Review: Get'n By Without Footholds Vol.1

[Haskell_Hunter]

Product Link: http://www.droptineproductions.net/Purchase_Products.asp

Rating: **** (4/5)

 

I have never trapped in my life and am not afraid to admit that I know nothing about it. I've done some searching on forums and even after reading countless posts the topic still seems somewhat nebulous. Fortunately I found a link and recommendation to the DVD: Get'n By Without Footholds Vol.1.

 

The DVD is organized into six chapters:

 

1. Fox
   
2. Coyote
   
3. Racoon
   
4. Muskrat
   
5. Mink
   
6. Beaver
   

 

Each chapter goes into several things. There is a discussion about the animal and how it lives in a particular environment. Then there is discussion on trap setting strategies based on the habitat or the animal's preferred runs through the habitat. But there's more than just talk; nearly the entire video is shot in the field. You see live animals in traps, dispatching methods, retrievals, and resetting of traps that produce. It's all in there.

 

It gave me a pretty good foundation to consider the kinds of animals I could trap and if I had areas near me that would be suitable habitat for those animals. I saw how traps worked, how they are set, ways to secure them better for certain kinds of animals based on how they react in traps, and places that I don't want to set traps because it would be difficult to set, be a non-producer, or difficult to retrieve.

 

There is also an interesting discussion about how to tell which kind of predators are harvesting your trapped animals, and if you should consider trapping for the predator or the prey. There's a lot of information packed into nearly two hours of video, and I still didn't learn everything I wanted to. I actually now have more questions about trapping after watching the video than before, but at least now they'e somewhat more educated and specific questions.

 

That's the good stuff. Lots of meat and potatoes to the video, a tremendous amount of information, just enough to get you really interested in trapping.

 

Now the not-so-good stuff. The video and the sounds isn't the greatest. Some shots are better than others, and the sounds level goes all over the place. In some shots there is a lot of background noise from roads and/or highways. But I'll cut the producers some slack. Shooting outdoors is never ideal, and hey, this is NJ, you're probably going to be trapping/hunting/driving down a highway at some point in your life.

 

One additional thing I'd like to see is a graphic showing regions or areas in the state where some of these animals were harvested (yes, I want to know where your spot is ). In all seriousness it would be interesting to see something like that to give the viewer a frame of reference about a certain shot or harvest area. Even showing the county would be good enough. Out-of-staters would benefit from it too, since the video has national appeal.

 

It doesn't go into the "after the trap" experience. There isn't any discussion on dressing, uses for the meat, preparing the hide, caring for the hide, and storage. There isn't any discussion on hide auctions, brokers, markets, or pricing. I assume since this was Volume 1, the additional volumes will go into these areas. I'm sure the entire topic of trapping could go as long as 8 hours and still be scratching the surface.

 

Overall I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. The flow of the video is really good, it's organized, has the right structure to it, there's a ton of information, it's nearly all shot in the field, and folks featured in the video are regular people. I couldn't give it 5 stars because of some of the audio and video, but there are only a few minutes that are rough spots.

 

If you have questions about trapping, have never trapped before, or if you are a trapper and are looking for some more tips, this is an excellent DVD to pick up. I watched it with a buddy of mine while eating some venison ragú over rice and a few beers. It didn't feel like two hours, and if we had a volume 2 to watch, we would have gotten another 6-pack and popped it in.

 

I highly recommend this video.

[nycredneck]

I watched it over the weekend and thought it was great. Good info and I hope I get time to take the trapping course.

[NJTrapper]

Haskell Hunter, sounds to me that was a very fair and balanced review.

 

You have to understand that a video cannot take the place of YEARS of experience. It can only touch on the main points. The places and situations you see in that particular video will definitely vary from your area or situation. It can only give you the basics of what to do in THOSE situations. It will be up to you (after some experience) as to how to proceed. I haven't seen the video ( but if you bring one to the fur auction GG, I'll buy it off ya) I understand it is very good. The video is a tool to help you get a jump start as to what you may encounter in the field, it can't possibly answer every question you will come against, that's were the experience comes in. Good review.

[ub1243]

thanks for the very fair review.

 

it is very tough to film a trapline in this state. most states for that matter. i see a lot of road trapping on videos, that is a the reality of a lot of trap lines. yet, it shows on video. it doesn't look or sound good on the tv. i see it on F+T's show all the time.

 

we hope to cover some after the catch on the next dvd. we had a ton of topics, but only 2hrs to work with on a dvd. we tossed around the idea of a two disk set for the first one. but we wanted to keep the cost below the average price of a trapping dvd.

so we will discuss what ends up on the next one.

we are again teaming up with a few other trappers to show their ways on the line. i will film this weekend with someone.

because of recent events, i had to lay my line down for a few weeks.

 

again, thanks for the honest review. it will help us make the next one even better.

[gobblergetter]

Thanks for a great review.

An entire 2 hour DVD can easily be devoted to any one animal, or type of trapping, ( snares, footholds, conibears, DP's, etc.) as most trapping videos do.

As Joe stated, we had considered a two disc set but even that would not of covered all the subject matter contained in this DVD. So we opted to keep it as fast paced as possible while remaining informative to both the novice and experienced trapper alike and still keep the integraty of the Hi-Def footage (under 2 hours).

Only a few scenes were filmed in standard def. We had considered, not encluding them but I'm certainly glad we did, as one or more of those scenes contained footage of Joe with one of his daughters and I thought it was priceless footage at the time and it is even more so, given the recent events in Joe's life !

We are currently working on the next DVD which will focus mainly on snares and snareing, So if anyone has any comments on what they would like to see explained, Please let us know ASAP, So we can present it in an in-field envornment, as we will be wrapping up the actual trapline filming soon.

 

Thanks again to all who have purchase the DVD.

[ub1243]

this actor in the next dvd was not happy to see me.

his scene will be edited this week.

[hammer08]

Nice review, I think I'm going to order one myself

[BowhunterNJ]

Awesome review HH! I'll have the check the DVD out myself! I'm not a trapper either, but find it absolutely fascinating...and seeing the local Drop Tine Productions crew showing the ropes in a very educational way sounds perfect!

[Haskell_Hunter]

Any news on other DVDs coming out?

[Bucksnbows]

Just a comment in support of trapping.  Not only is trapping necessary to keep our predator/prey balance, but learning to trap will absolutely make you a better outdoors person.  The powers of observation that are required to become a decent trapper are also essential tools for hunting and fishing!  I know that once I began trapping back in middle or early high school, I became much better at observing wildlife behavior which translated to becoming better at hunting, fishing and trapping.  I'll have to get this DVD because although I haven't trapped in many years due to a severe lack of time, I do hope one day to get back on that horse and the entire snare thing is new to me.  I trapped in the days of legholds and Connibears, but snares became the law after legholds were banned in NJ after I went off to college. 

[CJ3a]

The trapping class is one of the better education classes I have taken. Even if you never trap I would take the class.