trapping adentures...

Dumb question: do you eat the rats or just go for the fur?

Jon.

I've eaten muskrats. If you like wild duck, they taste a lot like that. But I don't eat them on a regular occasion (would if I had to no doubt!!). Some furbearers are good table fare, some not. I don't think I would eat any of the mustelids unless I was in a serious protein bind.

Why, are you opposed to trapping?? If you are, I can tell you right now that you're not going to change my mind and I'm probably not going to change yours. So, if you and anyone else is going to use this thread as a running gun battle about the rights or wrongs of trapping, I'm not going to play that game.

Dakota, are you asking me about opposition to trapping? Not at all!! I don't think I said anything about that. I got no problem with trapping.

Jon.

Cool!! But from experience antis usually start with "do you eat them?" or "what else do you do with them besides the fur?" and it goes down hill from there. I view game animals (including furbearers) as a renewable resource and if managed wisely will be around probably for as long as we are. If I dispatch a furbearer, such as a raccoon, as quickly as possible, what's the difference if it dies by my hand, gets greased by a car, or dies a lingering death by distemper, it still is a wild animal that dies. I, and several other people down stream get to use part of it as a resource. End of my story.

Here's a pix of my last coon before winter returned with a vengeance and all the rest have denned up until it warms up again...

Trapping and scrapping work well together. When I'm out cleaning up scrap at an abandon farm, I find places where coon are living and come back after them later. The yard I haul scrap to is 30 miles from home, so I check traps on the way back, sometimes with a 35 ft gooseneck trailer behind the pickup.
Always trying to kill two birds with one stone.

I never had an opportunity to trap, but I have been going after coyotes on my farm. They are pretty cagey, though and you gotta be able to shoot them from a couple hundred yards at least.

We've been having better luck since we got a couple of big dogs. They draw the b*stards out in the field where we can nail them. But they have also got torn up pretty good, too. They're getting better at it, though. Learning the coyote tricks. There are some wolves here, too. Or some sort of wolf/dog/coyote cross that is quite a bit bigger than a coyote and more bold.

I didn't realize Dakota had such a short fuse!! No intention at all about razzing anyone about what they do. And I'm OK with trapping, anyway. We have enough of that shzt up here with tree huggers and oil haters and other d*ckheads who want to stop everything and go back to the stone age. Ever heard of David Suzuki? Yeah, he's from BC.

My wife spent some of her teenage years on a ranch near a lake where lots of guys fished. She saw a chinese guy there all the time who trapped muskrats. He was part of a family in town who ran a restaurant, and she always wondered if some of the specials had extra protein from the 'rats.

What are the pelts worth? What is a raccoon pelt worth? I thought the fur buz was just about dead...

Jon.

Ibscrapin hit it on the head, furs are a commodity just like scrap metal, gold, silver, oil, etc. The price fluctuates based on supply and demand. Those that have read my posts know my choice of lifestyles.

I have read enough of Saws posts to know he is not against trapping, hunting, or fishing. I have asked the same question to all the trappers I know because I am curious, not questioning their lifestyle. Some people in Louisiana eat Carp. When I was little we use to give the Carp we caught to locals that thought it was a delicacy. I have no desire to eat it because I am spoiled with Walleye, Trout, Northern Pike, and Bass.

Trapping is hard work that I have tried with limited success. I wish Dakota good luck on his trapping and commend him on being open minded to the advantages of modern technology. GPS is not needed on my scrap piles because eventually the farmers will call me to get the stuff out of their way. No intention to throw a left hook into the thread, so a new thread will be started based on part of this conversation.

fresh Beaver is good!

No problem with trying different meats. Just have to be careful about how you cut and cook them. Some animals, like deer and elk, can have wasting disease so you need to watch the animal before you shoot it, for odd behavior. And know what to stay away from when cutting it up for the meat.

Bear and other things that occasionally eat other critters or carrion can have some undesireable buddies riding along in the meat. Trichinosis and the like.

I'm no expert, but I believe the bottom line for most of this stuff is to know what parts to eat, what to look for when preparing meat, and to cook the h*ll out of what you do eat. Eating a tapeworm is one thing, better to eat a dead one. (Just kidding)

My wife just about had a rectal hemorrhage when I came home with some smoked bear meat sausage from a guy at work. It wasn't cooked, just smoked. Needless to say, I didn't get to eat it!! She used to shoot small birds and whatever else they could nail when she was growing up to get enough protein on the table. They didn't take chances!

I'm still amazed at the number of guys around here who hunt deer and elk and never have heard of wasting disease. So they don't know how to minimize the risk when cutting the animal for meat. D'oh!

Jon.

With the coyotes around here, we are just happy to nail them. The last one we got, my son cored it with a .30-06 so there wasn't much pelt left. Well, not much of anything else, either. I've been using a .204 Ruger...like the flat shooting and very low recoil.

We have something out there, more greyish coloured, that took a run at our horses late last fall. We had two moms out on the field, each with a 3 month filly, accompanied by a yearling gelding. It came out of the bush, separated a filly off the group, and was moving it away. Here's the amazing thing: The little gelding went after the wolf(?) and a few seconds behind him came my larger dog. The dog took over dealing with the wolf and the gelding brought the filly back to the herd. The filly had a couple of fang holes in her neck--we had to get the vet out to treat it cause they infected but otherwise is fine.

I didn't see it but my wife watched the whole thing and was amazed at the coordination between the dog and gelding. They are pretty good buddies and the dog will run with the horse and the two of them will goof around from time to time.

I've borrowed an electronic coyote caller gizmo that you set out in the field and can remotely control it. It gives off young coyote distress calls so might be pretty effective in drawing them out of the woodwork, especially in the spring.

Jon.

Done some trapping in my years. Bobcat, beaver, raccoon and skunk (by mistake). My favorite was calling coyotes with my son in law. He was a dead-eye shot and I got pretty good at the calling so we made a nice team. He's moved too far away now to remain doing that but he's teaching my grandsons the trade. They're into wild hog hunting in Oklahoma now. Moved some wheat bales into the farmyard and now I have varmits.......this might get to be a common thing for awhile.

Yunkman
That is one fat rat! I thought the sewer rats in milwaukee were healthy.

That's a nice trap their (Dakota) here in CA I might get life in prison for using a trap like that these tree huggers I tell you. One more reason I don't consider CA part of the United States. I run dogs on coon now a lot more than I use to do to another law here in CA out lawing dogs on bear. but every time I set a trap I feel like a kid again on Christmas opening a present cant wait to see what I got. last house I set traps at I caught 9 coons in a week best for me yet. coyote here look like they got mange there all skinny scraggly looking but once in a while you get a nice fluffy one. ill have to post a picture the last coon I caught he bent the cage enough to get out its one of the drop door type. that's why I need a trap like Dakotas then I wont have to worry about anymore.

I haven't seen the real McCoy Norway rat...with the scaly tail like the one in your trap. We are "blessed" with pack rats here, aka bush rats...the only difference is these have a furry tail. And are just as entertaining.
Having two big dogs kinda ended their reign around here. Once they discovered one, it would take about 3 days of unrelenting harassment by the dogs...they'd either move out or make a slip and get eaten.

Jon.