I started trapping at the age of 12 when my Dad
brought home a dozen 110 conibears for the three of us boys. After attending
some trapping clinics and conventions two years late my Mom hauled us three
boys to Chesley, Iowa to sell our fur to Ludy Sheda. We sold $4,800 worth
of fur that day that Mom & Dad used to pay the mortgage on the farm.
I was consumed with the trapping bug! I memorized
every Milligan Lure, Victor and Northwoods trap advertisements growing
up. In 1999, I attended the Fur Takers Trappers College as I student. I
was lucky enough to be placed in Pete Askins group. Pete taught me to find ways
to learn from my successes and failures. He instilled in me the importance of
not walking away from a triggered trap without understanding why I missed the
animal.
December of 1999, I responded to an advertisement
in Fur-Fish-Game by Dr. George Hurst looking for trappers to control predators
predating on nesting wild Turkeys in Mississippi. Twenty years late I'm
still trapping for the same landowners.
In 2000, I was asked to teach at the FTA Trappers
College as an Assistant instructor. A year later, I returned as one of
the five primary instructors and taught until 2011. At that point my
feral hog work was consuming much of the month of September so I retired from
the College.
In 2004, I teamed up with Mike Morford to compete
in the North American Coyote Trapping Contest. We took second place that year
competing against eleven other teams. We returned in 2005 and won the
contest for the next four years consecutively thru 2008.
I spoke in 2007 front of over 2,000 people in
Chattanooga, TN at a Quality Deer Management Convention explaining how to use
trapping successfully for Predator Control. This led to doing some TV shows on
the Outdoor Channel with The Management Advantage (links to some of their
videos are available on this blog).
For the last 20 years I have routinely trapped in
4-6 different states annually waging coon, beaver, muskrat or coyote campaigns
for fur. I do beaver control for various road districts, timber companies and
private landowners. I also find success with coyote predator control jobs for
antelope & white tail deer fawn enhancement programs.
Feral hog control has become a big part of my
life seasonally. I saw the need for this 13 years ago and was able to be on the
cutting edge of a lot of methods still used today. Satellite trap checkers, Judas Pig telemetry
work and cellular based cameras are all complimenting night shooting with
thermal scopes on AR10 rifles. Most years I am able to kill and recover
7-800 head of hogs.
I represented the FTA on the Raccoon, Beaver
and Otter BMP Ad-Hoc committees by writing very contentious documents in effort
to protect trappers best interest.
In 2004, as the Chairman of the Rules &
Regulation Committee for the Missouri Trappers association we succeeded in
getting Cable Restraints legalized in Missouri. I went on to help teach the
instructors who taught the classes so that trappers/students could get this cable
restraint permit.
What I am the most proud of is not any of the
accomplishments listed above. I am most proud of helping trappers with
alternative markets, giving them more income and keeping them in the field to
actively trap and manage the resource.
These markets include beaver tails, coon meat and shed deer antlers.
In 2016, I saw the need to generate funds from
outside of the normal trapping industry to help fund the Fur Takers of America.
Funds are desperately needed to defend our trapping rights and to promote trapping
as a wildlife management tool. As a result, we now have Adventure Auction items
ranging from black bear & hog hunts to multiple fishing trips spread across
the US. I strive to give back to the trapping industry as much (or more) as it
has given me.
I'm living out a childhood dream as a trapper.