A newbie at trapping camp
HOW TO MEET CANADA’S OLDEST INDUSTRY
SOMETHING that
has fascinated me
for years and I never
really expected to get
a firsthand look at was
trapping. And then
opportunity knocked
in the person of Bill
Trudeau, a fellow
DOUG
hunter.
PHILLIPS
Turns out his
love of the bush is
rooted in trapping, and he told me the only
real reason he hunted was because during
hunting season all his traps were removed.
I started to ask if he’d give me a tour, but
before I could get the words out, he was
inviting me to the cabin he and his trapping
partner Gord Johnson had built. These are
both professional men in city jobs, but both
very experienced trappers.
Arrangements were made and off I went in
early December, to the Bancroft area to learn a
little about a trapper’s life.
When I arrived it was below zero but no
snow yet. Bill and I sat up to the wee hours
talking about trapping, everything from ethics
to the price of fur. I was so excited about going
out by ATV the next morning I could hardly
sleep. It started to snow after we went to
sleep and kept up right until daylight–10 fresh
centimetres. I’d brought new Rocky Bear Claw
boots with Gortex and Thinsulate and this
would be the perfect test for them.
We got all the tools and traps from the
skinning cabin, loaded up two ATVs, and
away we went.
The Trudeau-Johnson registered trapline
covers 13,000 acres and they have built ATV
and snowmobile trails in a huge figure eight
like a racetrack. Bill went one way on the eight
www.fishhuntandride.ca
and Gord and I went the other, with a plan to
meet in the middle where the paths cross for
tea and a snack.
At the first creek, Gord got off his machine
and set a small trap inside a wooden box. He
explained in detail how it was set for a mink,
how and why the mink would go in the box,
and – very important, how not to catch your
fingers in the trap if it went off accidentally.
We moved on and any time we came
across a set of tracks, fresh in the new fallen
snow, Gord stopped to look at them and said
something I’d never heard before. When I
come across tracks while hunting, I say to
myself, hmm, a deer has been here, or moose
have been here. What Gord said was, “Jeez,
I wonder where he is headed.” If you know
where an animal is headed, you just might
want to head there too and put a trap in place.
We were in constant contact with Bill by
radio, and he’d got a beaver and a racoon.
Our first animal was a wolf, covered in snow
from the night before but still fresh. As we
walked into an area set with beaver carcass
wolf baits, Gord asked me not to smoke my
cigars – any strange smell could change the
wolf’s pattern as it circled around the baits
where he had set the traps. I had never
thought smoke would do this, but Gord’s
experience had taught him otherwise.
During stops, Gord shared his thoughts
about his trade, like how trappers are stewards
of the land, the first to see changes, and how
trapping keeps the beaver population from
turning dry land to
wetland. Trappers are
given a quota. If they
don’t meet 75 per
cent of it they get a
stern letter front the
Ministry of Natural
Resources and Forest.
If it happens again,
they can lose their
registered trapline.
Next stop was a
creek with a sprung
trap holding a muskrat,
then a beaver dam
with a huge beaver,
over 50 pounds. As
we toured along, Gord
checked with bare
eyes or binoculars to
see if traps were set off. If not, away we would
go to the next one, without disturbing them.
We met up for our tea and our snacks
around 11:30 a.m. The catch so far was two
beavers, two fishers, a racoon, a wolf and a
muskrat. Not a bad morning’s haul.
During lunch Bill explained that he sent me
with Gord because Gord is a trapping teacher
and loves it. During stops, he shared his
thoughts about his trade, like how trappers are
stewards of the land, the first to see changes,
and how trapping keeps the beaver population
in check, keeping the land manageable.
Then we went back to the cabin to finish
up day one.
The next morning the plan was to go out
in the registered territory to set traps, rather
than see what previous ones had caught. I
would learn a little about setting and position-
ing of traps – below ridges, in trees, on the
ground or, for beavers, just where in a beaver
dam they should go. We set muskrat, beaver
and wolf traps all before lunch.
Back to camp for a bite to eat and then, the
last lesson – skinning
In the skinning cabin I watched Bill skin,
flesh and board a beaver while Gord took care
of two fishers. You “board” a skin by placing it
on a plywood sheet, nailing it down and letting
it dry. Afterwards they’re shipped to North Bay
where they get between $5 and $10 each. Not
much money in a single beaver fur, but it’s the
only animal with a minimum quota a trapper
has to meet.
Gord Johnson with a beautifully-colored fisher.
(bottom) Author Doug Phillips displays his very
first beaver skinning/stretching effort.
When Bill handed me the knife and
said, “Your turn” he warned me it usually
takes a novice about four hours. What
he didn’t know was I had skinned many
a moose and a couple of bears. So the
beaver was quick work.
That pretty much wrapped it up for the
day, so we went inside, feasted on a moose
roast, told stories and had a lot of laughs.
If you ever get an opportunity to spend
time on a trapline with experienced trappers,
do it. It’s not easy work but it’s time in the
wilderness, working at Canada’s oldest trade.
I wish I had done this when I was younger.
Learn more when the Ontario Fur
Managers Federation meets in Carp, Ont.
August 25–27.
FISH , HUNT RIDE | 15