Why I Trap

By Coltin Gresser

This outdoor recreation hobby was what made America the country we see today. Now it is a fading hobby, that many people thought had died out with the Mountain Men. The prices of the fur market are basically nothing. Unless you have had the traps passed down to you, inherited some of the fleshing beams and tools, or you have a couple miles worth of a trap line. You will not be making huge profits from selling furs at all.

            After reading that you’re probably like why in the hell would anyone in the world want to get filthy dirty, be cold, wet, and spend hours of hard manual work for little pay. Maybe I’m crazier than a bed bug, but I LOVE IT! Now don’t get me wrong hunting and fishing (conventional or fly) are super rewarding but let me tell y’all there is something about setting a trapline after studying the movements of the targeted species. To check it a few days later and go 50% or higher on catch rate.

            Now there are probably many reasons why I trap. If I had a whole year of writing down every little detail about trapping and what I have learned, I could probably write a 300-page novel. To some it may be a page turner, while to others it may be used to prop up something that is more important than trapping beavers out of a river. After a short duration of thinking, cough cough about two hours. Here are the top three reasons why I trap.

1.   To help control overpopulated species and regulate ecosystems

While growing up I have always heard the stories, “man back when I was in high school, me and the boys would make good side money trapping ditch beavers and coons.” To start off a ditch beaver equals a muskrat, and coons equal racoons. So now that the confusion of hillbilly lingo is out of the way, let’s get to the point. The reason I told you I have constantly heard the stories of people trapping when they were younger is because it brought in more money! When the fur prices took a drop so did the number of trappers across the country.

Now there is a correlation that many people seem to overlook. When the number of trappers decreased, the population of those targeted furbearers increased. This was okay for a few years. In some areas of the country, they needed to have a rest from trapping. However, in most cases now we see ecosystems starting to change. No matter if it is racoons or opossums that are over abundant and destroying your ground nesting bird populations. Yes, they do some damage on ground nesting birds, BUT maybe not as much as our culture once believed. That is a long story for another time.

I will give you guys a great example. The North American Beaver once was victim to unregulated trapping and hunting. Now that the demand for beaver pelts has drastically dropped and we have started to realize we could lose one of nature’s best engineers. We have left them alone for the most part. Due to humans not harvesting them their populations bounced back to a least concerned species. One of the properties that I trapped was an area with a river flowing through and the woods around were a bottomland/ river floodplain ecosystem. The beavers had started to kill off all the mature sycamores and oaks that were in the bottomland and were starting to change the ecosystem.

If you were to leave them alone, all the vegetation in the area, herbaceous and woody, would have been extirpated. So, before it was too late, I got in there and took out some younger beavers and a few nice mature beavers. One of them was a 62lb, which my buddy Carter and I are very proud of. Now that the floodplain ecosystem will not become a pond and will stay the way it was intended too.

Remember all species are supposed to be in their desired ecosystems conducting their desired niches. If you start to see one species out compete or take over, it is time to decrease their population!

2.   To learn more about the natural world and wildlife

If you all know me on a personal level. You know that I would probably not want to live my life if I couldn’t go outdoors. I live, breathe, and dream about anything in nature. I am all game for another excuse to go outside and study the biology of wildlife species.

My favorite thing to tell people who are eager to pursue a species, whether that would be hunting, fishing, and especially trapping. If you want to be successful in the game you pursue you must know how it moves, where it likes to sleep, eat, and what its roles are in that ecosystem. Putting in time to study your targeted species is a crucial part in having a better success rate.

That could be learning about Brook Trout in the amazing waters of Maine. From chasing Elk in the mountains of Montana. Even learning how to read coon sign in the agricultural fields of Indiana. No matter how big, small, or slimy the species is you want to catch or harvest, knowing them like the back of your hand is important.

3.   Being apart of the culture and tradition

There is a huge sense of pride and love for the game of trapping. I’m not only talking about love for the animals or the traps we use. It is love for the pursuit. Many, if not most of the people you talk to are who are trappers will say the same thing. It’s the thrill of studying your animal and the sign you see in the landscape. Creating a plan on how you will set your traps, and out of a 100-acre property. Try to catch the target in a circle that is not even a foot wide. Then seeing the success of a tight chain is joyful. Even when we mess up and have an empty trap that is the chance to learn and not repeat the same error.

The community that surrounds the world of trapping are all great people. Many of us want to get more people into it. Here is a quick breakdown. In 2014-2015 there were a total of 176,573 licensed trappers in the United States. By now that number has totally dropped. For some perspective, let’s take the population of the U.S in 2025 which is 347,275,807 and divide that by the number of licensed trappers in 2014-2015. That makes 0.05 % of the American population are trappers. Now with the yucky math stuff out of the way, all I have to say is we need more trappers!

There is a plethora of great resources out there to help you get into trapping or get around people who trap. Remember regulated hunting, fishing, and trapping have put the most money and work into conserving wildlife and wild places. Now, get out there and get dirty! Remember to be safe and most importantly have fun out in gods’ creation!

Good luck and tight chains!