Trap Collector Loves His Unusaul Hobby

Trap Collector Loves His Unusaul Hobby AG WORLD Ag World 21-2-22 After spoting a "Traps Wanted" ad in a regional farm newspaper, FARM SHOW tracked down Frank DeBolle of Rochester, Mich., who told us his want ads are an important part of his unusual hobby. He hopes people will see the ad and realize there's a market for very old traps they may have laying around. DeBolle collects all kinds and sizes of traps, and he's been doing it for 15 years. His collection includes everything from large bear traps to small bird traps, glass fly traps, porcelain insect traps, wire snare traps, and mechanical fish hook traps. His oldest trap is a mouse trap made about 1790. His largest trap is a no. 6 bear trap that's 44 in. long, 17 in. wide when the jaws are open, and weighs over 50 lbs. "As far as I know it's the largest commercially made leg-hold trap in the world," says DeBolle. "It was designed to catch Polar, Kodiak, and Alaskan brown bears as well as lions, tigers, and elephants which it caught by the trunk. It's now outlawed throughout most of North America and in many other countries." A couple of his traps are hand-forged and more than 150 years old. One is a wolf trap with a round base, two long springs, and a chain with a 3-pronged drag. "The drag al-lowed the trap to be used wherever the ground was too rocky to drive a stake," says DeBolle. "Eventually the drag caught on something which stopped the wolf." His other hand-forged trap has a spring under the pan. "It's the only trap I have like it. I got it from a preacher in New York," says DeBolle. DeBolle says that during the past 200 years more than 150 U.S. companies have made traps, along with unknown numbers of blacksmiths. One company called Triumph Trap Co., which went out of business about 70 years ago, made more than 300 different kinds of traps. "My goal is to eventually own at least one trap from each company." His interest in traps traces its beginnings to the early 1950's when he was a teenager. "My cousin gave me a muskrat trap that he had found and I figured out how to set it. Then an old friend of mine who had trapped as a teenager during World War I taught me how to trap rats and other animals. He also gave me some of his old traps, and later I started collecting them." DeBolle buys most of his traps at flea markets and farm auctions. He has purchased traps from 30 different states and bought others sight-unseen from Canada, Europe, and Australia. "I generally don't buy more than a few at a time. However, once I bought 764 traps from a deceased trapper's estate. When I buy traps in bulk I usually keep only a few of them for my collection and sell the rest. I'll sometimes trade one for a trap that I don't have." He has 50 some different makes of fly traps, most of them glass container models made around the turn of the century. "They're difficult to find because most people don't realize what they are and they break easily. People in Europe still use glass container fly traps extensively." He has porcelain insect traps. "They look like ordinary potery if you don't know what they are," he says. His collection even includes a rare fish hook trap. "When the fish grabs the bait a spring-loaded mechanism drives hooks into its head." DeBolle says he's willing to show his collection to anyone who's interested, and he'd like to hear from anyone with traps for sale. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Frank DeBolle, 1930 W. Gunn Road, Rochester, Mich. 48306 (ph 810 650-0900; fax 8358).

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