Trappers trap for love of the sport, not money
Ed Cope
Trapper Bill Shearer of Connellsville demonstrates the use of his homemade duck-proof muskrat trap that has two 110 bodygrip traps inside. Ed Cope
Ed Cope
Bill Shearer, a longtime trapper from Connellsville, explains the working of a 330 Conibear beaver trap at a farm where he traps in Bullskin Township.
Ed Cope
Closeup view of a 330 Conibear bodygrip trap used underwater for beaver trapping.
Record high prices that fur buyers paid two years ago for the pelts of coyotes, foxes, beaver and other furbearers have drawn newcomers to trapping even though the prices have fallen.
For longtime trappers, digging holes and wading into streams to set traps during the cold winter trapping season and then skinning and fleshing their catch is a way of life.
Sales of furtaker licenses in Pennsylvania have slightly increased every year since at least the 2003-04 hunting and trapping season. The largest increase came in the 2011-12 season when fur prices peaked and license sales totaled 36,187, an increase of 5,000 over the previous season. In the 2012-13 season, the last season on record, 39,913 licenses were purchased.
The increases are noteworthy, but the number of licensed trappers pales in comparison to the 900,000 people who buy general hunting licenses.
Higher fur prices of the recent past have attracted more trappers and lured folks who used to trap back into the woods.
“I see more participation,” said Doug Bergman, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Wildlife Conservation Officer (WCO) for northern Fayette County. “We have a pretty decent amount of trappers here, but they’re spread out pretty thin.”
Only a few of the newbies are young people and the overall number of trappers has declined from a generation ago, said Bergman, who has been trapping since he was a kid and is a member of the Pennsylvania Trappers Association (PTA) District 3.
“Younger kids just aren’t there. When I’m out trapping, I don’t run into many younger generation people trapping,” he said.
“We definitely have seen an increase. When the prices go up, we see a bigger increase than we normally see,” said Barry L. Warner of the PTA.
Male and female adults who trapped when they were younger, but stopped to raise families, are returning to the sport and bringing their children with them, he said.
“Which is just wonderful to see,” Warner said.
Jason Farabaugh, the Game Commission WCO for northeastern Fayette County, also reported see more trappers last season.
“There was definitely more trappers out there than the year before because of fur prices,” Farabaugh said. “Definitely higher than in last 5-6 years.”
He said he found a few problems with inexperienced trappers not tagging their traps and he expects to see more new trappers this year based on the number of people who have been taking the commission’s required certification class to use cable restraint traps.
“Fur prices fell last year so I don’t know if interest remains. Most are planning to continue trapping and some new trappers are planning to start this year hoping prices will rebound,” Farabugh said. “Most of the trappers that are any good are out there just because they like to be out there, not to make money. They hope to cover their costs, but it’s a good reason to get outside.”
Bill Shearer of Connellsville has been trapping for decades because he likes the challenge, not because it’s a money maker.
“I’m 80 years old. I’ve been playing around with traps for a long time,” Shearer said. “I love to do it.”
A lifelong outdoorsman, Shearer said he still hunts, but not as much as he used to, and he used to teach hunter educations classes for the commission.
“I don’t particularly like to kill animals. It’s the chase. It’s a challenge,” Shearer said. “You might make a little money.”
Shearer’s primary quarry is muskrat.
“My favorite is muskrat. I help farmers. A muskrat can be very destructive. Horses can break a leg in a (muskrat) hole,” he said.
Setting two 110 Conibear bodygrip traps inside wooden boxes he made and designed not to catch curious ducks is one of the methods Shearer uses to trap “rats.”
Larger traps are used for larger prey such as coyotes, foxes and beavers, but he said the 110 bodygrip is his “bread and butter.”
He said he tries to catch 50 rats a year, but setting traps in creeks in the winter gets more difficult as gets older.
“I have fallen in,” Shearer said.
He said he sells most of his pelts in the “round,” or not skinned, because he doesn’t have a place to dispose of the carcasses. Buyers don’t as much for round pelts as they do for cleaned and prepared pelts, he said.
“The cost of the gasoline trappers use to drive to their sets, checking traps everyday, fleshing hides and scouting to find game makes trapping an expensive, difficult and time consuming pastime,” Shearer said.
“If you’re going to start trapping to become rich, forget it. With equipment, supplies, gas, it’s not a money making situation really,” Warner said.
Checking traps before or after work, skinning animals and fleshing and preparing hides requires commitment, Bergman said.
“It’s a commitment. Newcomers find that out fast. It’s a lifestyle,” Bergman said.
He said he traps in five counties.
High fur prices attract new trappers and lower prices will keep some trappers home, he said.
“Price has a lot to do with it and whether they stick to it. If they’re real trappers, they’ll keep doing it,” Bergman said. “Most are diehard and don’t care if they make a dime.”
End buyers in Russia and China buy most of the furs trapped or farmed in the United States. Winter temperatures in those countries and supply and demand, which is impacted by mink ranches in North America, impact fur prices.
The fur comes from animals that are an integrated parts of the ecosystem.
“Trapping plays an important role in the realm of wildlife management,” Warner said.
Racoons and opossums sniff out rabbit, pheasant, turkey and songbird nests for easy meals and coyotes can prey on house pets, he said.
“Trapping is an activity that’s very beneficial to the public and it’s very difficult to get the public to understand that,” Warner said.
An overabundance of racoons and coyotes will impact the populations of other animals and could spread diseases, Bergman said.
“Trapping is on of our tools we use to control renewable resources. The trapper is the tool that helps keep down human conflict,” he said.
Coyotes and bobcats cane be harvested by trapping or hunting. Farabaugh believes trapping is the more efficient method.
“I’d say trapping is a more efficient way. You can have multiple traps in one are. I’ve know guys who have caught two or three coyotes at one spot. Hunting you get one shot,” he said.