some winterline pics

[trappnman]

I mostly run winter and water by myself, and when Lori gets a day off, we make it a family day.......... on some creeks I walk water, so she and Buddy wait in the truck, but when I (or more apt Lori) can walk the bank some, they walk with me, and take a few pics- here is some from the other day.

this set has been most productive this season- taken a bunch of coon here- this one is a plus 30lb- measured 39 inches hanging up. you can see pipe to my left- a very typical winter set for me- get the snow off the bank surrounding set, at it adds eye appeal Actually, pipe is to my right, pic left- that circle with snow on it- before I left, the whole bank area was bare from splashed water- Procoon - cold weather, pipes in place for 8 weeks- consistent producer



pipe is to the right in pic, just behind that tuff of grass in water- this coon was "small" coon- measured 31 inches, but about 1/3 the size of above one.



you can have those dry FROZEN coon, I'll take mine down and out. lay on paper overnight, next day they are damp and more than dry enough to skin



Very unusual catch- a Barred Owl in a blind rat set. Seemed to be in good shape besides being wet. Set him on bank in sun to dry out, he should be fine. sure was "clacking" at me!





Typical rat set- blind bank indentation. maybe a doz rats here and at set 4 feet away, plus 2 mink- very small stream, but productive



Heres a natural mink cubby- I have taken 2-5 mink here year after year- but this year, flood made the set go away. I rebuilt it a 3 weeks or so ago, and this is 2nd mink in it



Had a little beaver job on river we set up Tues, and went yesterday to get the 1st night beaver. A 330 castor mound with Ingeniur and a foothold castor mound with XXXL. steep bank, all rip rapped- could be only 2 here, since they are both 2 year olds, and not alot of sign



Coming home yesterday from the beaver spot, and right at the city limits, at a deer carcasses, at 12 noon, three coyotes were feeding off it- a couple hundred yards to right is big church and town- by the time I turned around and got camera out, they were bolting, but got 2 in pic

[Stef]

this one is a plus 30lb-

Wet

Nice pics - thanks for sharing

[trappnman]

dry weight stef- from base of tail to end of nose, 39" on skun coon

[Stef]

Was just kidding.

I've seen couple over 30# my self alive and 1 over 40# (Mid-0ctober coon) no joke alive while trapping for the rabies here.

[Jarhead620]

Great pics Steve!!

Larry

[musher]

I enjoyed that.

Can you set snares for those coyotes? If you can, I'd be walking the perimeter of that field and setting those tire tracks.

[trappnman]

sure could- and probably SHOULD- but they are looking ruff here- might as well let them be-

contrary to some, i like seeing them and having them around- more to trap! LOL

larry- do you agree with my idenification? I wasn't sure, knew it wasn't a barn owl, and by elimination figured must be Barred, and looked it up when I got home and seemed to fit.

maybe 20 years ago, caught a Screech Owl in a #1 rat trap, on a ledge. was checking 24 hrs then, and I came up to him and hes just sitting there blinking at me. Brown phase- first I've ever seen (or since) - wish I had a camera then. Set him on a high bank, he was in A-1 shape, checked a few more traps and when I came back , he was gone.

[Jarhead620]

Yeah, medium to large owl, facial disk w/o ear tufts, dark eyes, streaked belly= Barred Owl. Do you know if it flew off?

[trappnman]

I left right away- I'll find out next check if hes gone. no busted wing feathers, trap was an old victor 1.5 longspring, no foot damage so I'd think so.

[Stef]

I'll find out next check if hes gone

Those coyotes will find it before you...LOL

[stickbowhntr]

Good pics there ...thanks.

[renny]

[mustelameister]

Excellent pics, Steve. The pipes are producing here for me as well, don't have many out, but they are scoring large boar 'coon on occasion.

[trappnman]

long day today- had ice over just about every set. it was deteriorating, so it broke off nice- and lots of it was just snow drifts over set, which break off nice

We probably have 5 inches of snow on the ground, so walking isn't the end of the world tuff, but still....for an old guiy like me......................

picked up 2 more beaver at that beaver job- one in blind 330, other at castor mound. slightly bigger than first 2 (so much for thinking they were only 2) so far, this is turning into a pretty easy little beaver job, with al lthat rip rap and not any fresh sign (since the snow 10 days ago). so that was a bonus- had to chop ice off of all 4 sets.

first stop, first step into the water had a mink- but only one of the day. did have a few rats pretty much running a 1 night check on todays run- after running these lines for almost 2 month,s wsn;t unhappy.

Last check I broke ice before a series of below zero days, but this time was breaking it up before a nice warm spell and I love doing that- knowing that everything is open and working for the final push

will be starting to pull sat, and will be done by mid week the following week.

Been a nice year all away around . When I pull, will have had traps out land or water for 113-114 straight days-

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

I enjoyed the pics Steve, we have so little water that it's nice to see some. I always wanted to run a line for mink. I've caught a few here and there but I never took the time in the fall away from coyotes or the winter for cats.

I talked to a fly fisherman that lives on our river and he says he sees tons of them.

I had one digging up a coyote set once that I had along a creek, didn't know what it was until one day I drove up there and saw it run off.

[kspanky]

Nice looking country wish we had creeks like that only one river here and some marsh east of her,kspanky

[trappnman]

Joel, you really should try a mink line- I think you would enjoy the heck out of it.

where predators are labor intensive, mink are the opposite- something you could do for the sure joy of it- take the grandkids

I think you would have an eye for the micro wolrd of a mink

and mink are always worth something.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

The little bit of mink trapping I've done reminded me of cat trapping, find a place where he's gonna go and put a blind trap there.

[trappnman]

that about sums it up- and the more you know about mink habits the easier it is.

I've always come to one conclusion when I hear about "not wanting to walk all over up and down a creek looking for blind sets"..............

to a blind set mink trapper, the problem often isn't where can I set, its wow- WHERE do I set...... meaning blind set locations are all over, and the goal is to pick out the few that are the highest %-

you can't sum it up any better that as you said Joel- where he is GONNA go.

and by his very nature, where he is somewhere dictates what hes going to do there.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

My high school teacher told me to just find a place where something forces him off the bank and into the water then set there. I caught a few that way.

Don't they just prowl the water edge?