TOPIC: Chieftain

what part of the country you live in ? if you dont mind me asking .... looks like you find some dandy roots on a regular basis ... here in the areas i dig i rarely find any great quality roots ... not sure if its just this area or what that causes it ..... what all do you trap for, and how long have you been at it ?

i live in cental ILL..mainly a water trapper..i'v got around 15 miles of river i'v trapped for around 40 years[all out of a boat with a 25 horse motor on it]...my dad trapped this same stretch for 65 years and i kinda inherited the line from him...muskrat, mink and coon ,beaver some...i always try and get 40 to 50 land trap's out for yotes and fox..I aint got much time for the land line though...

That is very good Chieftain a good inheritance for sure.

It sure was Billy,wish dad was still living to share in the fun..that stretch of river has been awful good to us over a lot of years..spring and fall the crappie fishing is excellent..of coarse not as good as jonhthan creek or blood river down your way Billy on KY.lake.. the thing with trapp'en here is the season comes in the 10th day on NOV.......just about the time full rut is coming on here...man ,i'm torn sometimes on what to do...

thats awesome chief, i would have never thought of IL being a great state for Ginseng ... but maybe thats why it is so good ... .... how is the mink population there? see many otter ? otter numbers are growing fast here and ive heard they will open a season on them here season after next ... i trap pretty much everything other than wolverine, fisher, ermine, marten, lynx, wolf .... but bobcat, mink, and otter are on the top of my list ..... as far as the full rut and trapping happening at the same time ... kill those big bucks when the chase phase just starts (around the 3rd-6th) and get that out of the way ... THEN start trapping ... ha ha ha .... i run in phases ... used to be a hardcore trapper, then archery hunter, then waterfowl, etc, etc ..... you dont hunt deer in the famous Pike county, home of the huge bucks do you ? what kind of mushrooms you go out for ?

our mink population is way down...after they reintoduced the otter, thier numbers went to a all time low..i think we will get a otter season soon.Pike co. is all leased by outfitters..local guy are not to happy over there....

yeah those otter will put a hurtin on the mink thats for sure ... have seen them in traps with puncture wounds to the base of the necks by otter teeth ... sucks that they impact the environment as much as they due ... but at the same time, its cool to see them making a comeback

i enjoy picking morels myself !!



but have other types that i enjoy picking/finding just as much or more



you have any trapping photos to share?

hey chief, ya gonna share any trapping pix with me ?

heres 50 some muskrats and some mink and a red fox i caught in a water set last year..

caught 104 coon last year..most with the hound but got some trapping too...