A Tale of a Modern-Day Trapper

by: Tom Mason
July 2001
Date of Post: July 2003

Ross White is caught firmly between two worlds. By day, White has a decidedly modern career as an industrial arts teacher at a junior high school. But his other job conjures up images of the trading posts and log cabins of another era. In his spare time, Ross White is a fur trapper.

Any thought of the romance of days gone by quickly disappear as White describes the rigours of his second job. Fur trapping, even part time, is demanding work, requiring many long evening and weekend hours, often using a miner's headlamp for light. With traplines ranging far afield of his Truro home, from Parrsboro to Wentworth to Pugwash, tending traps can mean hours of driving, as well. But for White it's an all-or-nothing game. "It's not ethical to set equipment and then not tend it regularly," he says.

White grew up in rural Lunenburg County. His family was the last to live in Ross Farm in New Ross before it became a museum in 1968. But he didn't take up trapping until the mid-70s. In those days oil shortages and long lines at the gas pumps got him thinking seriously about the future. "I thought it was a good idea to become as self-reliant as possible," he remembers. "So I started learning the skills I would need to live off the land. Trapping was one of those skills."

While many of his other wilderness skills have gone unused, the challenges that trapping presented to White had a lasting appeal. He says trapping represents a huge learning curve that he never gets tired of. "To be a successful trapper you have to have an intimate understanding of the animals you're going after," he says. "Every species is different and requires special skills and knowledge.

Mr. White believes that most of the criticism levelled against the fur trapping industry in unwarranted today. "Fifteen years ago there were some problems in our industry, and some of the criticism was well founded," he says. "But there have been a lot of improvements since then. Today Canadian trappers are the best equipped and best educated in the world."

New markets for furs are opening all the time, particularly in the newly affluent parts of Asia, but fur trapping is not a particularly lucrative career choice, according to White. In fact, with the price of equipment, trapping can be a money-losing venture, he says. "Trapping is not a way to get rich. It's a way of life," he says.

Despite the difficulties and demands, fur remains an important renewable resource for the province of Nova Scotia. And, White says, the carefully controlled populations of many fur-bearing animals are as abundant now as they were when the Europeans first arrived in Nova Scotia 400 years ago.

Today White and his wife have a new baby. To meet the demands of fatherhood, he's promised to cut back on the long hours trapping requires, at least for a few years. But he still managed to spend his March break vacation this year in typical style, tending traps on a registered trapline in Ontario.

"I can't help it. Fur trapping is just in my nature, I guess".