The weather for today is calling for “warmer than yesterday” and I’m glad!  Yesterday the wind made it so cold I almost cried.  My hands got sooooo cold!  Even with wool gloves on under the rubber gloves they got cold and hurt like crazy, until the sun warmed things up just enough to make it bearable.  Warmer than yesterday sounds good to me!

The talk in the rat shed last night sounds like the season is just about over.  With only 9 rats caught and over 100 traps out it sure looks like the end has come.  Everyone has their theory about where the rats go when the run is over and I have mine.  Here it is:

The rats have been under an ice cap all winter long and they have gotten used to the protection, like us being in a big tent, out of the elements and protected from the predators above.  Consider you have just spent several months in this tent and suddenly your tent is gone!  You enjoy the sunlight for a time but then the predators start to bother you and so you head off to seek a place you are comfortable with…an ice cap.

Along comes Mr. Trapper and he finds sign plenty!  Mounds of rat poop, chew stations and plenty of runs that look real fresh!  Of course he finds this, the rats just made them…..as they are migrating toward the ice cap downstream!  Mr. Trapper sets his traps and the next day comes to check them and they are empty!  Of course they are empty, the rats have moved!  They are downstream, under the cap of ice having a big old party!  They are safe, all their buddies are there and it’s party time dude!  Mating like crazy…a Mardi Gras…with all the food they want!  All the sex they can handle!  All the drinks they want!  And Mr. Trapper can’t get to them.  If you don’t believe my theory and are a Spring time water trapper, just go find the ice, walk about 30 yards down stream from the edge of it, lay down on it and put your ear to it!  You’ll hear one heck of a party going on!

Well, that’s my theory and I plan on going out to the East end of the Big Spring run today and lay my ear down on some ice!

My plan is to set a few traps out that way as well, but I’m only going to set traps that are “almost guaranteed” to catch a rat!  No time to waste right now and we only need 12 rats to make it to our 700 rat goal!  12 lousy rats!  That is how many I lost to raccoons up on Bull Run!

Speaking of Bull Run…I still need to pull my live traps up there and I hope Mr. Bull is far from where I saw him last night!  Laying right smack dab in the middle of my live traps!  OOOOOOOO!

What will we catch today?  I don’t expect to catch even one rat today in the 51 traps set out on the West run of Big Spring….not one!

And as for the live traps, you just watch, Mr. Bull will be just far enough away for me to brave going in to pull the live traps and get them closer to the gate, and I’ll have a couple of skunks that need dispatching.  The sounds of the shots will alert the bull to my presence and he will come a running to see what all the commotion is about!  (insert frowney face here)

Bears Butt

March 12, 2014

P.M. REPORT

All the while I was driving out to the trapping area I was imagining the bull at the gate but as I got closer I could see it down to the West about 200 yards and facing away from the gate while eating.

I decided it was worth the effort to sneak out to the farthest traps and hurry them back to the gate.  My heart was racing as the traps were a good 200 yards away and down in the swamp.  I hustled like no other 65 year old can do and made it back to the gate in “record” time.  The bull had not moved from his position and so, I dashed back to get the two middle traps, 150 yards out.  Once back to the gate and seeing the bull was contently eating “way down there”, I slowed my pace and went back for the last two traps, 100 yards out.  Back at the gate I wondered why I was panting so hard, I’m done!  It’s over!  Maybe at Rendezous we should have a “Bull Dash” race……

And with a little rearranging, all six traps fit nicely in the back of the rig…a little stinky from the skunk spray, but headed home none the less.

Now out to the muskrat line!

I didn’t make a note as to the time when I arrived at the line parking spot, but it was still rather early.  I debated with myself to check the traps that were set first, or go see if there was any sign on the East line.  My debate lasted about 30 seconds and I decided to go set a couple of traps down by the main channel first and then the seep I call “Stein”.  Those two spots are usually good for a few traps and I generally catch all the rats there in one night…two at the most.

So off in that direction I went.  Let me tell you, that Big Spring of water that feeds that channel is scarey.  The water is crystal clear and you can see the hundreds of springs out in it bubbling up mud like a boiling pot.  Even close to the bank you can see holes with the water churning up the mud.  I’d hate to fall in it because it would be all over, you’d never get out alive.

I found 7 sets on those two areas and then headed out to the East line to see what the sign looked like….just as I suspected, it looked just like the sign out on the West line.  I went as far as half way down as far as I usually trap it and all the sign looked the same.  Then I decided to go wayyyyy down the line to where I usually end my trapping and check for sign down there.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the sign much fresher down there.  Not a lot of it, but at least it was fresh.

I set two colony traps and one conibear and was going to head back to the truck and check them in the morning and if I had rats in them I’d finish setting the line tomorrow.  I was back at the toy when two ducks jumped up just a little ways out in the swamp…ducks mean open water, so I grabbed a couple of conibears and went out to see what the sign looked like where the ducks had been sitting.  HMMMM, it didn’t take long to set those two traps and so I decided I might as well just keep going and see how many traps I could get set before I hit ice.

I set all the conibear traps I had strapped to the toy and then headed back to the truck….it was 2 p.m.!  I had set 44 traps.  Exhausted as I was I knew I had to go and check the other line.  I had one rat in a colony trap up at the head of the line and then the next to the last trap on the far end held a rat…2 rats…that’s 2 more than I expected to catch today….that line needs to be pulled and the traps bagged and made ready for next years season.

I’m 99.99% sure I have set my last trap for this trapping season and while driving home I figured I would pull the West line tomorrow and then the line I set today on Saturday.  That gives the latest line 3 nights to catch what few rats live in that part of the country.  I must say, that part is very interesting, as I have never been out there to see what it was like, let alone set any traps.  It is usually frozen so solid I could drive the toy all the way to the Trellis line from there.  Not so today…there are a lot of toolies, small streams meandering here and there and eventually meeting up and forming another big toolie patch about 2 miles from the rig, and from where I set the last trap I had, the toolies continued to go out as far as I could see.  Much too much area for one trapper.

Back home I saw where Bob had caught 2 rats also…a four rat day…Not enough to cover both of our fuel expenses.

Bears Butt