• Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

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    Addendum: 01/10/2026
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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Any Hunters or Trappers out there?

I hunt, trap & fish, though not as much as I did in my first half century. Growing up on a farm, these were just additional ways to harvest and fit well with agricultural scheduling.

Most of my hunting anymore is just to put a couple deer in the freezer each year, which I butcher myself. As a young man, I hunted almost everything as the seasons came and went. Doves, small game, varmint, waterfowl, turkey & deer...

I trapped quite a bit in the 70s, targeting red fox, but got away from it when fur prices dropped out and I got busy with other things. These days, I trap as a way to control pests and mainly target coyote & beaver due to those species being the primary troublemakers in my area. Being known for removing nuisance beavers has continuously opened up new hunting and fishing areas for me, very much like shooting groundhogs for farmers, and everybody hates coyotes.

I grew up near the Chesapeake Bay, and everyone had a boat and fished. LOL, I'd love to have all the money we threw in the water. Like hunting, we chased whatever was in season at the time. Flounder out at Chincoteaque, trout in western MD, white perch, bass and stripers in the tidal rivers, drum down by Tilighmans, smallies in the upper Potomac, catfish at Conowingo. These days, I might get out after stripers every couple years, but have really been too busy to fish much.
 
James, have you ever been to the fur shows at Small Country Campground in Louisa? That was the first time I was introduced to trapping and furs but it was 15+ years ago. A lot of good life lessons learned there :)
 
Hi Karl, no haven't been to any shows there, but I am only 15 minutes from the campground and often list it for my incoming students. I'll have to check it out and see if they still do it.
 
Wow great to see you guys! I agree E.Shell. Any farmer hears the word coyote and they say go ahead. Coon are a big one up here because they eat all the corn. They just closed last weekend unfortunatly. Still trapping Muskrats and will be starting beaver in spring when they kick out the youngins.
How did you do on this season?
 
We actually have a trapping course up here once a year to help folks learn the trade. If you contact your local trapper's association (if there is one) they could probably help you figure things out. I only have minor experience trapping mesomammals and predators, most of my trapping has been for small mammal research. If done right and for the right reasons, trapping is fine. I really wish more folks would get into nutria trapping. Talk about invasive, damaging pests right there!

I grew up hunting and fishing. I used to hunt turkeys but there aren't a whole lot up here. I primarily hunt deer. There are few things more satisfying and empowering than taking responsibility for your food from shot to butchering to the dinner table. I'm hoping to go after some walleye and yellow perch in March. After living in Georgia for the past five years I have zero ice fishing equipment left. That, and with 22" of ice out there right now, I can't get away with the little ice pick that used to work just dandy in New York. I'll have to invest in over $150 of equipment just to get started, at least.

I watch the REAL survival shows religiously. Les Stroud and Cody Lundin are the most down-to-earth, knowledgeable TV survival personalities out there. I've learned a lot from watching those two and sincerely hope I will never be in a survival situation, but knowledge is power. I really need to get out there and practice building snares though... my understanding of them is rudimentary at best.
 
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