Once again my rear end is kicked.  A late start and a late finish leads to Bears Butt being one tired old man.

It was a great day however and here is how it went.  I got out there around 10:30 or so and headed out to check the Big and Little Springs.  It was cold but not nearly as cold as it was yesterday.  No wind but a little ice to deal with.  I did not have a trap set off where they have been messing with me lately, but I did notice another hole up the way that had some mud coming out of it.  Instead of moving the trap like I did yesterday I set another trap.  In the process of doing that, I noticed mud coming out from under a  snow overhang and I investigated that and found another hole, so in went another trap.  Three traps covering such a small area is really quite insane, but what the heck…a trap in the truck will not catch a rat.

Down to the big channel I went and I’m glad I took my camera with me.  Those little critters have discovered my deep water trap, the one where I have caught two rats in two days…look at this:

The trap is set off, but what is in it?

How about that…they are smart enough to know that if they poke enough stuff down the hole it will eventually set off the trap…it’s filled with water weeds.  Now you tell me those critters aren’t smarter than we give them credit.

So, I check all the traps on Big and Little Spring lines and this is the only trap that is set off.  I did not catch a rat in all those traps.  I’m not really happy about that and don’t have one rat to show for my two hours of checking.  So I head back up the road to the Trellis line thinking I need to catch a couple of rats to pay for the gas that Bob and I will have spent checking traps today.

The Trellis line starts as the others ended…nothing…and then whoa!  A set off trap with nothing in it.  That makes two for the day, but set off traps don’t pay for gas.  Just like deer tracks don’t go too good with gravy.  I keep a positive attitude as I continue up the line.  I know that yesterday I set a trap at the far end and it should produce if none of the others do…my hopes are on that trap.  Then I check a deep run trap and low and behold there is a rat!  I’m a happy guy again!  The next one holds a rat as well…I’m doubly happy…The next one has one…what is going on?  This is wonderful…when I’m done checking the trellis I have seven rats!  I’m on top of the world!  What is the difference between these rats and the ones way out west?  Was the wind blowing out there and not here?  I don’t know but I’m happy as can be.  Seven rats is a good day.

On this line as well, I encountered a skunk wandering down the trail in my direction.  He did not seem to be overly concerned about my presence and made no bones about not moving out of the way…OK…I’ll oblige…I pulled out my 22 pistol and after 9 shots he lay dead…I missed the first 6 shots, but 7 through 9 did him in….AND..He didn’t get a chance to smell the place up.

You can skin him.

Now over to Bull Run.  My hopes are very high right now after putting seven rats in the bag.  Bull Run had a lot of sign on it yesterday when I set the 19 traps and if all holds true to form, I should catch a 50% rate.  But then that is hoping for a lot.

As I proceeded down the line, the traps were either filled with fur or set off, only 4 traps were untouched when I was done.  10 rats came to the bag out of the 19 sets.  AND the best part was there was not new sign of raccoons.

These rats weighed at least 15 pounds apiece and will net us some serious cash.

Am I serious?  No rat weighs 15 pounds unless it’s one of the South East Asian ones.  I was just checking with you to make sure you were reading this and comprehending any of it.

But I must say, every one of the rats is over 15 inches stretched on the stretchers.  And that is saying alot!  Extra Large rats.

Once the set traps were checked I went on to set some more.  The day light was getting to that point where I just couldn’t see into the water and so I only got 12 more traps set.  Back at the toy I said to myself (aloud mind you), Butt you must call it a day…45 minutes to drive home and then to skin out the 17 rats you have caught, plus whatever Bob caught and then flesh and stretch the ones on the drying rack from yesterday….Butt your butt is kicked.

At home I called the Weasel and told him we needed his skinning prowess to help us out with the skinning.  He actually came!  Even brought beer!  I reminded him how to skin a rat, since he hasn’t done it since he was 14, some 25 years ago or so, he did really well and out of the 17 rats the three of us skinned he managed to skin 3….Good job Weasel and Thanks for the Beer!

Bears Butt

Feb. 28, 2013