gth 2013-14 season

[gth]

Yeah, thats probably what I will do. I will setup for mink and just hang the rest.

[trapp]

Great start to your season gth and some nice pictures. Hope you have a great season

[gth]

Well I've got the truck all loaded up with traps, snares and one big pile of bait. (Gotta be at least the remains of 4 moose and a half dozen deer) So far the ravens haven't spotted my truck in the parking lot...

Also I have a helper coming along for the ride. Having a helping hand that knows how to handle traps is nice. ;D. I should be on the road momentarily for a weekend at the camp.


I think I will mainly just get the bait piles going so i can set some snares next week. I will put out some sets for mink and beavers. Pre-bait some marten and fisher spots. Maybe trench out some dams in preparation for otter sets. Snare some rabbits, shoot some grouse, maybe a moose if I'm lucky........drink a few beer.


Hopefully have some good pics and a full report on Tuesday.

[oldyote]

Looking forward to those pics!

[gth]

I spent the weekend at the camp with a helper getting the line ready.....Wow, am I ever out of shape.

Everything is ready to go. I should be able to finish off next weekend and get things rolling.


Didnt have much time for pics this week but got a few.

Here is a muskrat in a mink box baited with fish. Thats a first for me.



A small beaver on a drowner



Here is the check from Sunday on our way home. Missing from the pic is one mink that had unknowingly fell on the floor before I snapped the pick. A fox got .22'd and caught a marten in a mink box also but I skinned them at camp and they were already in the freezer.




I hope to get a few more sets out next week and maybe start filling in with snares the week after that.

[oldyote]

Well it sounds like you paid for gas and then some! Great pics. I see rats chasing ducks all the time was wundering if it is more then just play?

[gth]

The weatherman really sucked me in last weekend. I put out a fair number of mink sets and beaver sets last weekend based on the colder than normal forecast for this week.

Here we are at 10°C today and 12°C tomorrow........

Guess I'm off to check traps tomorrow. before the critters rot.

[oldyote]

That is too bad I know you have a long drive to your line. Hopefully nothing spoiled.

[gth]

Well I dont think I lost anything due to the warm temps but what a day to check traps. 10mm of rain and 40km/h winds.

The critters are really nailing the bait piles and leaving me some good trails. Cant wait for the temps to drop so I can get some snares out. I saw a small lynx about 150yrds from camp this morning too, maybe in a few weeks I will put a set out for him.

Picked up a few more mink, few rats, few beaver, a fisher and 2 coon. One coon was a small scroungy one but the other is about a 30lb coon but very nice color.



Seem to be lots of small mink this year.....males and females.







5 rats in one trap...not much by oldyotes standards but pretty good for a place with no huts or other discernible rat sign. I actually found rat poop at another location so that place must be loaded with rats. ;D



One advantage to using pans on your mink traps. When a coon tries to put its head in the trap they can get it really far in before it fires resulting in a pretty good strike for a trap not designed for coon. Small scroungy coon.....but he's dead.




I have cleaned 6 beavers out of this one house, but I thought there might be one left. So I have had 4 traps on this guys house and 2 in the entrances to the house for a week......check traps today and there he is. I may have to call this one a draw and leave him be. ;D

He's probably excited he gets the whole lodge and feed bed to himself this year.. ;D



1 lonely ditch chicken out in the rain so he got to go beside my beans for supper..

[oldyote]

Awesome catch! Yup got to give the last beaver a little credit for sure. Nice sub of rats for sure. It only takes 5 Eastern rats to make the same payday as a dozen of ours. Lol but only half the work. Great pics. Thanks

[trapp]

Thanks for all the pictures, your off to a great start.

[gth]

That beaver isn't in an area where he can cause road problems so I will let him be.

I'm not a very good beaver trapper and my experience with trap shy beavers is not good. Too much time and effort for too little reward for me. If it was a paying nuisance job I might think different.

[wolf1199]

Great catches your last outing. Seems things are working for you this year. Best of luck when you get good weather to go at it. You should not spoil your self with all the gourmet cooking at camp, you know you won't get that at home

[gth]

Thanks.

I have had a few days on the line with a bit of snow around. I'm not seeing the marten sign again. I just dont think they are there in any quantity. Fisher on the other hand seem to be everywhere.

Looks like according to the weather forecast maybe this weekend I can set up the snare sites. I have a bunch of vacation days saved up just in case I need to make an emergency trip to the line if the weather man is wrong again.

I also just found out today I have been offered new job I applied for. I'm hoping it wont interfere with my trapping plans but the experience the job will provide is hard to turn down. Plus I applied for different position I think I have a good chance at getting.....if I get that one it might spoil my trapping this year. We shall see I guess.


Oh, and I do the cooking at home as well so this is about as gourmet as it gets....... ;D

[gth]

I have a couple sub traps out so i stopped to check them on the way home.

5 in one trap 3 in the other.



one rat has got to be real close to 5 lbs. I dont know if that's big or not but it is the biggest one I have caught. Hard a hard time wrangling him out of the basket trap. Well over 13" from nose to start of tail and more than 2' overall. Gotta be a $20 rat..... ;D ;D ;D ;D