This picture should be the clue as to why I call this area Big Spring.  It is actually closer to 100 springs that feed this water source and the folks from the past have channeled the water away to the South.  Back in the days of the Fremont Indians (who occupied this area thousands of years ago), it would have been interesting to see what the area looked like with all that water flooding its way across the flats and toward the Great Salt Lake.  Talk about a muskrat heaven!  Yaaaa Baby!

If you have ever driven out to the site of the driving of the Golden Spike, you have passed this Big Spring area and if you were really noticing everything around you as you drove (or rode) along, you probably noticed signs along the way that read “No Motorized Vehicles” at each of the gates.  The gates are there for the ranchers to use to get their animals in and out of the land on the other side of the fence, but the signs are there so that people who are not authorized don’t run their atv’s or utv’s or motorcycles or trucks or cars or what-have-you, down the hump in the land.  That hump is the old railroad grade that took the trains from one coast to the next.  It’s pretty amazing how they built up the dirt and it was all done with pure back breaking labor from Chinese on one side (working from the West Coast toward the East) and Irishmen on the other (working from the East toward the West).  Nothing powered by anything other than human muscles.  You really need to go and visit the Golden Spike National Monument at least once in your life and if you get that chance and have a choice of when to go, I suggest May 10th, they really put on a great show that day…Oh and see the signs I’m telling you about!

I was once approached by a Utah Fish and Game warden and his first comment was, “You must be one of the important ones who get to drive on there”.  My answer, “Yes”!  Nuff said.  And I have never been approached by anyone else since then.  Maybe they too have read Bears Butt dot Com!

Today is THE most relaxing day on the trap line…always has been and always will be…The day before it all ends for the season.  No traps to pull.  No traps to set.  Just check the ones that are out there, collect up the bounty that God is giving and then come on home.  It really does not get any better than that.  Tomorrow will be a different story all together, but still an enjoyable day will be had.

The weather today is calling for a very pleasant temperature, no chance of rain and a beautiful Spring day.  Couple that with no trapping pressure and I think I’ll take a few pictures of some of the wildlife.  After all, I don’t have to be home until 5:30…the designated time to meet in the trapping shed!

What does the old Bears Butt think he will net today?  I’m expecting 5 to 8 rats today.  I caught nothing on the big channel yesterday and so I expect the same today.  Stein Spring kicked out two rats yesterday, one male, one female and so I caught the rats that lived there, so no more will be caught there today or tomorrow for that matter.  The rest of the line will catch the few stragglers that were lagging behind the rest of the pack out chasing the ice.

So, it’s not fair to say 5 to 8, I’ll nail it down with a solid 6!

Bears Butt

March 14, 2014

P.M. REPORT

A BEAUTIFUL DAY TODAY!  But the rat catching was off!

I caught 3, Bob caught 5!  We made a beer bet for tomorrow:  I’ll catch more than he will catch.

Bears Butt