trapper's daily routine - how many traps do you tend do daily?

[mazzgolf]

I thought of this question when someone in the other thread here mentioned they only set 5 traps.

I'm curious how many total traps do you trappers typically check daily (snares, dp, conibears)? How far apart from the first to the last? (how far do you walk/drive from first to last) and how long do you spend tending to them?

I'm talking just on average.. I get it sometimes you may only want to target beaver with a few traps but then later you change focus and target fox/yote with a string of a dozen snares.. but on average, what is your daily routine?

 

[Bucndoe]

15 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

I thought of this question when someone in the other thread here mentioned they only set 5 traps.

I'm curious how many total traps do you trappers typically check daily (snares, dp, conibears)? How far apart from the first to the last? (how far do you walk/drive from first to last) and how long do you spend tending to them?

I'm talking just on average.. I get it sometimes you may only want to target beaver with a few traps but then later you change focus and target fox/yote with a string of a dozen snares.. but on average, what is your daily routine?

 

You may have  misunderstood the post about 5 traps. He was referring to beaver trapping. With a beaver permit you can only have 5 bodygrip traps set at one time

Edited March 9, 2023 by Bucndoe

[rgw]

Tuff to say depends on market and how motivated I am, least amount is a doz, most is over 100. This year I would say I averaged a couple dozen,  I just calculated from my first to last is 40 miles 

[SPEARFISH]

My first year setting

I had 2 private pieces that I set around 20 -30 traps on and then couldn't trap there any more.  I moved to state land and set around a dozen each time, experimenting with sets for different species.

It depends on how much time you have to set and check.  It's an everyday thing.

[gobblergetter]

Varys widely.

[mazzgolf]

46 minutes ago, gobblergetter said:

Varys widely.

Understood. What was your last set then?

e.g. @rgw made me go  when he said sometimes over 100 and 40 (!) miles.

I ask because I'm curious what I should look forward to if one year I decide to really get into this. With hunting winding down, this month I finally decided to give it a go for the first time, just to see how it is... I only set 5 snares at my buddy's property - mainly just to get the feel for it (get an idea for how to pack what you need to carry in, practice setting snares quickly, get used to looking for sign, etc)... I'm not really expecting much of anything harvest-wise (and, indeed, all I got so far was one knock-down  ).

But this little practice run has already drilled home to me how much of a commitment it is - and I'm only traveling 20 minutes one way and have to only walk a half-mile (out and back to the truck total)! You have to make concrete plans to get out there daily, and for us working stiffs you have to make sure work isn't going to get in the way.

[SPEARFISH]

1 hour ago, mazzgolf said:

You have to make concrete plans to get out there daily, and for us working stiffs you have to make sure work isn't going to get in the way.

Work messes everything up

 

[Ringtail]

I haven’t run a legit line in a couple seasons due to lack of time. Now it’s really just setting 1/2 dozen or so sets around the landowner’s property where I deer hunt if he’s having predator problems with his chickens. But when I did run my line my routine was this:

I’d have three or four different properties that I would run to every morning. About a 20 min drive from my house to the first spot and then about 10 min drive in between spots. I’d set anywhere from 6-12 traps per spot depending on the situation. When I was trapping coons I’d have bucket feeders out filled with cat food and would set DPs around the bait site making it a pretty quick to check traps with there being a few sets within eyesight of each other. Or if I was trapping trails I would also do a similar thing, set a few in a line within view of the first one so I wouldn’t have to walk up to every individual set to save time. 

My daily routine was wake up a 3am and go run my line, bring the critters home and put them in my fur fridge to cool off (I find cold critters to be all around much easier to handle) then I’d be at school by 7am. When I got home from school I would skin everything then roll up the furs and put them back in the fridge. After school I worked a part time job so I would wait to flesh everything until I had a day off, and that’s when I did all of the fleshing and stretching. I’d usually do 2-3 days worth of catches at a time.

Yes, running a line does take a lot of commitment, but you also have to remember and account for the time to properly prep your furs after the fact.

[rgw]

Right now takes me 3 hours to check  and I think I have a bone spur starting to grow on my foot 🦶 

[BowhunterNJ]

Just now, rgw said:

Right now takes me 3 hours to check  and I think I have a bone spur starting to grow on my foot 🦶 

[rgw]

Ringtail those 3 am checks do suck

[mazzgolf]

Yeah, tru dat you also need to schedule time to put up the fur.

If I were to get into this seriously, I'd have to invest in a fur fridge... the wife won't appreciate me using what we already have  I do have "my own" chest freezer in the basement I use for my hunting harvests, but I wouldn't want to use that to store critters.

I assume you all have a separate fur fridge and/or freezer to store in-the-round or the skinned-but-not-fleshed furs? Do you use a fridge or a freezer when storing critters in-the-round/skins?

[bt bowhunter]

I run 2 chest freezers and it’s not enough and that’s no whole critters.  Depending on what you are trapping and how hard you run in season and delay putting up.

[NotJust22s]

Depends on how many the local guys put out.

[jumpthestring]

I live in a trap its called NEW JERSEY