Scouting Ground and Getting Landowner Permission

Scout before the season

The best trappers do most of their work before the season opens. Late summer and early fall are for driving back roads, walking edges and reading sign. You're looking for where animals travel, not just where they live.

What to look for:

• Travel corridors: field edges, fence lines, old logging roads, ditch lines, ridge tops and the edges where woods meet open ground. Canines love to travel these.
• Pinch points: gaps in fences, culverts, narrow strips of cover between two fields, a dry crossing between two wet areas.
• Water edges: muskrat feed beds and runs, mink tracks along banks and under overhangs, beaver cuttings, slides and fresh mud on dams.
• Scat and scrapes: fox and coyote often leave scat on raised spots and at trail junctions. Repeat sign in the same spot is gold.
• Tracks: check mud along ditches and soft field edges after a rain.

Mark everything as you find it. A scouting pin today becomes a set location in November. In Sprung Trapline, drop scouting spots as Fresh sets with a note, then promote them to Active once the trap goes in.

Who owns it?

Once you've found good ground, find out who owns it. Ask at the nearest farmhouse, check with the municipality, or use land registry records where they're public. Crown land and public land have their own rules, so check your regulations before trapping there.

Asking for permission

Most landowners have never been asked by a trapper, and many have a problem they'd like solved: coyotes near the sheep, beavers flooding a field, raccoons in the barn. Go in person, in daylight, dressed like you're going to work, not like you're going to war.

A good approach:

1. 1Say who you are, where you live, and that you're a licensed trapper.
2. 2Say what you'd like to trap and roughly where on their land.
3. 3Ask if there's anything they'd like you to deal with.
4. 4Ask about their rules: gates, livestock, dogs, kids, areas to stay out of, times not to be there.
5. 5Offer to show them where your sets are and let them know what you catch.
6. 6Leave your name and phone number in writing.

If they say no, thank them and leave. A polite no this year can be a yes next year.

Get it in writing

A short permission letter protects you both. It should name the landowner, the trapper, the property, the season or dates, what's allowed, and be signed by the landowner. Keep a copy with you in the field. Sprung Trapline lets you attach a photo of the letter to the property so it's on your phone when you need it.

Keep the permission

This is the part people forget. Follow every rule they gave you, close every gate, keep your truck off soft fields, and pick up after yourself. At the end of the season, tell them what you took off their land. A one-page summary of what you removed is often the reason you get invited back, and sometimes the reason they tell a neighbour about you.