trapping

Feline Fever: Calling Cats

Feline Fever: Calling Cats By Troy Hoepker Minutes of boredom followed by moments of exhilaration! That’s the feeling that accompanies calling bobcats. My heart began beating in a higher gear when I first spotted a feline bounding over the corn stubble towards my position. Their bounce is unmistakable. The next 20 minutes would give me […]

Cold Weather Raccoon Trapping

Cold Weather Raccoon Trapping By Chris Pohl Trapping in the late part of the season most generally means much colder temperatures along with frozen ground and lots of ice for most of Iowa. A lot of folks choose to pull their trap lines and pursue other interests when the weather takes a down turn, but […]

Simple, Effective Sets for your Trapline

Simple, Effective Sets for your Trapline By JD Rogge One common factor to most successful trapping lines is the ability to deploy a variety of simple yet very effective sets quickly, and with minimal equipment. Trappers at times tend to overcomplicate our craft, as is evident by some of the instructional material in print and […]

Encountering Iowa Bobcats

Encountering Iowa Bobcats When Bret Paulsen filled his archery tag with a 155 inch, eleven point bruiser of a buck in mid November, some would call it a very successful fall already. What he didn’t know at the time was just how incredible his month of November for 2011 was yet to be in Iowa’s […]

The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two

The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part Two Last month we chronicled the early beginnings of the first fur traders to enter Iowa lands in the late 1600’s and the development of the fur trade from then until after the Revolutionary War. In this month’s edition we move forward from the year 1800 […]

‘Rats and ‘Coons: Tried and True Sets

‘Rats and ‘Coons: Tried and True Sets As a long time trapper it is great to see a bit of resurgence in the sport over the last few years. While trapping took a hit during the late 80’s and all through the 90’s and 00’s it appears that many trappers are getting back into the […]

The Other Masked Bandit: The Badger

The Other Masked Bandit: The Badger I was sitting on the phones at work one day getting bored with no one answering the phone and having read every trapper magazine and book I could get my hands on, I got to thinking about writing some kind of article. But what could I write about that […]

The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part One

The History of the Fur Trade in Iowa: Part One Picture it in your imagination if you possibly can? The year is 1685 and after painstakingly securing supplies and food your trek began in Montreal. Once ready, you managed to navigate the waters of the Ottawa River until it opened wide into the cold waters […]

Trapping Ol’ Bucktooth

Trapping Ol’ Bucktooth By Chris Pohl Beaver, by far, are some of my favorite animals to trap. For the most part, they aren’t that difficult to locate. They leave quite a bit of tell-tale signs and I have yet to have a farmer tell me that he didn’t want beaver removed from his property. So […]

Low Fur Prices? No Better Time to Start Trapping

Unfortunately the outlook for fur prices this year is, well no other way to put it, dismal. However there are still new trappers called to the sport every year with the same questions we veteran trappers had somewhere along the way. Common questions are where do I start, what animal should I target, what’s the […]

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