Feb 18, 2007 By Rod Schoener 6 min read

A year ago at this time I asked a leading question to Fayette County WCO Steve Leiendecker as to whether or not anyone really takes trapping seriously anymore. After noting his reply, I answered a voice mail from a young lady, Ashley Shay, who said that she just started to trap.

I returned her call, and I want to say that I was very curious as to what type of person would just take up the sport of trapping out of the blue in this day and age.

I introduced myself to the enthusiastic college grad, and we began talking about her trapline.

She informed me it was her first year of trapping. She took an interest in it and starting reading books on the subject.

The, now 25-year-old, Smithfield woman read up on the subject and awaited the start of beaver trapping season.

She caught four beavers the first week of the season, skinned, fleshed and hooped them herself.

She then took them to a fur sale and sold the beaver pelts and one muskrat pelt for $77.

For someone who admitted she was against hunting and trapping for a long time, she had a real change of heart,

She also went hunting last year, killed a doe and tanned the hide. She also had no hunting mentor. She just took it up on her own.

She takes the sport of trapping very seriously. She keeps a journal in which she documents each day on her trap line, including photographs and even receipts for her expenditures, plus the bills of sale for her pelts.

“I don’t enjoy killing anything,” she said, “But, it has to be done.”

It seems that trapping was just a natural extension of a hobby she enjoyed for years – taxidermy.

Last February she said, “I’ve been doing taxidermy for a few years. I do home taxidermy as a hobby.”

She has done all sorts of animal mounts, from heads and pelts that were given to her or she purchased from taxidermy supply houses.

Some of her mounts include badger and bobcat wall hangings, a huge boar’s head, a squirrel and several foxes and raccoons.

The other day I called her to see if she still had the same passion for trapping and hunting as she did a year ago.

“I tried for beaver a little while ago,” she said. “There’s just too many family problems this year. I have pulled my traps for now. I want to try for beaver again before the season goes out.”

While she didn’t catch any beavers, Ashley did say she had a little success trapping muskrats.

“I caught one a day for about a week,” she said.

This year she has switched from leg-hold to conibear traps.

Conibear traps grab the animal’s body and kill them quickly, while not damaging the fur.

“I have fallen in love with conibear traps,” Ashley said.

“I did have one bad experience, where a muskrat was still alive. I’m not strong enough to set the conibear traps with my hands, so I use steel setting tongs, which do not always allow you to get the trigger exactly where you want it to catch certain species.

“The trap was set in a trail and not submerged. I had to drown the muskrat. The trap usually kills them.

“I was so upset I cried for a couple of days. I had set the trap to catch a mink.”

One of her biggest problems this year is finding a place to trap.

“I’ve been having problems finding a place to set my traps,” Ashley said.

“I look everywhere for marshy, watery places, but good places are hard to find the way everything is being built up.

“Plus, I believe beaver become trap shy. Once one is caught, the others often move out of the area.”

She then noted that fur prices are up this year but trapping is still not worth the money. You have to have other reasons to do it.

While her love for trapping is still growing as she learns new techniques and experiments with different traps and sets, she has given up on hunting, which she also took on as a new endeavor last year.

“I lost my taste for hunting,” she said. “Trapping did not get dull for me. It gives me a different feeling.

“However, I did miss the freezer full of deer meat.”

Her last comment was in reference to the doe, which she killed last year.

She also quit doing her own taxidermy work for now, citing the cost involved as the main reason.

I asked if she has branched out to coyote or bobcat trapping.

Being a cat lover with three pet felines at home, she said, “A bobcat is still too much of a cat. I just couldn’t kill it. I understand the need to control the population, but I like cats too much.”

Last year she noted her desire to try and catch a fox.

“I enjoy making land sets,” she said. “I have some soft-catch traps with coil springs and offset padded jaws. I made a couple of dirt hole sets. When I checked my traps on the second day, one was set off, but there was no sign of a struggle and no signs of a struggle on the trap, except the dye was scratched a little.

“Something was caught but had little trouble pulling out of the trap. I let the jaws down easily on my hand, and I was able to pull it out without much trouble. My hand pulled out easily, and it didn’t hurt much.

“After that, I would not recommend a soft-catch trap. I should have had a fox.”

Her husband, Joey, still accompanies her as she sets and checks her traps, but he hasn’t become actively involved in the other facets of the sport.

With other things to tend to, she noted again before hanging up, “I still have another month before beaver goes out, and I intend to try for them again.”

I have to admire her spirit. She is a unique young woman in this day and age.

Herald-Standard outdoor writer Rod Schoener can be reached on line at rschoener@heraldstandard.com..