I needed to write something for an application. I was working at the store when a trapper came by to eat. I talked with him and he asked me if I had ever seen an otter. I told him I saw them in zoos. He told me he had one in his truck. I went out to see it and he said he came to Louisiana to trap beavers and anything else that was in season. I thought that was an interesting story so I called him a couple of days later, told him what I was doing, and asked if I could talk to him. He said that was OK. I went to the camp he was staying at and asked him several questions. We also planned to meet the next day at the store to take pictures.
I took several pictures, he went to work, and I gathered my notes and wrote. I went again to the camp that evening to clarify the information I had. We did that and then drank a couple of beers. I was even able to see him check one of his traps. Some boys called him saying he had a coyote trapped. He asked if I wanted to see and we went meet them. I watched him take the dead coyote out of the trap and then set the trap again. He showed one of the boys how it was done. This was last week. He left Monday. He came to the store to say he was going home because the snakes were starting to come out. He had by then caught 104 beavers at $35 a tail. That's good money and it doesn't include the other animals he caught which he can sell for more. It was a good experience. I met an interesting person, learned something about trapping and was able to submit an article for my application. The following is a variation of what I submitted.
Beavers build dams that plug up culverts, pipes and drainage canals, causing flooded roads and fields. Their dams also kill trees. Beavers gnaw on trees for material, which hurt the trees, and then trees often die from the flooding caused by the dam when it's completed. It's a costly problem and Evangeline Parish placed a $35 bounty on beavers in 2006 after the trapper employed by the parish broke his leg and was unable to continue trapping. An Ohio trapper was googling online and read articles about the situation. He got his truck, four-wheeler, traps and freezer ready for work in Louisiana.James Cundiff Jr. is from Dayton, Ohio. He's a certified arborist and maintains trees when he's not trapping. But trapping is something he loves to do. "I've been trapping since '73 when I was 10," Cundiff said. He said he began trapping for fun and sport. He grew up in the country and hunting and trapping was a part of life. He began trapping for money in his teenage years when the fur market paid well. He continued trapping even when the money wasn't great. "I don't make a lot of money trapping but trappers love to do it," Cundiff said. He traps in the winter and stops when the heat, snakes and homesickness gets to him. He's been in Louisiana since Feb. 1 and has caught 99 beavers by March 11. "I didn't get one today and I wanted to tell you I had a 100," he said laughing.
He keeps a calendar with the kind of animal and amount of each trapped. The $35 bounty on beavers is the main reason he's in Louisiana but he traps mink, otter and anything else that's in season. Beavers can be trapped year round because they are considered a nuisance animal.Cundiff begins work every day of the week at dawn and stops when the sun goes down. He said state regulations say trappers must check their traps every day. But that's not the only reason he does it. "I don't get paid by the hour but how much I work," he said. It's not easy work and rather expensive. He's spent close to $700 in fuel since he began work this year and has put 600 miles on his four-wheeler.
He works primarily in the southern area of Evangeline, staying during his Louisiana trip at a hunter's camp near Mamou. He had previously camped in nearby woods or at Crooked Creek in a tent but one of the many people he's helped offered him his camp to stay in. Meeting people and having them thank him is the greatest reward for his work. "I really like that part of it, having people slap me on the shoulder and telling me thank you for helping them," Cundiff said. Landowners, farmers and crawfisherman find out about Cundiff and they ask him for help. He has some trouble pronouncing names like Fuselier and Granger but he knows several of them. They ask for help, Cundiff traps the beavers causing trouble, tears down the dam and brings the tails to the police jury. Paperwork is filled out and a check is mailed to his home in Ohio 1 or 2 weeks later.
It won't be long before Cundiff returns home. He might "hop a state" before doing so. Last year he left the prairies and bayous of Louisiana for the deserts in New Mexico. He said he's been hopping states since 1992 and he's trapped in Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. Learning the terrain and trapping animals from mountains and deserts to lakes and bayous is part of the adventure, he said. But meeting new people and helping them is the greatest reward for him - Louisiana being his favorite state. "I love it here," he said. "I get to eat this great food and the people here are nice."