WEBVTT - Ep. 251: This Country Life - Trapping

0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.639
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to this country life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.719
<v Speaker 1>From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.720
<v Speaker 1>I want you to stay a while as I share

0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.240
<v Speaker 1>my experiences and life lessons. This country life is presented

0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.239
<v Speaker 1>by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:28.280
<v Speaker 1>the best outdoor podcast the airways had off. All right, friends,

0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.840
<v Speaker 1>grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:41.920
<v Speaker 1>stories to share. Trapping. My trapping started at a young

0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.320
<v Speaker 1>age when I ran a trap line on our farm

0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.760
<v Speaker 1>where I grew up. Now, those experiences and lessons have

0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.400
<v Speaker 1>served me well in just about every aspect of my

0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.040
<v Speaker 1>outdoor career. I'm going to tell you all about them.

0:00:55.240 --> 0:01:04.240
<v Speaker 1>The first, I'm going to tell you a story. My

0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:09.280
<v Speaker 1>uncle Dobb, whose actual name was Troy Alvin Matthew Atkins,

0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.920
<v Speaker 1>was everyone's favorite uncle and no blood relation to any

0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.880
<v Speaker 1>of us. He was a hunter, a fishermen, and above

0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:21.360
<v Speaker 1>everything else, a trapper, at least he was to us.

0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.360
<v Speaker 1>His notoriety as a trapper wasn't solely of our own

0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.800
<v Speaker 1>imagination either, because there were a lot of trappers back then.

0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.320
<v Speaker 1>But Uncle Dobb specialized in mink trapping, and a successful

0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.160
<v Speaker 1>mink trapper was revered even amongst trappers as having the

0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:43.240
<v Speaker 1>extra skill set to consistently add the prized fur bearer

0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:48.160
<v Speaker 1>to their daily take. Now mencher difficult to catch and

0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:50.800
<v Speaker 1>have been known to travel as much as ten miles

0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.920
<v Speaker 1>in a night. They have excellent eyesight, hearing, and depending

0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.280
<v Speaker 1>on who you ask, either a keen or a poor

0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.080
<v Speaker 1>sense of smell. I found arguments for and against it online,

0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.440
<v Speaker 1>but who really knows. I tend to lean toward the former.

0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.280
<v Speaker 1>With mink ben the predators that they are, but no

0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.960
<v Speaker 1>one actually knows except the mink, and the only thing

0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:18.120
<v Speaker 1>they absolutely fail at is talking. Having observed mink in

0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.560
<v Speaker 1>the wild myself, I find them beyond curious and busy,

0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:27.520
<v Speaker 1>very busy, like full on, hyperactive busy. They never slowed down,

0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.520
<v Speaker 1>and their constant search is for something to eat, and

0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:35.760
<v Speaker 1>they're good at gathering victials. I was standing knee deep

0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.240
<v Speaker 1>in a narrow portion of the Little Red River one

0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.160
<v Speaker 1>day with a fly rod and losing a sword fight

0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.040
<v Speaker 1>with some overhanging tree limbs. I was occasionally dropping the

0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.959
<v Speaker 1>zebramage in the vicinity of some feeding rainbow and brown

0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.760
<v Speaker 1>trout that I could see in the crystal clear water.

0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.720
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't doing any good. I was also seeing flashes

0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.000
<v Speaker 1>of something I'd originally thought was a brown trout, darting

0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.360
<v Speaker 1>in and out of the shallow water column, only to

0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.880
<v Speaker 1>disappear in the shadows from the overhanging limbs that were

0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.280
<v Speaker 1>all about wrecking my rhythm. I started my casting sequence again,

0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.800
<v Speaker 1>and eventually all things merged into one, but instead of

0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.919
<v Speaker 1>a river running through it, my fly tied itself in

0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.519
<v Speaker 1>the grounding, not about six feet over my head. And

0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.440
<v Speaker 1>while I stood there, staring at the second fly and

0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.080
<v Speaker 1>the leader that I would be sacrificing to the lord

0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.280
<v Speaker 1>of the limbs that day, and listening to the babble

0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.560
<v Speaker 1>of the cold water as it brushed over the rocks

0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.800
<v Speaker 1>and around my knees, I saw that brown flash again

0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.960
<v Speaker 1>out of the corner of my eye. It was swimming

0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.960
<v Speaker 1>further out of the shadows this time, and it came

0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.880
<v Speaker 1>within a few feet of where I stood. And it

0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.680
<v Speaker 1>wasn't a brown trout. It wasn't even a fish. It

0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.880
<v Speaker 1>was a mink, and he was swimming underwater like Michael Phelps.

0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.120
<v Speaker 1>I watched him go toward the bank, climb up on

0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:58.400
<v Speaker 1>the edge, and immediately right back in the water. I

0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.120
<v Speaker 1>stood there like an idiot, with my hopelessly anchored to

0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.240
<v Speaker 1>its final resting place, a third of my fly rod

0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.520
<v Speaker 1>pointed skyward. While this mink swim upstream against a strong current.

0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.040
<v Speaker 1>I saw him slip up behind the twelve inch rainbow,

0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.040
<v Speaker 1>put him in a half nelson and drag him up

0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.480
<v Speaker 1>on my bank and eat it right there in front

0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.520
<v Speaker 1>of it. The mink are killing machines, and it's been

0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.320
<v Speaker 1>said that they'll raise a chicken coop and just murder

0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.040
<v Speaker 1>all the chickens for sport. You know, it's one thing

0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.200
<v Speaker 1>to lose a chicken to a coon, a fox, a

0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.240
<v Speaker 1>coyoder or whatever. But at least they're making a meal

0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.719
<v Speaker 1>out of it. Not these vampiric thieves of the night.

0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.799
<v Speaker 1>They're just biting next, drinking blood and hitting the trail.

0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.360
<v Speaker 1>Uncle Dob got after one particularly daring specimen that he'd

0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.880
<v Speaker 1>identified by a peculiar track that he made in the mud.

0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.640
<v Speaker 1>That mink was going around his sets, digging them up

0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:56.400
<v Speaker 1>and generally becoming a pain in Uncle Dobb's ego. The

0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.120
<v Speaker 1>crooked foot track was giving him away in it came

0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.960
<v Speaker 1>down to a battle of wits and skill. He was

0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.680
<v Speaker 1>running his trap line down in the river bottoms every day,

0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.279
<v Speaker 1>and while catching multiple coons of mink throughout the daily runs,

0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.599
<v Speaker 1>this one particular mink out foxed him. You see what

0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:18.000
<v Speaker 1>I did there on multiple occasions, most times but not

0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.960
<v Speaker 1>every time, on his sets they were either passed over

0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.719
<v Speaker 1>or dug up, and he found that crooked track. It

0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.960
<v Speaker 1>was as right front foot as eye as I remember

0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.040
<v Speaker 1>him telling the story, and it was a battle royale

0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.880
<v Speaker 1>of him against this mink, and finally Uncle Dob got

0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:36.640
<v Speaker 1>the best of him with a one and a half

0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:41.520
<v Speaker 1>single spring trap. He never revealed anything different about how

0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.279
<v Speaker 1>he did it, and I'm sure it wasn't a secret.

0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:47.320
<v Speaker 1>I seriously doubt he changed much of anything. He was

0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.280
<v Speaker 1>just persistent with the tried and true methods that had

0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.000
<v Speaker 1>served him through the Great Depression, when a successful trap

0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.960
<v Speaker 1>line was literally money and the mattress and food on

0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:01.200
<v Speaker 1>the table. His reputation as a good trapper didn't by

0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.440
<v Speaker 1>pass his own understanding either. He was good and he

0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.760
<v Speaker 1>knew it. He also liked to have fun. In one

0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:09.919
<v Speaker 1>story I remember hearing about him was when he and

0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.920
<v Speaker 1>another trapper of somewhat lesser skill were staying down at

0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.720
<v Speaker 1>the cabin on the saline river, the same cabin that's

0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.239
<v Speaker 1>still in the Fry family that you've heard me speak

0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.080
<v Speaker 1>about before. It was the one where I sucker punching

0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.640
<v Speaker 1>my dad in the belly while he was taking a nap. Anyway,

0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.080
<v Speaker 1>they'd been down at the river a few days and

0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.520
<v Speaker 1>someone came by and asked if they'd had any luck,

0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:35.000
<v Speaker 1>to which Uncle Dob replied, well, last night I caught

0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.240
<v Speaker 1>five cones and two mink, and my trapping partner here

0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.719
<v Speaker 1>caught an otter. That was strictly a coincidence. He was

0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.960
<v Speaker 1>a good trapper, and my brother Tim followed in his footsteps.

0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.280
<v Speaker 1>He learned a lot from trapping with him when I

0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.200
<v Speaker 1>was just too little to go. But he passed those

0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.160
<v Speaker 1>lessons in some of his own down to me and

0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.880
<v Speaker 1>his sons, Matthew, named in honor of Uncle Dob and Will,

0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.880
<v Speaker 1>both of which are pretty good travers themselves. But Tim

0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.880
<v Speaker 1>told me his mission growing up had always been to

0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:13.640
<v Speaker 1>best Uncle Dobb's record of a one hundred percent catch night.

0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:16.760
<v Speaker 1>He put out ten traps one day, and when he

0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.000
<v Speaker 1>ran on the next morning he had ten coons caught,

0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.960
<v Speaker 1>and that was the standard. If you wanted to beat

0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.239
<v Speaker 1>the record, you had to have a minimum of eleven

0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.400
<v Speaker 1>traps with one hundred percent catch all in the same night,

0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.040
<v Speaker 1>and Tim came as close as anyone ever did in

0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.480
<v Speaker 1>the family. Long after Uncle Dob had passed away. He

0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.880
<v Speaker 1>set his eleven traps many days through that winter, and finally,

0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.240
<v Speaker 1>after coming close several times, was eight or nine coons

0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.960
<v Speaker 1>out of eleven. Then one day, as Tim put number

0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.000
<v Speaker 1>of ten in his basket, he walked around the next

0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.920
<v Speaker 1>bend of the creek to see that number eleven had

0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:56.320
<v Speaker 1>chewed the limb he'd wired his trap chain to into

0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:00.200
<v Speaker 1>a small piece of wood, and he climbed a small tree,

0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.520
<v Speaker 1>his foot still caught in the trap, close to where

0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.440
<v Speaker 1>the set was made, and there it was the record

0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.080
<v Speaker 1>staring at him from eight feet off the ground, the

0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.240
<v Speaker 1>chain hanging with an easy reach like a light chain,

0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.480
<v Speaker 1>along with the record, and all he had to do

0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.480
<v Speaker 1>was literally reach up and grabbed that coon and the record.

0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.040
<v Speaker 1>He grabbed the end of the chain of the one

0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.520
<v Speaker 1>tug he pulled the trap off the coon's foot as

0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.080
<v Speaker 1>he bailed out of the tree, running away with his

0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.520
<v Speaker 1>hide and the closest anyone ever got to Uncle Dob's record.

0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.360
<v Speaker 1>Some things are just meant to be some things aren't.

0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.600
<v Speaker 1>That Tim broke in his record that day, and had

0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.199
<v Speaker 1>Uncle Dob been there to witness it, I'm sure he

0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.880
<v Speaker 1>would have been proud of it and told everyone around

0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.520
<v Speaker 1>that Tim had bested his record and it was strictly

0:08:53.320 --> 0:09:08.160
<v Speaker 1>a coincidence, and that's just how that happened. Trapping has

0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.280
<v Speaker 1>been a great pastime of mine and being inspired by

0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.720
<v Speaker 1>my brother Tim and other members of my family like

0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.120
<v Speaker 1>my uncle Dob. My brother Tim actually got to trap

0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:20.520
<v Speaker 1>with him when I was too little to go. The

0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:22.720
<v Speaker 1>coons were the main target, and back then the fur

0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.120
<v Speaker 1>prices were good. Fela could make a good amount of

0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.160
<v Speaker 1>money trapping through the winter, even in the South, where

0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.200
<v Speaker 1>the winners didn't get as cold and the quality of

0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.959
<v Speaker 1>the fur lagged behind the Northern States. The animals down

0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:37.800
<v Speaker 1>here don't get as big as they do up there,

0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.200
<v Speaker 1>which limits how much fur you have. Once the animal

0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:44.360
<v Speaker 1>is skin, obviously you're gonna get more usable fur from

0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:48.120
<v Speaker 1>a larger source. It goes along with what's known as

0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.640
<v Speaker 1>Bergmann's rule. If you're not familiar with that, allow me

0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:59.080
<v Speaker 1>to pontificate. Bergmann's rule is an eco geographical rule that

0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:04.440
<v Speaker 1>states that within it, a broadly distributed taxonomic clade. Populations

0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.480
<v Speaker 1>and species of larger size are found in colder environments,

0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.320
<v Speaker 1>while populations and species of smaller size are found in

0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:16.400
<v Speaker 1>warmer regions. Now, the rule derives from the relationship between

0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.160
<v Speaker 1>size and linear dimensions, meaning that both height and volume

0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:27.840
<v Speaker 1>will increase in colder environments. Now in non nerd Lingo,

0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.960
<v Speaker 1>that means the further you go up north, the bigger

0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.440
<v Speaker 1>than animals get, and the word of the folks talk,

0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.120
<v Speaker 1>I'm just kidding, not really, the heartier they have to

0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:43.360
<v Speaker 1>be to withstand the winners up there, the critters anyway. Now,

0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.320
<v Speaker 1>looking on a map, once you reach the top third

0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.160
<v Speaker 1>of the continental US, you're going to start seeing the

0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.439
<v Speaker 1>size of the animals get bigger and the fur get thicker,

0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.640
<v Speaker 1>as simple as that. Now, I know people who hunt

0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.360
<v Speaker 1>and trapped in the northern US who've sent me picks

0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.439
<v Speaker 1>of seemingly huge coons and beers that we would count

0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.800
<v Speaker 1>here in the South as extra large one, presenting them

0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.360
<v Speaker 1>to the fur buyer that would grade out as an

0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:11.720
<v Speaker 1>average or large up north. I recently got an acquainted

0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.800
<v Speaker 1>with Jake and Riley Debo from New Hampshire, and I

0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.880
<v Speaker 1>mentioned them on here in episode or so going. I'm

0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.480
<v Speaker 1>completely intrigued with their way of life and how they

0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.360
<v Speaker 1>represent the world of trapping to the rest of the

0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:28.319
<v Speaker 1>world through their social media. Social media is a descriptor

0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.000
<v Speaker 1>like Jombo shrimp. It seems to contradict itself. I can

0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.880
<v Speaker 1>only imagine how much grief they get from the antis

0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.320
<v Speaker 1>that troll around on the Internet looking to duke it

0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.920
<v Speaker 1>out virtually with someone over something they don't agree with.

0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.360
<v Speaker 1>I've said it before. Folks that verbally attack others the

0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.520
<v Speaker 1>way they do while hiding behind the keyboard should have

0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.800
<v Speaker 1>to list their address in case the attack e wants

0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:55.200
<v Speaker 1>to drive over and have a meaningful exchange of ideas. Anyway.

0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.200
<v Speaker 1>They have a business selling fur items that they produce

0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:03.040
<v Speaker 1>from fur, but a sales pitch is the last thing

0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.440
<v Speaker 1>you'll see on their social media. It's one advanced level

0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.679
<v Speaker 1>class of instruction after another on how they prepare their

0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.240
<v Speaker 1>equipment all the way to the end where they prepare

0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.240
<v Speaker 1>the fur harvested for the market, and folks like Jake

0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.200
<v Speaker 1>and Riley put a great and true face on what

0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.880
<v Speaker 1>trapping is and the benefits of the practice. It's absolutely

0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.520
<v Speaker 1>one of the best and closely regulated renewable resources on

0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.560
<v Speaker 1>the planet that builds a stronger environment for all the

0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.120
<v Speaker 1>nature when the populations you're held in check beaver's for instance,

0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.439
<v Speaker 1>everyone knows that when a beaver sees a free flowing creek,

0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.960
<v Speaker 1>his first thought is i' muna stop this nonsense immediately.

0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:47.199
<v Speaker 1>In doing so, he creates a wetland habitat that benefits

0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.520
<v Speaker 1>dozens of species of insects and wildlife, all of which

0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:54.440
<v Speaker 1>coexists and depend on the other for survival. But if

0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.240
<v Speaker 1>they're left to dominate the space, they eventually going to

0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.480
<v Speaker 1>do more harm than good. When the number are held

0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:04.160
<v Speaker 1>in checks, say by trapping, that's called wildlife management, And

0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.320
<v Speaker 1>all you listening probably already know that it's a simple

0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.800
<v Speaker 1>concept that works, and it's based on nothing other than science,

0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:17.000
<v Speaker 1>simple science at that Also, it's fun. I love the trap.

0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.120
<v Speaker 1>Historically there's always been a conflict among coon hunters and trappers,

0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.920
<v Speaker 1>and where I grew up there was no shortage of either.

0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.920
<v Speaker 1>The dog hunter's main argument was they didn't want to

0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:28.880
<v Speaker 1>get one of their dogs hung up in a trap.

0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:31.559
<v Speaker 1>I agree, I don't want to have to go get

0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.880
<v Speaker 1>old whaling. I don't want either. But with the invention

0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:39.640
<v Speaker 1>of the dog proof trap, that has become a non issue.

0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.079
<v Speaker 1>A coon has to reach inside and manipulate the mechanism

0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.720
<v Speaker 1>that springs the trap in A dog's foot just won't

0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.160
<v Speaker 1>fit in there, as opposed to stepping on a pressure

0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.040
<v Speaker 1>plate that releases the jaws on a standard foot old trap.

0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.920
<v Speaker 1>It was pattented in nineteen eighty four and is an

0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.880
<v Speaker 1>excellent method of targeting that's predators like coons, skunks, possums

0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:03.480
<v Speaker 1>and not. This trap allows hound hunters and trappers to

0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.480
<v Speaker 1>coexist at the same time on public ground where both allegal.

0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.640
<v Speaker 1>Now they used to be a recipe for a fistfight.

0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.160
<v Speaker 1>I've had traps sprung, hung in trees and just outright

0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.720
<v Speaker 1>stolen by folks who didn't want to share the space,

0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.480
<v Speaker 1>and it could be they just didn't like the idea

0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.000
<v Speaker 1>of trapping. However, during that time that I'm referencing, there

0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.440
<v Speaker 1>wasn't a lot of anti anything associated with hunting and fishing,

0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:30.560
<v Speaker 1>and if there was no one said it out loud. Now,

0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.400
<v Speaker 1>in reality, it may not have been such a disagreement

0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.680
<v Speaker 1>over trapping versus coon hunting as it was the battle

0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:41.120
<v Speaker 1>over the hides themselves. The fur prices were still good then,

0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.360
<v Speaker 1>and finding a dead coon a beaver or especially a

0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:46.440
<v Speaker 1>fox or an otter on the road was like hitting

0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.960
<v Speaker 1>the lottery. They normally got scooped up like a hot

0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.360
<v Speaker 1>grounder to the shortstop and taken home. Some of them

0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.200
<v Speaker 1>might still be kicking, and maybe a good vet could

0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.760
<v Speaker 1>have saved them. But a twenty dollars coon laying on

0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.080
<v Speaker 1>the side of the road nineteen, which was what the

0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.080
<v Speaker 1>average coons were back then, is like seventy six dollars today,

0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.680
<v Speaker 1>which is almost a tank of gas for your lawnmower.

0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.040
<v Speaker 1>So why do people continue to do it? Why go

0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.720
<v Speaker 1>to the trouble of such a labor intensive investment of

0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.240
<v Speaker 1>sweat equity in the fur market that crashed thirty seven

0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.320
<v Speaker 1>years ago and shows no signs of ever coming back.

0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:30.080
<v Speaker 1>That's your answer. That's the why. Because it is going

0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:34.000
<v Speaker 1>away and it doesn't deserve the maligned face that anti

0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.480
<v Speaker 1>trapping community has placed on it. The benefits of harvest

0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.240
<v Speaker 1>and animals by trapping for fur and food far out

0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.920
<v Speaker 1>weigh any argument to be made against it in the

0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:49.000
<v Speaker 1>management space alone. Want more ducks, limit the nest predators

0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.640
<v Speaker 1>on the landscape. Want more quail, turkeys and any other

0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.760
<v Speaker 1>ground nesting bird. You guessed it put a thin in

0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.000
<v Speaker 1>on the stuff that eats them. It's just that simple.

0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.960
<v Speaker 1>My friend and coon hunting partner, Michael Roseman, has said

0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.680
<v Speaker 1>a hundred times that coon hunters as a whole, that's

0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:10.080
<v Speaker 1>hunters who chase coons with a dog no less about

0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.000
<v Speaker 1>the animals they chase than any other group of hunters

0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 1>out there. And I one hundred percent agree with him.

0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.480
<v Speaker 1>We depend on the dog to do all the work.

0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.440
<v Speaker 1>The old hay that ain't my job phrase may have

0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.760
<v Speaker 1>been coined by a hound hunter who was just sitting

0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.080
<v Speaker 1>around waiting for the dog to bark. The ones who

0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.800
<v Speaker 1>have taken the time to educate themselves and study what

0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.920
<v Speaker 1>they do and when they do it have always been

0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.960
<v Speaker 1>more successful. And I learned more in one season of

0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.880
<v Speaker 1>trapping coons than I ever have from hunting them with

0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.560
<v Speaker 1>a dog. Not only was I learning about coons, but

0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.960
<v Speaker 1>I was also learning about every other critter that roamed

0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.560
<v Speaker 1>the same woods that the coons did, not by catching them,

0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.000
<v Speaker 1>but by looking for coon tracks and being curious about

0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.680
<v Speaker 1>what all those other tracks were. And I asked questions,

0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.040
<v Speaker 1>and I read books, but mainly I paid attention to

0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.480
<v Speaker 1>him who already knew some things. He wouldn't tell me.

0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:05.960
<v Speaker 1>I had to find those out on my own, which

0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.919
<v Speaker 1>is the best way. Anyone, regardless of their age, learns

0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.919
<v Speaker 1>the quickest when they take on a new task. The

0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.679
<v Speaker 1>anticipation of finding coons in my traps would keep me

0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.640
<v Speaker 1>awake at night and getting up before the alarm went off.

0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.760
<v Speaker 1>The next morning, I ran my trap line before I

0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.320
<v Speaker 1>caught breakfast over the school bus. I was creeping out

0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.480
<v Speaker 1>of the house with a flashlight before daylight to go

0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.840
<v Speaker 1>check my traps. And every empty trap was a lesson

0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.600
<v Speaker 1>in observation and application, and I took mental notes of

0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.000
<v Speaker 1>what worked and what didn't. I came up with a

0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.560
<v Speaker 1>list of dues and dons for each set, and I

0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:46.359
<v Speaker 1>made that was successful or not. There's just as many

0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.399
<v Speaker 1>lessons in failure as there is in success, if you

0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.520
<v Speaker 1>can accept it quickly and get past the fact of

0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.919
<v Speaker 1>what you did it just didn't work. I'd called Tim's

0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.959
<v Speaker 1>house before bedtime and asked him either fur wood started night,

0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.639
<v Speaker 1>which what I was asking was if he thought the

0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.760
<v Speaker 1>animals will be moving. He'd give me his prediction. Most

0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.840
<v Speaker 1>times he was right. I don't remember a time when

0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.000
<v Speaker 1>he didn't catch more than me. But I learned what

0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.320
<v Speaker 1>to look for and helps me to this day when

0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.040
<v Speaker 1>trying to estimate on whether Whalen and I are going

0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.399
<v Speaker 1>to have a bunch of action or if we're going

0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.720
<v Speaker 1>to struggle to put a coon up a tree because

0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.800
<v Speaker 1>of the conditions, the time we're going and where we're going,

0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.040
<v Speaker 1>and everything else that goes along with it. I learned

0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.320
<v Speaker 1>a lot of that initially from trapping. It's a great

0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.120
<v Speaker 1>way to introduce young folks to the outdoors and they'll

0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.160
<v Speaker 1>put them on the fast track to learn about everything

0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.800
<v Speaker 1>that lives on the landscape where you're doing it. There's

0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.080
<v Speaker 1>another way to learn the principles of trapping if you

0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.080
<v Speaker 1>don't have your own personal uncle Bob or older brother

0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.800
<v Speaker 1>Tim like I did, and that's to take a look

0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.320
<v Speaker 1>at my friends Stu Miller's at Coon Creek Outdoors YouTube

0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.600
<v Speaker 1>and social media pages. He has got a ton of

0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.760
<v Speaker 1>how to videos on his page with some great lessons

0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:05.199
<v Speaker 1>he's already learned that he shared him with everyone. Highly recommended.

0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.200
<v Speaker 1>He can snatch catfish up out of the water too.

0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.760
<v Speaker 1>I sampled some of that last weekend at the World

0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.960
<v Speaker 1>Championship Squirrel Cookoff. I know who eats fish at a

0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.119
<v Speaker 1>squirrel cooking well, I eat fish every chance again, and

0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.280
<v Speaker 1>I ate a lot of squirrels too, and I try

0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.800
<v Speaker 1>not to miss an opportunity to eat eat it one

0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:27.320
<v Speaker 1>of them. REEVEA. Hanson, the Pride of Autubon, Iowa and

0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.560
<v Speaker 1>requisite engineer of all things this country Life, is going

0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.040
<v Speaker 1>to put a link to Stud's videos in the podcast

0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.479
<v Speaker 1>description that you'll see on whatever platform you listen to

0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.880
<v Speaker 1>us on. Just click and watch Meat Eaters Radio Live

0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.160
<v Speaker 1>shows up and running every Thursday at eleven am Mountain time.

0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.439
<v Speaker 1>And I just hosted the last two episodes of those

0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.080
<v Speaker 1>and you can see them on the met Eater podcast

0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.679
<v Speaker 1>Network channel on YouTube if you missed the live version.

0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.600
<v Speaker 1>We had a great time at the World Championship Cookoff

0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.080
<v Speaker 1>last weekend in Springdale, Arkansas. There's also lots of bear

0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.080
<v Speaker 1>grease hats in this country live shirts and talk with

0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.920
<v Speaker 1>so many folks that support me and oklay Bow. It's

0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.679
<v Speaker 1>always such a blessing to be able to just stand

0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.200
<v Speaker 1>around and visit with old friends and make new ones.

0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.760
<v Speaker 1>What a day that's gonna do it for me. So

0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.880
<v Speaker 1>until next week, this is Brent Breeves signing off. I'll

0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:21.480
<v Speaker 1>be careful