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Post by trappnman on Aug 2, 2009 19:43:35 GMT -6
came around a corner friday and saw him digging a gopher-  some locations on same farm, new one for me this year   |
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Post by sRc on Aug 2, 2009 19:45:23 GMT -6
steve, you no doubt live in some of the finest-lookin' country there is!
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Post by trappnman on Aug 2, 2009 20:34:51 GMT -6
whats unique, is its what they call the driftless area- the last glacers split and went aorund this corner of the state, SW WI and NE Iowa. From wht I read, a lot of plants and things that are only here, and in parts of Europe- our goat praires for example
lots of swiss in the area, cause it reminded them of home- those are tre fields Im trapping gophers on-
this fall, a set or two on the lower end of that weedpatch, a stinger set on that top pathway, a couple of coon pockets in the ravine at the bottom (those woods on bototm drop down into a coulee)
I could live out west- I do like the sage and badland country- but this is home. my small corner of the pond.
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Post by lumberjack on Aug 3, 2009 11:44:24 GMT -6
Looks alot like my area in the farm country, with the exception of the badger, of course.
Whats nice about my area is I have mountain range to my south, farmland to the west and semi wilderness to the east, a variety to pick from, for sure.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 3, 2009 11:48:44 GMT -6
do eastern mts get those wind clouds over them like western ones do?
I agree- PA is beautiful- my moms folks moved here from PA back in later 1800s- I think the similarity was what stopped them just across the river in SW WI.
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Post by FWS on Aug 3, 2009 12:21:48 GMT -6
Speaking of badgers..................
They were uncommon over much of my trapping areas in CenCal.
But this year I counted 23 road killed badgers in a weeks time, used to see a roadkill along the same area maybe once a year.
The big factor is the lack of large scale ground squirrel poisoning that used to occur.
Scouting in other areas I'm seeing them or evidence of them where I never saw them before.
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Post by lumberjack on Aug 3, 2009 16:59:26 GMT -6
Not really mountains per se, But high ridge chains. No points on them and plateau on top around here, all eroded off. Im not sure I know what you mean by wind clouds but I doubt it.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 4, 2009 5:56:01 GMT -6
outwest, many of the mts have this band of white clouds over them most of the day, even though the rest of the sky is blue. The locals called them wind clouds.
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Post by lumberjack on Aug 4, 2009 7:24:51 GMT -6
No, out here we have whats called rain / storm clouds pretty much during mink season. It starts out with drought, then high creek levels from leafen dams, then the novdec rains/snow come.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 4, 2009 7:37:33 GMT -6
lucky you! LOL
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Post by Hornhunter on Aug 4, 2009 11:39:37 GMT -6
The closest thing we'd have In this area to match that bottom picture In acerage would be a "clear cut"
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Post by mmwb (Andrew Parker) on Aug 4, 2009 23:36:34 GMT -6
Nice to be in a profession where you can trap, kill, put up, and sell the competition and make a profit by it...
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Post by northof50 on Aug 5, 2009 1:37:59 GMT -6
You don't want to knock off that competition, there is no silver hairs showing, so it would not be in the high grades for price.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 5, 2009 7:17:30 GMT -6
I'll be back............
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Post by northof50 on Aug 5, 2009 9:00:04 GMT -6
Come December.....for the 10 bucks not $ 100. would be my beat
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Post by trappnman on Aug 5, 2009 9:10:03 GMT -6
I sell all mine for taxidermy market- not big $$, but from $20-$35 on carcass
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Post by Rally Hess on Aug 5, 2009 11:56:00 GMT -6
Steve,
Do you think you are as profient at removing the gophers as that badger? I was pretty impressed at their profiency at removing whole colonies of gophers in SD. They sure left a mess if that colony was in a section road though. Looked like a cluster bomb had gone off in the road.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 5, 2009 17:00:59 GMT -6
Yes, I remove more- simply because they seldom stay put- they will work a field one night, maybe 2 and down the road they go-
but when they stay, they knock them down- concerning the mess- one farmer told me "I wouldn't mind the badgers cause they kill giphers, if they weren't so inefficent hunters (10 holes =1 gopher)
Did you find that nights dat temp dens next day were hot? almost a 100% thing when I want them.
that farm w/pic- next day, 45 gophers- 18 eaten by the badger or coyotes. Today- pulled a few rtaps 9 out of 11 eaten, lost a darn trap today, stake and all, from badger digging. Lori cals it "gopher o na stick" and human scent all over the place, neither badger nor canine show one bit of convern.
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Post by rionueces on Aug 5, 2009 20:49:22 GMT -6
That is pretty land. The soil looks deep and fertile....
We have quite a few badgers down here. Taxidermists will buy them whole as well. They will certainly do a number on a coyote set. I have had good luck setting traps for coyotes near their tore up trap circles.
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Post by bblwi on Aug 5, 2009 21:20:43 GMT -6
I started trapping gophers when I was 8 in western WI. Our land looked much like your area Steve, not quite as rolling with more trees and lighter ground. I wish I would have tried learning to fox trap more than as we had the fox and the habitat then and there.
Back to badgers and gophers. The farmers hated the badgers almost as much as the gophers. The mounds were H on hay mowers and haybines. Badgers digging bigger mounds and then holes to drop in did not please the farmers at all.
I had badgers digging in the same colony area while I was setting traps. Their efficiency was quite poor as they paid a .25cent gopher bounty to get rid of them. It was fun to see fox pups trying to dig out these gophers. I never saw a young one get one.
Bryce
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