trapline update

[musher]

So the season has been open for a week and things are starting to pick up. Every day is setting and skinning as well as the usual stuff we all have to do plus taking care of the dogs. The first overnighter in the bush is now behind me and it started off with a few challenges.

The first was finding out that my truck had no working rear lights just as I left in the dark. The wise guys at Ford decided to put the fuse box by the passengers feet. They conveniently left a finger hole to open the cover and to let water onto the fuses. A burnt 20 fuse was the problem but I didn't have any fuses. I waited until daylight and made a point of staying off the highway in the dark.

Then I found out that skunks climb trees.



I caught 2 more in the next three sets. Skunks were rare here. Many years I don't catch any. I smelled rather sweet by the end of the day. The renakes of skunky dirt holes wasn't fun.

I was also reminded that releasing a lynx caught by a paw in a fox snare can be hairy. There are no photos of that but I did take this one of a kitten that was eaten by mom. The season opens on November 15.



These guys are not exactly plentiful but I'm getting a few.



This one got a front and back foot in the trap.



There seems to be more marten than last year - which was terrible. Oddly enough seven marten were caught in about 10 km. of line. That is way above average and more setting is going to happen in that area. Other places are normal.

This led to a stressful few minutes. Wifey was with me and I said "I could have a wolf here." as we rounded a bend.



It was a toe catch in a jake.



Time for the little Henry to bark.



And my knees could stop knocking. Nothing makes my heart go into overdrive like a bouncing timber. Deer, moose, caribou, bears .... nothing.



Big mitts on the bitch. She is slightly over 100lbs. (103? 105? on the scale.



Breaktime is over. I'm off to the fur shed.

Thanks for looking.

[Deleted]

Great photos Musher! Always happy to read your reports.

[Aaron.F]

Great stuff.

[blackhammer]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

[T-Bar]

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!

[trappnman]

what a great mixed bag musher-

you keeping the skunks?

I first was going to keep mine, but with the very low predicted prices decided not to- kept 1 that had wide stipe,s but also spotted pateces on belly, sides- just to pretty not to keep

[Possum]

I carry some "walmart bags" with me to slip over my boots when I catch a skunk. A lot of the stink is in the soil around the catch site and it keeps most of the skunk off my boots while remaking the set.

[musher]

It is a mixed bag and it is fun. Add to the list a few rats, weasels and variety is there. In the fox I only have reds so far. A cross or a silver might show up. No fisher yet and no otter, either. I did catch a house cat. It was about 30 miles from the nearest house. I figure some idiot dumped the poor thing in the bush. I'm asking around to see if anyone "lost" a cat. Some neighbours do unneighbourly things when a cat digs up or poops in their flowers.

Nope, I'm not skinning any skunks. I got an other one yesterday in the same area. The exact same trap as skunk number three from the other day. I didn't even do the remake. Shot it and left it. The last time the guardian at the gate of one line got a little excited when we talked. As Frank Zappa used to sing, "My aroma put him in a coma." He mentioned it again yesterday. Things are just starting to smell normal again so .....

I've got a second poaching problem. Guardian says, "Is Lake "X" on your territory?" I replied in the affirmative. He says, "Three people have told me you have a dead lynx in a snare." The thing is I don't have anything set there. The wardens are called and we'll see if anything arises. The first poacher reset his beaver snare poles. They aren't even in the water! It's a real boy scout set made with 2 x 4's and screwed on snares. The wardens have a GPS number for that bad boy.

I just did a quick run today. I've got to catch up on skinning and beaver meat cutting.

Nights are cold and the dog water is freezing so that is also an extra that must be tended to. Once lakes freeze over I want snow. Pounding buckets to remove ice and add water is one chore that can be a pain sometimes.

[musher]

Here is an update of the last week or so. I missed out on another wolf. The set is at the end of a line where I turn around to head back out. It is about 25 km. from the main road. I have no choice but to turn around as there is a hill that is a little too dicey for the truck. I got stuck there once and luck saved my butt from a nice, lonely walk. I have a marten box there and, when checking, I noticed wolf tracks and a scent post. I set the post but I had run out of waxed paper. So I used a paper towel folded in 4.

The set held up well for a good ten days. Then it snowed, the weight of the snow and wet paper towel sprung the trap, the wolf came and used the sent post. That same wolf went in front of about 4 fox sets without breaking stride. A couple of those sets were remakes. The wolf also checked out this red.



And left it alone. I usually just have a tail left when such meetings occur.

I had further skunk action. I learned that when a caught skunk digs a hole under a log and "hibernates" while caught in your trap the trapper can get quite close while thinking, "There's a dead skunk in my trap." Said trapper can also still move pretty quick when afore mentioned skunk lifts its tail about 3 feet from the trappers face.

It is a situation that can require several .22 bullets.

The tube shaped critters are coming in steady.









With a variety of stuff caught.



I've caught a couple of mink climbing mink that I haven't downloaded the photos of yet. I also caught a pretty decent otter. I saw 4 together on a lake and I'm hoping for a little action from them.



As always, there are a few stories to tell. One is of a fisher that made a terrible mess of a site while in a Belisle 120 mag. The set is an upright box set for mink/marten. It is only about 3 feet off the ground. That fisher really skinned the tree, knocked the box off and plowed the earth. It was very well caught. They are very strong animals that, if they weighed a hundred pounds, would dominate the bush.

There is also the time when I checked the marten box to see the flying squirrel holding sprung trap swinging. I waited to see what was eating the squirrel. It was an ermine. They don't stop much and they can be quite bold. They are responsible for many empty sprung traps.

the best "trapping" story involves a mouse. The last time I was in a camp a mouse appeared in a corner. I'm not a fan. They crap on your pillow and turn an expensive sleeping bag into garbage. Having no mouse traps, I put some peanut butter on a wood chip. I then floated the wood chip in about 2 inches of water in the water bucket. A piece of kindling led from the floor to the top of the bucket. Bingo! Now I have a mouse frozen in water in the water bucket.

A few scenery shots to end. The first is of a view. Unless you are near water, you cannot see any real distance like Tman can. The second is of typical terrain I travel.





Thanks for reading.

[JWarren]

3rd pic down: "least weasel", uncommon

[John Porter]

Musher, you line looks a lot like mine did when I was trapping back home in Maine. Always loved trapping a mixed bag. Martens and fishers were always my most sought after animals. Just enjoyed trapping them but wouldn't pass up any waterways either. What type of cover are you getting your marten in? I always looked for conifers and set where they met either water or another type of terrain change. Edges were my favorite and most active areas... Beaver bogs were also a magnet for every passing fisher it seemed.

[musher]

Hey John! I live in an area where conifers are everywhere. There is some popular and white/yellow birch mixed in but its a green woods even in winter. Ridges and gulleys and good trap locations. I don't trap locations so much as trap around locations. The best marten areas I leave alone but I catch everything leaving that area.

There are lots of small marten this year. Last year was a bust.

Fisher can be anywhere and everywhere. They were uncommon a few years back. O.K. Maybe a couple of decades back!

I have 2 tail caught beaver lately. Those mags sur do hold on.

I also picked up this 64 pound female timber.

[jim]

Nov 17, 2014 5:17:30 GMT -6 musher said:

Hey John! I live in an area where conifers are everywhere. There is some popular and white/yellow birch mixed in but its a green woods even in winter. Ridges and gulleys and good trap locations. I don't trap locations so much as trap around locations. The best marten areas I leave alone but I catch everything leaving that area.

There are lots of small marten this year. Last year was a bust.

Fisher can be anywhere and everywhere. They were uncommon a few years back. O.K. Maybe a couple of decades back!

I have 2 tail caught beaver lately. Those mags sur do hold on.

I also picked up this 64 pound female timber.

[jim]

Hi; This sounds just the opposite of Steve coyote trapping, what is your reasoning on not trapping the area? You could always pull if you want to leave seed. Thanks

Jim

[musher]

Nov 17, 2014 6:11:42 GMT -6 jim said:

Hi; This sounds just the opposite of Steve coyote trapping, what is your reasoning on not trapping the area? You could always pull if you want to leave seed. Thanks

Jim

I'm talking about marten trapping. The reason is that you really don't want to catch the adult females. They live in a relatively small area and are hard to replace. You want to catch the dispersing young and the wandering adult males which cover a much larger territory.

Its a slick snow falling today. The morning was spent in the fur shed and I'll run a short line around the house in the afternoon. I washed the wolf skin in a river as it was very bloody. I don't think it will ever dry. I'm thinking I should have done the WD-40 treatment as usual.

[jim]

I knew it was marten but I forget you don't have to worry about someone else setting the hot spot. Jim

[musher]

Nov 17, 2014 14:59:57 GMT -6 jim said:

I knew it was marten but I forget you don't have to worry about someone else setting the hot spot. Jim

And that changes everything. O na registered line you can actually manage your fur bearers to a certain point. It doesn't always work. Lynx are few and far between this year and I don't see many making it to the stretchers. I fed a few all winter but they seem to have disappeared.

[John Porter]

Where I trapped in Maine the competition wasn't to bad so I did manage my lines as best as possible. Where ever I caught females 2 years in a row, I wouldn't set again. I also did this with my beaver and otter lines. When one moves back into the bush, the competition is null and the fur is usually plentiful.
Musher, what do you think happened to the lynx? Is the prey species there? I fed coyotes one year off my bait pile then all at once they disappeared. Later in the season when the snow got deep, they reappeared looking for the hand outs...
Sounds like with the amount of small marten, your on the up swing side of a cycle. Time to cash in if possible...

[northof50]

Must be the year for climbing skunks. Had one and stuffed it back into the box and placed box skyward to freeze in place. Covered with large elm bard from DED tree to ad void avian sight. Twelve hours later mr marten, was expecting a fisher

[Gibb]

If you add some electrical tape to the ends of the rubber it will stop them from moving up.




I find it easier on the hands.