Team Fur News
Grandpa’s Gun
By FUR-FISH-GAME Editor, John D. Taylor
Grandpa’s gun, the Lefever Nitro Special 12 gauge, and three generations of English setters – Shana, Evan and Beryl – went up over that hill to a dozen flushing sharptails.
She was built sometime between 1922 and 1923, when the Ithaca Gun Company bought Lefever Arms and moved the works to Ithaca, New York. With 28-inch tubes, a Prince of Wales grip and a serious drop at comb, she is a typical 12 gauge American side-by-side of the early 20th century. She is a Lefever Nitro Special, my grandfather’s shotgun, before she became my father’s shotgun in the early 1970s, when my grandfather died. Now, Grandpa’s gun is in my hands.
“Uncle” Dan Lefever began making hammerless breech-loading shotguns and some long-range rifles with a series of partners in the 1860s and 1870s. However, in 1880, Lefever broke out on his own, and founded Lefever Arms Company. In 1883, he patented the first truly automatic hammerless shotgun. It automatically cocked when the breech was closed, and ejected spent shotshells when the breech was opened, something taken for granted today.
“Uncle” Dan lost control of Lefever Arms in 1886 after a fire. Lefever Arms, under new ownership, continued making Lefever-branded shotguns until they were bought out by the Ithaca Gun Company, in Ithaca, New York. Ithaca retained the Lefever name, and introduced the Nitro Special, an Ithaca design, in 1922.
Nitro Specials were no high-grade side-by-sides. They were working men’s tools, inexpensive even when side-by-sides were not the high-dollar items they can be today. Grandpa’s gun probably cost him less than $30 in 1923.
When I began hunting in 1972, I needed a shotgun. First, there was Black Bart, a .410 H&R single shot with a black lacquer forearm and stock, chromed action. It took many squirrels but was no pheasant gun. I chose a .410 because a 12 gauge scared me, thanks to the power of youthful rumor. Friends said 12s kicked so hard, I’d be on my keister, despite being a large kid.
After a season of missing pheasants with ol’Bart, I begged Dad for a new gun. The result, probably to keep me quiet, was a Winchester Model 1200 pumpgun in 20 gauge. Those yellow shells had far more shot than the skinny, red .410s held, and with it I knocked down my first pheasant.
The Winchester remained my shotgun through high school and college, but in 1982, before I was headed west to the Great Bear-Bob Marshall Wilderness, to work for an outfitter, I was hard-up for money. I foolishly sold it, along with several other firearms, to fund what was intended to be the long-term move West. When I returned to Pennsylvania for a writing job, I was left with a 7mm magnum Smith & Wesson rifle and a Ruger .357 revolver, Montana tools.
A Charles Daily stack-barrel 12 gauge entered my life, and I believe its 26-inch barrels augmented my tinnitus and hearing loss today. But I could shoot that shotgun. It accounted for many pheasants and some grouse into the early 1990s, when a job loss and subsequent life crisis resulted in its sale.
That’s when Grandpa’s gun became mine. When the dust settled and I needed a new shotgun, I had no disposable income, so I asked to borrow Dad’s shotgun, Grandpa’s gun.
Dad wasn’t a hunter, especially not fond of “small” game. Before I was born, he’d shot a pheasant flushed from public land that fell on private property. When he asked the fetch the bird, the landowner’s hissy fit soured him on the whole deal.
Dad shot Grandpa’s gun occasionally. I recall a trapshooting session in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, with a family friend, Dad stuffing Grandpa’s gun with what he always shot, Remington green, No. 5, “high brass,” pheasant loads. After a round of trap with those wallopers, Dad had enough.
As the years ticked by, I came to treasure Grandpa’s gun because it connected me to him. He died in 1973, before I got to know him as an adult. Grandpa’s gun accounted for a number of pheasants. With full and modified barrels, it proved its worth in open York County farmland country.
Grandpa’s gun, two English setters, Evan and Shana, and a brace of sharptails.
However, my passion by then was ruffed grouse. I shot light, No. 7-1/2 or No. 8 Winchester AA trap and skeet loads and began handloading shotshells. The AAs were ideal for that. The longer I hunted grouse, the more convinced I became that modified and full chokes were not the right medicine for my birds. Altering Grandpa’s gun seemed troublesome, but a conversation with a local gunsmith suggested opening the chokes wouldn’t damage the gun, and skeet chokes would be perfect for grouse.
The gunsmith was right. I hit close grouse that the tighter chokes missed. Grandpa’s gun grew in my esteem, accounting for the many grouse my first English setter, Nash, pointed. The scratches in its stock, the worn bluing of the barrels, the loose yet still quite functional action, enhanced this esteem, because it connected me to my grandfather, a quiet man of the Earth. He probably hunted rabbits, squirrels, maybe pheasants with the Lefever.
I hunted with the Lefever for nearly two decades. In the early 2000s, I joined Vintagers and started shooting sporting clays regularly. Vintagers love British and early American side-by-sides. Many shoot hammer guns while decked out as English gentlemen or turn of the 20th century American sports.
Believing additional use warranted it, I had Grandpa’s gun restored by an upstate New York outfit specializing in Lefevers. The returned gun was like-new, with shiny dark blue-black barrels, a tight action, even the stock gouges were gone, and the smooth oil finish literally glowed. Initially, I thought the restoration was wonderful. But as time went on, the resurrected Lefever no longer looked like Grandpa’s gun. The patina of age was gone. It felt diminished.
I also coveted a British side-by-side game gun, with a straight stock, slim lines and quality workmanship. A grouse hunting friend, Ross Steinhauer, suggested I get a try-gun fitting and see what his friend, Glenn Baker, an English shotgun importer might have in my (very low) price range.
Baker examined Grandpa’s gun and pronounced it unsafe for heavy modern shotshells. The tubes were too thin, he claimed. He observed my shotgun mount and determined I was wrapping myself with Grandpa’s gun, like a pair of shoes too small for big feet. When he put me through the try-gun fitting process (this determines the measurements – length of pull, drop at comb, drop at heel, etc. – of shotgun fit, to shoot better) and compared those numbers to the Lefever, it was obvious Grandpa’s gun wasn’t cut out for me. I was a good half-foot taller than Grandpa, wider-shouldered and beefier. All this made me sad.
Yet Baker just happened to have a Webley & Scott Model 700 12 gauge side-by-side that matched most of my try-gun measurements. It had 30-inch barrels, choked improved cylinder and improved modified. It was a 1953, Birmingham-made shotgun. Webley & Scotts are British shotguns, but no London bests, like high-end Purdys, Holland & Hollands, Bosses, etc. The Brits use them on their driven shoots, leaving the Purdys in the gun cabinet.
I bought the Webley & Scott for what seemed like a lot of money at the time. Yet its value quickly became apparent. The Birmingham beauty fit me, and I was breaking targets and dropping grouse, pheasants and Hungarian partridges in front of a new English setter, Evan, that I wouldn’t have hit before.
Within a few short years, the Webley & Scott became Evan’s gun. Evan was my best (so far) English setter. I’ve loved them all, and each had their own special talents – Harry was the clown, Beryl was orange belton beauty personified, Shana was my first prairie dog, Willa was the blue belton dream – but Evan showed me prairie bird hunting at its best. He could maneuver me, pheasants or any bird and himself into positions where I’d get a shot. He’d swing out in front of running roosters and cut them off. I don’t know how he learned this, but it happened way too many times to be coincidence. Evan also showed me sharptails, the bird I love to hunt most. Evan and the Webley & Scott became synonymously efficient hunting tools, and I was the unworthy craftsman using them.
Evan’s gun carried me through two decades, beyond his passing in 2012, through Harry’s last rooster, a 2021 southwest Nebraska bird that he pointed on the last day of the season on a walk-in as the sun sank into the west. I approached, the bird flushed a good 40 yards out, the Webley barked, No. 6 steel connected, and the bird fell. Harry was homing in for the fetch, when the wounded rooster flushed again. We watched it gain altitude then, tumble, 100 yards further into the tallgrass.
Harry rushed ahead to find it, and I found him, locked into another point, over the downed rooster. I reached down, snagged the still lively rooster and we enjoyed that moment together, a beloved dog and his man, never knowing it would be Harry’s last bird.
When a new English setter, Willa, came along in 2022, I noticed the Webley’s forearm continued to come loose. It wasn’t falling off, but it wasn’t right, either. Several gunsmiths attempted to fix this in years prior, but none had a permanent repair. I had an idea for this repair but figured the Webley would be out of commission for a time. So, I went looking for another shotgun that would fit my try-gun measurements.
I found one, online, in Fieldsport’s gun room. The Traverse City, Michigan, shotgun specialist had a new Dickinson Estate 12 gauge side-by-side with 28-inch barrels, multiple screw-in chokes, and steel-shot capable that hit my numbers even better than the Webley. Over Willa, 13-year-old Ellen, Harry’s sister from the 2012 litter we raised, and now Theo, this shotgun misses only when I flub the shot. It became Willa’s gun, before she so abruptly left this world in June. Theo will be its beneficiary in the years to come. It feels light and breezy in my hands, and like an extension of me when I bring it to cheek.
Grandpa’s gun doesn’t have a fourth generation to pass it along to. And that makes me sad. Perhaps someone who appreciates side-by-sides will find me. I hope they treasure these tools as much as I did, and take special care of Grandpa’s gun.
Wisconsin Deer, Duck and Fish Consumption Advisories Issued
Mallards from Lower Green Bay, from Longtail Point across to Point au Sable and south to the mouth of the Fox River, are on the WDNR’s do not eat consumption advisory list. Photo: Robert Thiemann/Unsplash
In September, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and Department of Health Services (WDHS) issued two new consumption advisories for deer, ducks and fish taken from two locations in the state. The consumption advisories are related to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substanc1es (PFAS) contamination. PFAS are a large group of human-made chemicals used in industry and consumer products worldwide since the 1950s.
The town of Stella and nearby waterbodies is the first area. WDNR and WDHS issued a “do not eat” PFAS-based consumption advisory for all fish from the Moen lake chain – including Moen Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake, Fourth Lake, Fifth Lake and Sunset Lake, also Starks Creek, upstream to and including Starks Spring, and Snowden Lake.?Fish collected in these waters showed elevated levels of PFAS in their tissues.
Also, a consumption advisory was issued for deer taken within a 5-mile radius of Stella's town hall. WDNR and WDHS recommend no more than one meal per month of muscle tissue (venison) from deer harvested in this area. And a “do not eat” advisory was placed on deer liver from this area. WDNR asked hunters within a 3-mile radius of the Stella town hall to donate muscle and liver samples from their 2024 deer harvests. Of 11 deer sampled, results showed elevated PFAS levels in venison and significant PFAS levels in deer livers. The liver filters the blood, and PFAS can accumulate in the liver over time. Eating deer liver from this area is likely to result in significant PFAS exposure.
The second area is Green Bay. Based on PFAS testing results, WDNR and WDHS urge hunters not to eat mallards harvested on Lower Green Bay, from Longtail Point across to Point au Sable and south to the mouth of the Fox River. Both agencies also urge hunters to limit eating mallards taken from the city of Marinette across to Sturgeon Bay and south to Longtail Point to one meal per month, and wood ducks to one meal per week.
Waterfowl collected from Green Bay in 2022 to evaluate an existing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) consumption advisory in lower Green Bay had additional PFAS assessments. Breast muscle tissue was included. In 2023 and 2024, additional duck breast muscle samples were collected for local breeding ducks. Results showed elevated levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a type of PFAS, in adult and juvenile ducks in lower Green Bay.
Visit WDNR’s Consumption Advisories and PFAS webpage, dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/PFAS/Advisories.html, for complete information.
Boone & Crockett ID’s Conservation Cost of U.S. Poaching
Only 4% of poachers are caught annually, creating a conservation cost of $1.4 billion annually through lost fines and replacement costs. Photo: Byron Johnson/Unsplash
The Boone and Crockett Club has shared the findings of a comprehensive research project on poaching in the U.S. The “Poach and Pay” research determined that only about 4% of poaching incidents are detected, setting a conservative “dark figure” estimate that 95% of poaching goes undetected or unreported. The minimum conservation cost of poaching through lost fines and replacement costs for animals is $1.4 billion annually. Poach and Pay research involved extensive surveys of wildlife agency law enforcement officers, hunters, landowners and convicted poachers, along with interviews and focus groups with prosecutors and judges. Researchers also conducted a literature review to develop a better understanding of who and why poacher do illegal wildlife activities. Using criminology theory, this research also provides specific policy and outreach recommendations to help reduce the amount of illegal wildlife crime. The Boone and Crockett Club and partners will continue the Poach and Pay project to implement these actions with a goal of reducing poaching. The full results of the research are available at www.boone-crockett.org/poach-and-pay.
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Vermont’s Bear Population Above Goal
Biologists with bear on ground - Biologists take measurements from a black bear captured and released during fieldwork for Vermont’s new bear reproduction study.
Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department (VFWD) estimates the state black bear population is 6,800 to 8,000 bears. That’s well above VFWD’s objective of 3,500 to 5,500 bears. The estimates are based on 2024 data, the latest available. This is the fourth consecutive year, the state’s bear population estimate is above objective, VFWD lead bear biologist Jaclyn Comeau noted. High rates of hunter harvest, growing numbers of bears killed by vehicles and increasing conflicts between bears and people over the past several years all support that VFWD’s model is reflecting bear population growth, Comeau said. To understand the drivers of this population growth, VFWD launched new research this summer to gauge the success of Vermont’s bears at raising their young safely to independence. Researchers will follow 18 adult female bears fitted with GPS collars, then visit the collared bears’ dens during winter to confirm litter size and track the family units through the cubs’ first year. The results will strengthen the department’s understanding of bear reproductive success. Anecdotally, Comeau said, VFWD hears about more bears with large litters of three or four cubs. Hunter harvests show a larger proportion of two- and three-year-old adult bears being taken. Comeau believes this is a result of several years of healthy bears having many cubs, coupled with the resources for those bears to help their cubs survive until they can fend for themselves.
Science Today, Gobbles Tomorrow
NWTF has funded projects since 2022 in these locations.
The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) has directed significant funding to cutting-edge wild turkey research for 2025. This year’s funding brought the NWTF’s investment in wild turkey research to $2.1 million through its National Wild Turkey Request for Proposals Program. Combined with previous work, NWTF and its partners have funded more than $22 million in wild turkey research projects since 2022. In 2025, NWTF received more research proposals than ever before. These were rigorously scored by NWTF biologists and NWTF’s Wild Turkey Technical Committee, with nine projects awarded funding. Projects in Kentucky and Florida will bolster NWTF’s Habitat for the Hatch Initiative, producing new insights into habitat management, hen reproductive success and poult production. New Hampshire and Rhode Island projects in will contribute to NWTF’s Forests and Flocks Initiative, providing updated survival and harvest metrics and disease prevalence based on habitat. Georgia and South Carolina projects will look at hunting season’s influence on gobbling. An Oklahoma project will review hunting pressure and harvest management. Wild turkeys in areas where urban and agricultural land use overlap is the focus of Minnesota project. In Texas, Rio Grande hen survival habitat will be considered.
Eight North Dakota Bighorn Licenses Issued
North Dakota has issued eight bighorn sheep licenses for 2025, on more than last year. Photo: Judd Cooney
North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department allocated eight bighorn sheep licenses for the 2025 hunting season, one more than last year. One license was issued in units B1, B2, B3, and B5, with three in B4. In addition, one license, as authorized to be auctioned in March by the Midwest Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation. All proceeds from this are used to enhance bighorn sheep management in North Dakota. A total of 21,221 applicants applied for bighorn licenses. Successful applicants have been notified.
Interior Department Expands Hunting and Fishing Access
The U.S. Department of the Interior has 42 new hunting and fishing opportunities within the National Wildlife Refuge and National Fish Hatchery systems available. Photo: Wes Walker/Unsplash
The U.S. Department of the Interior in September announced that 42 new hunting and sport fishing opportunities across more than 87,000 acres within the National Wildlife Refuge System and National Fish Hatchery System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), have been opened. USFWS is opening or expanding opportunities for hunting and sport fishing at 16 units within the National Wildlife Refuge System and one unit in the National Fish Hatchery System. These units are located in Alabama, California, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Texas and Washington. The Service is committed to ensuring that all hunting and fishing opportunities align with state fish and wildlife regulations. The final update includes inaugural hunting opportunities at southern Maryland’s Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge and the formal opening of hunting opportunities at California’s Grasslands Wildlife Management Area, as well as inaugural sport fishing at North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery. Hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities contributed more than $394 billion in economic expenditures in communities across the U.S. in 2022, with hunters and anglers accounting for more than $144 billion, according to the Service’s National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. The survey also found that, in 2021, an estimated 39.9 million Americans over the age of 16 fished and 14.4 million hunted.
Avoid Baiting, Feeding Deer
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Baiting and feeding encourages deer to congregate unnaturally, creating an environment where diseases like CWD can spread quickly.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) reminds hunters and the public to help keep the state's deer herd healthy by following all baiting and feeding bans and refraining from baiting and feeding in areas where no bans are in effect. Baiting is the intentional placement of any material, including food, scented materials, salts, minerals and grains, to attract wild animals for hunting purposes. Feeding is the deliberate placement of material used to feed or attract wild animals for non-hunting purposes, including recreational and supplemental feeding, except as allowed for birds and small mammals. Baiting and feeding encourage deer to congregate unnaturally around a specific location, creating an environment where infected deer can quickly spread diseases like chronic wasting disease (CWD) through direct contact with healthy deer or through indirect contact in the environment. Infected deer can also leave infectious CWD prions behind in their saliva, blood, feces and urine, creating a risk to any healthy deer that may visit the site in the future. CWD can spread rapidly when these prions remain in an area where more deer are sure to congregate, such as a feed pile. CWD is an always-fatal disease that affects deer, elk, moose and caribou. To mitigate these risks and slow the spread of CWD, state law directs WDNR to impose baiting and feeding bans within any county with a confirmed CWD-positive wild or captive deer or any county within 10 miles of the location of the positive deer. In counties where baiting and feeding bans are in effect, individuals may still feed birds and small mammals provided feeding devices are within 50 yards of a human dwelling and at a sufficient height or design to prevent access by deer. Find more information on baiting and feeding regulations and a map of counties with active bans at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/bait.
The Right Lighting Can Protect Migratory Birds
Follow these lighting principles to help protect birds and other wildlife.
The amount of artificial light in the night sky has dramatically increased since the 1950s, with two thirds of the U.S. population now unable to see the Milky Way with their naked eye. In many urban areas, less than 100 stars are visible. All this artificial night light stymies human enjoyment and has real biological impacts to wildlife, especially migratory birds.
Some 70% of North America’s birds are migratory, and 80% of those migrants travel at night. At least some birds use the stars to navigate. Research shows that lights can interrupt migration and even harm or kill birds, with birds attracted to or disoriented by building lights from as far as 3 miles away. Lights also often attract birds to urban areas where they are more likely to encounter additional hazards like collisions with building windows and vehicles, predation from outdoor cats, and exposure to pesticides. Luckily there are many strategies to use to reduce the impacts of lights on birds. Turn off unnecessary lights. Is your porch light really necessary when you aren’t expecting visitors? In many cases, people keep lights on when it isn’t truly necessary for human safety or visibility. By carefully thinking about why lights are on and when they are truly necessary, excess night light can be reduced. Turning off unnecessary lights is particularly important during spring and fall bird migrations. Turning off indoor and outdoor lights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. can be especially helpful to migrating birds. Other ways to reduce bird-distracting lights include shielding lighting, so the light can be directed down where it is most useful; using timers, dimmers and motion sensors; and using warm (red and yellow spectrum) colored lights of 3,000 K and below. This gives plenty of light for human eyes and is less of a distraction or attractant to birds and other wildlife.
Baker Swamp: Ohio’s 150th State Nature Preserve
ODNR and TNC’s new sign for Baker Swamp State Nature Preserve, Ohio’s 150th State Nature Preserve.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Natural Areas and Preserves celebrated the opening of its 150th state nature preserve, Baker Swamp, recently. Baker Swamp is located 10 miles south of Jackson, in Jackson County. It protects a large, high-quality wetland complex that provides important habitat for several native bird species and fish like the lake chubsucker. It also protects six state-listed plant species including lance-leaved violet, running buffalo clove and Virginia meadow-beauty. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) donated the 181-acre buttonbush swamp preserve to ODNR. In 2024, TNC began large-scale restoration of the preserve, including reestablishing wetlands, reforestation and stream repair. That work is ongoing. When complete, TNC will have invested about $546,000 into Baker Swamp State Nature Preserve. Visit naturalareas.ohiodnr.gov.
North Dakota EHD Problems
North Dakota is permitting hunters with deer tags in five western units to return their tags for a refund due to an EHD outbreak. Photo: Steve Adams/Unsplash
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is allowing hunters with whitetail or “any” deer gun licenses in five units in western North Dakota the option of returning those licenses for refunds due to an epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) outbreak. Mason Ryckman, wildlife health biologist, said the decision is based on scattered reports of whitetail deer mortality that began in early September. The outbreak appears to be mild. Low levels of EHD are seen annually, Ryckman noted. Yet sometimes this can result in a significant die-off. In October, Ryckman said he’d received 20 reports of EHD problems in Bowman and Adams counties. He was hopeful that hard frosts would kill the biting gnats that spread EHD, ending the outbreak. Department staff will continue to monitor reports to determine if licenses in additional units could be eligible for refunds. Hunters and landowners should report any dead deer along with photos, if possible, to the department through gf.nd.gov/mortality-report. Hunters with antlered whitetail, antlerless whitetail, any antlered and any antlerless licenses, are eligible for refunds in units 3E1, 3F1, 3F2, 4E and 4F. Hunters who return their licenses will have their bonus points restored, if applicable. License holders who qualify and want a refund must mail their tag, along with a note requesting a refund due to EHD, to the NDGF’s Bismarck office no later than Nov. 7. Envelopes postmarked Nov. 7 will be accepted.
Missing Man Located
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Maine game wardens help Mr. Thompson out of the woods by.
K9 Storm and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Game Warden Chad Robertson located a missing elderly Edgecomb man in October just as freezing temperatures started to set in. Valmar Thompson, age 91, of Edgecomb, lives alone, and has daily caregivers. In early October, when one of the caregivers arrived at 10 a.m., Thompson was not there, yet the house and stove were still warm, indicating recent activity. The caregiver was not alarmed, since Thompson often worked around his property during the day. But when he did not return, the caregiver called the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office, who contacted the Maine Warden Service. Game Wardens, sheriff’s office personnel and the Edgecomb Fire Department searched the area. At 5:40 p.m., Game Warden Robertson and K9 Storm located Thompson in the woods, disoriented, sitting on a stone wall, with one shoe missing. Game Wardens and others assisted getting Thompson out of the woods, since his knee was hurting. He was loaded on an ATV and brought out to a waiting ambulance where he was examined then released to his family.
Trapping in Indiana
100th Anniversary Article from October 1925
By Frank McDaniel
Editor Note – At the time this was printed, there were few regulations against making sets at den holes and other locations. Today, many states’ trapping regulations prohibit these actions. Always consult local trapping regulations before making sets.
I never was very successful trapping skunks, because I always trap in river bottoms and there aren’t many skunks in the bottoms. I usually catch some skunks in the bluffs along the river – a good place for them after heavy rains, when they’re looking for dry holes. I also catch some at night with the dog.
In trapping for skunk, I set mostly in dens and trails. In den sets, I set the trap as near the mouth of the hole as possible, for many skunks will walk all around the mouth of a hole but will not go in, and a trap set in the mouth of the hole will make a catch when one set farther down in the hole would fail. I also keep all den sets baited with rabbit heads, offal and muskrat carcasses. A skunk passing within a rod or two of a set will scent the bait, investigate and get caught. If no bait is used, the skunk would pass by.
I always dig a hole the same shape of the trap, just deep enough to let the jaws come flush with the ground, and line it with grass, leaves or whatever material happens to be lying around the set. This will help your trap from freezing. I also always cover my traps lightly with fine grass or leaves. I don't believe skunks are wise enough to be afraid of an unconcealed trap, but a skunk may step over it just as a man would step over a pile of old tin cans or scrap iron rather than step on it. Therefore, I try to keep my traps covered.
In making sets in trails or paths for skunks, there is always danger of catching dogs. A good way to prevent this is to lay a small stick across the trail directly over the trap about 8 or 10 inches. A skunk, possum or coon will walk under the stick, but a dog will hop over it. If it is impossible to lay the stick over the trap, I push one end of it in the ground on one side of the trap and bend it over and stick it in the ground on the other side, making a little arch or wicket over the trap.
I always set in any good-looking trail or path, for a trap set in a place like that is usually safe from Johnny Sneakums, and there is a chance to catch most any kind of furbearer that happens along. Almost any animal will follow a trail for a way.
I remember going across a field after the trapping season opened when I found a path running towards the river. I could tell it was being used, but the ground was too hard to see any tracks, so I thought I would follow it, see what the attraction was.
I sure found it – a bunch of dead hogs, with three well-beaten trails coming into it like the one I followed, with skunk and possum sign all around. I set four traps, one in each trial, back from the bait, so what I caught wouldn’t scare others away. The first night I got a No. 1 skunk, the next night, a big possum. In all, I got three skunks and six possums at that set.
I see where many think muskrats are easy to catch. They are, provided there are many. But trap them close for a season or two, and they become pretty wise. A few years ago, along the stream I trap, one made enough sign for a dozen. Now it’s the other way around. A dozen muskrats don't make as much sign as one used to. I find more muskrats according to the sign they make on larger streams than on small streams and ponds.
I remember one muskrat that was exceptionally hard to catch. It was in December, and the muskrats had been hard trapped all fall, not only by myself, but by five other trappers. Not many remained. I found where a muskrat dug a fresh den under the water just below the mill dam, so I set a No. 1 Victor there. I thought I’d have him in the morning. But he dragged the trap out of the hole without firing it. I set it back in the hole, a little easier on trigger this time. When I went checked next morning, he filled the hole full of old roots and water-soaked leaves, wedged them in tight on top of the trap. I began to think I was up against a slick one, but I cleaned the hole out and set the trap back. When I checked the next morning that darned muskrat didn’t bother the trap at all but dug another hole about a foot to one side of the other hole.
My opinion of myself as a muskrat trapper felt pretty low. If readers who could catch those old trap-shy wolves and foxes could see me here with a muskrat I couldn’t catch, they’d give me a horse laugh.
There was a small rock on the edge of the water where that muskrat left some fresh droppings, so I set the trap between the rock and the bank. I was afraid to set in the new den for fear I’d make him leave. But the rock set didn’t work either.
I tried one more set, and if that didn’t get him, I didn’t know what could. A root stuck out about 1 foot over the water, so I gathered up some horse weeds and sticks. I stuck them in the water and leaned the tops over against the old root, piling some mud and weeds on to make it look like muskrats built it. This left a little channel or tunnel for the water to run through. I set the trap in that little run and laid a water-soaked leaf over it. The next morning, I had him standing on his head in about a foot of water. He could not resist the temptation to explore the little run I fixed up. I was more elated over catching the muskrat than a mink.
In some cases, muskrats can be almost as trap-shy as mink or coons. I make most of my muskrat sets around islands, under overhanging banks and under tree roots. A fellow can catch muskrats there occasionally, so long as the water stays open, if there’s any sign or not. If the water is not deep enough to drown a rat, I set two traps and stake them far enough apart so they can't get tangled with each other. I try to stake them just far enough from each other, so the muskrat is caught by his front feet in one trap, hind legs in another. This is a good way to hold coon, too.
I never use much bait for muskrats or anything else except skunk and possums. I depend mostly on blind sets. But scent glands from a muskrat make good bait.
In the spring, to trap on a long stream, a boat of some kind is a necessity. I have one of the best trapping boats I ever used. It’s made of cypress, 42 inches wide in the middle, comes to a point at each end, and is 16 feet long. It has all the good points of a rowboat and canoe. I can sit in the back end and paddle it just like a canoe, and I don't have to keep twisting my head around like I do in a rowboat to see where I am going. There are no oars or oarlocks to catch in vines or bushes when I run along the bank looking at traps.
When I skin my muskrats, I always throw the carcasses in under an old drift or in a hollow log and set a trap in front of them. I caught 44 possums and some brown weasels this year doing that. I received 25 cents for the weasels. I also caught eight coons and had hold of twice that many but couldn’t hold them. There is so much night hunting done here, and I’m concerned any trap larger than a No. 1-1/2 will catch someone's dog and cripple it. I catch most coons on logs and in their runs in blind sets. I could never catch many coons with bait.
My best catch in a single night was nine muskrats, two coon, two black skunks and a possum.
We only have a three months' trapping season here, so a fellow has to hurry through November and December and make a good catch. A big January snow lays on three or four weeks, and our furbearers here simply hibernate until the snow melts.
Rising rivers spoiled muskrat trapping at the end of the season. This caused my partner and I a dangerous and unpleasant accident. The river was bank full and we were going upriver to run our muskrat traps with a boat. We were going under an old treetop, my partner paddling in the stern, me paddling in the bow, when a limb caught my partner’s hunting coat and caused the boat to swing sideways. Swift current swept us under the old tree and capsized the boat. We both made a leap for the tree and made it, but the boat went on down the creek, leaving us sitting in that old treetop like a couple of crows. We couldn't get out, because a 20-foot-wide channel of water swifter than a millrace lay between us and the bank, and it was at least 13 feet deep. To make matters worse, it began to snow and blow.
We sat in that treetop waiting for someone to come along until we almost froze to death. Every once in a while, a big block of ice came downstream and hit the treetop almost knocking us out, and the river kept rising.
"I’m going to get out of here,” I told my partner. “We might have to sit here all night."
"You better not try it, you might drown."
I told him I might as well drown as freeze to death, so I made a plunge for the bank and finally got there.
Hip boots, a sweater and a heavy hunting coat are not ideal swimming togs. And my Marble's waterproof match safe was at home – the only time I ever really needed it. But I put three matches, all I had, in my hat before I made the plunge. I had thrown a fir paddle out on the bank, so I whittled some shavings off it and soon had a fire going and my clothes dry.
I believe all trappers should wear wool. If a fellow gets a dunking, wool doesn’t absorb water like cotton, and even wet wool maintains some warmth.
I fetched another boat and got my partner off the treetop. He was about frozen stiff.
We had more bad luck at the same place last year. I set a trap for muskrats under an overhanging bank. A rain that night made the creek muddy. We caught something, because it clawed the bank and chewed off the root the trap was fastened to and escaped. The claw marks indicated a coon. I looked all up and down the banks, hoping the coon got tangled in the brush, but I found no sign.
This went on for about a month – we’d almost forgotten it – when one morning, we had caught a muskrat in the same place. I went to pick the muskrat up, when it made a lunge and got away. Leaning out over the boat to set the trap back, I looked down in the water and there was our other trap with a big mink in it worth $10. The mink broke loose and dived underwater, but the trap got fastened to other roots and drowned the mink. Unfortunately, the mink’s hair was slipping, and it was worthless. We’d been within 3 feet every day but didn’t know it.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Maine Trappers’ Association
The Central Maine Chapter of the Maine Trappers’ Association will hold its annual Fall Fur Auction, December 14, at the Palmyra Community Center, 768 Main St., Palmyra, Maine. Doors open at 7 a.m. Contact Ted Perkins at (207) 570-6243.
New York State Trappers’ Association
Two New York State Trappers’ Association affiliates, The Foothills Trappers and Fulton Mongomery Trappers, will hold their annual fur auction January 3, 2026, at the 4-H Building located at 556 Middleline Rd., in Ballston Spa, New York. Call Neal Sowle (518) 883-5467 or Paul Johnson at (315) 867-6565 for information.
Indiana State Trappers’ Association
The Indiana State Trappers’ Association (ISTA) 2026 Fur Sale will hold two fur sales in 2026. The first will be held January 31, 2026, at the Selvin Community, 11900 Yellowbanks Trial, in Dale, Indiana. (Note the change of location.) The second will be held February 14, at the Miami County Fairgrounds, 1029 W 200 N, in Peru, Indiana. You must be an ISTA member to sell furs. Lot numbers can be purchased prior to the sale, and buyers will be coming in from several states. Both events include food, trap raffles and 50/50 contests. Doors open at 8 a.m. Sales begin promptly at 9 a.m. local time. Dale is in the Central Time Zone and Peru is in the Eastern zone. For more information, call or text Byron Tiede (219) 863-3803.
West Virginia Trappers’ Association
The West Virginia Trappers’ Association will hold their annual Spring Fur Auction March 6 - 8, 2026 at the Gilmer County Recreation Center, 1365 Sycamore Run Road, in Glenville, West Virginia. Vendors will be present throughout the weekend. Consignment for finished fur, roots, deer horns etc., begins at 9 a.m., Friday, March 6, and on Saturday, March 7. Ginseng will be sold to individuals outside, and not through the WVTA auction. Admission is free, all are welcome. Contact Jeremiah Whitlatch (304) 916-3329 or visit www.wvtrappers.com
Coming in our December 2025 Issue
Features
• Remembering Stanley Hawbaker - Robert Sellers had an up close and personal relationship with Stanley Hawbaker as a young trapper and shares these memories.
• My First First Day - Calvin Wirfel relates the experience of his very first Pennsylvania deer opener, in a story all hunters can relate to.
• Minus Three - Phil Goes, English cocker spaniel Junie B and son Huck share a late season Wisconsin fall turkey hunt and discover some things.
• Choctaw Hogs - Luke Clayton always wanted to hunt Oklahoma’s mulefoot Choctaw hogs. He recently got his chance.
• Targeting Skunks - Jason Houser looks at skunk trapping in light of fur prices and tells how to stay (mostly) scent free.
• To Catch A Dinosaur - Ron Peach aims to hook and cook some longnose gars, a Cretaceous Period leftover from dinosaur days
Other Stories
• Among the Hemlocks – Justin Hager tells how he and his English setter Chester visited the family deer camp during winter grouse season and encountered birds in the hemlocks.
• Mesa Gold, Chapter 4 of Lew and Charlie’s southwestern adventures
• Making Bear Popcorn – Serge Lariviere tells how Canada’s Cree people use bear fat to make a special popcorn-like treat.
• The Ethics of Trapping (100th Anniversary Article) – Bob Gilsvik looks at trapping’s ethics and relates some of his experiences.
• Starling Shoot – Worth Mathewson shares a story about keeping tens of thousands of starlings from destroying a friend’s Willamette Valley vineyard.
• Building A Beaver Plug-In Set – Louie Gocek shares his technique for building a beaver trapping set that can be used just about anywhere.
• Upcoming Events
• A Dall Sheep Hunting Adventure – Lawrence Morgan tells his adventure of an Alaska Dall sheep hunt that went wrong after the hunter tagged his ram.
• Lucy And the Black Ducks -W.D. Baker tells a funny tale about two friends trying to hunt black ducks in a sea kayak in frigid waters.
End of the Line Photo of the Month
Garret, Gideon, and Mac McCowen, Carson, Iowa
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