Anybody trap for a living???

U

utahyotekiller1

New member
Just curious if any of you out there trap for a living or trapping is your job in the winter. I would be trapping through the winter and working in the summer. Thanks!
 
Honestly I have one winter's experience working with a guy in northeastern Oregon. I wouldn't be trying to make a whole living of it just kind of a bonus to my paycheck.
 
Being a new trapper you can probably count on being in the red your first couple of years.
Gas, traps, lure, bait, tools, etc add up. It took me many years to start making a profit as a hobby trapper, but I started in the late 80's crappy fur price days.

Most new guys spend $2000.00 to make $500.00. But don't let that discourage you, everyone has to start somewhere...

What animals will you be targeting?
 
Coyotes and foxes mostly, Utah is stupid about trapping bobcats but there is a $50 bounty on coyotes. For $50 for scalp\lower jaw I might not even try to skin the coyotes.
 
Boy I sure would take the extra time to skin out a bounty yote! why not add another 25-50 dollars to kitty on top of the states bounty? Just a fur buyers opinion...carry on.
 
For the bounty I am supposed to turn in ears and jaw. With the ears\scalp missing is the fur still valuable? Sorry I am new to the fur marketing game.
 
Originally Posted By: utahyotekiller1For the bounty I am supposed to turn in ears and jaw. With the ears\scalp missing is the fur still valuable? Sorry I am new to the fur marketing game.

jaw is no problem. but since the state wants the ears for the bounty how are you fur keeping guys doing it?
 
Trapping for a living in the winter takes years of experience, 100s of traps and thousands of acreas of good fur land to trap. Doing it for a living means putting up your fur as there is a big difference in put up for to skinned or carcass fur. Good luck
 
All they do is take a small notch out of the ear of the coyotes. It would be foolish to not skin and sell the hide. I averaged almost $90 with the bounty in utah last season. Not to shabby for SW coyotes!
 
Originally Posted By: utahyotekiller1For the bounty I am supposed to turn in ears and jaw. With the ears\scalp missing is the fur still valuable? Sorry I am new to the fur marketing game.

All you have to do is take in the stretched and dried skin with the jaw. They will notch the ears. You do not have to completely remove the ears for the bounty. I skin all mine for the extra money. If you are serious about making money, you are foolish not to.
 
Getting the bounty on those Utah coyotes and selling the hide is what makes them pay. The year before last I got a $50 bounty on a nice female and then sold the hide for $60. That's $110 for ONE desert coyote.

Mind you-you HAVE to put the hides up correctly.

It took me four years of trapping before I could show a real profit.
 
I have been a professional trapper for going on 36 years now. I manly do wildlife control and fur trap in the winter. way back when I was a young pup, I wanted to be a long liner, that is a rough one to do in these days and times, but can be done if a person has enough drive and health to them. but that person will need summertime work as you already stated. I chose to do the ADC and have never looked back, I am home with the wife most of the time unless I am doing a talk somewhere. My kids are grown and I get to see my grand kids, as a fur trapper you will need to be moving along to new ground so travel will be a must. as far as trapping I have traps out 365 days a year unless I go on vac or out of state for a seminar or do a in house training. I also make and sell baits and lures, deer scents fishing scent and game calls. You will need as you stated another form of work in the off season. and I can tell you when you trap for a living it is not all fun and games, and that is really true if you have a family to provide for. I would not trade doing what I am doing but sometimes, just like any other job it can get old and burn out can come. make your plans based on your know how, what you need to live on, and where and what you want to do and achieve. just some thoughts
 
Originally Posted By: huntingalGetting the bounty on those Utah coyotes and selling the hide is what makes them pay. The year before last I got a $50 bounty on a nice female and then sold the hide for $60. That's $110 for ONE desert coyote.

Mind you-you HAVE to put the hides up correctly.

It took me four years of trapping before I could show a real profit.

$60 for a Utah desert coyote?? That is a little hard to believe. What fur buyer paid that?
 
In the late 70 and early 80's I worked construction/resort in the summers and trapped in winter. In 1984 I moved into a tent in N. WI for three years and built a retirement home for my folks and trapped the winter. A couple of years I worked the sugarbeet harvest in N. MN and spent the rest of the winter trapping and cutting firewood. Some years I worked jobs that gave comp time instead of overtime and was able to trap most of the winter. To save money on fuel I trapped large sections of river by canoe, fox and coon up on the banks and mink, muskrat, and beaver in the river and shore line. Trap a week in one place and move to the next section or another river. Sometimes I'd trap with a partner and he'd drop me in the river and pick me up down stream a number of miles in the evening.

If you can get into ADC or nuisance trapping you can do it year round.
 
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