Short Line vs Long Line Trapping

Short Line vs Long Line Trapping

By J.D. Rogge

When i was growing up in the late 70’s and early 80’s during a time of high fur prices known as the “Fur Boom,” it seemed that everyone was a trapper, with varying levels of participation. Coons were worth $20-$30, mink would bring you $40, and fox could bring you $50 plus, the road killed furbearers would begin to disappear from the roads by mid October.

In 70’s and 80’s dollars prices like that paid a lot of bills, and a good trapper could make more money trapping than working. In those days competition was extremely high, “secrets” and methods were kept very close to the vest, and it was common to see trucks parked on bridges for hours on the 1st Saturday of November before the 8am opener to beat the competition to a favorite location. Then in 1987 came the fur market crash, and the same coon that brought you $20 the year before was worth about $6, and trapper participation dropped dramatically in the years that followed. Since those days the fur market has been a rollercoaster ride with some respectable years and lean years in between.

Many trappers now can be considered short line or hobby trappers, these trappers run short lines, weekend lines, or possibly lines on their way to school/work. The short line trapper may be someone looking to save a few pheasants from predators, or just someone looking for a way to enjoy the outdoors, while putting a little spare cash in their pocket. There are other trappers that can be considered more full time trappers or long liners. These are trappers who take a significant portion of vacation from work to trap, or work seasonally in the summer and trap in the winter. Long line trappers set lines for weeks or months at a time, and may make a significant portion of their yearly income from trapping. The long line trapper is usually more focused on pushing himself hard to make large catches and the hopefully large checks that come with them.

The short line trapper will find that similar equipment and line preparation is required of the long and short liner, the difference being the quantities and types. The short line trapper can have a bit more flexibility where traps/snares are concerned. Long liners tend to want consistency in their equipment to enhance speed and efficiency. If I’m setting a water line for coon, and I decide to set a line of 200 pocket sets, I’m going to have every trap on that line the same size, style, and brand. If I have three different sizes, styles, brands, each is a little different and my speed and efficiency will suffer as a result, and time is money on the long line. If I’m running a short line on a weekend that consists of three dozen traps and I’m using a couple different style of traps, it’s not going to be an issue because I don’t have to push as hard to make the line successful, and I can take my time. A short liner can also use a more expensive trap. If I’m running a short line and using an expensive trap, I’m not risking as much as I would be having a few hundred expensive traps out on a long line and getting hit hard by thieves. If I’m running a long coon/mink line I would opt for Duke 1 ½ as opposed to a more expensive trap.

Staking considerations between the short and long line is mostly a bulk weight issue. If the trapper is using rebar it is the bulkiest item the trapper will have to carry. A short liner can stake everything with rebar if they choose, because they simply will not have to haul the numbers of stakes. For a long liner staking with rebar becomes a serious weight issue. If I’m running a water trapline or a dry land DP line I choose to use disposable cable stakes, not only are they considerably lighter than rebar but they hold better. When I’m running long snare lines I choose rebar, but I generally prestake so I don’t have to carry as many stakes at once. Trust me from experience it’s no fun to wonder if you’re going to make it home because your truck is grossly overloaded with equipment.

Preseason work for the long liner can really be a grind, where as a short liner can generally have their preseason work on equipment done in a weekend, at most. The long liner must allow considerable time to complete their preseason work on equipment which many times will involve hundreds of traps and snares. One thing that most successful long liners are not is procrastinators.

Preseason scouting is much, much more extensive for the long liner than the short liner but is every bit as important for the short liner. Every trapline should be properly scouted prior to season. Your scouting doesn’t need to be extensive, but you need to have locations scouted so you know where you’re going on the opener, and a plan B in case some of your locations don’t work out for whatever reason.

Sets for the long liner need to be fast, efficient, and most of all effective. As I said before time is money, and how you choose to spend your time is the single most important factor that you can control on your line. Long liners know this and use simple effective sets that they can put in large numbers in a day. The short liner can be more creative with his sets, and spend more time making them quite simply because he doesn’t have to push as hard to make his line work. I would caution any trapper reading this to not make your sets overly complex though, simple effective sets catch fur, plain and simple. Pocket sets, smear sets, fish stick sets, dirt hole sets, flat sets, etc are all very simple sets that anyone can make quickly and will catch as much or more fur that the newest gimmicky set out there.

I prefer a blend of the two types of line, I take vacation early season, then run short lines throughout to feed my trapping addiction. Financially a short line takes less money to equip, and maintain, but also doesn’t produce as much fur. A long line is costly to equip and maintain, and there is a lot of pressure to push hard as a long line must produce in order to keep it running. The payoff of the long line if it’s managed correctly is large catches and hopefully large fur checks.

Is one style of line better than the other? That is for the individual trapper to decide. What is important is to get out there and trap, and while you’re there take a kid and show them the ropes. Kids are our future, and young trappers are few and far between anymore. Good Luck, and go get’em!