most animals have natural instincts that make it extremely challenging to harvest them.  Not only that, you factor in the weather and everything else that doesn't go exactly as planned it can be tough!

And all responsible trappers know that they have to respect these renewable resources they are harvesting.  Their is a portrayal of trappers out their that they don't care about the animals they are trapping, they have no respect for the environment, and that they just want to trap all the animals out there, which is exactly the opposite of how it is.  As a trapper I don't want to trap all the animals, I need to manage the population so there is always more in the future and do what is in the best interest of nature itself.  And as time goes on trappers are becoming even more responsible.

The design of traps has been changed so it is more humane than ever before.  That says a lot for trappers. In order for us to carry on our tradition I believe we all have to stick together, helping one another at all times.  We can't be selfish and have to look out for the best interest of the resources we are harvesting and our trapping community all as a whole.