NH Trappers were also instrumental in catching a few river otters in the mid 1990’s to send to Pennsylvania to help with a restoration already underway there. Here again I became “Otter Central”. I ended up keeping an otter in the cleaned out grease pit in my garage for several weeks.



By 1996 Pennsylvania was launching their own fisher restoration project and turned to New Hampshire for their supply of live fisher. You see, NH trappers had developed a reputation for catching healthy live fisher. I warned Pennsylvania’s biologist “Build lots of cages and fisher will come.” But he didn’t listen. He figured maybe two or three dozen fisher could be caught in the month-long NH fisher trapping season.



Suddenly, thanks to our NH trappers, I was “fisher Central” yet again, only this time I was meeting trappers and collecting five or ten a day!

I had heaps of fisher at my house. I would spend the day collecting fisher, and the evenings securing them into heavy plastic cylinders with thick doors bolted on each end. I delivered them the next morning to the Manchester Airport by 4:30 am; and by noon they were delivered to Penn State.

By now I literally had “stacks-of-fisher”. Pennsylvania officals had NOT built enough cages at Penn State. I ended up borrowing a number of large cages from The University of New Hampshire and had them stacked in my neighbor’s barn - full of fisher! My good friend Rick Hamlett had a barn full of fisher for a couple of months. Yes, we got fisher in NH.

This project continued for two more years, with NH trappers sending 175 fisher in all. This greatly exceeded any and all expectations from the folks in Pennsylvania, but ensured a successful restoration over a much larger area than had been originally thought possible.





Other Contributions

Restoring wildlife populations in several other states is just a small fraction of what trappers have contributed to conservation and to what they continually contribute to communities all across the state. Although trapper numbers have dwindled from nearly a thousand in the 1970’s to less than half of that the last decade, this core group of passionate wildlife conservationists make a difference nearly every day somewhere in this state.



Do you enjoy snowmobiling, cross country skiing, horseback riding or other outdoor activities on New Hampshire trail systems? Thank a NH trapper. Trappers help manage beaver conflicts that would flood or destroy the some of hundreds of miles of trails maintained by the Trails Bureau. From unclogging culverts to trapping beavers to control populations, trappers are continuously helping to keep the trails open.

And not just trails, many town road agents depend on local trappers to keep the roads high and dry too. I have known many trappers who spend many summer and early fall evenings unplugging road culverts, then go in to set beaver traps when the pelts are prime in November. Trappers annually provide hundreds and hundreds of hours to communities and citizens to reduce beaver conflicts.



New Hampshire trappers have always striven to improve their craft and skills. Trapper and trapping techniques are constantly being improved. Yes, you can build a better “mouse trap” or in this case a fox, fisher or beaver trap. Existing equipment is constantly being improved. Traps and trapping have changed significantly since I have been observing the activity. Off-set and laminated jaws have been developed for foot-hold traps in recent years. More swivels have been added to the chains as well as repositioning the chain to reduce injury to an animal in a foot-hold trap. More powerful body gripping traps ensure a quicker and more humane dispatch to a muskrat or mink.





Looking To The Future

Trapper education is a constant. Each year at the NH Trappers Association Fall Rendezvous trappers are provided numerous workshops to improve their skills. And more trap and trapping improvements are always in the works.



New Hampshire trappers have been conducting trap testing for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to develop Best Management Practices for trapping. This national effort seeks to develop guidelines for trappers to use the most humane, safe and practical trapping methods for over a dozen species in the US. As a result, New Hampshire trappers will make a significant impact on how beavers are trapped all across this country.