Last
week my trapping partner Rich Faler and I ran a trapline via boat at the
Shenango Reservoir. Our main focus was
catching raccoons. I’ve only ever
trapped from a boat once, this past February in Florida on the Appalachicola
River and bordering swampland, and I really enjoyed the experience – in fact,
you can read about that trip in my article “Swamp Dogs,” which appeared in the
May/June 2015 issue of American Trapper.
The
Florida experience was unique for two reasons.
First, it was my first time trapping from a boat. Second, steel traps are illegal in Florida,
so all trapping had to be done with snares – and I’d never used snares
before. Still, I had success and caught coyotes,
raccoons, and otter on the trip.
This
Shenango boat trapping expedition was unique in that we’d also hired a camera
crew to tag along with us on the trapline to capture footage for a DVD Rich and
I are producing. We’ve been wanting to
produce a raccoon trapping DVD for quite some time now and finally decided this
was the year to do it. Usually we rack
up decent catch numbers on our traplines together, but usually we don’t have a
camera with us.
Years
ago, when I co-hosted “Pennsylvania Back Country” on the Sportsman Channel, I
learned that hunting and fishing is one thing, and hunting and fishing with a
video camera is a whole other. I hate to
say the camera can be a jinx because I don’t really believe in jinxes. Mostly I believe that you create your own
luck through hard work and dedication.
Still, it’s hard to deny the fact that last year, in only two days of
trapping, Rich himself caught 18 raccoons with only about 40 traps set for two
check days. There was no camera with him
last year.
This
year, combining forces, we had over 80 traps set and caught only 13 raccoons in
three check days. This year, as I
mentioned, we had the camera.
Despite
the lower success rate, we still got enough footage for a DVD, which we hope to
release in early 2016. Hunting, fishing,
or trapping with a video camera on hand is an interesting way to experience the
outdoors. While doing this trapping DVD,
I had to stop quite frequently and explain what I was doing and why. In other words, I had to explain to the
viewer through my whole thought process involving location, type of trap, drag,
and lure selection for raccoons. When
I’m trapping alone, all of that stuff comes second nature to me without even
having to think about it.
Something
most hunting, fishing, and trapping DVDs don’t really show much of nowadays is
the amount of work that actually goes into doing what we love to do. It takes an incredible amount of time and
effort before things come “second nature.”
Ultimately,
I think that’s why cameras can jinx things.
We spend so much time outdoors, yet there are so many days we come home
with no fish, or no deer, or no raccoons.
That’s just reality. There are
more unsuccessful times than there are successful ones – those unsuccessful
times can also be called “learning experiences.” Anyway, with that in mind, why would it be a
shocker that you’re not successful on the day the camera man tags along?
We
ended up with enough footage for the DVD…I think. I’ll know when I start editing it and putting
it together. Overall, though, I’m happy
with how things turned out. It added a
new perspective to a new experience.
The
popularity of self-filming hunts and fishing trips have grown tremendously in
recent years. Have you ever filmed your
own adventures? Did having the camera
along change how you hunted? Some people
are so committed to only taking a shot at a deer, for instance, if they can get
it on film. Have you ever not taken a
shot because you couldn’t get the camera on it in time?
