2016 line

[musher]

No photos yet. I've been too lazy and busy so far.

The season started with a wet snow fall that has closed up three lines pretty tight. Line #4 was spared the wet snow even though it is closer to lines 2/3 than line 1. I guess it was a little colder and that made the snow drier thus saving the bent trees. And I do mean trees. Stuff with 6 inch stumps got uprooted. The thin stuff REALLY bent. If a tree still had leaves on it, it bent and broke. But you still have to cut the dang thing because it is usually still attached at the bottom by fiber and bark.

I put out a few moose leg bones for wolf. I put them out on a Thursday and the season opened on Tuesday. I checked the bones out on Wednesday and found that they had been hit hard. Naturally I set. Three snares on a closed in trail, a dirt hole and a scent post. The wolves or maybe coyotes/coywolves (the scat and tracks are smaller than I usually see) have been back, dragged everything everywhere, and crapped without going near a snare or working a set.

I'm getting a little peeved. I plan on revisiting that location tomorrow in daylight and seeing what else can be done. From what I am seeing they are traveling the road I drive on and ignoring my sets.

I had a cool catch today. It was a red in a dirt hole. That wasn't the cool part. The cool part was the half hare the fox put down to work my set. It has happened to me before. They have their supper but, hey, something smells good and we might as well check that out!

I also had an unlucky muskrat catch. It was a tiny rat. Pretty well a muskmouse. It got caught by the end of the nose. It was very dead in a regular 120.

The catch has been low so far. One of the reasons is less sets. Prices and the conditions are taking their toll. A logging operation is set to commence on one line. Very selective setting is being done there as I don't know how the logging will affect things. Any day now bull dozers will open old roads and clean up existing ones. There go your dirt holes.

I doubt there will be any ATV trapping this season. Towing a trailer is hard on gas so it's road only. Clearing those trails will happen only if the main roads are all cleared.

Beaver are being pretty well ignored. I picked up 3 in 3 sets today. They have to be potential culvert blockers to merit a trap.

I have 3 weasels so far. 2 were white and one still had a grey back. The other fur looks good.

I'll try to be better with photos. The camera IS in the truck ....

[trappnman]

so I was wondering- do you need to take quotas?

is your line registered, or just permissons?

[musher]

It's been busy on the line.

The coywolves haven't come back but I did set another snare in a wheel rut on the road. Not a great set but pretty well all I can do more. Did have an interesting occurance there. On Sunday I noticed a parked truck. I've been robbed many times in this general location. It is also a spot where people poach. So I took down the plate number and continued my day. The next morning the truck is still there. Now I'm wondering if a guy is lost in the bush or offed themselves. I make a note to contact the police when I get home - and forgot all about it! Day three the truck is still there and I remembered to make the call. Stolen truck. I have three wolf foothold sets plus the snares there. They aren't beside the place where the truck was but they aren't that far away ....

I caught this nice red. It was dry and clean so I took a photo.



I had a good run on a section of line. The fisher snd marten were waiting. Came close to losing a fisher. It was caught in a 120 mag and snapped the hang pole. They are STRONG ANIMALS. It was about 10 feet away on the ground. Luckily, it didn't snow. Most of the white stuff is gone.




Caught this nice coloured marten. I don't know why this one stood out, but it does. It reminds me of the marten I would see when i lived in the north.



Had a pretty good run on one section of line.



31 boxes gave this up. All in a straight line on a section of road. If only all trapline checks were this easy.

[musher]

Nov 3, 2016 7:07:57 GMT -6 trappnman said:

so I was wondering- do you need to take quotas?

is your line registered, or just permissons?

Yep. All registered lines. There is a quota but it isn't excessively challenging. 5 different species, 15 animals total.

The hassle this year is the prices. There isn't much point killing stuff if it won't sell. There is also the cost factor of running/keeping the line. Beaver are easy to catch and they can be caught in numbers. But who wants beaver this year? No one ... but some are being harvested anyways because we need 5 species ... then you set for otter (which are not exactly in high demand) and you catch more beaver.

Anyways. I'm still having fun and that is the important part.

[cameron1976]

Thanks for the pics and telling us about your line Musher.

[musher]

I'm fighting with my computer with regards to posting photos. So i'll give the rundown here and try to post the photos after.

I've caught a couple of skunks. It didn't used to happen every year but now .... it happens every year! The buggers climb well. Something was starting to eat one of them. Fisher?

There seems to be a few fisher this year. Here was todays.

I caught a young male wolf. It is doing the "invisible" in the photo. They don't move a muscle and they follow you with their eyes. Not a big one. Terrible fur. At least the trap didn't get scrapped. (#3 softcatch 4x4)

[musher]

[musher]

[musher]

The yo-yo weather is continuing. Plus 11 C. today. The snow is gone unless you have a little altitude or you are in a very shady spot. It's hot but the days are short. It freezes hard enough at night to put a lid on the dog water. Many lakes and ponds had skim ice on them yesterday.

I had an interesting catch in a cross fox. It has a thousand holes in it from a lynx. I sewed a little and didn't flesh at all. If it survives the drumming at the auction house in one piece I'll be happy! No photo of that mess.

Lynx season starts the 15th and I have one location that is certain to receive a set or two.

The are very few grouse or hares. Drove 200 km. yesterday and saw zero grouse. It was the first warm and sunny day in a couple of weeks. I only have one accidental catch of a hare. That also is unusual. Fox seem to be almost non-existent.

The 31 trap section gave up 5 more marten.

[musher]

The cross fox might not have been a victim of a lynx. I said lynx because lynx scat was about 50 feet away. Today I snared a fisher at the same location. Fisher are pretty clawed up and can punch holes, also.

I'm glad it was a fisher in the snare because giving an early lynx to the wardens always smarts a little.

[musher]

I spent a good part of the day setting for wolf. Wolves (2?) swung by where I caught the pup. They walked by the remake and the new set as well as an original untouched one.

They didn't break stride.

So I went further and set two more footholds (CDR and jake)as well as a couple of snares. And the waiting game begins.

The first location I wrote about is dead. Nothing has come back.

Saw a fox and 2 weasels today. The weasels were ermine. One was on the spring of a marten trap and it jumped off to the ground to look at me. The second crossed the road in a blur.

I caught two others today and they are real flea bags. Maybe it's because they are white. Maybe they really are flea laden little weasels. It's gotten to the point I keep my use lunch baggies in my pocket to put the weasels in.

The fox was seen in an area that I hadn't set any steel because loggers are due. They are going to bulldoze the roads wider and I am afraid to lose equipment. But I put a trap in anyways.

I have a couple of marten photos to post but the camera is in the truck and I have me slippers on now! Perhaps tomorrow?

Thanks for reading.

[musher]

First marten of the day. It's dark in the bush even though it was at first light.



Another marten that is about to be "released."

[bblwi]

I have not received a fisher tag the last couple years. I have caught two that I needed to release when the season opener was later then the other seasons. Both were quite black or dark compared to at least the two of yours. Is that typical color for your fisher or are they younger and or female. The half dozen I have seen while grouse hunting in WI were mostly darker except for one very large silvery male.

Bryce

[musher]

Nov 11, 2016 20:47:06 GMT -6 bblwi said:

I have not received a fisher tag the last couple years. I have caught two that I needed to release when the season opener was later then the other seasons. Both were quite black or dark compared to at least the two of yours. Is that typical color for your fisher or are they younger and or female. The half dozen I have seen while grouse hunting in WI were mostly darker except for one very large silvery male.

Bryce

They are typical fisher. The females are paler than the males and there are 2 females in the photo.

This morning the first location, which is about 10 minutes from home, gave me this.



It was the coyote/wolf/coywolf spot. This is all wolf. A stinger spring made a very quick dispatch.



Way better looking than the last one. Much larger, also.



Grandma! What big ears and feet you have!





It was the first set I checked and all I caught all day. Except for a weasel. i also saw the same weasel jump from the same trap. I'll bring a rat trap for him ....

My son might come and run with me tomorrow. That would be great and I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks for looking.

[musher]

A better view of the fur.

[braveheart]

Musher it has the color of the coyotes we have around here.

[musher]

Nov 13, 2016 4:34:10 GMT -6 braveheart said:

Musher it has the color of the coyotes we have around here.

tawny. common colour around here. not exactly worth the big bucks.

[musher]

Crazy warm day here. It went up to 13 C.. not exactly the norm for November weather. We were walking on tracking snow this morning and set what I believe to be coyote tracks. And then it got hot!



There were a couple of nuisance beaver on this line. We call them pikaways. They are 3 year old beaver that have moved from the colony and make a new one.


#2 got square shy after #1 got labelled in a lured set. So the CDR came out and a typical back foot catch ended those two's culvert damming ways.




Then there is to anticipation of seeing the sprung springs on a marten box and getting closer to see this.


yep. a weasel. And this is a big 'un.





Had a nice check with my son. Caught other stuff but there is no point in being repetitive. He set a couple of blind snares and I was pretty proud of how he did everything just right. He also didn't get his fingers conibeared. He did get a spring slap. He also took a dive on an icy road. I gave him a 7.2 on that because his legs were apart when he fell

[musher]

Busy day. The 31 box section was up to a 42 box section. It gave 11 marten and 3 fisher this run. That is a record. The best had been 10 marten for 60 boxes. a quiuck supper and a skinning marathon is my evening.

[redsnow]

That's a good day! I'm jealous!