All-around outdoorsman, Bryce Cronk, his brother Myles, their dad, and extended family reside in the northern portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan, an ideal playground for anyone who loves to fish, hunt, and trap.
For Bryce and his family, besides hunting and fishing, they’re on their 19th year of coyote-trapping camp about three hours northeast of ScentLok and Blocker Outdoors headquarters in Muskegon, Michigan. Like deer camp or spring walleye opener, setting miles and miles of late-season coyote trap lines is a tradition the brood repeats year after year.
An Early Start
Bryce got his start trapping at age 10 with muskrats, which he sold for a little bit of spending money. His passion for the activity soon evolved from “rats”— the “easiest and simplest” animals to trap, according to Bryce.
“I kept learning more and reaching out year after year through junior high. Then, when I got my driver’s license at 16, my dad let me run fox and coyote lines and from there I was really hooked.”
Bryce says it didn’t take long before his dad took notice and the crew came up with the idea of running a coyote camp.
“Like the origins of any family deer camp, after that first trip it started getting bigger and more involved year after year. Those first couple years we caught a few coyotes and then we wanted more. So every year we’d buy more traps and it continued to grow,” adds Bryce.
“Now, almost 20 years into coyote camp, I can say we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve grown it as far as it can really go and it’s really about the camaraderie, the cooking, and extracurricular activities. We still run our lines, catch some coyotes, and enjoy that, but it’s really about carrying on the family tradition and enjoying our time together.”
The Cronk crew spends a week to a week and a half at coyote camp during the transition from fall to winter, running 60 to 70 mile lines of as many as 50 traps, catching anywhere from 12 to 20 coyotes, a few fox, and maybe a badger or two.
That means there’s a fair amount of time spent skinning. However, Bryce says there’s not much money in fur these days, so they take their bounty to local tanners who prepare them for display and sale in a family member’s hardware store, and some to be made into hats and other apparel.
Tradition Continues
Once again, Bryce mentions that the price of fur has diminished significantly over the years—while gas prices have gone up—but neither are any real concern to their party.
“We used to sell the hides but there’s no market anymore. My brother-in-law owns a hardware store so we have ‘em tanned and sell some through his shop. And we try to make hats and gloves ourselves, too, for gifts to friends.”
Ultimately, though, Bryce says it’s about the tradition and carrying on the art of trapping with family – something they’ll continue to do as long as there’s an over-abundance of coyotes and the enthusiasm to keep the camp going, which doesn’t seem to be fading one bit.
How the Cronk Crew Dresses Up
Bryce says northern Michigan’s lower peninsula can vary considerably year to year during the transition from fall to winter.
“As soon as the seasons start to change you also get that wet, lake effects pattern our region is known for. So, it’s on-and-off drizzling rain, on-and-off sleet, and snow, all of that. Occasionally we’ll get lucky and it’s nice and sunny, but most of the time we need to layer up to get in and out of the truck and set our traps, so quality gear is super important.”
“The new Blocker apparel beads up and sheds water—it’s great. It’s lightweight, warm, and handles the elements. I sure wish I had this stuff when I was a kid,” says Bryce.
Specifically, on their extensive trap sets and retrieval rides and wanders into the clear cut and down muddy, rugged logging roads, the Cronk crew wears Blocker Shield Verse Pro Pants, Shield Series Shirts (including the button-up long-sleeve), and the Blocker Shield Drencher Jacket over the top of it all for maximum protection from weather and forest.
“One thing I will say,” adds Bryce. “Is the knee pads in the Verse Pro Pants help out because we’re kneeling a lot to get the traps set—and there’s a lot of repetitive motion in some gnarly areas where these critters like to roam.”
Check out the complete lineup of goods and gear from Blocker Outdoors at www.blockeroutdoors.com.
