# Trapline Size, Length and Time?



## Lenawee River Raisin (Sep 2, 2012)

I'm just curious, how big of a trapline do others on the forum run? How much area do you trap, or how many traps do you set? What sort of land (or water) do you trap, and how long does checking/altering your trapline take on a day-to-day basis?


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## USMCSniper (Dec 21, 2006)

My line is run on foot, with the exception of driving to the second line. Between the two lines this year I will have almost 4 miles of line. I have 12 beaver dams and have planned out the line in 4 phases. Each phase I will run 36 sets. Twelve of each phase are land sets. I always leave room for incidental sets for sign I see after the season starts. Also I plan on hitting the last two Dams after ice-up and running snares on them. They are both 2 miles into the back country so I won't work those until I can snowshoe in and use my sled to drag them out. The rest of the sets I am planning on starting at 5 am and I have to be in class by 11 am so I have about 5 hours to run the line. I will tweak that after I see how long I am spending on each set. I hope each phase will take about 2-3 weeks if my set/catch percentage is high enough. If i hit 3 weeks per phase I will finish up my lines by the first week of Feb. then the focus shifts to the fur shed and sale prep and tying fly's for spring.


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## jmccallie (Jan 22, 2012)

Lenawee River Raisin said:


> I'm just curious, how big of a trapline do others on the forum run? How much area do you trap, or how many traps do you set? What sort of land (or water) do you trap, and how long does checking/altering your trapline take on a day-to-day basis?


Well as a new trapper and this being my first year but I have been doing a lot of scouting. As of now I am trapping the back yard for k9s only 10 acres which only 5 of that is trapable since we have pets (but that is where I got my first yote). And until water season opens I am at my buddies corn field 250 acres. I have 12 foot holds, 13 160s, 2 220s, 11 110s, 1 330, and 2 snares. Using the corn while it is still up, but plan on moving into the thicker cedar forest soon. As a new trapper I am sure it takes me a lot longer to run my line then veterans who know exactly what they are doing and where. Usually all together takes me 4 hours to run around check my set ups rebait or re set.


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## Swampfoot (Dec 19, 2008)

Lenawee River Raisin said:


> I'm just curious, how big of a trapline do others on the forum run? How much area do you trap, or how many traps do you set? What sort of land (or water) do you trap, and how long does checking/altering your trapline take on a day-to-day basis?


 Pretty new to trapping myself,so I'm not running a big line yet.....although I have access to some nice lands,just not enough traps yet. I am running 12 160 bucket sets,6 220 bucket sets,and 2 dirt hole sets for k9's.These are all set on one 60 acre piece. There is a creek running through,which I plan to run some blind and pocket sets in for mink.For the sets I'm running,it doesn't take long for me to run around and check em,of course moving traps,etc,does take longer.


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## micooner (Dec 20, 2003)

jmccallie said:


> Well as a new trapper and this being my first year but I have been doing a lot of scouting. As of now I am trapping the back yard for k9s only 10 acres which only 5 of that is trapable since we have pets (but that is where I got my first yote). And until water season opens I am at my buddies corn field 250 acres. I have 12 foot holds, 13 160s, 2 220s, 11 110s, 1 330, and 2 snares. Using the corn while it is still up, but plan on moving into the thicker cedar forest soon. As a new trapper I am sure it takes me a lot longer to run my line then veterans who know exactly what they are doing and where. Usually all together takes me 4 hours to run around check my set ups rebait or re set.


So what are you trying to catch with the 330 coni and the 2 snares in the cornfield?


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## jmccallie (Jan 22, 2012)

micooner said:


> So what are you trying to catch with the 330 coni and the 2 snares in the cornfield?


I dont have the 330 set or the snares. The 330 is for beavers during water season. The snares I bought but have not deployed yet ( I tried but kind of a pain to set up...)


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## wildlife chaser (Mar 4, 2005)

dry land **** line have about 60 traps and i will be hoping from farm to farm think i can run that in about 3 to 4 hours. then on the 10 water line starts and i don't have any idea how long just hope i can get it done before dark.


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## magnumhntr (Aug 18, 2003)

I have a 3mile section of river that will have 3 dozen dp's and 3 dozen 1.5's in pockets on it for a week - 10 days starting on the 10th. I also run another 50 miles worth of ditches, lakes, and ponds with 110's and colonies for rats, with a pocket or two at each location. All in all I run around 12 dozen traps for the first 10 days, after which I go back to work and run a couple small lines within 10 miles of home before dark for another 3 weeks or so ~ depending on the weather. 

The first 10 days I run sun up to sunset, and skin till done each night. After I go back to work I can run each line in about 2 hours, and then skin 'till done. 

5 weeks total I lose around 10 lbs as I have little time to eat/sleep  , but I have fun and enjoy the rewards of trying to meet my goals. This year I may go another week if the weather stays warm and the **** keep moving :evil:

-chris


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## magnumhntr (Aug 18, 2003)

jmccallie said:


> I dont have the 330 set or the snares. The 330 is for beavers during water season. The snares I bought but have not deployed yet ( I tried but kind of a pain to set up...)


If you're intending on using the snares for K9's they cannot be used until January...

-Chris


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## jmccallie (Jan 22, 2012)

magnumhntr said:


> If you're intending on using the snares for K9's they cannot be used until January...
> 
> -Chris


I bought them when I was getting all excited about buying all the trapping stuff. I messed around trying to set them up to see how they work and how to set them... Seems so easy but I couldnt get them to set right so thats why I havnt even messed with them and dont know if I even plan to. Question though, the buddies field that I have traps on has wild hogs and he wants them gone. (If I figure them out set wise) can I use the snares for the hogs? If so when could I set the snares for the hogs? I only have 2 but he did mention something about the pigs so maybe I will try to figure the snare set up out. There is a bunch of spots by his irrigation pond where they are rooting up the ground.

Thanks
Jon


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## Lenawee River Raisin (Sep 2, 2012)

Some of these responses make me feel under-ambitious, but then again, this is my first year and I don't have much experience in the outdoors. Myself, I have a total of 21 traps (8 dp, 4 #1 1/2 CS, 4 #1 LS, 3 #110, and 2 colony traps) and have ~60 acres of woods, including a creek valley, and a couple miles of drainage ditch to work with, besides all the farmland I won't be doing much with. Since I'm a school student, I'm planning on doing most of my trapping during my Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I'm sort of regretting my decision to leave the coyotes alone this year, but I'd rather not have to deal with anything larger than a fox quite yet.


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## toepincher (Oct 3, 2010)

Michigan legal snares will not hold a pig unless it is a very small one. I talked to Clint Locklear about it and he said he uses beaver footholds for them. He said the mb 750's would work well. He has also caught them in the KB 5.5's.


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## jmccallie (Jan 22, 2012)

toepincher said:


> Michigan legal snares will not hold a pig unless it is a very small one. I talked to Clint Locklear about it and he said he uses beaver footholds for them. He said the mb 750's would work well. He has also caught them in the KB 5.5's.


Thanks for the reply, the ones I have are the MI legal ones so guess thats a no go. I have heard of a lot of guys doing great on snares each year but to me they seem like a pain. I will stick with the foot holds just glad I did not buy a bunch of the snares.... There are at least 4 bear that are on the property too, so I dont really want to mess with the bigger foot holds. The pigs are rooting within about 60 yards of the bears den so think I will not bother with the pig problem lol... Do not want to come up on a bear in a foot hold:yikes:


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## Jaspo (Dec 9, 2011)

If you need help we will gladly take a drive over and bowhunt those hogs.


Patience, Determination and Courage are the only things needed to Succeed


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## USMCSniper (Dec 21, 2006)

Lenawee, don't feel like you have to meet anyone's numbers but your own to be successful. Set a goal and go for it. The best way to learn is to start small and learn each set intimately. Learn each animal and their habits, and how to target them. If you spend this year with only those traps, and make them work you will be lethal in the years to come. Some trappers choose to target land sets, some choose water, some choose to do both. I prefer water sets after the last 4 years of trapping K9's and cats in North Carolina I am happy to be back in Michigan where there is plenty of water to go around. I started trapping in 2006 with 4 1.5 CS, then after much help from Gilgetter, NorthCountry, Trapper Dave, and a few other guys, I upgraded to a dozen 110's, one 330, and a dozen 1.5's and stayed with that until 2009 when I added some #2's, #3's, a dozen 330's, and 6 MB750's. I spent all of 2009, 2010, 2011 concentrating on K9's and Cats to learn all I could about them. This year my goal is to run a high catch ratio line, but also I will hit the Marten/Fisher season hard, and refine my pelt prep. Just have fun with it and don't worry about what other guys are doing.


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## Swampfoot (Dec 19, 2008)

Good advice from USMCSNIPER. Just starting out myself,I have to agree. Just like everything else in life,the best way to learn it is to do it. I had a couple friends tell me that there was no sense in me getting started if I wasn't doing so with at least 50 traps. Another fella told me that there's no sense going after anything but rats and mink. Well,as you can see by my other posts,I'm pretty much targeting *****,but also have a couple sets for k9's. Point is,do what you can do,the best way you can do it,and most importantly decide what your own expectations are. Little by little as my Gramps used to say. We all have to start someplace,why not here,why not now,why not with what we have at hand.
That being said,stay on em.


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## toepincher (Oct 3, 2010)

USMCSniper said:


> Lenawee, don't feel like you have to meet anyone's numbers but your own to be successful. Set a goal and go for it. The best way to learn is to start small and learn each set intimately. Learn each animal and their habits, and how to target them. If you spend this year with only those traps, and make them work you will be lethal in the years to come. Some trappers choose to target land sets, some choose water, some choose to do both. I prefer water sets after the last 4 years of trapping K9's and cats in North Carolina I am happy to be back in Michigan where there is plenty of water to go around. I started trapping in 2006 with 4 1.5 CS, then after much help from Gilgetter, NorthCountry, Trapper Dave, and a few other guys, I upgraded to a dozen 110's, one 330, and a dozen 1.5's and stayed with that until 2009 when I added some #2's, #3's, a dozen 330's, and 6 MB750's. I spent all of 2009, 2010, 2011 concentrating on K9's and Cats to learn all I could about them. This year my goal is to run a high catch ratio line, but also I will hit the Marten/Fisher season hard, and refine my pelt prep. Just have fun with it and don't worry about what other guys are doing.


 He is absolutely right. You might be better off running less traps at first so you have more time to just study the target animals. You can learn alot from the people on here and through other sources on the web, but you cannot skip the " boots on the ground " portion of your learning. I got to meet Slim Pederson this summer and he said somtething that really stuck with me. " I'm not a better trapper than anyone else, I've just been lucky enough to make more mistakes."


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## BigWhiskey (Jan 7, 2010)

Do yourself a favor and don't try and compete with anyone other than the animals. Most of us on here are part-timers, running before work, weekends, or vacation time. I don't get more than about 6-7 miles from my house, other than when I trap up north for beaver on a weekend. 

When I am k-9 trapping, which is mostly what I do now, I trap 2-3 farms at a time and check before work. Unless you are trapping for a living, make sure you keep it fun, it is easy to get bogged down. I also set a traps for other animals to keep cathcing something as that helps keep the drive alive. I do not have traps in the ground throughout the season, I will take a break here and there. This year I am striving for efficiency in an unefficient game.

This year with the way the holidays are lining up I will have 10 days off around Christmas and New Year and I am going to try and go pretty hard after some k-9's during that time-frame. But who knows I may be to tired by then and catch some mink in the ditches, if there are any.

Good luck and have fun.


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## jmccallie (Jan 22, 2012)

Jaspo said:


> If you need help we will gladly take a drive over and bowhunt those hogs.
> 
> 
> Patience, Determination and Courage are the only things needed to Succeed


Hmmmm, I bow hunt my self.... I will ask the land owner and if he says yes (which I am sure he will) I can send you a p.m.


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## Jaspo (Dec 9, 2011)

That'd be the highlight of bow season thats for sure.


Patience, Determination and Courage are the only things needed to Succeed


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