Thank you for having the courage to show the video. It shows it like it is. Keep up the good work trapping and video production.
Best Regards, Matt

Yep, thought it was very cool! Got traps for Christmas
6 for coons 6 for yotes! Can't wait to get me a line set!

Guess no one can answer this one...

Thanks for taking the time to watch.
For the record, got our first yote of 2015 yesterday and the land owner called me on my way to work and says we have another today!
To all, even the haters!

More hunters wound animals leaving them to die an agonizing death because they never bother to practice, much less hunt regular, than any trapper ever imagined.

I AGREE. But I don't think most people are going after his trapping skills or that he is even trapping to begin with. It's how is more focused on a good video angle and making a movie than putting the animal down quickly.

I have not lost a deer yet, but I have lost ducks, and other game birds and it makes you sick to your stomach. He did not seem sick to his stomach at all!

Well then... It feels very hypocritical.

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't feeling it with some of the clips either. I get the point. However....

Look around this and other forums across the net that show hog doggers, folks spearing and stabbing hogs and scatter shooters blasting away at hogs running across a field while you hear the wounded screaming. They certainly produced their videos to the best of their abilities, while many see such as inhumane or unethical. Where were you on any of those countless threads?

And what about all the TV shows we see with the "pros" wherein we witness poor shooting in episode after episode. Animals wounded and run off to suffer. Then the proverbial, "We'll back on out of here and give him some time. It's getting dark. We'll come back in the morning and see if we can locate him." WTF? The food on their table depends on their camera angle. You can bet they are concerned with it. Meantime, the yotes and hogs have scattered the animal all over creation. They killed the animal for the trophy and let the meat ruin because it is getting dark and they have a steak dinner waiting on them at the 5 star lodge, but they got their video. How is that OK? Fine if you're a celebrity?

He made a video of his first trapping string and shared it. Did a great job of trapping...and a great job of honestly illustrating it how it really is....and how would you know he didn't feel the burden of taking the life? Do the pros on TV show you their feelings after shooting and letting an animal lay over night?

hit the nail on the head!!!!!!!1

Can we also include helicopter shoots with this???

Hehe!

Felt inspired to show this mad girl I had on my line today. Keep up the good work an thin em out!

One less deer killing machine....

Well done video of your trapping experience and with good taste. It is hard (even for professionals) to get a yote to step foot on a particular 3" by 3" square (trap pan). Trapping takes skill and the more you trap an area, the more skill it takes to get the rest of the pack (and older ones). Keep your work classy and don't worry about apologizing.

good job pdotson!!!!!

Don't forget about Bobcats y'all...

Thank you for sharing your video. Your time and effort putting it together are appreciated and I hope to see you continue enjoying the outdoors and trapping.
No matter how good your video is or how great your trapping skills are there will always be keyboard critics. Shake em off and keep doing what you enjoy doing!

Thanks for all the kind words folks.
Someone mentioned emotions in regards to the weight, or burden behind, or upon, taking a life...
I wanted to touch upon that thought.
For starters, I never imagined myself 5 years ago ever becoming a trapper. Back then, I had the mindset that a person shouldn't take an animal's life unless he or she planned to eat that animal. The person I was 5 years ago probably sounded a lot like some of the folks on here who have expressed how poorly they feel my video was edited. I held that mindset up until about 2 years ago. The turning point for me was listening to a podcast featuring Steven Rinella from Meat Eater. I had been a huge fan of his first show The Wild Within and also Meat Eater. I loved the way he approached hunting not just in the physical sense but in a philosophical sense as well. So I was stoked he was going to be on The Joe Rogan Experience. After listening to Rinella talk for 3 hours about the importance we have as humans in the role as stewards of the land and going in to detail about his life as a professional trapper, I felt stubborn, mental knots begin to loosen in my own philosophy. I decided I would take this new perspective and compare it to coyote studies done in the south east. One study in particular was very eye opening... Scientists with a southern university collared 100 fawns. Within the first year eighty percent of the fawns had died by predation if I remember correctly. Eighty percent by coyote, the other twenty by bobcat. I researched a few more studies and soon began researching how to get started trapping myself. All of this new information and new perspectives came at me right after having gone through my first deer season having seen more coyotes than deer while on stand.

But...
Never once did I hate the coyote. Nor did I want them entirely removed. I simply recognized, through my own personal hours and hours and hours on stand that the population had skyrocketed. But all of this made shooting my first coyote no easier. In fact, had I felt more comfortable in front of a camera, I would have shown my feelings after shooting my first trapped coyote. But instead I told my wife to stop filming shortly after the shot rang out. Looking back I wished I would have looked in to the camera and explained that I felt the burden that all we hunters inevitably grapple with, even more so when having just shot an animal that couldn't get away. I wished I would have looked in to the camera lens and assured everyone who would watch in the future, that I was not thrilled, or excited or even slightly enthused. Because I wasn't. I never am right after the shot. Whether it be a 150 inch buck or a mangey coyote, taking a life is heavy and always should be. When it is no longer heavy we should quit.

What separates me now from the folks who don't approve of what it is I do and will continue to do, is the fact that I can burden the weight. Because I have looked in the mirror and I have asked myself the hard questions. Will the deer/coyote populations eventually level out and rebound? Yes. No. Maybe. Who really knows. We've had game laws in place for a very long time and they serve a major function in keeping animal numbers close to where we feel they should be. But animals die in many other ways today than they once did. Whether it be vehicles, poison, concentrated habitats that allowing swift disease spread.
I could go on and on but the facts are facts, here in Georgia the coyote population is through the roof and by trapping I am helping.

I hope you'll continue to share your experiences here...

What editing software do you use btw?

If any pic or video hurts let peta get a hold of fur buyer pics

I'm currently using Pinnacle Studio Pro 16.

It's very good for beginners but has depth for when you get better at editing and want to take it to the next step.

Most video cameras these days record in AVCHD. Let me tell you from my maddening experience that not many editing software handles these very dense AVCHD files very well. Considering I us a PC, I was limited. I am currently considering buying a MACBOOK PRO soon, however. I like the idea of being able to take projects with me on the road and not being limited to my living room. If I get a Macbook, I will probably get Final Cut Pro.

Thanks for the info!

No problem

Huh? Big difference between a picture of finished dried pelts and a video of an animal in a trap

Not much difference if you watch fn&t show. They show animals in traps as they are driving up on them. You know they done checked the trap and set a camera guy up to retake the shot. Not everybody is going to agree with other peoples choices but I didnt see anything wrong with it. I call predators up and kill them on a regular basis but have never trapped. Seems like something that would be alot of fun. I enjoyed your video.

either way shows dead animals and peta doesn't like either but 1 yote in a trap video vrs one pic I saw of 50 yote pelts drying. would make fur buyer look bad in my eyes.