Camping and Trapping
Camping and trapping is a subject close to my own heart. Of course, there is little call for these skills in today’s world. Many people view the whole topic with distaste. However, in days gone by, we clothed ourselves in skins and furs. So the skills involved in snaring or trapping animals were essential.
The image above was taken when I trapped possums and wallabies above the snowline on the Central Plateau of Tasmania in Australia. The information in the books below is mainly from North America during the heyday of the fur trade. For those interested, it is a real insight into the period when we still relied on the skins of animals for protection and warmth.
Camping and trapping lead naturally to tanning, and there is quite a bit of information on this if you follow the link.
Harding Downloads
1. Deadfalls and Snares by AR Harding 1907 have 243 pages. More than sixty illustrations enable the beginner better to understand the construction and workings of homemade traps. The “old timers mainly furnish the illustrations.”
2. Steel Traps by the prolific author AR Harding 1907 has 348 pages. Steel Traps are far superior to Snares or Deadfalls. This is because they can be used for land and water trapping. Snares and Deadfalls are adapted to Land trapping only.
3. Fox Trapping by AR Harding 1906 has 191 pages. The methods given on the following pages are principally taken from articles published in the H-T-T. The writers share their most successful techniques, the trapper with little experience with foxes will find them of great value. Their articles are from all parts of America, so trappers from any area will find a method or methods that can be used.
4. Mink Trapping by AR Harding 1906 has 193 pages. The methods published are from all parts of the country. Many experienced trappers tell of their best methods so that it makes no difference in what part of America you live. Something will be found about how to trap in your area.
Schmidt
5. The Muskrat Trapper by AE Schmidt 1906 – written in 1922 and had 41 pages. Practically all textbooks written for trappers treating the subject of trapping and raw furs previously have been neglectful of two things. Firstly, how to trap the animals under various conditions and secondly the sorting and grading of raw furs.
Buzzacott
6. Buzzacotts Masterpiece – written by “Buzzacott” in 1913 and had 546 pages. There are so many movements in the checker-board life of a trapper that it is impossible to make any system cover the field. Animals are primarily governed by the caprice of the moment, so should the trapper ever adapt himself to conditions as he finds them, which are seldom, if ever, the same, and by energetic practice and perseverance meet move with the move, accepting and expecting defeat, discouragement, losses, failures, yet playing the game to win.
Gibson
7. Camp Life and The Trick of Trapping, written by Hamilton Gibson in 1880, has 315 pages. With the exception of all ” clap-trap,” our volume will embrace nearly every known example of the various devices used for the capture of Birds, Beast, or Fowl in all countries, simplifying such as are impracticable on account of their complicated structure and modifying others to the peculiar adaptation of the American Trapper.
8. Camping and Trapping – written by William Gibson. This man lived between 1850-1896 and his book, written in the late 1800s, captures the skills needed to be a frontier man of that era. As a result, this is an absolute must-have if you are interested in trapping and snaring. Camping and trapping has 193 pages packed with information on making and setting traps. It also contains a wealth of knowledge gained from living in the Woods.
Pelteries Publishing Co
9. The Trapper’s Companion – written by Pelteries Publishing Co in 1919 and had 165 pages of information. An Up-to-date Book replete with trapping Methods, approved Sets used by the Most Experienced Trappers, Instruction for HandHng, Grading and Shipping Raw Furs, Traps, Bait, Scents, Fur Farming, Camp Building, Boat Building, Turtle Trapping, Bee Hunting, and many minor matters, embracing everything a trapper should know to ensure success.
10. Trapping as a Profession by Pelteries Publishing Co in 1922 has 99 pages. Trapping Grounds of North America Guide to Methods of Trapping Them Successfully; Fur Prospecting; Professional Trappers’ Methods; and Opportunities of Making Money in This Profession.
Professional Trappers
11. My 60 Years on The Plains by WT Hamilton in 1905 has 263 pages. Trapping, Trading and Indian fighting, “Uncle Bill” was also acknowledged by all to be the greatest sign-talker on the plains, either Indian or white, and was able to converse with all tribes. All Indian tribes use the same signs, though speaking a different languages.
12. 20 Years on The Trap Line by Joseph Henry Taylor, written in 1891 with 170 pages. A collection of revised camp notes written at intervals during twenty years of experience in trapping, wolfing and hunting on the Great Northwestern Plains.
13. Canadian Wilds was written by Martin Hunter in 1907, 286 pages. Firstly, I have hunted, trapped and traded with the Montagnais, Algonquins and Ojibways, the three largest tribes that inhabit the country mentioned in the foregoing boundaries. Therefore, the reader can place implicit reliance on what is herein set forth.
14. A Trapper’s Guide: A Manual of Instructions – written by the famous trapper Newhouse in 1869 and had 245 pages of fantastic information. From capturing to curing, this is one of the most detailed texts you will ever find on this subject.
15. 50 Years Hunting and Trapping by E.N Woodrock and edited by A.R. Harding in 1913, has 324 pages. This man lived between 1850-1896 and his book, written in the late 1800s, captures the skills needed to be a frontier man of that era. As a result, this is an absolute must-have if you are interested in trapping and snaring. It also contains a wealth of knowledge gained from living in the Woods.
Boy Scouts
16. The Book Of Camp Lore and Woodcraft was written by Dan Beard (founder of the first Boy Scouts Society) in 1930 with 288 pages. Those who think we know boys feel that this “inner light” illuminating their wonderful powers of imagination is the compelling force culminating in the vigorous accomplishments of manhood. Additionally,iIt is the force which sent Columbus voyaging over the unknown seas, which sent Captain Cook on his voyage around the world, the same force which carried Lindbergh in his frail airship across the Atlantic.”