Feb.11,2014 P.M. Report

It was a beautiful day to be outside today…warm, sunny and mild.  They don’t get any better than this one.

Checking traps at Pete’s pond, only the two colony traps produced, 3 in one and 1 in the other…4 rats!  Not bad!

At the top of Bull Run, I took this picture:

You really have to look closely to see the bulls scattered across on the other side of the snowy field.  I said earlier there were 18 bulls, today I counted 24.  The fear factor exponentially increased.

Pete stopped by to talk a bit and I told him about my fear of bulls, he laughed and told me he has never raised even one man eating bull.

I suppose that means in all his years of ranching he has never lost a cowboy to a bull either.

This gave me much confidence.

So, I proceeded to load up the toy with additional traps and made my mind up I was going out there come bull or high water and set my 20 or so traps.  But first I had 18 to check.  With 4 already in the bag, I was feeling pretty good about the days’ catch that was waiting for me.

My first two sets are my only bait sets (leg holds) and as I approached trap number one, I could see something was terribly amess.  The toolies were all gone around where I set the trap.  As I got closer I could see why:

Mr. Raccoon.  Yesterday I didn’t see any sign of a raccoon and now I have one caught.  Well, that will net us about $12 once it’s on the stretcher.  I had to go back to the toy to get my 22 pistol and while I did, I checked the other 3 traps in this area.

A very disappointing sight.  A rat that was caught had been shredded by a raccoon, maybe even the one I caught.  But there goes $10 down the tube.

I did manage to catch a rat that was not torn up in my 4th trap, the 3rd trap had nothing in it.

I gathered up the 22 and ventured back out to Mr raccoon and popped him in the head.  Then went to resetting the traps.

As I proceeded down the line checking traps, I had the distinct feeling that a raccoon was following my line.

This is kind of hard to see, but the trap is being held on the top of my stake, while it appears the rat is on the bottom of the stream bed.  There were bits of bones and assorted other rat parts scattered all over the ground outside the water.  When I picked up what appeared to be the rat in the bottom of the stream it was more like a wet sock.  Just the skin was there, but the hide was so torn up all I could do was toss it away.  I reset the trap and moved to the next set.

Another rat destroyed.  This is most annoying.  I quit taking pictures of the destruction and finished checking the remaining traps.  Of the 18 traps, one held the raccoon, 12 others had rats.  5 of the 12 were totaled beyond any salvage at all and 2 were what I call salvageable, I brought them home hoping we can save them.  The other 5 were what you hope to see caught and not damaged.

So, I did catch the 16 rats I was hoping for, but didn’t count on losing 5.

The war is on!  I’m taking 2 live traps out and set them near this area and Bob is bringing down 4 live traps he has had set for 2 days up by Pete’s stackyard.  6 live traps should help us take out a few of these pesky little varmints!  I did see a skunk den and I’ll make sure I keep the traps far away from there.

It was not a good trade to lose $50 worth of rats for a $12 raccoon.

As you can tell, I survived the days romping near the bulls.  I managed to set another 21 traps and only got down to where the bulls like to hang out.  Tomorrow I will have to “go among them”.  My last parking spot was within 30 yards of some of the bulls and they only showed a little curiosity about why I was there.  I didn’t have that guttural fear I usually get being that close to 1300 pound animals with large male glands and the looks of beasts backed into a corner.

I must say, Bull Run has a ton of rat sign and so many places that a trap can be set, it was actually hard making the decision as to where to place the traps.  Deep runs taking the rats from one place to the next completely out of sight from predators were the easy ones, the “on top” sets had to be disguised in hopes of getting to the rat before Mr raccoon does.

Now my big question is, do I have enough 22 shells for dispatching raccoons?  I think I have about 3,000 shells, that should do it.

Bears Butt

February 11, 2014