My first coyote trap-line **video**

I was new to both trapping and video work and video editing when I made this but in hindsight I'm glad I brought the camera with me and documented my first attempt at trapping. I'm currently working on chapter 2 of my little video trapping journal. Hope you folks enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNN7QsGo8GI

People actually still do this unethical [censored]?

^^^ This
I can see hunting them, but not trapping them

The coyote population needs to managed along with the other animals, they go hand in hand with management practices. It is the most effective way to control the population. Think I'll start my sets this weekend. Coyote population seems to have exploded at our ranch, when everything was in peril from the drought over the last few years.

Very good video editing, and congrats on your successful trap line.

With that said, I know trapping has its place, but I don't think it should be put on youtube the way you did it. Way too much struggling animal and blood footage for most people (including me).

Anti and non hunters could have a hayday with that footage.

Just my take on it.

Good luck with your trapping efforts.

Why not shoot them at a distance once trapped? Why the extra work of walking close to scare it and have it suffer more? I understand trapping has it's place and they need to be removed, but the way you did this just to "edit a video" is not an ethical way of trapping or hunting. All the camera shots to have the animal with its head down and looks submissive and scared, and knowing its life is over is just a dick move. Also the part of showing all the blood on the ground just for dramatic effect? What is the point of that exactly, or its purpose for the video?

Nice job on the trapping, crappy job on the video and execution of the whole journal.

Next time- trap, spot, kill from a distance quick and clean.

See how the footage effects other hunters and outdoorsman. Imagine what the antis do with this stuff, fuel for their fire man, keep that in mind as you progress as a trapper, less is more sometimes you know. Seems to me that your more involved in making a movie then getting the job done. Do it like a professional and think about what you put in the publics eye. Lots of people will see that that you don't want to. For every dollar that goes to lobbyist to protect our rights to trap the antis give 10. Just some food for thought, good start but I really don't see the point of all that for a couple coyotes, if you wanna keep a "journal" keep it for your records to improve your trapping as in what you did at each set with wind and weather conditions and use it as a tool not for media purposes

You got to be kidding!! I think you are doing a great service to the wildlife. I know the coyote population is out of control and we trap and kill as many as we can. I just got another dozen mb550 traps in last week. Keep up the good work and dont let those who live on concrete tell you how to run your business. Kill em all

OMG guys...if you are that afraid of the antis then get out and vote and stand up for your rights...trapping is part of our nations history and heritage...if you wonder were all your deer have gone try setting out a few traps yourself. We cannot keep hiding in the shadows hoping antis and critics will pass us by...stand up for our rights, heritage and what you believe!

What organizations are you involved in, what bills have you talked to congressman about, done any help or lobbying for other states rights, are you aware that antis have nearly shut down trapping in about 6 states, and no intentions of slowing down. Would you like texas to become a cage only state as well. I don't think so, get on the phone and talk to some of board members of the nta and see if they tell you to promote trapping this way. It's all about what the public eye sees and how they interpret it. This is not the way to promote trapping. I make a living from trapping and fur handling so I'm pretty keen on these subjects and can go on for days. Trapping and fur taking is in every mans blood like it or not and should be a natural instinct to want to harvest fur, I trap and handle fur over 200 days of the year so don't think I'm some softy from the concrete jungle. All I said was that it is not smart to put these images in the public eye. The coyotes not suffering in the video but you show that to young woman with her daddy's deep pockets and a mission to save every animal in the world then that footage is simply copied and put in the next PETA video. I'm all for killin every coyote out there but you have to be smart or you start ruffling feathers, just like this video did. Don't post it, go about your business and be humble and enjoy trapping, don't make videos of coyotes dancin, just dispatch move on to the next one, I dunno any other real trappers would agree, kinda like an unwritten rule

Deerhuntinghippie - Go check out Trapperman. There is a lot you can learn there about trapping and trapping etiquette; especially talking about/ showing kill methods. Lots of good guys there, you've probably even seen this site.

Everyone else - This guy is hunting just as legally as any of you. He is getting out and enjoying wildlife while observing different tools of management. Stop harassing this man for doing what he enjoys, most of y'all have never even trapped before. You can actually manage a coyote population with a few traps and some know how. Taking pot shots at yotes out of your deer stand isn't management.

This is someone from that does hunt, fish & traps.

Focus that rage somewhere than at a fellow hunter...if what you believe is true than we should remove the photo section from all the hunting sights !

There's a difference in ethical and unethical hunting, yeah? There's a reason trapping is becoming a thing of the past in many states now. I like to hunt just as much as the next guy, but making an animal suffer is not apart of what we as hunting enthusiasts are about, nor should we promote it. Like TXcatman said, get the job done. Don't put an animal in more distress for the benefit of making a video. Plus, there are more effective ways to getting rid of pests...and you kind of signed up for dealing with these animals if you have land. Not their fault.

P.S. go stick your foot in a trap and sit with it for hours on end.

Why use a 22?

OP, keep doing what you are doing. Thin 'em out.

I've seen coyotes start eating parts of a deer they chased down while it was still alive. That's nature and nature is brutal.

As long as your trapping means are legal, I don't see an issue. Some can't stomach a video of the process, but it's their choice to watch it or not. I've seen this kind of reaction to vids of hogs being snare and cage trapped too. You'll get the predictable commentary and moral equivalency lectures, nothing surprising there. These trapping methods have been around much longer than anyone on this forum has been alive, so now it's "wrong" to do once people become "aware" of it. Unfortunately, you are going to get criticism for any video you post of any trapping that results in a dead animal.

As long as you are legal, don't let other's delicate sensibilities dictate your methods.

Looks like a BAD imitation of 'The Managent Advantage' series by Casey Shoopman and crew. (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=86TAhqLX34s)
Which is actually a good flick..,

Funny how people can't just get into trapping...

Gotta become a YouTube sensation ?

Going to be a trapping celebrity ?

Seriously....catch a pile of yotes first or go film someone who actually can.

Good job OP. Keep it up.

Absolutely amazed at some of these post SMDH at the utter hypocritical take on it.

So do you sell the fur ? Whats the going rate on yote fur? Keep up the good job and forget th e rest

Being a hypocrite would imply that we use the same tasteless tactics as the OP.

I think the trapping part is great and I actually clicked on it to learn something (I did thank you)since I intend to thin out our local population this year through trapping. That said I also see the point about the video showing them down and submissive before you killed them. The wrong people can and will make use of this type of film to make their point. You can't help but see a "sweet scared dog" in the video instead of the deer slaying machines these things really are.
Keep up the good work thinning the pack and consider making your videos like you started this one; teaching how to do it.
I'd like to suggest that you could make a really informative set of videos that document what you do, how you do it, what you learned as well as what works and doesn't. Certainly show 5 yotes stacked in the back of the truck to demonstrate the effectiveness of your methods and what you have learned. That's the reality of trapping or hunting, just ease up on the things that can be used against you and the rest of us. Good luck to you.

Wow folks, I am stunned at this mixed bag of opinions. Not so much because of the content but because this is a Texas forum...
Being from Georgia, Texas has always seemed to me a place where such management activities such as trapping would be viewed as necessary and commonplace. I do reckon this isn't the first time I have been wrong.
Let me say first that I really do appreciate each of you taking the time to watch. It took many hours behind the computer to learn how to edit video and even more hours to learn how to trap. This was my first attempt at trapping and my first real attempt at video editing. When I set out to attempt to trap coyotes it was entirely due to the number of encounters I had with them during deer season here in Georgia. I didn't see my first coyote in the wild until I was 18 years old having hunted since I was 13. After my first sighting the encounters increased consecutively each year. The deer season before the winter when this video was filmed, I actually saw more coyotes than deer. I also noted that there were hardly any fawns in our trail camera pictures. Before we would have many pictures of fawns.
To make a long story short I came upon a few scientific studies done by two different southeasten universities regarding the impact the growing coyote population was having on the deer herd in our state.
One study in particular encouraged me to get in to trapping.
I know many of you have stated that I shouldn't have included certain scenes because I was causing the trapped coyotes more distress than needed. Let me say assuredly that there are no shots in this video that took longer than a few minutes to get. I strongly feel that my filming is no different than a catch and release angler. Said angler does not plan to use the fish he or she catches, so why put the fish through the distress of a hook through the lip and a weakening fight (especially for a bedded female) for the sake of a picture? And lets say this fish was caught in a tournament and is driven 2 miles to the weigh in station... Lets say the fish was caught in a small farm pond... why cause the fish further distress after catching it by waiting for your friend to fumble with his or her iphone to capture a picture? Shouldn't the angler just release the fish thus causing it no more distress? Why sport fish at all in that case? Why cause unneeded distress on these beautiful creatures for the mere sake of sport?
Some say "We all know what comes next..." Yes we do. But I wanted to capture every aspect of my first trapline, so I included it. I'm sick and tired of the outdoor community adjusting their ways to suit the anti-hunters. I equate the anti-hunters to modern day Islamic terrorists. Take what is happening across the pond right now, for example. News outlets, cartoonists, journalists are afraid to report honestly in fear of an attack. That's what the anti-hunters want. They want us to be afraid to be honest in what we do. They want to place some subconscious grain of guilt in to our hearts. But that's just it, I've placed the moral blade against the grindstone of my heart. All of the criticisms brought up in the comments above were heavily considered before editing the video. Before deciding to film this shot or that shot. Even before deciding to trap.
I also want to say that the traps I use are, to my knowledge, the most humane traps that a trapper can purchase. They don't break the dog's leg. They are simply a paw holder. I paid extra money for these traps just for this reason.
But this mixed bag of opinions regarding my video, to me, is an ominous sign. An undeniable sign that the politically correct, the liberal class, the anti-hunters have indeed instilled that small grain of guilt, of shame, of self-doubt, whatever you want to call it, in enough hunters to cause us to flinch at the truth of what it is we do.
While trapping, dogs cower. While trapping, dogs jerk against the anchored chain. While trapping, dogs inevitably bleed. While trapping, dogs die. To me, my video was the truth. Or at least my best representation of the truth at the time with my own limited knowledge. Other than a few brief moments of the dogs remaining in the trap in order for me to get a shot, nothing was any different than had I not been filming at all.
Some of you see fit to crucify me for this. I'll bear that cross. Just know that you crucify a brother.
If the anti-hunters win and trapping is outlawed, it will not be due to videos such as mine. It will be due to our community not embracing, entirely, what it is that we do when we got out in to the woods and wild.
What you seem to want is a hunting show that edits out the kill shots.
That's not my style.
And never will be.
For those few that agree with what I have posted here, you can find me and my small group of buddies on facebook at the page The Deer Hunting Hippies of North Georgia and on instagram @deer_hunting_hippies
If you've read anything by Henry David Thoreau or Ralph Waldo Emerson or enjoy a bit of Thomas Paine, like our page. Cold Mountain has shaped my philosophy as well.
Good day brothers and sisters

I thought your video was great. These people bustin your balls are more than likely city boy wanta be hunters. Dont let them get to you. They lease some land throw up a feeder and hunt on the wknds during deer season. Keep trapping them and showing your footage however you please. Most of these boys are the ones scared to death while walking to their deer blinds in the dark. Keep it up bud!!!!!!

Ps-city folks need to stay in the city

You're an idiot.

Yep your right. Im an idiot for logging into this forum and reading yalls bull [censored].

That's all fine and dandy everything you said above but you will learn sooner or later that by you publisizing what you do you will draw too much unwanted attention to yourself. After you get a few hundred catches under your belt it's all business, no pictures, no video just be humble and trap every last one of em that you can. It just seems to me that your into your video or social media more than grindin everyday settin steel and really managing coyote populations. Your first post on a texas hunting forum was a video of you trapping 3 coyotes in Georgia. Put 20-30 down in a week and make an instructional video on how to manage coyotes, you didn't explain your sets, like pain tension, length from dirt hole, what is a dirt hole, anchoring system, what's in the hole, why did you set the trap there, etc... Get my drift. That's the kind of videos trappers need to make, focus on the teaching and why trapping is necessary to effectively control predators.

What people supporting this video are failing to see is, that the majority of the issues are NOT with the trapping... Like I said, good job on the trapping.. BAD JOB on the video and ethical parts.

You sat there, let them suffer and made them way more scared than needed to be just so you could get a good camera angle.... That is the sickening and sad part. Trapping good, your ethics, VERY BAD!

Funny, I bet a lot of you guys feeling sorry for the poor little coyotes are the same ones that are mad at fenceline hunters killing 'your' deer. Those coyotes killed WAY more of your trophy bucks than any 20 hunters around you. As one person pointed out, have you ever seen a coyote start eating on an animal they're chasing? They don't care. Do you think they cared how scared my flock of goats was when they ran them into a corner and killed some of them? F all coyotes and I wish a miserable death to each and every one.

These all looked defeated but the one I walked up on caught in a snare was raging not only to get away but also to get at me. Wish I'd had my camera that day.

Keep on keeping on, OP.

I work a full time job and have a family. I don't see myself having the time to run a huge line any time soon. I also don't see me catching 20 or 30 in a week any time soon because for one, I could only afford 9 traps and for two, there isn't enough time in my day. I'm by no means a professional and don't claim to be. Heck, I know I'm a flat out rookie, still today.
The property I trapped in the video was a property owned by one of my dad's friends. He told me that I could set the traps on his property to help me learn considering he had many coyotes on his property.
I didn't do any instructional cuts because again, like I said, this was my first time EVER trapping. I didn't know if I would be successful. And I also didn't feel comfortable explaining to folks how to do something that I myself wasn't sure that I could do.
My next video will include my process but it won't be a how to video. I still have much to learn. This is only my second season and like I said, I don't run many traps so I'm not gaining a whole lot experience each year. I'm also not going to include as much graphic scenes in the next video. Not because I feel that there is anything wrong with it but because now that it has been shown there is no need to show it again. I wanted at least one honest video and I made it to the best of my ability.
I'm also not trying to become a celebrity on youtube haha. Fame is not intriguing to me in the least. I do, however, have a passion for video that was birthed from making this trapping video. Someone mentioned The Management Advantage on youtube and how my video was a rip off of their work. That is probably more true than most folks under such scrutiny would admit. I did enjoy their first 2 videos regarding trapping and it was their videos that inspired my approach at the editing table. I was new at editing and just like with writing, imitation in the infant stages is the fastest way to learn. I feel that I know my way around the editing software well enough now to create my own style from scratch and that's a good feeling. But imitation should be taken as a compliment by the original creator. That's how I would take it anyway.
But txcatman1, it is interesting to me that you seem to think that all I am worried about is social media. Sure, I'm on facebook and instagram and twitter. But that's not really uncommon these days. I figured I'll be hunting fishing and trapping regardless so why not take a camera with me especially considering my new found love of video editing? And why not share my videos? I can't tell you how much time I spend on youtube watching people like myself. I share their videos and leave positive feedback and more than anything, I learn. That's all I'm doing. Sure, my videos are monetized but most videos are these days. If I can make enough on youtube to pay for a tank of gas each month than the way I see it that's the closest I will ever come to actually making money doing something I love to do-something I'd be doing anyways. It seems to me you are concerned with my video because it could impact your fur buying business. How much money do you make off of forums and social media through people you meet there if you don't mind me asking? Probably more than I'll ever make on youtube.

Keep it up OP - looks like you're off to a great start. I know that trapping stuff isn't easy! Don't worry about the antis in here or anywhere else.. you don't need their approval to do what you do.

Welcome to mother nature. Because animals do what they have to do to survive, doesn't necessitate that we as hunters use unethical means to remove them.

Are you kiddin me?? He's not breaking any laws. Stop judging. The next guy's gonna tell you killing innocent animals is unethical.

Here.. I think this is where you were wanting to go http://www.peta2.com/boards/


We're hunters in here and no one's gonna apologize to you or anyone else for what we do.

Still talking about your video and your editing and everything once again. Your first post was hey check out a video I made, how Is that not searching for attention. If the video was not your main concern here then you wouldn't have done that. Believe me, your video will not effect my business. The longer your involved in the game you will understand what I'm saying to you. Your all excited and what not about the video but you will soon realize that trapping and social media do not mix well. Keep it to a select group of people and that's wonderful, there's nothing wrong with you videoing a couple trapped yotes, what the problem is is that you are putting it out there like hey look at me check this out. That not what trappers do. You posted this on a varmit hunting forum and look at the feedback you got. I speak from experience brother so it's just a matter of time before you start getting chastised for doing something that needs to be done. The management advantage videos are much more tasteful to watch and are educational. Sorry man but a seasoned trapper would not put himself out like that, less others see is more for us, see what I'm sayin. If you wanna make videos, make videos. If you wanna trap, then trap. They don't mix well as your finding out

I think we already established trapping animals for making an overly glorified video at the sake of the animals well-being isn't considered hunting. If you condone that then you're far from being a spokesman for what hunting is about.

No he thought he was posting his video on a predator hunting forum. This forum is far from a predator hunting forum. Really starting to wonder if it should even be called a hunting forum or not. This thruxton guy needs to go join some peta group. Do you not think shooting a deer with a bow for it to run off and die isnt frighting for the deer? Its all part of hunting or trapping. Im about done with this site.

You're an idiot.

Oh wait, I already said that.

Oh and welcome to mother nature???? REALLY???

You edited it from me being a hillbilly to im a idiot again
Your awesome

A very educated response..

Ignorance hardly deserves a response.

This is how I see it bud. This is supposed to be a hunting forum. Trapping is and always has been part of hunting. If you dont want to accept that then dont open a thread with the word trap in it. More than likely you are not going to see something you like. If you are worried about the distress of animals I wouldn't open a hog dog thread either. I would hate to see your heart broke bc some dogs had a pig caught. There is a texas fishing forum you might be interested in. They do alot of catch and release. So if im a hillbilly or a idiot thats fine by me. Damn sure wouldn't trade my lifestyle for anything.

To be completely honest with you, this is the first place I've gotten this much backlash. I am an active member on several other forums online and every now and then a person will express that they didn't care for certain aspects of my videos but heck, I was learning then and I continue to learn each day. So I would disagree with your stance on social media. When I filmed this video it was just me and my father. I now have a group of like minded individuals helping me with getting our outdoor adventures on film. Trapping is a very small fraction of all the activities that we participate in throughout the year. As I said before, we would be doing this whether we were filming or not so why not post the videos online to distribute the videos that we all work hard on to people who otherwise may not stumble across them considering just how vast the ocean of videos on youtube is? And I post the videos in appropriate places. Well, this posting has me second guessing.
As far as The Management Advantage goes... there are shots in some of there videos that are every bit as graphic as my video. One scene in particular comes to mind. One of which the camera is positioned behind a hand holding a pistol pointed directly at a trapped coyote. To get offended by a little bit of dog blood or a coyote's leg straightening out as it dies very quickly is absurd to me. I can't tell you how many times I've watched a deer get gut shot on TELEVISION. Not youtube but TV! Only to hunch up and wabble off in to the thicket to suffer a miserable death throughout the night until the hunter returns in the morning to get the deer. But that's part of bow hunting. We all accept it and embrace it and stand behind it. Less deer would suffer if we did away with archery season and allowed strictly rifle hunting. So, should we do this so that more deer don't suffer.

We are making these videos because youtube allows blue collar folks like myself to monetize their accounts which in turn can give the participants money for the work they put in to making videos. It isn't much money. Heck, I've not made a penny yet. But getting involved online on facebook and instagram and forums like this one help us out. If folks on here are turned off by that then maybe this simply isn't the forum for me.

As far as my first post being a video, I've done that on other forums without people flipping out. And I continue to post on each forum I post my videos on, as you can see... If I were just slinging videos around the net I wouldn't take this time to explain myself.

Your in it for the wrong reasons bro and I'm gonna leave it that. Good luck to you and your video adventures

If you were raised to poke a trapped animal with a stick for laughs, then don't get mad when you get called out on it.

I was raised to respect the animals I take. We're lucky that we have the opportunity to hunt with a variety of methods, and if you want to support poor execution of those methods, then so be it. If me making it a point to call those people out that use those poor techniques makes me a city slicker, then you're entitled to your opinion.

Whats the diff from hog dog clips and people taking hogs with knives?

Bingo.

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.

Why is that bad on the fur buyer, I take full advantage of every animal killed, do you skin your coyotes? Or do you just dump em in the ditch, how bout coons? Now which one of those sounds better to you, kill a bunch of animals and chunk em in the woods or harvest there fur and make use of the animal that you killed? A picture of harvested fur is a lot different than seeing how the process works, 2 totally different aspects. Fur is a natural, renewable resource that should be harvested.

2015 we dont need to fur to survive anymore.

Never said we did I just said I respect the animal enough to skin it and make use of it instead of leavin it lay there. Nobody needs weed but it's starting to become legal now, nobody needs French frys but it's the most consumed food in the united states, what your point? I'm just using what nature has provided to make a living doing something that I love.

Daniel seems to be one of those 'hunters' (really looks like he just mostly shoots paper) that wants to weaken the fabric of conservation. If you tear down trapping as barbaric and senseless, YOU in fact are living in the dark ages. Where do the otters and wolves come from for relocation programs? How do zoos get a hold of top predators? They trap most of em genius. Not everyone is fur trapping, not everyone is trapping for damage control, but all trappers are a part of the outdoors and its community of rifle, bowhunters, hog doggers and the like. It's just crazy to think some uneducated people find it ok to gut shoot and recover a deer 12 hours later (because no struggling or suffering is SEEN) but yet a coyote being 'cuffed' or held in place by a trap is barbaric.

If you've been a part of trapping for anytime you'd understand your stance in fur buyer pics is that much more laughable. The PETA, animal freedom fighters and extremists have access to alot of trappers pics to choose from fit their propaganda. Let me tell you from experience they want pictures and more important VIDEO of ANIMALS IN TRAPS, and of what could be perceived by a soccer mom as inhumane or cruel. So 'fur buyer' pics and end if the line pics are not that hot of a commodity. It's just not the same type if ammunition.

Hippie, the video was difficult for me to watch, being a dog lover. I've never killed a yote, but I've never seen them be the vicious gnashers I know them to be. Once that happens, the honeymoon is over for them.

I will defend your right to trap and kill them. Count on that.

^yes. Wish all animal/dog lovers could think this way.

Because they're not. They're scared of people. People are just mad because mother nature is doing what she does, and they're killing their prized deer to survive.

Send these guys to Alaska to see what the real world is like when it comes to this.

really don't shoot a lot of paper unless im load testing.. not sure what your talking about by that comment Texaswats.. you say its barbaric to trap... hmmm wonder how most fur hunters do it?

' It's just crazy to think some uneducated people find it ok to gut shoot and recover a deer 12 hours later (because no struggling or suffering is SEEN) but yet a coyote being 'cuffed' or held in place by a trap is barbaric.'

^^^Since Daniel had a hard time interpreting this statement...

TRAPPING IS OUTSMARTING AN ANIMAL ON PURPOSE. IT REQUIRES MUCH MORE SKILL, KNOWLEDGE, AND PATIENCE THAN DEER HUNTING.

Don't know how else to spell it out for you Daniel.

Lmao... amazing

That's a great video…i trap quite a bit, but the pan tension issue is something i haven't had time to deal with this year. I have had many sets worked and traps fired, but nothing in the set when i roll around. Trapping is the only way to get fur on a grand scale. It provides you an avenue to cover tons of ground while you sleep. I skin everything i catch. Not only does it give me an avenue to extend my season for being in the outdoors, it gives me a way to keep the coons out of my feeders all year, because i take as many as i can get. I meet land owners, help them with their animal problems and establish relationships. The fur handling is bonus for me as I can mess around and try to make some stuff, teach my kids about the animals as well as make some money from the fur buyer. As for traps, I run a lot of snares as well as everything from Dogproof Coon traps, 180-330 conibears as well as the double coils shown in the video. For you haters, please understand, in the double coil spring trap, any undesirable animal caught in the trap can be released with zero….and for those that are ignorant to trapping, i mean ZERO foot damage. So, the haters can go back in their giant deer blinds over their feeders and 'hunt'…..

Coons, Bobcats, Cougars, Opossum, Skunks, Fox, Yotes, and other fur bearers are the main reason the quail population is declining, as to why Texas has no closed season nor limit on them….same as hogs. If the state wasn't over run with them, they'd be regulated. Open your mind before you start playing the part of "Super Inernetoutdoorsman of Texas" by bashing things you know nothing about….sheesh.

Exactly! It wasn't one month after I caught my first coyote that The Georgia Outdoor News magazine released an issue covering the lost art of trapping. The entire article was written in hopes to get more people in to trapping. This publication would not have published such an article (this was the featured article by the way) if there weren't, and still are, problems with the population of coyotes.

That being said, our 2015 season is kicking off pretty good. It was slow at first but now that I have the pan tension figured out we really should be getting some numbers in the next 2 weeks.

Keep up the good work hippie and keep the steel on the ground! Ive caught 6 since my last post! Predator trapping is addictive

Thank you sir and congrats on your success! It is very addicting because it requires so much attention to detail. It's like trying to solve a very intricate puzzle. It definitely keeps me sharp and focused.