Carter Haas first got interested in trapping by watching Kendall Gray on YouTube and watching some of his dad's wilderness shows. “The most fun thing about trapping is when you get an animal.”
Carter is a 5th grader at Potosi. He started trapping a year ago and hasn’t stopped since. “Trapping ain't hard at all, you just got to watch YouTube videos on it.” His first catch in one of his traps was a possum, and that sparked his interest in trapping.
“The best bait to use is dog food and molasses, because of how smelly molasses is and dog food gets softer.” The various kinds of animals he catches include raccoons, possums, skunks, rabbits, and birds. Carter's go-to traps are live traps and some foot traps. The most common animals he traps are skunks and raccoons. “In the summertime, I check my traps in the morning, but when I have school it's always in the afternoon.”
Carter always has his brother's dog Hunter with him when he's checking on his traps. Hunter always stays right by Carter's side and never tries going for the animal in the trap. The process of checking every trap around the house takes about ten minutes. Carter sometimes goes down to his dad's hunting property and sets up foot traps down there.
Carter has already trapped over thirty animals. He typically catches an animal per day, but sometimes doesn't catch anything at all. Carter usually kills the animal and then gives it to his dad's friend, who skins them out and lets their fur dry. “I would love to eventually start selling some of my furs; I just need to learn more about the tanning process.” Carter is very passionate about his little trapping business and hopes to start earning money from it.