Fur's Generation Next

The deal my daughter Katie was proposing seemed to be all in my favor.

- David O'Farrell

I was sure there had to be a catch somewhere, but I couldn’t find one. Katie and her boyfriend, Troy, had just told us they wanted to trade labor for an opportunity to trap. When they told me the labor would consist of cutting trail into an area I had wanted to get into for years, I immediately agreed.

People tell me I’m lucky to have kids who are passionate about trapping, that very few young people are these days. I couldn’t disagree more. I am always getting calls and emails from young people looking for either a job with me on my trapline or advice on how they can get a trapline of their own.

The demand for registered traplines all across Canada is insatiable. When one comes up for sale, it’s never on the market long, and the buyers are usually a young couple. Prices have reached a level never seen before. New trappers typically pay anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 for a good marten line in western Canada, and I have seen them sell for more than that.

My experience with this new generation of outdoorsmen and women has been all positive. Yes, they do things a bit differently than us old-timers. They are very aware of the new technology, and they put it to good use, too. Just last week I watched a young man map out a trapline trail he planned to cut using a satellite photo and an app on his phone. He was marking the steep grades, creek crossings and boggy areas, all the while checking the total distance in from the road.

Of course, it was still going to take a lot of old-fashioned sweat equity to cut that trail. And you know what? He didn’t seem to mind that in the least. As a matter of fact, he told me he was looking forward to the experience, the outdoor adventure.

Since the Yukon Territory went to a registered trapline system in 1937, five men have owned my trapline. At just over 1,200-square miles it is one of the largest.