Books

Perfected open water trapping methods for both beaver and otter described in detail. Proper size traps and how to make them produce are explained and illustrated for foothold traps as well as for body gripper traps and snares. Drowning methods, bait, food lure, castor-based lure, location, dry sets, under water sets, wet sets, blind sets, fur handling – It’s all here! 114 pages.

Excellent book by trapping legend Charles Dobbins. This is not a method book, rather it describes in great detail how to determine both the limits and capabilities of lures, baits, and urines. It doesn’t explain how to make lures or baits, but deals with testing lures, baits, and urines for effectiveness. Tells you how often to re-lure, and will help you determine which lures work best on your own trapline. You will know how far a certain lure will bring the target animal under different weather conditions. 110 pages.

Not only deals with fox and coyotes, but also with making land sets for bobcat, raccoon, mink, and otter. How to stabilize a trap, when using lightweight materials for antifreeze. Use of call lures. Use of trails. Use of electronic squeakers. Explains the use of psychology on the target animal to take its mind off danger. Explains WHY each different set works to take the wild canines. 184 pages.

Sets are described and illustrated for high water, under ice, on top of the ice, floating sets, land sets, wet and dry tunnel sets, pocket sets in the water, pocket sets on land, pocket sets with multiple traps, dirt hole for mink, the use of foothold traps, the use of bodygrip traps, and many more things the trapper can use to increase his mink catch. 92 pages.

Stories of Charles Dobbins’ various traplines and experiences. Contains chapters on Charlie’s first coon, coming up the hard way, evolution of a trapper, killer coyote, and many more. 120 pages.

Bait and lure usage at the dirt hole, also traps and equipment. Different positioning of the trap in relation to what animal is being trapped. Blending is explained and how it is accomplished under different circumstances. Over 80 detailed photos to help you catch more fox, coyote, bobcat, and raccoon. 72 pages.

Explains and illustrates making various flat sets under all conditions. These sets have no holes to fill with water, blowing dirt, sand or leaves. 88 detailed photos, 78 pages.

This book relives Charles Dobbins’ beginning days of trapping in the 1930s and beyond. The mistakes, the triumphs, they’re all in this educational and fun to read book. 129 pages.

This book eliminates loss of fur due to poor anchoring and theft. If there’s a way a trap can be fastened, it’s in this book. Covers slides, stakes, grapples, wire, chains, etc. Coverage from rats to coyotes. Includes photos and drawings. 107 pages.

This is the last book written by Charles Dobbins. Starts where “The Great Teachers” leaves off and covers his life through the mid-1960s. Interesting, informative reading about his trapline adventures. 84 pages.

Covers the art of fur handling from a fur buyer’s perspective. With over 30 years of professional fur handling experience there is much to be learned by both the beginner and the seasoned trapper. This book will help you learn the secrets and short cuts to producing a top quality pelt, thereby maximizing the dollars returned to you when you sell your fur. Crammed full of vital information. This book will not cost you money; it will make you money. The most accurate and up to date fur handling book available today. 104 pages.

Rich Faler’s “Cable Restraints: The Art of Live-Catch Snares” book was published in 2018. This modern, 128 page, full color book focuses on building and using cable restraints (live-catch snares) for coyote and fox.

Whether you are a beginner who is just getting started, have used cable restraints with poor results, or a seasoned pro, you will find this book highly helpful and informational in your quest to better yourself using cable restraints.

Rich Faler has trapped Maine black bear, Florida bobcat and otter, Hawaii mongoose, and most other furbearers from coyote to weasel. He is the editor of the American Trapper, The Wisconsin Trapper, and PA Outdoor Journal, and past editor of the Trapper and Predator Caller.

Copyright 2018

128 pages.

Ralph Scherder and Rich Faler, two nationally recognized trappers, team up to trap fisher in the relatively new seasons in Pennsylvania. Then they team up to share their experiences and findings in this how-to-do book. The fisher is a special prize. These pages will guide you to this prize! If you love the wilds of the mountains, the hiss of snow against hemlock needles, and the stiff December breezes that snake around the high ridges, then you’ll love the pursuit for fisher.

96 pages.   Copyright 2016.

Bedding, Blending & Weatherproofing

Decades in the making, here’s the answer to the most asked questions by trappers year after year… how to solidly bed in different soils, how to conceal your trap from the furbearer, and how to weatherproof under a wide range of conditions with many methods. Perfect Sets covers these critical components in depth. Many full-color photos. Perfect Sets is the answer to upping your trapping success.

128 Full Color Pages!  Copyright 2019

Rich Faler has trapped Maine black bear, Florida bobcat and otter, Hawaii mongoose, and most other furbearers from weasel to coyote. He is editor of the American Trapper, The Wisconsin Trapper, and PA Outdoor Journal, and past editor of Trapper and Predator Caller.

Covers habitat and every aspect and method of mink trapping. Over 100 photos and 40 sketches help make this the largest and most complete mink trapping book ever written.

240 pages.

Morris Fenner shares a lifetime of trapline experiences in this 135 page collection of articles. Join Mo on traplines across the country over the course of the last 55 years. From the East to the West, and from weasels to bobcats, Mo has been there and done that.

135 Pages.  Copyright 2012

Tells it like it is, 100-percent otter trapping. Deadly sets. Lots of clear pictures that show you how it’s done. 20 pages.

Bryan Flowers is a trapper and hunter from Bradford, PA that has hunted and trapped all across the United States.

132 pages.

Copyright 2018

Volume III. Describes in detail the favorite sets of some of the country’s best trappers. Chapters by Jepson, Thorpe, Plueger, Phillips and many others. You’re sure to learn something new from this book. 131 pages.

The trap collector’s book! The history of the steel trap in North America from the 1600’s to the present. How traps were used for furbearers and to control predators. Also stories of the inventors. 

8-1/2 x 11 size. 352 pages (Hardcover).

Excellent book with good solid information to improve your mink catch. Contains information on snaring mink and dryland sets. 55 pages.

So complete and understandable that anyone using these methods should take fur with ease. Fill your stretchers, while other trappers are hauling dirt and chopping out frozen traps. These methods work 365 days a year, rain, snow and below freezing weather. Fast and simple methods take the mystery out of snaring. Learn how to handle and deal with any snare problems. Shows how to snare in deer trails without catching deer. Tells how to set snares without catching rabbits, house cats, and other trash animals. Explains land and water sets for over six different kinds of fur animals. How to prepare locations and how to make your trails and where. 48 pages.

Fox and Coyote Trapping. The last word in trapping the canine family. 40 pages.

Sets and general information about trapping both mink and muskrats. 49 pages.

Tips by one of the leading trappers of all time. Illustrated. 91 pages.

Sets and general information about raccoon trapping. 46 pages.

Red and Grey Foxes – How to Trap Them. Contains many interesting and helpful tips. 44 pages.

Bigger and Better than Ever! 18th edition. Complete course on trapping every animal. Real encyclopedia of trapping. Full of good trapline information. Exclusive information not found in any other publication. Complete, authoritative, new sets, favorite sets – fully illustrated with nearly 160 illustrations. (Soft back) 381 pages.

A HUMOROUS look at possum trapping by Joe (Big Possum) House. Become a MILLIONAIRE TRAPPER. Just one million possums at one dollar each and you too can join the ranks of the new millionaires. Gain the necessary background on possums in the history section, including Joe’s biblical theory of possum origin. Learn why possums are attracted to asphalt and how this can improve your catch. Understand the proper traps, baits, lures, clothing and other equipment needed to handle one million possums. 96 pages of entertainment that every trapper should own.

This book is full of information that coon trappers seek to increase the number of raccoons caught.  From prospecting trap locations, using dog proof traps, making bucket sets and everything in between, including trap care and grading the hides. You will come away with the knowledge needed to be a better coon trapper. 

69 pages and many photos.

by Jason Houser