Trapping on the Homestead

Here at the Smith Family Homestead Jeryme does some trapping. Some people are against trapping and others are for it. We personally do not trap anything that we do not use for meat or pelts and sometimes we have to trap predatory animals that can wreak havoc to our domestic critters.

I believe that trapping has its place in the self sufficiency world that we are trying to be a part of. I (Joanna) am a bit hesitant but I want to learn all about trapping and eventually take a course and get licensed as well. Our son Taylor has taken the course and traps from time to time with his father Jeryme.

I (Joanna) enjoy any opporatunity to get outside and enjoy some fresh air. On this day I had been inside making a soup to can for most of the morning so I jumped at the chance to get out! In the winter I actually do quite a bit of canning, I try and use up some vegetables from our cold storage in soups that I can and they will last all winter and into the spring.

As with most of our activities this of course turned into an adventure! We are not always good at getting prepared for our endeavors the day before so we are scrambling to find all the materials and tools we need and to get things running. On this day it was so nice outside so the cold wasn't much of a problem, our old homestead snowsled decided not to run so we were down the the four wheelers. Then we couldn't find the pin to attach the dog sled, Jeryme finally found one and we loaded the sled and we were off......We finally made it to our destination after a bit of maneuvering and dicey trail conditions. Did I mention we can be forgetful as well? We forgot something needed for the trap and had to retreat back to get some more equipment, of course our girl Bela did not mind, she loves running behind the wheelers! We finally got the trap set and started heading back and we lost the dog sled......no really you can't make this stuff up....We jumped off the wheeler and checked over the sled only to find out the end that hooks to the back of the wheeler snapped completely off! Luckily Jeryme is very handy and we had some extra rope in the sled so he tied it and off we went. We finally made it back to the homestead and called it a day! There were some moments of distress but we believe it only makes us stronger and more united.