With a full load of traps, I entered Club 41 about 9:30 a.m. intent on setting them all!  BUT, as anyone who has a big goal and only 24 hours in any given day, it did not take long to exhaust the time I had and soon it was 12:30 and I had to go!  I only got 29 traps set and they are all very marginal sets at that.

Have I done such a good job in the past that I have caught all the rats from this club?  There was little to no sign of rats anywhere I traveled, but with my determination I just had to swag in a trap here and there.  Today will tell the tale if there are any rats there or not.  One thing for certain, there isn’t much water.  I recall when I first went into the club several years ago, the water was deep and the rats were everywhere.  Hiding in the high banks of the lakes in small squished holes.  Those holes are high and dry now and the water is only contained in a small stream that meanders through what once was a large body of water.

Yesterday, I just followed that stream until it got to a place where I could no longer follow on the toy.  The sign I saw was mostly contained in a grove of low growing trees.  And that sign was very minimal.

While I was setting my traps, Bob drove through to his intended spot at the end of the road and down at the South end of the club.  He looked around for sign but saw nothing and decided not to set any traps.  He left me a note in the car when he went out and I’m glad he did as I had not seen him go out and wondered if I should lock the gate when I left or not.

Today I am going to set the small seep SE of Doris’ place that Richard Nicholas got me permission to trap.  And I hope to put a few more traps on Club 41, IF I can find some sign and if I have the time.  Bob thinks I’m wasting my time on there and should be trapping Big Spring.  He went in there and set a dozen traps and says there is sign everywhere.  I don’t doubt that, but I have an obligation to trap Club 41…they are counting on me and I have to give it a good shot.  Every rat caught takes a “hole digger” away from the dikes.

Expected catch today?

29 traps  should yield 11 rats…by the way I could not get Bob to bet with me on the 11 rats…he wanted me to go 14…no way will I catch 50% with so little sign.

I have a hunch I’ll have a raccoon as well…It’s just a feeling.

Bears Butt

March 7, 2014

P.M. REPORT

A rather cold windy day out West today.  I managed to set 22 traps in the field adjacent to Doris’ place and figure I’ll pull those traps on Monday.  There are a few rats there, but not many and three nights should be enough to catch the majority of them.  I didn’t go to the end of the line to see where the water went, but it looked like it narrowed down and ended up in a pond.  At least that is what I thought I was looking at.  My time was taken up a bit when I first arrived at Doris’ as Richard was trying to wire a 3 way plug to his water pump and was having a difficult time and asked if I could help him.  I did what I could and eventually he was ready to make it work.  But it did cost me about 30 minutes of trap setting time.  Oh well, always something getting in the way.

Yesterdays rain caused my line some problems, as the water up stream raised the level where my traps were set and many of my traps were under about 6 inches of water…totally out of service.  The water level is coming back down to where it was when I set the traps, but still too deep in my opinion…by tomorrow morning it should be back to normal.

I did manage to catch 10 rats and had one trap set off with nothing in it…very close call to my 11 expected….

On the way home I stopped to talk with Bob and he made a beer bet with me that he would catch more than me.  He had 5 in the truck at that point and still quite a few traps to check.  I just went out to the shed to see how many he had, but they are in a bag and I don’t want to ruin his surprise…he either has more than 10 rats in the bag, or 10 or less and a beer in the bag.  I’ll let you know later.

Bears Butt

Bob won the beer bet with 11 rats!  That’s 3 beer bets I’ve lost to him this trapping season!