Sam the Trap Man: Cracking Yarns and Tall Tales from the Bush

With cracking yarns, hilarious tales and antics to rival Barry Crump, Sam Gibson is a modern outdoorsman with an incredible life story to tell.

Sam Gibson, aka Sam the Trap Man, is a bushman through and through: hunting, fishing, trapping and adventuring - he does it all. As an unruly teenager starting to get into mischief Sam’s parents and teachers struck an unusual deal, letting him take time out of school to spend it in the outdoors, a path which would first steer him away from trouble and eventually come to define his life.

In a series of cracking yarns about his life spent in the bush - which are by turns funny, thrilling, astonishing and touching - Sam tells the story of his life so far.

From shooting his first deer, to labouring through freezing cold South Island winters as a young trapper, to the time he woke up somehow covered in blood, each chapter weaves together the story of an incredible life full of adventure, hard work and a deep love for the bush and the native creatures who live in it. Protecting these animals and ecosystems is a life’s calling for Sam - every decision he makes in the bush is made to help it thrive.

Sam Gibson is a trapper and conservation worker who runs the Instagram page Sam the Trap man: https: //www.instagram.com/sam_the_trap_man. He’s spent his life in the bush hunting, trapping and fishing, and has worked for DOC as well as private conservation companies.

In 2019 he established the Eastern Whio Link conservation project, restoring whio (native blue duck) to the rivers of the Waioeka on the East coast, where he was born and raised. This work is largely done by volunteers and is bearing fruit - the team started with four breeding pairs, which have since birthed 80 chicks, and he reports that the number of whio bobbing in the waters in the area is starting to increase noticeably.

Sam lives with his partner Roimata and their two young children in Gisborne.