While my trapping efforts these days are minimal my mind never wanders too far from the line. I like coming to VA Turkey and reading the threads from the active trappers. Their experiences bring me back in time.

The photos below range from about 1985 to 1994. The monies derived from the traplines were used to support a growing family. Where else could I have had so much fun and at the same time help with the household finances?

Thank you VA Turkey trappers for keeping the drive alive.

























By far my favorite. My son is a grown man now.

Love the old pics Coleman

Great pics Coalman, thanks for sharing. Have you all always had yotes up there, or did they show up since you've been trapping? Are you doing any trapping this year?

It's amazing what those beaver did to those huge trees. I've never seen anything like that. How many did you pull from that spot?

Those are red oak. The beaver can just get so far.

That pond was fun to trap. It is in the woods behind work. We had questionable inches of solid black ice. . The lodge was on the other side of the river. The only way across was an acrobatic walk across the dam. The bubble trails from the lodge looked like the center line of a highway. One night two traps, two beaver.

I've never trapped there again.

The first coyote I heard was at the now closed dairy farm in our adjacent town in 1977. The fox and fisher picture in the drywall was taken in 1988. We never caught a coyote. The next year 1989 I had to upgrade my equipment. The coyotes appeared and started testing my traps.

I heated the ends of the jaws on my 1.75's Victors and bent them up so the coyote couldn't pop the jaws. Each trap got an inline swivel. All the traps were equipped with double stake swivels. While some traps were retired after catching a yote, I ever lost a coyote to 24" of double staked re barb.

A growing human population with their dogs and cats made me choose a different path. My NH canine trapping was over. From there I went to water which I enjoy the most today.

I caught fourteen otters this winter. Set a beaver trap.............catch an otter. I had two doubles that season and caught six where the fresh water meets the salt.



I'm glad I did it when I was a young man.

I can understand your frustrations with dogs. I got a new catch pole for Christmas, a much nicer upgrade. So far I haven't caught any I couldn't handle, but it gets to be a huge PITA. This year was a record for me because of trapping private farm land. None of the land owners are happy about the dogs running their property. So far, I haven't had dog hurt in any way, and none have come back at me, and most are easy to release. So I will just keep at it

The real conflict comes on public land when a you catch a hunting dog. Hasn't happened to me. And the dogs really aren't hurt. But I've heard stories of hunters freaking, and that can lead to conflict.

The first time I ever heard yotes was up your way. I went on a scouting trip on Lake Mattagammon in Maine in the summer of '91. We started at Lake Mattagammon, then canoed down the east Pennobscott (?). We were camped on the bank of the lake one of the first nights when after dark coyotes started sounding off all over. The guide and leaders tried to tell us those were loons and that was their mating call. I guess they didn't want anybody getting scared. Didn't fool me though. It's amazing how they have spread in the last 20-30 years.

Very nice pics coalman, I see a lot of hard work and fun!

Nice pics, thanks for sharing!! I really enjoyed them!

Apparently you all knew a thing or two about trapping. You really stacked them up.

Vic