Well today is Saturday and sort of a relaxed day on the line.  No traps will be set today because I take Sundays off.  A guy can go hard and strong for six days, but needs a day off once in awhile.  My body is so sore right now, I need a day to catch up.

The weather is looking mild today with only a slight chance of rain.  A glance out toward the trapping zone shows high clouds and it should be close to 60 degrees today.  The problem with that temperature and light to no winds means the hawks will be hovering over the swamps looking for morsels to eat.

Hawks mostly eat mice, but when they see a “big old mouse”  (muskrat) in a trap they will sit there and eat the whole thing, scattering the part I like most (the hide) all about the area.  You can’t blame them, they are hungry too.

So because of them hovering over head, I try my best to hide the traps under an overhang of toolies but they have pretty sharp eyes and can almost smell the rat laying there.  Between you and I, I would rather feed a hawk than a raccoon!

Yesterday, on the way out, I spotted another seep that Bob is not trapping and has no plans on trapping, heck he may not even know it exists.  So Monday I will check it out and probably be able to set 10 or so traps on it.  Those traps will come from the top end of Bull Run…time to move on!

After I get back from checking my line, I’ve promised Weasel I’ll show him how to set a couple of snares.  He has two very well defined raccoon trails spotted and those are the best for sharing snare setting knowledge and the highest percentage of a catch, which is what a new snare trapper needs.  Weasel has never caught a raccoon and maybe tomorrow he will break that virginity.

I can’t remember if I mentioned it in last nights report, but one of the live traps was baited with marshmallows.  Sort of an experiment to test someones statement that they work to draw in raccoons.  When I checked that trap yesterday the mud around the trap was filled with the tracks of a curious raccoon, but he didn’t go into the trap nor did he eat any of the broken up marshmallows I had placed here and there around the entrance of the trap….I say…”Marshmallows will only work on a starving raccoon”….So, I loaded the trap with a rat body and hope to find a raccoon waiting for me this morning.

Expected catch for the day?

1 raccoon,  16 rats.

Bears Butt

February 15, 2014

P.M. REPORT

My rear end is KICKED!  I guess I’m just getting old.

The weather was perfect today, not too hot, not too cold and for sure not wet!  Just right.

The trapping didn’t go like I thought it would; First off, I caught 2 skunks!  YUK!  And no raccoons.  Secondly, there must have been a mini rat run last night as I had a bunch of traps set off with nothing in them and I managed to catch 19 good rats, 1 that we might be able to save, and lost 2 others to mink or weasels or something besides raccoons.  So, I’m counting my catch at 20 today.

I also had a moment to go look over the 3rd seep and could quickly see where I might be able to set a dozen traps…that will be Mondays chore.

Back at home I went with Weasel, Conner and Cody down to check his traps and show him how to set a snare.  We set two snares in places that can either catch raccoons and/or foxes, there was sign of both on the trails.  Unfortunately for Weasel he only had one trap set off and no rats caught.

He did set out a colony trap and my new invention, a floating colony trap.  It will be very interesting to see if that thing works at all.

Bob had a great day trapping and came to the fur shed with 10 nice rats!

Brek is still unknown and if he catches any today I will post up his catch.  If nothing more is mentioned on here, then he didn’t catch any today.

Bears Butt