# Run and Gun..........



## rangeman (Dec 7, 2006)

I am not a commercial trapper and have my limit of 20 traps. My experience is very limited although I do have 2 fox, numerous *****, several grinner's and a skunkeeeeeyew to my credit over the last three seasons with only about three weeks of actually running my traps. There seems to be a lot of different styles and techniques that sometimes contradict what I read. It all seems to depend on the part of the country, terrain, etc. I have always heard about running trap lines. Do you keep your traps in the same locations all season? I seem to have most of my catches the morning after I set my traps...... Things seem to taper off and I am ready to move on. It is a lot of work, and I live in very rugged country, trap on public hunting lands, and have a full time job except for my weekends. Are trap lines to be kept in the same location for the entire season? Should I be more patient due to what seems to be large home ranges for the animals? How often should I re-bait? I am trying some commercial lures along with perch and some bottled fox urine this year with very limited success. Is there any merit to run and gun?


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## Mongojoe (Nov 2, 2006)

When I was taking a month or so off work for the season and running hard, I would usually stay in an area maybe 7 to 10 days or so, or till activity died pretty much out...but then I was always kinda "rotateing" areas, moving out of one and into another, lengthing my line on one end and shortening it on the other... When I had to go back to work, I usually stayed in the same areas, close to home, for the reminder of the season, and often left the majority of the sets there till I pulled up for the season, occasionally pulling some, and putting in others.

I never re-baited my sets unless I made a catch, or the bait got stolen...and I re-lured after a rain, or if I were leaving the sets in the ground for longer periods, then about every 6 or 7 days.

As for "run and gun".... Not real sure what you mean... but if you have only limited time and/or limited areas...then I would just concentrate on makeing good sets at good locations, and haveing patience.


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## carp_killer (Nov 24, 2006)

i rotate my sets every week or so unless im catching alot of animals which ocassionaly happens as for rebaiting i do it wen ever the old bait is gone or after a rain fall


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## rangeman (Dec 7, 2006)

You hit the nail on the head Mongo. My state requires daily set checks. I have been adhering to the rules. I work swing shift during the week so during the week it is hard to get up early, so I set on Sat and run on Sun an Mon then pull the traps and start in again the next weekend. I have over a million acres of public lands to hunt, and I love it. It all looks like there should be a varmint behind every bush. I do have some good areas close to the house but its hard to ignore the untouched big woods...... I have been trying to keep my sets somewhat close to the logging roads for ease of checking from the pick-up. Are trap lines usually done on foot making a big loop? I have been concentrating more on sign this year and saddles in ridges and ravines and the likes. There is some pasture land around the house but it is all private. I do have a railroad track that runs behind the house that is literally covered with yote sign, but I have not figured out how to set a trap on those damn tracks yet.......Ha!


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## Mongojoe (Nov 2, 2006)

Rangeman, I used to run a few walking lines when I was young, and doing that I generally would make a big loop and end up where I started. But as the years passed, and my beard got greyer, the hills seemed to get steeper, the trails longer, and the stuff I had to carry heavier...LOL.... Eventually, I pretty much just started doing my lines from the truck... I still had to stop and walk a short ways to some sets, but many I could see from my truck... But still I would try to "run a loop" when I could, to avoid as much back-tracking as possible... Coyotes were the main predator on my lines here, and during the time I took off work to run traps, a loop around my lines, with all the side trips down two tracks, and back roads, might put over 100 miles a day on my truck... I had a couple of stretches of old rail-road track on my lines...but they were old rail-road right of ways, and the tracks had been taken up.... These are animal highways, and very productive.


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