Unwanted catch.

[weasel]

:crackup:when i was 9 or 10 and trying for muskrats i had no luck with longsprings so i begged pleaded and whined until my dad got me two new 110 conibears i was probably a strapping 80 to 90 pounds and not the strongest kid around anyway not waiting to take the oil off them new traps i had to play with them in my room the nite i recieved them. using two hands to compress the spring i hurriedly got the jaws open and prepared to set the dog over the trip wire, imagine my joy when the well oiled spring let loose while i still have it in my lap .yes it did clamp me there $^&@*&&%$#@ you don't realise how much srenght you have until you have a conibear clamped where ya don't want it. one handed i squeezed that spring and humanely released myself i'm just gratefull they dont clamp totally closed like a leghold :boohoo:
weasel

 

[Keith]

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: OWWW!! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: LSHBCOMN! :crackup: :crackup:

 

[musketman]

yes it did clamp me there $^&@*&&%$#@ you don't realise how much srenght you have until you have a conibear clamped where ya don't want it.

That's gonna leave a mark...

 

[Stumpkiller]

Feel lucky, Weasel?

 

[cayugad]

Where I live the worst thing to get in a trap according to my friend,is a Badger. He always said his worst fear is, approach the trap and see the chain headed straight down a fresh dug hole. And all you can hear near the hole is growling and snarling.

My friend, who told me this story, was that trapper. He was trapping along a farm field hillside and creek that led into a marsh, working for rats and beaver.

As soon as he observed the situation, he was not happy. Badger are protected in Wisconsin and you are not allowed to harm Badger in our State. The trouble is they do not play by the same rules. You have to let them go which is the other big problem.

So he said he went and got his truck and brought it out the field road to where he was. When he got back the badger was out of the hole and the fellow was not happy about having his rear paw in that trap.

He then took a old heavy canvas tarp in the truck and folded it to make it extra thick. He then walked the animal in a circle to get the chain wrapped around a small tree. Once the chain was short and the animal was really upset, he threw the tarp over the little beast, and grabbed the trap and opened the jaws.

As he told the story to us he explained, picture your on your knees holding a live badger under a canvas tarp. This tarp is trying to get loose and the sounds coming from under it makes you believe you are in deep trouble. He said he looked to where the truck was, jumped up to his feet, and that badger now loose was determined to eat my friends leg off. He said the foot race began, they both made a mad dash for the pickup truck, he went up onto the hood, over the cab and into the box. The badger circled the truck for quite a while wanting to continue the battle. So he began throwing his trapping equipment at the thing trying to scare it off.

He then explained that when badgers are upset, they like to leave musk which will equal that of any other member of the weasel family....

It finally wandered off. He watched to make sure it was a long way off before he left the back of the truck. He then had to take all the gear with him for a good cleaning because of the smell.

I walked the trap line a couple times with him. After he told me the story I always worried we would encounter another one. We didn't... ::

 

[graybeard]

Wasn't hunting but was fly fishing a west Michigan river at dusk. Laid out a nice cast. The line rolled out and the fly settled on the water. then the whole line started lifting into the air. Very, Very eerie. Turns out a bat had nailed the dry fly and tried to fly off with it. I jerked on the line and he crashed into the water. He was so ugly I just cut the leader and left him floating down stream. don't know if bats can take off from water or not.

 

[bob1961]

but it only hurts till the pain goes away :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:....................bob

 

[smokeblower]

This is trapping related, in a way. A friend and I were running sone trotlines on the Hatchie river and noticed a few muscadines were left behind by the mass of pickers. We picked a few and moved downstream to check another trot line when we noticed a full heavy hanging vine. We pulled up to the vine and started picking like crazy. My visions of homemade muscadine wine were dancing through my head when I heard the roaring of a large hornets nest a few feet above our heads. I was the lucky one in charge of the hand till motor so as quick as possible I fired it up and took off. I was also the lucky one because I was stung six times, my friend in the front of the boat was hit about fifteen times. I am not sure if the pain of the sting was as bad as the itching that followed for a week later. I returned to that nest the following winter and it now hangs in the corner of my computer room. I am looking at it now.

So in a way, I caught a hornets nest as a result of running a trot line. That was not a good day.
Smokeblower

 

[JEB/Ms]

Back in the '40's my grandfather was having a running battle with an otter in the woods behind my Dad's service station(I've never seen an otter around here in the wild but that is what he said that it was). He tried every way possible to catch this critter but always came up with empty traps. He found some tracks on the bank of the bayou one day and they went through a section of hollow log, so he decided to make a set there. The next time he ran his line he saw that there was no activity there so he reached in to retrieve his trap. As he reached into the log a snapping turtle saw his hand from the other end of the log and latched onto his thumb. It was his right hand and his knife was in his right pants pocket. The turtle was too big to pull through the hole in the log and he had no plans in the direction of letting go of Grandad's thumb. The log was too heavy to carry. Finally he managed to get his knife with his left hand, open it with his teeth, and reach in and cut the turtle's head off. He walked back to Daddy's service station looking like a kid with a lollypop. Daddy had to take two screwdrivers and pry the mouth loose. Stitches were probably needed but the old man was too tough for that. He never did catch that otter.

JEB/Ms

 

[Slowpoke]

What is the strangest thing you have caught in a trap you didn't intend to catch?

I would post a picture of my wife, but that would be to easy. :crackup: :shake:

 

[Stumpkiller]

What is the strangest thing you have caught in a trap you didn't intend to catch?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I would post a picture of my wife, but that would be to easy.

Ah, now you're learning to keep your trap shut, I bet. ::

 

[Deadeye]

A generally interesting thread but not very relevant to the Rocky Mt. Fur trade more relevant to the "general interest"
section.

 

A generally interesting thread but not very relevant to the Rocky Mt. Fur trade more relevant to the "general interest"
section.

Well move the thing then.