Trapping $mart
Stakes and weights can get to be some money when you are buying them in bulk for trapping. Even though they aren't very expensive it is an easy area to save in your trapping expenses. Here are some simple and cheep ways to save money...
1) Make your own stakes~
It seems like an obvious answer when you don't want to buy stakes yet so many trappers still will continue to buy more stakes. All it takes is a little bit of time and some motivation to actually get out in the woods working. You can either cut your own out of saplings or if you have extra wood laying around you can cut that to your desired length!
2) Use left over bricks~
Do you have bricks left over from a project? Those bricks can be a great help for trapping. If they are large enough you can split them in half and get two weights from one brick! I just hook some trapping wire around them and they work great to just set out for coon trapping. If you don't need to carry everything out by hand the blocks can work great.
3) Make your own blocks~
You can buy concrete for cheap from places like Menards so why not make your own blocks? Its extremely simple and very cheap! All you need is water, a concrete mix, wire and some molds. I use the bottoms of buckets for my molds. Another thing you can use is old plastic containers or for smaller weights styrofoam cups. Mix up your concrete and pour it into the molds. With just one bag of concrete you can make many blocks! Then just make a half circle in the wire and stick the two ends into the concrete. Once it hardens the wire hook can be used for attaching your traps. Let harden and your trapping blocks are now ready!
Hopefully this next year you can save some bucks on your trapping gear! Now get out there and catch some furs! Good Luck trapping!
To find more about trapping with bricks read- Bricks: A quick way to trap