What a gorgeous day it was today…almost felt hot.

Wapiti and I left town sharply at 9 am Day Light Savings Time…ugg…But we knew what we had to do and knew what was in store as far as time was concerned.  At this time in the trapping business..trapping is all there is time for.

We hit Bull Run and nailed several rats…but the big thing about that was the fact that the raccoons have figured out that if they look for little red flags flying in the breeze they can follow along and eat really well…Every trap on the upper end of the line that was set off, had a rat in it…and every one was eaten right out of the trap…5 rats lost to raccoons who cordially sat at the stream side and enjoyed their free meal…not one left a tip either!  That is nearly a $50 loss, but at least we didn’t have any traps stolen…that was a blessing.  Bull Run still produced quite well with 10 rats…still it amazes me at the number of rats coming to the traps…we HAVE to pull the traps from there no later than Wednesday..rats or no…

We split up when it came to pulling traps at the Trellis and Little Spring and did a really good job at quickly getting those jobs done.  The little Clippie Flags are working very well for that part of trapping and anyone reading this that does any trapping needs to read that little blog I posted on here last year.  They are quick to set out, quick to take down and saves you tons of flagging tape…wanna buy some from me?  Send me a comment or email.

Anyway, while we were in transition from Bull Run to the Trellis lines, Bob pulled up and said his line (at least the four traps he has on the road right of way) had been pilfered by some rat stealing thief!  He had several traps set off and nothing in them..a sure sign of a thief….Time for trail cameras to be set out to catch them.  It is a felony to steal animals or traps from another trapper.  If you are one of them, please smile for the camera…..

Pulling the Trellis line was rather fun and we caught a few rats in the process..I think I will miss the Trellis line, but we have to go where we are needed.  Sort of like a military man/woman liking their duty station in say Spain and then having to go to Diego Garcia or some such place.  Anyway, we aren’t going to anywhere like either of those places but we are going to Petersons place (I’ve been calling it Johnsons Ranch) tomorrow and will check out Bull Arena while we are there.  We only have traps enough to set Petersons at this point.  Tomorrow IS Monday isn’t it?

So here is the plan:  Set Petersons tomorrow, look over the bull arena, check Big Spring and Bull Run.  Tuesday:  Check Bull Run, Pull Big Spring, check Petersons and set traps on either Bull Arena or Club 41.  Wednesday:  Pull Bull Run and set Bull Arena and/or Club 41.  I’ll only go that far with it because Bull Arena is the big question right now.  We have never been there and don’t know just what to expect…first off are the bulls as friendly as the owner says they are (I doubt it), secondly, are there the number of rats there that appears through binoculars from the road, third, is it bigger than I can see from the road?

At any rate we have a very busy week ahead of us and tomorrow is Monday after all.  I’m really glad Wapiti is there to help.

So, we get done trapping and what does the bag hold?  I did not count a small rat I caught “up” in Big Spring, nor did I count a rat I caught “down” in Big Spring…this one…

That isn’t a field rat, that IS a muskrat…poor thing…Back home the bag showed 22 rats in it!  A very nice day on the line…what does Bob have?  We don’t know at this point.

So, Wapiti and I head for home, traps checked, rats in the basket, life is good.  We have to get ready for tomorrows big day.  We need to make sure we both have an adequate number of traps to set on Petersons, we have to have clippie flags enough to cover the traps we have, we have to have Wapiti some carrots smothered in Annis Oil juice.

We get home and load up Wapitis toy with traps, counting them twice and making sure he has traps in the bag and the stakes are out…this makes for some quick sets and not a struggle getting traps and stakes out of the bag…do that up front and avoid the problem in the field.  Then he needs enough clippie flags for each of his traps..done…My toy is also loaded with enough traps for tomorrows set, clippies included…we had to make some more up…Then I went to the garden and dug up the carrots that have been buried in the snow all winter, washed them off and have them chopped and “brined” for Wapiti to enjoy beginning tomorrow.

Wapiti headed home to take a hot bath and enjoy a beer.  I headed for the shed to wait for Skinner Man Brek to show up at 4 and skin the rats we have.  Bob said he would be there at 4…It was now 4:40 and no Brek..No Bob…Just me.  I started to flesh the dried fur from the other day and planned on putting them on stretchers if my “helpers” didn’t arrive.  No time to waste.

Here comes Bob…7 rats!  Alright!  Yes!  Another fine day of trapping…29 rats!  Yes!

Bob had to go into the house and check on things, put his supper in the oven and do “whatever”, I started fleshing more skins….suddenly the dogs began to bark and here comes Brek and his brother…YES!  Skinner Man has arrived…I am relieved…my back hurts…Bob hurts all over (I know because he traps too hard).  Brek jumps all over the skinning job as I finish the fleshing and Bob comes out (I know he did not want to be there, but he was) to do the stretching.  We work as quickly as old people can at fleshing and stretching and Brek skins like he always has…quickly!

We finish the task at hand just about 6:30…new trash bag in the can…rats hung..rats drying for tomorrows stretching…A new week ahead…who’s butt is kicked is mine…Tonight I am going to take a couple of beers to the hot tub with me and sit back and watch the daylight savings time sun set!

Wapiti…set your clock for 6 a.m. as we are heading out of town at 8!  You can kiss Rut Runner later…say in two weeks…no time for nuthin but trappin now!

Bears Butt

March 10, 2013