This is one of those true stories. These goldarn editors expect me to make this stuff up, but I’m gonna coast on this one. Anyways, it fits right in because it could have been the End of the Line for me. Summer sucks. But one of the perks of summer i

Out of all of the ways to dispatch our catches humanely, it is mostly agreed the gun is the best and quickest when the trap doesn’t do the job for us. So, what is it that we should look for in a trapline gun? The .22 rimfire has long been the trapper

I could feel my hands going numb in the cold. My biggest worry was frostbite. Forty below zero is a rough neighborhood, and Case and I were right in the middle of it. I know from experience that a small mistake in extreme temperatures can quickly spi

HOW-TO TACTICS TO HELP IMPROVE THE OUTCOME OF YOUR DEER HUNT 7 OUT OF 10 READERS DO NOT READ ANY OTHER DEER HUNTING MAGAZINE! GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE BEHAVIOR AND BIOLOGY OF WHITE-TAILED DEER CHOOSE THE FORMAT THAT SUITS YOU: PRINT, DIGITAL OR BOTH (AL

BROUGHT TO YOU BY pursuitchannel.com MAR 1-3: West Virginia Trappers Association Annual Fur Auction at the Gilmer County Recreation Center, 1365 Sycamore Run Road Glenville, WV. Vendors will be present throughout the weekend. Consignment for finished

Outside of some spring seasons and bounty/nuisance trapping, a lot of trapping seasons are either already finished or very near their end. This is the time to stow the gear, sit back and relax, until next season starts nearing. This may be true for t

In early 2023 I stopped by the fur auction in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. I wasn’t there to purchase anything, I was mostly just curious on how other trappers had done. The fur tables were loaded with bobcat, fox, coyote and other assorted furs ready for sa

If a bear decides to take up residency on your land, in your yard or even under your home, things can get a little hairy in a hurry. Black bears are not dangerous under most circumstances, but just one bear can certainly cause a mess and leave homeow

I unloaded Arthur from his car seat and set him down on the skim of white powder blanketing the powerline trail we’d parked on. His brother August ran around the front side of the truck, asking if he could carry the .410; I explained to him that he c

Sometimes I think that if only I had one more lifetime to trap, I could figure out some of the mysteries of the predators I pursue. Lure making is that way for me also, especially when it comes to an ultimate lure for bobcats. Throughout the years, I

I’m in the middle of a 150-acre muskrat marsh. The water is hip deep in most places. Sets for bodygrip traps are few and far between. I have gathered up all of the longspring traps in my arsenal just to keep up this job on a three-day rotation. Inclu

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Finally, after one last blizzard the first week in April, the weather broke. Temperatures well above freezing resulted in rapidly melting snow and ice, and the dry soil soaked up the runoff. The river still had ice along the slow-water sides, but I c

Encounters with bobcats are on the rise. As people move into bobcat territory, the animals have no choice but to adapt to these new and unfamiliar environments, and sightings are increasingly common. These occurrences frighten many people who are not

That river just seemed too perfect not to have beavers in it. Yet, as I stood on the bridge of this remote forest road, I could not pick up any sign of beaver presence, anywhere. No muddy trails, no chewed sticks, no old mud pies, not even old sign o

I sometimes come in conflict with other user groups in the field. Mostly dog hunters, although the fellow who hunts his rabbit dogs all over my trapline just lets the dogs loose when they get caught and leaves my trap where the stupid dog found it. R

Out of all of the animals that I pursue on the trapline, fishers may be the most fascinating. It’s widely understood that fishers prefer thick coniferous or hardwood forests, but they’ve slowly made their way into habitats once considered unappealing

My snowmachine emerged from a band of alders and continued onto a frozen swamp, 200 hundred yards wide at its narrowest section. Ahead, three eagles and a smattering of ravens took flight, flushed by my snow-machine like pheasants in front of a Labra

I’m trapping in a 40-acre wildlife area on the southwestern shore of Lake Erie. We are mostly setting feed beds. We have willow saplings for stakes. All of this is hip deep in water. But there is an embankment along the levee that protects the marsh.

Ask anybody that knows me, and they will tell you I am an avid trapper. My trapping does not last just the few months that I can have traps in the ground, it is something that I work on all year long. During the off-season I spend time finding new la

The old saying, “Any trapper that traps beavers has to wear a size 48 parka and a size 6 hat,” has been around for quite a while. Well, I guess I have to wear that badge because I like to trap old chisel tooth. I think it is the habitat that beavers

I’m honestly not sure where I heard it first, but I’ve found that there is a ton of truth to the old saying that the second we stop learning we get nothing but worse. Unfortunately, I see it repeatedly in hunting and trapping. It’s almost like we go