My son who is nine and eat up with trapping, hunting and fishing submitted as essay to the missour trappers association young writers contest and won first place. We went up to the Missouri trappers fall rendezvous this afternoon and he was awarded a dozen 1.5 coil spring traps and we did some shopping. It was a great time and he is so fired up about fall hunting, trapping and fishing it should be against the law. HA. Here is his story if you want to read it.

Missouri Trappers Association Young Writers Essay

Learning to Trap

By Jacob King

Last year I was eight years old and my brother was four years old my dad got us into trapping. I learned that trapping is a good way to control how many animals there are. My dad’s friend Kyle came over a day before thanksgiving and showed us how to make muskrat and coon traps by a big pond. When we got there Kyle said that there was suppose to be a small muddy spot in the water just out from the bank. A muddy spot is a place in the water where you can see the entrance to a muskrat’s den. We looked in the water. There were 3 muddy spots in the pond. On the first night we trapped we caught 2 muskrats in 110’s. Two nights later we caught our first coon in a dog proof we had out.

Our Best Day

One afternoon my dad, brother and I went coon trapping. My dad and I had set 8 dog proof coon traps and also a live trap. We set the live trap at an old house. We put 2 dog proof traps at a pond and set 3 each in 2 culverts. When my dad went down to set a culvert he said there was a lot of tracks there. I said we would catch a coon there that night. When we went to the other culvert set, I saw a coon trail and I told dad that coon would run that.

When we woke up the next morning we went to a culvert first. Dad saw an opossum in one trap. Then he said we got two coons, too. One was very small and the other was a triple X. It was a monster. The triple X had a big spot on his back so we couldn’t skin him because his hide was worth only $1 so we turned him loose. Then we went to one more culvert. When we got down there we saw two coons in our trap. There was one in my set too. It was a double X. That means that is was pretty big. We caught another small one to release. Dad went down there and tried to get the coon out of the trap. The coon growled at him. So dad had to hold the coon down with his foot so he could get the coon out of the trap. The coon swam away and went into his home in a log. The 2 traps by the pond didn’t have anything in them. When we got to the old house the live trap was empty.
It Was a Good Year

My dad, brother and I thought we had a good trapping year. We got 21 coons and 4 muskrats. My dad gave me $20. Our tanned hides will be done in June and we will have more coming from the sales of the hides. Trapping is so much fun and I can’t wait until next season. We are going to try for some predators next season and that will be fun.

Learning more

This season will be our second season of trapping and I can’t wait until it gets here. I want to learn more about trapping and other furbearing animals that we can trap. My favorite thing to do is walk the creek at my grandpa’s farm and look for sign. This summer I have already found lots of coon and possum tracks and also a few mink. My pa saw a bobcat behind the house this summer so I really hope that we can make a dirt set and catch him. Me and my brother Josh have drove around a lot this summer with dad looking for new spots to add to our trapping line. We also have cleaned out a room in our old milk barn to make us a fur shed so me and dad can skin animals and keep our trapping stuff in there. The biggest reason I want to learn more about trapping is because I get to go out with dad and my brother and run traps and I love doing that more than anything else. Dad says we are the trapping trio and I like that.