I started trapping in 1970 at the age of ten. The great fur boom of the seventies and early eighties was an exciting time to begin as a trapper. Many of us dreamed of trapping full time for a living. I was one of those. Although the high fur prices didn’t last my dreams of trapping full time did. I have been fortunate to have been able to live out those boyhood dreams. For 23 years of my trapping career, I worked as a government trapper, wildlife biologist and district supervisor in the federal Wildlife Services program. Many of those years involved trapping year-round to resolve coyote and beaver damage to livestock and property. Year-round trapping compacted the equivalent of several trapping seasons into each calendar year. It also provided a great opportunity to develop and test lures.
As early as my teens, I developed a fascination with building lures and baits. My graduate work in college focused on animal behavior and physiology and included work on mammalian pheromones. This research gave me insight into what sorts of ingredients can trigger a behavioral response in an animal. By the time I landed a government trapper job at thirty years old I was building several quality lures. The years that followed resulted in the development and refinement of the fine lures and baits we are now offering the public. These are animal lures and baits with many years of real-world use in situations where I was being counted on to solve wildlife problems.