Feb. 24 trapping expectations.

Up early to hit the swamp as early as “an old man wants to call early”.

My goal to day is to swag in about 50 traps out on my west most line, the one I call “the goose club”.  That was my expectation yesterday when my boots failed me.  So, with new boots, I should be able to get the job done today.

My expected rat catch rate for today is seven.  Why seven?  It was windy yesterday, which rats hate.  They can’t detect the predators when the wind is blowing hard.  Then it turned cold and probably froze 1/2 inch of ice.  Cold plus wind is not something rats really like.

Wish me luck and I will be reporting the results of the day later on.

Bears Butt

Feb. 24, 2012 A.M.

P.M. Report

Just got done skinning, fleshing and stretching the catch.  Me – 2, Bob – 8 !!!

I was sure a lot farther off on my guess than what turned out to be real.  No other traps set off either.

I did manage to set another 35 traps on the Goose Club line.  Tomorrow I hope to put out another 20 to 30 traps on the end of that line.  Next week I’ll set the Big Spring line that goes SE from the Goose Club line.  For that I will have to pull some of the Trellis and/or Fish Springs lines.

Big rats today…of the 10 we caught, only one was under 15 inches!!!!!!  And Bob caught one that went over 17 inches!!!!  Those are BIG honking rats!  According to the book, a Large rat measures up to 14 inches.  An Extra large rat will go 14 to 15 1/2 inches…so you can see we are dealing with some very big animals out there.

I always carry a side arm and am ready at the crash of a toolie to draw, aim and fire.  You never know what huge rat will come at your throat when you are least expecting it.

This is the first night of trapping I have not had to bring my hip boots in to dry them or to fix a hole in them!  Thank you Frogg Toggs!

Bears Butt

Bears Butt