Alaska Trapping Legend Dean Wilson Passes On

This past month, the Alaska trapping community lost a legend.  Dean Wilson, 69, died in his sleep of complications due to Parkinson’s disease.  Wilson was an icon in Alaska trapping.  In addition to running his own successful trapline, he spent time educating others on trapping methods and was a prominent fur buyer in interior Alaska.  He also wrote “The Alaskan Trapper’s Handbook”, a collection of his knowledge and experiences.

Wilson, a prominent trapper and fur buyer for more than 30 years in the Interior, is considered the patriarch of trapping in Alaska. He was sometimes called the “Father of Fur” and developed a reputation over the years for treating trappers fairly and honestly.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – Alaska trapping legend Dean Wilson dies at 69.

New Trapping Group Forms in Minnesota

A new trapping group has formed to represent trappers in the DNR-defined “Forest Zone” of Minnesota.

The Minnesota Forest Zone Trapping Association, led by Ken Wainionpaa of Gilbert, MN, was “formed by a group of trappers who decided it was time to have a ‘voice’ in the management of the sport”.

Minnesota is a diverse state, with ecotypes ranging from flat cropland to rolling hills and forests dotted with lakes.  In addition, the forest zone of the state has vast areas of public lands available for trappers, while the rest of the state is mostly privately owned. This makes it difficult for a single trappers association to represent such a wide variety of constituents in a large state.

The new group seems motivated to work hard defending their trapping rights and keeping opportunities available for resident trappers in the forest zone of Minnesota.

You can visit their website here, or by navigating to our State Trappers Associations page.

Kansas Now Offers Online Trapper Education Course

Kansas is the second state to add an online trapper education course on TrapperEd.com as a replacement to the old mail correspondence course and an alternative to instructor-led courses that are taught in person.

All persons born after July 1, 1966 are required to take the course before harvesting furbearers on land in the state other than their own.

Illinois also offers a similar course, and more states are sure to follow.

For more information or to take the course, visit www.trappered.com.

Read more here.

Alaska Trapper’s Photo Gallery

Check out this photo gallery posted by Alaskan trapper Tyler Freel on Outdoor Life magazine’s website.  While many of us dream of trapping in Alaska, only a lucky few get to experience it.

View Tyler’s photos here.

Coyotes Kill Twenty-two Pets in Washington Town

Coyotes have been blamed for the death of 22 pets in a Washington neighborhood, according to the local news.

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Coyotes have killed so many pets — seven dogs and 15 cats, by one resident’s count — that people who live in the Oakbrook neighborhood of Lakewood have hired a trapper to get rid of the predators.

The state of Washington banned recreational and fur trapping via ballot initiative back in 2000, and residents have been suffering with increased rates of animal damage ever since.

Coyotes are so plentiful in the state that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agents won’t deal with them unless they threaten people.”I’m afraid it just a matter of time; they’re going to go after children,” Hickey said.What worries the neighbors is that the coyotes appear to have lost their fear of humans and are showing up during the day.

Read the full story here.

Click Here to read a 2001 article describing the fallout after the trap ban.

2010 Fur Market Forecast

This fall, cautious optimism is the key phrase when talking about the fur market.  Discussion has surrounded the increase in demand and recovering Chinese and Russian markets, but there seem to be more questions than answers.  After looking over fur market reports from the major players, I’ve put together a quick summary of what we might expect to see for fur prices this year.  I’ve also provided links to the different fur market reports so that you can read them for yourself.

Overall feelings about the fur market tend to be a mixture of uncertainty and positive expectations.  No one is really negative about the market, which is surprising considering how poorly things finished up last season.  Among the uncertainty is a glimmer of hope that increasing demand will drive higher prices.  So we’re probably looking at two possibilities: 1) the fur market stays the same as last year and prices continue to stay low, or 2) the recovering world economy drives more demand and prices climb.  While uncertainty abounds, nobody is expecting the market to drop substantially.

Here are some predictions for several species:

Muskrat – Expect excellent demand for muskrat early in the season.  This item sold out last year and should sell at good prices early.  Prices of $5-8 could be expected.  Demand could soften later in the year so folks are advising that you sell your muskrats early.  This could be one of the few real bright spots in this year’s fur market.

Mink – Ranch mink has been selling really well lately, with high demand and solid prices.  This is expected to help the wild mink market and good prices are expected.  Prices should be on par with last year, maybe higher.

Beaver – This item sold pretty poorly last year, and unfortunately, expectations for this year aren’t any better.  There are lots of holdover beaver pelts that went unsold, and demand is not expected to increase.  It may be smart to spend less time trapping beaver this year, or hold on to your furs until demand comes back.

Raccoon – Prices for the larger and heavy raccoon skins should be okay, and $8-10, perhaps upwards of $20, can be expected for these.  However, the smaller and flatter coon skins will be almost worthless.  The raccoon market has fluctuated substantially over the years, and a cold winter combined with increased Russian buying power could help things.  Demand is expected to pick up later in the season if the remaining unsold goods are cleared.

Otter – The slow recovery of the otter market after the crash several years ago is expected to continue, but it will be slow.  Expect some advances, with prices of $25-45, and prices greater than $50 for some skins.

Coyote – Not all of last year’s coyotes at the auction houses sold.  Unfortunately, the unsold goods were the semi-heavies and lower grades.  These goods will not sell well this year.  The big, heavy prairie coyotes sold out last year and should do well, with prices upwards of $30 or better.

Red Fox – Prices of ranch fox have been advancing, and wild red fox is expected to sell well.  $15-30 may be expected for better goods.

Bobcat/Lynx – Increased demand for bobcats is expected this year, which should result in higher prices.  Similar to last year, well spotted western bobcats could average over $300 in some situations.

Marten – While many of the larger Canadian and Alaskan marten did not sell last year, increased demand is expected and prices should be okay.

Fisher – Increased demand should drive higher prices for this item.

Grey Fox – This item continues to struggle.  None of the experts see a recovery in grey fox prices anytime soon.

As you can see, this year’s fur market forecast includes a huge variation in prices among different species, and lots of uncertainty.  As usual, time will tell.  The North American Fur Auctions and Fur Harvesters Auction February auctions should give us a much better idea of where the market stands.  You can learn more by reading the full reports from these organizations below:

NAFA 2010 Wild Fur Forecast

FHA 2010/2011 Wild Fur Forecast

You can also read market reports from Trapper and Predator Caller magazine and Fur-Fish-Game.

Muskrat Surprise

It was November 18^th and the first big snowstorm of the year was finally on its way.  The wind was blowing hard from the southwest and a bank of clouds began to shroud the mountains.  Since I’ve moved to Montana, it’s taken some time to adjust to a couple of things.  One is the weather, which is more unpredictable than you can imagine.  The other is the hunting season.  With such a long season, so many different animals to hunt for, and such liberal bag limits, I’d been booked solid with hunting and meat processing for about a month.  The wife and I both breathed a sigh of relief when the last of the meat packages went into the freezer and our hunting season was pretty well over.  We could still hunt, but didn’t have any freezer space left to put any of the meat.

I had been thinking about trapping all hunting season, and when things began to slow down, I decided it was time to get after some fur.  The fact that it was my birthday the day I started trapping for the season made me feel a little less guilty about taking the afternoon off to set traps.  But that slight feeling of guilt turned into one of those ‘I must be crazy’ feelings when I reached the farm pond to set muskrat traps.  The hard blowing wind brought subfreezing air and moisture with it, and encouraged me to work a little quicker than I might otherwise have.

I’d trapped this pond before and knew it held muskrats.  It was pretty big as far as farm ponds go, probably 3 acres or more of surface area, but most of the ‘rats were concentrated near the dirt berm at the pond’s outlet.  This was the deepest area of the pond, and the muskrats had been digging den holes into the dirt berm for years.  That’s were I would place my traps.

I threw on a pair of hip waders and grabbed a bucket full of 110 conibear traps in one hand and a stack of lathes in the other.  Then I got to work.  The plan was to walk along the bank and feel around for den holes with my boots.  Wherever I felt a hole, I set a trap, secured the lathe onto the spring to support it, then anchored the trap in the run in front of the hole.

All trappers experience a time in their career when things seem to go just right.  With the storm front moving in causing the critters to be active, and perhaps a little birthday luck, I guess maybe my time had come.

I’d set four traps and was starting on number five when I heard something splashing.  I looked back as muskrat number one was already caught in a trap I’d set just a couple of minutes before!  Filled with excitement, I hurried to set the rest of the traps.  I got a dozen conibears set out and started working my way back to the truck.  I reached the muskrat that had been caught earlier and removed it from the trap.  As I placed it on the bank and remade the set, another splashing sound broke through the sound of the howling wind and I looked ahead to see muskrat number two caught in another trap!  To top it off, I walked back to the truck and had a third muskrat in the very first set I had made!

In a period of less than two hours that afternoon, I had set twelve traps and caught 3 muskrats.  That’s something that has never happened to me before, and it sure was memorable.  You can imagine my excitement when I returned during the snowstorm the next morning to check the traps and found seven more muskrats caught in the twelve traps!  Ten muskrats in a dozen traps in less than 24 hours.  Now that’s trapping!

Back To Trapping

It’s been a long, productive hunting season in Montana thus far, but I finally decided to put the hunting rifle away and shift my focus to trapping.  I’d been thinking of trapping for quite some time this fall, but while shooting, butchering and processing 7 deer, 2 antelope and an elk, there wasn’t much time to do anything else!  The meat freezers are full, and it’s time to get out and catch some fur.

As I sit at home by the warm wood stove and type, I’m already thinking of places I’d like to trap once this snowstorm breaks and we dig ourselves out.  In between other stories, I’ll start providing a few periodic updates from my trapline here on Trapping Today, just to mix things up a little.  Hope you enjoy.  Happy Trapping!

New Opportunities for Pennsylvania Trappers

This trapping season, Pennsylvania trappers will see increased opportunities to pursue bobcats and fishers, both species that have been expanding their numbers in the state.

This year all trappers will be able to purchase a permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to harvest a bobcat, whereas they previously had to win the permit in a drawing.

“Following careful review of past seasons and, in consideration of hunter and trapper input, beginning with the 2010-11 season, we will use season length to regulate bobcat taking in specified WMUs,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director.  “Our data indicate that bobcat populations have increased significantly.

In addition to the bobcat opportunities, a limited one week fisher season will be added in certain parts of the state.

The creation of a limited, one-week fisher season, which was part of the Game Commission’s initial plans when it reintroduced fishers back in the 1990s, is consistent with the agency’s longstanding goal mission of promoting and providing hunting and trapping opportunities.

“Through this limited season, we will gather additional biological samples for demographic and genetic analyses,” Roe said. “Mandatory reporting, along with fisher permits, is needed to better assess participation, effort and harvest for this new season.”

Sounds like it’s shaping up to be a great trapping season in Pennsylvania.  It’s good to see trapping opportunities expand as furbearer populations continue to thrive under sound wildlife management practices.

Read the full story here.

Wolves Move Into Utah

As wolf populations continue to expand in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, wolves are beginning to move into many areas they were never expected to roam again.  In anticipation of this, the state of Utah put together a wolf management plan several years ago to help guide decisions in the event that wolves moved into the state.  Lots of people thought the folks in Utah were crazy, until this summer.

This summer, wolf activity in northern Utah was confirmed, with the predators found killing sheep and cattle in Cache County.

Other states should take notice.  Wolf populations are spreading, and proper management and planning will hopefully result in regulated hunting and trapping seasons.  Such responsible wildlife management can help minimize wolf impacts to livestock and promote the wolf as a valuable furbearer instead of a nuisance.