Started the trap line today

Now that I am officially laid off for the winter, I now had the time to lay some steel in the ground I got to get warmed up by tagging along with Blue Fleck and his dad on their trapping adventures a few times.
Let me tell you, a walking trapline in swampy terrain is quite the workout. I set out a variety of sets to target mainly coon with some mink and muskrat sets mixed in. Even as much as I walked to get off the beaten path, there was still more competition this year than ever. I seen some things out on the line today that make you wonder about other trappers. Some of the rat traps out appeared to have been there awhile unchecked. Some had nasty looking rats in them, traps above water and were so rusty they can’t possibly work. In case you are wondering, no I did not tamper with any of the sets, you could see all of this from a distance
There was also a ton of beaver sign, but the area is closed to otter and beaver
So, now comes the waiting game. It might be a long night waiting for morning. Trapping is a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the outdoors.
One investment I made this morning was one of the “mini” Otter sleds. I was able to put a ton of gear in this and just pull it behind me. It was also great in the water. I was very suprised at how well it floats with the load I had in it.
Hopefully tomorrow I have something in the traps

Good luck Wats! I used to trap back in high school. NE Iowa. Coon, rats and beaver and the occasional mink in a rat trap. Does Wis. require names/ID on the trap? That is a shame to see/hear about.

Jason

Good luck Wats! I used to trap back in high school. NE Iowa. Coon, rats and beaver and the occasional mink in a rat trap. Does Wis. require names/ID on the trap? That is a shame to see/hear about.

Jason

Yes we do require name tags on the traps. I did check one trap that was out of the water today and it had a Federal tag, but no tag with name and address. The Fed tag was also not the same as this years tag. But, that is a moot point since a Fed tag is not required in this area. If things are the same tomorrow, a call to the warden will be warranted.

Yes we do require name tags on the traps. I did check one trap that was out of the water today and it had a Federal tag, but no tag with name and address. The Fed tag was also not the same as this years tag. But, that is a moot point since a Fed tag is not required in this area. If things are the same tomorrow, a call to the warden will be warranted.

I would have called the Warden 10 minutes ago…

I would have called the Warden 10 minutes ago…

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I would have called the Warden 10 minutes ago…

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Yep, what he said.

Remember you should never touch another persons trap. There are serious penalties for that in Wisconsin including loss of hunting/trapping privileges for quite a while, up to two years if my memory serves me correctly.

Quote:

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I would have called the Warden 10 minutes ago…

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Yep, what he said.

Remember you should never touch another persons trap. There are serious penalties for that in Wisconsin including loss of hunting/trapping privileges for quite a while, up to two years if my memory serves me correctly.

While I agree with you gator, this trap was clearly not being attended to. When you have a 110 staked to a lathe, sticking well above the water line and bright orange with rust, there is something wrong. I am pretty sure the rats out here are not trained in the circus to jump through hoops I could see all of this without touching if it I really wanted to. I am an ethical person and would not tamper or go near a legal working set. Like I said, if things are the same in the morning, I will let the CO make the call on what is right or wrong

While I agree with you gator, this trap was clearly not being attended to. When you have a 110 staked to a lathe, sticking well above the water line and bright orange with rust, there is something wrong. I am pretty sure the rats out here are not trained in the circus to jump through hoops I could see all of this without touching if it I really wanted to. I am an ethical person and would not tamper or go near a legal working set. Like I said, if things are the same in the morning, I will let the CO make the call on what is right or wrong

I did not mean to insinuate that you did anything wrong. I just wanted to point out the severity of the penalties of tampering with a trap set. I am sorry if it sounded otherwise.

If the trap was that far out of the water I’d have the CO officer find out how early this guy put his traps out. The season for the south did not open till the 28th of October unless he was on the Mississippi then it was the second Monday in November. The water hasn’t gone down much since then, at least up here it hasn’t. Did it look like this was an abandoned trap from last season?

I did not mean to insinuate that you did anything wrong. I just wanted to point out the severity of the penalties of tampering with a trap set. I am sorry if it sounded otherwise.

If the trap was that far out of the water I’d have the CO officer find out how early this guy put his traps out. The season for the south did not open till the 28th of October unless he was on the Mississippi then it was the second Monday in November. The water hasn’t gone down much since then, at least up here it hasn’t. Did it look like this was an abandoned trap from last season?

That was my first thought. It appeared to be abandoned along with others out there. The reason I say this is because some of the other traps that were in old runs that look like they have not been used. The water is crystal clear and the traps were covered in silt and some were laying on their sides with the lathes also about falling over. Also, the flagging on the lathes was very weathered. there are also bucket sets out there as well but I did not get close enough to these.
In this situation it is like a catch 22. You know something doesn’t look right, but you really can’t touch them to verify
Here is another thing I noticed. This is swamp area with lots of mud. The walking I did left boot tracks obviously. The only other boot prints I seen were near some steel shotgun casings, so they would more than likely belong to a duck hunter. There are just so many subtle clues to make me think they are either abandoned, or the guy is not checking them very often. Not too far away from here is another trapper with different flagging and his line goes in a different direction. This marsh is tucked away and is not visible from the walking trail or the road. I didn’t even know it existed until today. Something just doesn’t seem right. I could be wrong on the whole deal, but tomorrow should tell

That was my first thought. It appeared to be abandoned along with others out there. The reason I say this is because some of the other traps that were in old runs that look like they have not been used. The water is crystal clear and the traps were covered in silt and some were laying on their sides with the lathes also about falling over. Also, the flagging on the lathes was very weathered. there are also bucket sets out there as well but I did not get close enough to these.
In this situation it is like a catch 22. You know something doesn’t look right, but you really can’t touch them to verify
Here is another thing I noticed. This is swamp area with lots of mud. The walking I did left boot tracks obviously. The only other boot prints I seen were near some steel shotgun casings, so they would more than likely belong to a duck hunter. There are just so many subtle clues to make me think they are either abandoned, or the guy is not checking them very often. Not too far away from here is another trapper with different flagging and his line goes in a different direction. This marsh is tucked away and is not visible from the walking trail or the road. I didn’t even know it existed until today. Something just doesn’t seem right. I could be wrong on the whole deal, but tomorrow should tell

Go getem’ Am. A person setting traps and not tend’ing them needs to lose their privilege to trapping… or at the least (if not tagged)… losing their equipment.

Go getem’ Am. A person setting traps and not tend’ing them needs to lose their privilege to trapping… or at the least (if not tagged)… losing their equipment.

Love reading about trapping. Sure brings back good memories.

Thanks for sharing.

paul

Love reading about trapping. Sure brings back good memories.

Thanks for sharing.

paul

Got up this morning right at daylight and headed out to check the traps. Not alot of action this morning, I ended up with 1 rat and 1 snapped rat trap. One pvc set was pushed over a little, so hopefully it will be hit next time I also made a few more sets this morning so now I am up to 18 traps. My plan is to set out a few each day until I run out of sign in this area before moving on to the next section. It is amazing how much you can learn from an area by trapping it. I have never walked in this area before until yesterday. The deer sign is everywhere which was a suprise to me. You can also see how animals use different terrain features in the swamps. When the water is low, they utilize the low areas more. When the water is high, you can see the trails are on the slight rises in elevation. I took a few pics this morning of my set up and the type of area I am trapping right now.

Got up this morning right at daylight and headed out to check the traps. Not alot of action this morning, I ended up with 1 rat and 1 snapped rat trap. One pvc set was pushed over a little, so hopefully it will be hit next time I also made a few more sets this morning so now I am up to 18 traps. My plan is to set out a few each day until I run out of sign in this area before moving on to the next section. It is amazing how much you can learn from an area by trapping it. I have never walked in this area before until yesterday. The deer sign is everywhere which was a suprise to me. You can also see how animals use different terrain features in the swamps. When the water is low, they utilize the low areas more. When the water is high, you can see the trails are on the slight rises in elevation. I took a few pics this morning of my set up and the type of area I am trapping right now.

Here is a pic of my set-up for walking.

Here is a pic of my set-up for walking.

This pic shows the general type of area I am trapping right now. There are several of these type of ponds scattered throughout the property. Lots of good coon, mink, and rat sign.

This pic shows the general type of area I am trapping right now. There are several of these type of ponds scattered throughout the property. Lots of good coon, mink, and rat sign.

Here is a shot of one of the 2 beaver lodges in this particular marsh. Beaver and otter are protected on this piece of property or I would have sets out for them as well. It is amazing the amount of trails that beaver can make. there is definitely a reason for the saying “Busy beaver”

Here is a shot of one of the 2 beaver lodges in this particular marsh. Beaver and otter are protected on this piece of property or I would have sets out for them as well. It is amazing the amount of trails that beaver can make. there is definitely a reason for the saying “Busy beaver”

Man that looks awesome! Thanks for sharing Wats Keep up the reports if you can. It brings back great memories for me too.

Thanks!
Chris

Man that looks awesome! Thanks for sharing Wats Keep up the reports if you can. It brings back great memories for me too.

Thanks!
Chris

UPDATE: Talk about a stroke of luck this morning. As I pulled into the parking area where I trap, a Warden pulled in right behind me. I walked up to his truck and mentioned they were just the people I wanted to see. I am sure it isn’t too often they hear that Anyway, I explained to him about the traps and the rats in them for 4 days now. the warden asked if I would be willing to take him out there and show him. Of course I obliged and off we went. With what he seen, he felt it was best to remove the traps and asked if I would help him. He took one side of the pond and I took the other. Together we pulled around 15 rat traps and 2 bucket sets. There were rats in 2 of them which were nasty. So, hopefully they can figure out what happened to the guy that the traps belong to. The CO was a very nice guy and very proffessional. We had a nice conversation while walking around pulling traps and I was also checking mine. He also checked mine which was perfectly fine with me to make sure they were legal. Now tomorrow I will need to get a few more of my traps out there because there are quite a few runs that are still active that I didn’t touch because the other traps were in the general area.
I only ended up with 1 rat again today. I thought the coon would have been running better last night with the warm temps and a little bit of mist. It was VERY foggy out there this morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day. One thing is for sure, I am definitely getting my exercise every morning