Perhaps I should say the obsession continues, the obsession with the fur trade. I was fortunate this weekend to spend some time with a great new friend Joey Shackleford and his 8 year old son Elijah. The intention was to spend time working on our historical trapping skills, which in such a short time we experienced a few challenges and obstacles to overcome next time. Being the month of May, and fur isn't in season it was just an opportunity to fine tune our gear and face the challenges we know we will have next season.
We had hopes of finding beaver, but it appeared that our modern weather problems had run the beaver out. The creek which ran through the place should have been promising to hold beaver, but the past droughts and floods and real estate land management proved to be a problem for a beavers home. Oklahoma's weather constantly changes, I don't think in the 8 years that I have lived here I have seen the same weather twice. The rivers are up, then they are soon down. It can flood one month and develop a drought the next month. We found signs of beaver in our area, but most of it was over a year old. Joey spotted one good chew mark that might have been a month old maybe , no tracks , no castor mounds to be found. We did accomplish a goal however, since this is out of season we gained ground on our knowledge of finding beaver sign and we learned what is happening in our areas with the beaver.
We worked on period land sets, the possibility of trapping coyotes was good. I've had a big interest in landsets , which again is something our 1830's trappers didn't do much of, however the art of trapping in our times may have begun with landsets.
We discovered many challenges soon. With all the intention of doing this the way our ancestors did, our first hill to climb was the weight of all the traps and gear. We discovered that carrying 6 traps is just meant for a horse. All together I don't think they weigh over 35 pounds, giving the idea that a good beaver trap is a 5 lb trap, several of mine only weigh 3 lbs each. For landsets we carry even more, stakes and a hammer, now we are getting closer to 50 lbs of carry.
Using stakes is probably not a historical thing to do for our trappers, and we wanted to use drags instead. We are limited in our modern times and often won't get a chance to trap a large area. Had we used drags the problem of a trap getting carried off onto someone else's property exists, so we leaned toward metal trap stakes , more a modern idea, but in our case it's called for.
We felt like a horse is a must here, with large traps and an intention of making six sets or more , there is a huge burden of carrying everything on your back. If the horse is not a must have item, it's certainly a desired item for a working trapper of our times.
The long metal traps stakes have to go , we encountered too many problems with them. They were of a modern idea used today, each stake is about 32 inches long. They work great for modern trapping, an animal cannot dig them up enough to become loose , but they almost always require a stake puller when your ready to pull traps out. They require a large hammer to drive them down deep enough. The weight and bulk of our gear is already a burden before we add the pullers and a hammer.
It's not likely our ancestors would use stakes of this nature, the cost alone wouldn't justify them to be a common item. In the future we may choose a method of tying a trap to a small tree with brass wire , or cutting off a good sapling and place the trap ring over it.
Everything points to selecting a perfect trap spot , it's becoming obvious that our trappers did this. Let the bait do the work for you, and give it time, but be selective on the trap location so it won't need a non period stake. This will mean less load for us to carry in the future.
As mentioned in Sewell Newhouse's book, the clogs would be the best, perhaps using a large clog/drag such as a tree limb will do just fine. In our limited land area it could be a large enough clog to keep animals from moving into the neighbors space.
Another challenge with landsets is making a trap bed. Without a shovel like we use in modern trapping, this is a small challenge. A hatchet or small axe works well here, however it does add to the weight we are trying to shed. A hatchet, or tomahawk however is useful, this is one thing we may not be able to do without. It works really good for cutting roots and making a better trap bed. I think I'll carry a small one each time, with beaver sets it's almost mandatory for cutting the drowning stick.
One thing mentioned several times in journals is how the trappers avoided leaving their scent on a set. Today many trappers use treated gloves, however that's not an option for us. We noticed an obvious sign at one of our sets, and I know this happens a lot. A coyote came for the bait but sniffed something on the trap that alerted him. He carefully dug one edge of the trap jaw up and exposed the canvas ducking used over the pan. After he found the trap he managed to go around it and get the bait and leave behind a half exposed trap.
This is real common when you leave scent behind , the trap should have been boiled better and I should not have left any of my own scent behind. I simply got sloppy with my method. The coyote has a keen instinct as well, if something just don't feel right he is going to be on his toes. Looks and smell both together will tell him that something is in the ground. In the real trapping season I'm going to have to be more careful. It's probably best to go in and make your set, leaving no scent, and get out without disturbing anything.
