Prepping for the Fall Trapline

It’s getting to be that time of year.  Late summer is here, the days are getting noticeably shorter in the north, and morning starts with a slight chill in the air.  Trapping season is starting to close in!  Many trapping conventions are underway and others will be here in a few weeks.  It’s time to pick up those miscellaneous trapping supplies you don’t want to be caught without in the middle of the season.  Many of us will browse the convention booths and pick up a few things here and there.  We may keep a running list of supply needs while dipping, dyeing and waxing traps, adjusting, tinkering and inventorying.

Here in northern Maine, most of my off season trapline preparation has been spent building lynx exclusion devices that are legally required for marten and fisher trapping here.  I’ve spent tons of hours building these wooden boxes, and hope the effort pays off over the next few years.  Soon it will be time to dip bodygrip traps and dye my footholds.  Then I’ll put together the inevitable early fall supply order and finish crossing items off of my list.

We don’t have a trapping supply dealer anywhere within driving distance of where I live.  Sure, the local sporting goods store has a few overpriced traps in stock and some bottles of lure, but that’s about it.  We tend to pick up a number of items at the annual conventions (Neil Olsen’s New England Trappers Weekend is coming up!), and order the rest through the mail.

I’ve ordered trapping supplies online from a lot of different places, but lately I’ve been getting most everything through Kaatz Bros. Lures (www.kaatzbros.com).  They started advertising on Trapping Today recently, and I made several supply orders to make sure they were a company I could stand behind.  I’ve been very impressed.  Don’t let the name fool you, they’re not just a lure company.  They have a full line of traps and supplies, in addition to their own lures and formulas from several other lure makers.  They have had just about everything I’ve needed, the prices are the same as (and often cheaper than) the other major online trapping supply dealers, and the service has been top notch.  Orders have been filled immediately and shipped out fast.

If you’re looking for a place to get supplies this fall, I hope you’ll consider Kaatz Bros.  Their website is well organized and easy to use and the ordering process is simple. As an added bonus, you can enter the code TT5 when you check out, which will save you a few bucks and help show your support for me here at Trapping Today.

Summer goes by way too fast here, and I hate to see it coming to an end, but the fact that trapping season is getting closer does take the edge off a bit.  It also means that we’d better get in gear and start prepping for the fall!  What kind of off season trapline preparation have you been working on?

Here’s a quick look at my current list.  It’s just a starting point, and leads to a much longer list of smaller miscellaneous items.

• traps (modified, adjusted, dipped, dyed and waxed)
• trap tags
• earth anchors
• wire (various sizes), wire cutters, pliers
• bait (tainted and preserved)
• lure (fall predator call, winter LDC lure)
• dirt (dry and/or waxed)
• sodbuster, trowel, sifter
• marten and fisher boxes
• misc. fur handling supplies

It doesn’t matter what your list looks like, or that you even make one.  The important thing is to be thinking about trapping and preseason preparation to avoid the last-minute scramble just before opening day.  Happy prepping!