Suddenly it’s Wednesday….

What I saw out at Club 41 yesterday was a real surprise.  It appears the ice has just started to come off the place.  What was normally a large pond or small lake has changed quite a bit since last year.  Has my trapping caused the change?  I think it has.  Where there used to be holes in the banks you can see where the weather has collapsed the holes exposing the roots of the plants growing above.  Another thing is that the main channel has re-routed itself and instead of following the contour of the higher ground is now going more toward the center of the “pond” (which by the way isn’t a pond any more, but rather short bulrush with shallow water), I can see three smallish rat houses out near the middle of the area.

So why not go out and find trapping places near the rat houses?  Well, for one, last year the place was very deep with mud and water.  The area is still partially frozen, so if I were to venture out there (which I could), set some traps and then it thaws out (like it will in the next day or so), and turned into the muddy yuk it usually is, would I lose my traps?  It’s not worth the chance.  The rats will have to come to us.

It is going to be very interesting to see the rest of the Club as we venture down stream and out to the end of the roads.  It is rather comforting to see that the trapping has caused the rats to change their habits, or the lack of them to make positive changes to the place.  Four years ago they really had a major problem with the damage the rats were causing.  You never can get rid of them, but to keep them thinned out makes all the difference in the world.

Today, the weather is going to be in the low 60’s!  I like low 60’s…no chance of rain and it will seem hot out on the line.  Wapiti and I are going to stop at Big Spring (Blue Spring), pick up the traps out there and then head off to Peterson’s to pick up the “plews a-plenty” out there.  Then back to Club 41 to check the 10 traps we set yesterday and set more…hopefully a lot more….I know that if Wapiti knew the area, he could go off in one direction and me in another and set a bunch, but he doesn’t and so we will continue to go along together and he will learn about the Club as we go.  It is a good way to learn.  When I first hit the Club, I had to do a lot of traveling around just to find the water sources and places to trap.  In so doing, I set a lot of traps in waters that had no rats…I can show Wapiti those places and we won’t waste our time on them

The computer has aided me a whole bunch with Club 41, when you go on Google Earth and view the world, the images that you are seeing are always taken during the summer months.  Viewing the Club, you can see where the ponds are dried up…those ponds do not hold rats…only the ones with water in them all year long have the rats.  And so, this time of year you see a pond that has waste deep water in it…but by August will be dried up…don’t bother setting those ponds, they may hold a rat or two “running”, but that is all and it’s not worth your time to set it, the rat sign you might see was yesterdays and he is gone today!

Today, Wapiti will see some small seeps that hold a few rats, more large ponds and hopefully a place to plant Bob’s home made colony trap, one I call the “Motel”…it is designed after a model Bob and I came up with, but requires a very large and deep run.  Large as in 18 inches wide and Deep as in 20 inches or more deep.  It has never been tested properly, used yes, but it never caught anything…I think I know a place to employ it.

What to expect for the day:

Well a sun burn is surely in the mix, but we should not have any problem pulling the “Blue Spring” line quickly, (I don’t expect more than 3 rats from that line) and getting out to Peterson’s…The Peterson line kicked out 43 rats yesterday, but today we will be lucky to catch 20 out there…a 20 rat day is a fine day in any trappers book however and we will take it if it comes…more is always better.  The 10 traps on Club 41 should produce 4 rats.  My expected total for our lines today is 22.

Once we return Bob and I are faced with the 50 rat day from yesterday to flesh and stretch…they are drying right now and will be nice and fluffy by the time we get home…I see an 8 p.m. closure to the day.  Brek most likely will not make it to skin today’s catch and it should be a pretty good one.  Bob set a lot of traps yesterday and he should bring in around 20 rats today.  If he does and we do what I expect we will have another big pile of rats that need to be skinned…sharpen the knives boys…Weasel, are you and Conner up to helping?  It so, we will see you at the trappin shed about 5!  I’ll supply the drinks!

Lunch will be a sausage and egg sandwich, maybe a Tootsie roll and lots of water.  The scales are showing a solid 136 the last three days.  My legs are feeling a whole lot stronger than they did in the beginning of the trapping season three weeks ago and so I think this is an exercise that could be employed by the Biggest Loser!

Bears Butt

March 13, 2013