Post by wolf1199 on Mar 18, 2011 11:02:16 GMT -5
There must be many hair raising events that happened to trappers on their lines. Here is one that happened to me back in the early 80,s that still haunts me to this very day.
Early in December i was out checking the trap line after heavy snows and blowing wind. There was one side road that i had a couple of marten boxes and one wolf set on and figuring that no need to take the sleigh or 22 mag with me. After checking the marten boxes the wolf set was the last one on the side road. There was no sign of wolf tracks or any other sign of animals due to the blowing snow for the last few days. Well i get to the wolf set and everything looks normal so i walk from the bravo into where i had my # 14 jump trap set for wolf, everything was covered with deep snow so i was kicking around trying to find my drag pole which the trap was attached to. After a minute or 2 i decided to go get the Axe from the snow machine and use that to drag for the pole. Well when i turned around there on the other side of my snow machine was a big timber wolf that had come out of the bush dragging my pole, he was caught by the front foot . I never seen him in the bush when i arrived to check this set and there was no indication that anything had been caught. Well i can tell you that my hair was sticking straight up and my heart seemed like it was going to explode. The timber upon seeing me turn to head back to the snow machine then turned and headed back into the bush with the drag pole . The wolf went in about 40 feet then got wound around some small spruce tree,s. So thinking that i won,t need the gun, i cut a 3 inch poplar tree about 6 feet long and went into give it a good whack on the head. I got with in 15 feet of the wolf when the wolf got free from those small spruce he was wrapped around and because the bush was so thick in front of him the only way he had to go was past me. So now the timber is lunging pulling that drag pole headed right towards me. I seemed to realize i would never make the snow machine before it got to me. When i had walked into the wolf i had notice an old dead spruce tree that had been blown over and was at a 45% angle, so with out hesitation and a lot of fear turned and ran the few steps to the leaning tree. I had got about 6 feet up the tree when the wolf was at the bottom and one good thing about the whole situation was the wolf was caught by one front foot thus resulting him from jumping up at me. Things were happening pretty fast now and i managed to turn and position my self for a good striking blow to the head with that stick i had cut. The first blow deflected of some branches and never hit him good but the second one connected square to the top of the head and down he went. As soon as he dropped to the ground i was out of that tree with one foot on his neck and the other on his rib cage. What seemed like for ever and after repeat blows to the head the wolf was dead. Now checking the wolf out he was caught high on front foot but had pulled the trap down to were was only held by 2 toes. When i got back to the truck with the timber wolf and put him in the box, then my legs just started to shake. How stupid was i to try and do that, although i had done that in the past this time was just to close. Now i never go into a wolf set with out my 22 mag. I don,t use steel traps anymore but you never know when a snare will break if you have a live wolf when you are in checking.
Early in December i was out checking the trap line after heavy snows and blowing wind. There was one side road that i had a couple of marten boxes and one wolf set on and figuring that no need to take the sleigh or 22 mag with me. After checking the marten boxes the wolf set was the last one on the side road. There was no sign of wolf tracks or any other sign of animals due to the blowing snow for the last few days. Well i get to the wolf set and everything looks normal so i walk from the bravo into where i had my # 14 jump trap set for wolf, everything was covered with deep snow so i was kicking around trying to find my drag pole which the trap was attached to. After a minute or 2 i decided to go get the Axe from the snow machine and use that to drag for the pole. Well when i turned around there on the other side of my snow machine was a big timber wolf that had come out of the bush dragging my pole, he was caught by the front foot . I never seen him in the bush when i arrived to check this set and there was no indication that anything had been caught. Well i can tell you that my hair was sticking straight up and my heart seemed like it was going to explode. The timber upon seeing me turn to head back to the snow machine then turned and headed back into the bush with the drag pole . The wolf went in about 40 feet then got wound around some small spruce tree,s. So thinking that i won,t need the gun, i cut a 3 inch poplar tree about 6 feet long and went into give it a good whack on the head. I got with in 15 feet of the wolf when the wolf got free from those small spruce he was wrapped around and because the bush was so thick in front of him the only way he had to go was past me. So now the timber is lunging pulling that drag pole headed right towards me. I seemed to realize i would never make the snow machine before it got to me. When i had walked into the wolf i had notice an old dead spruce tree that had been blown over and was at a 45% angle, so with out hesitation and a lot of fear turned and ran the few steps to the leaning tree. I had got about 6 feet up the tree when the wolf was at the bottom and one good thing about the whole situation was the wolf was caught by one front foot thus resulting him from jumping up at me. Things were happening pretty fast now and i managed to turn and position my self for a good striking blow to the head with that stick i had cut. The first blow deflected of some branches and never hit him good but the second one connected square to the top of the head and down he went. As soon as he dropped to the ground i was out of that tree with one foot on his neck and the other on his rib cage. What seemed like for ever and after repeat blows to the head the wolf was dead. Now checking the wolf out he was caught high on front foot but had pulled the trap down to were was only held by 2 toes. When i got back to the truck with the timber wolf and put him in the box, then my legs just started to shake. How stupid was i to try and do that, although i had done that in the past this time was just to close. Now i never go into a wolf set with out my 22 mag. I don,t use steel traps anymore but you never know when a snare will break if you have a live wolf when you are in checking.
