this weather is killing me!

[trappnman]

today...37, tomorrow about the same-

then sunday high in low single digits, and the next 2 weeks single digits for highs

then, if you can believe the lying baastards...a couple of weeks of warmer weather

so today I'll clear ice off of everything, then have a 2 night with traps open, check Sunday... and then............

then two choices- either pull everything, or wait it out with the traps under ice. and by ice I mean multiple inches with traps froze to bottom

last year, I had open water from thanksgiving to about now so pulled line in mid January- but this year have had so few open nights, that if we ever do get open water, there is still fur left to harvest

Mn has unlimited check laws for under ice traps, so if I check everything sunday, I'll have everything under ice and locked in for the next 2 weeks-

as of now, I'm leaning to let them get locked in, and then open everything up after a few 20 degree days to soften ice

anyone else still plugging away?

[RdFx]

Hey hear you Steve. Same thing over here in WI. Frustrating...setting for otter as finally have a tag after 6 years.... Trying to use bottom edge sets deep enough so when things get cold and freeze that body grip isnt froze in. Have footholds out but its hit or miss in areas where otter comes out onto ice but have bottom edge sets before and after those sets..... Not fun chopping out traps froze to bottom or seeing tracks over the froze in trap..... grrrrr.... Take it easy in the ice and be safe.

[musher]

Is there any danger of the ice floating off with the encased traps and everything? When there is a melt here, that is a given.

[FWS]

It's 74° F here today, a little warmer yet up on the ridge earlier. Gonna go watch girls jogging and playing volleyball on the beach before I go do a little fishing this evening.

But I feel your pain....................

[trappnman]

musher- no, that never happens- when it warms up to the 20s, the ice recedes even so I can break shelve ice off and open up the traps.

darn nice day today, almost too warm for waders and gauntlets-

saw a small flock of bluebirds last stop today- its always neat to see them against the snow

FWS- yeah, sure ya do...lol

[coonboy]

Do rat traps set in huts fall under the set under the ice rule or is that a 3 day check?

[RdFx]

Steve, what the heck are those bluebirds eating? Mine leave around the first of Oct and males come back right after the snow leaves. I dont know what they would be eating as they are mainly a insect eater.

[thorsmightyhammer]

Dec 27, 2013 18:53:30 GMT -6 coonboy said:

Do rat traps set in huts fall under the set under the ice rule or is that a 3 day check?

3 days

[foxman]

Trapping the river with up and down weather has been nuts this year. Was great fora while then it shot up a foot. Then it froze upstream of the dam and we had icebergs the size of the boat floating down stream. Then the chipping ice off the ramp area just to get a boat in. Then the water comes up way high overnight. Im glad to be roaming the woods now that the river line is finished up. The coon were almost non existent, spots where my father pulled quads and up to 6 coon a day for almost a month didnt hold a single coon. Mink were slim to none. Lots of mange coyotes. The only thing that was plentiful is beaver. I snared enough on slides to hate them for a while. They are great until you have to skin and flesh them. Now that im in the woods snaring coyotes ive noticed every cold snap big movements, then one or two coyotes out of 3 doz snares. the snow we had last weekend gave me 13 coyotes in two days.

[trappnman]

Lee, I first saw the bluebirds during winter maybe 20 years ago- always on creeks that stay open, leaving water edge spots often unfrozen. I see bluebirds in the winter maybe every 3-4 year. Robins on the other hand, are quite common here in the winter and this year I see them quite often on multiple locations. Again, always on spring seeps or creeks that tend to not freeze. This was the first time I saw bluebirds this winter

[fishadict]

Steve - We have the same weather here. 43 yesterday and down to -11 tonight. I have a small line in now and was going to start putting out another line tomorrow. I think I will wait a bit.

[bblwi]

No December canine line for me this year except for 3 days and that had 2.5 days of off and on rain followed by a couple below zero nights so I pulled then and since then we have had 5 snow events ranging from .5 to 7.5 inches. It thawed Saturday and Sunday and made alot of hard packed snow before the -15 this AM.
It will take an extended warm up for me to even look at setting traps again this season.

Bryce

[7oaks]

35 low and 50 hi here, BUT 1" of rain every 4-5 days boogers up creek trapping coons.

Traps go 3-5 ft underwater and stay for 2 days, then every time it gets lower for a couple days THEY GO BACK UNDER!

[ducktrapper]

Steve -- No traps in anymore up here, waiting for spring beaver now. Watched your coyote DVD yesterday for the second time!

[trappnman]

hope you enjoyed it! We had a good time making it

man, now next week, is supposed to be the coldest yet of the season. do have maybe 25 traps that I'll have to check every 3, but the rest.... might be a while yet. I'll need 3-4 days of 20+ to get ice decayed enough to break things free.

we had fri and sat, with highs in the mid 40s- and sunday- never had a coon, never even cut a coon track. I've not seen coon numbers this low for 40+ years!

[musher]

-37 C. here this morning. There is also a puff of wind but not enough to remove the snow from the trees.

The temperature is supposed to go down over the next 24 hours. I've already re-strawed the dogs!

[ducktrapper]

Dec 31, 2013 7:59:20 GMT -6 trappnman said:

hope you enjoyed it! We had a good time making it

man, now next week, is supposed to be the coldest yet of the season. do have maybe 25 traps that I'll have to check every 3, but the rest.... might be a while yet. I'll need 3-4 days of 20+ to get ice decayed enough to break things free.

we had fri and sat, with highs in the mid 40s- and sunday- never had a coon, never even cut a coon track. I've not seen coon numbers this low for 40+ years!

I missed that window, not paying attention I guess. Normally late December is good for #160 bucket sets set up immediately adjacent to foundation entrances to old, abandoned houses in my area, with coons denning up in the basement. A handful of panfish guts and some gland lure usually good for some very nice coon. Found so few coon in November, I guess it was not on my mind. That window is gone, typically those denned up coons around here show heavy rubbing by January.

I did enjoy the video, chuckle always when trap goes off in Lori's hand and the first words out of her mouth are "I'm OK!".

[trappnman]

that comes from our 3 year old grandson at the time- he and Lori were playing Frisbee that summer and he got it right in the noggin- he stands back, wipes his forehead and say "I'm ok!"

so that's been something we say when something happens thats unexpected, but not serious

[musher]

My mother-in-law says "Goobless." It comes from her husnad saying "God bless." to the grandchildren. One day one of them asked her what "Goobless" meant.

-41 C. right now.

[rionueces]

I still have citrus on my trees here on the island. No freezing temperatures yet. I may need to pick all the grapefruit and lemons tomorrow, however, since there may be freezing temps tomorrow night. The snow birds from MN and WI are running around in their shorts and t-shirts, while the rest of us are cold...