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Andrew Zysek: Remembering a long winter on a trap line

The author reflects on a long winter when the trapping cabin was often his home, a trapping season that was successful, and the struggles of grappling with life’s decisions. (Photo by Andrew Zysek)

The following story took place during the 2018-19 trapping season on a section of federal lands called the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. I had been going through a rough time at this point of my life and was drifting from place to place, and really didn’t have a home other than my trapping cabin. The entire fur season was mine to do as I wished.
I was trapping well throughout the season and had an ample amount of fur stacked up. It was mid-January, the ice was forming and was thick enough to walk on.

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