A.M. –March 5…Spring time in the Rockies!

Weather today mid 50’s!  It’s going to be a very nice day.  Then tonight the winds of change begin and continue through Wednesday.  Tomorrow and Wednesday 30 to 60% chance of rain/snow.  If that isn’t Spring, I don’t know what is.

Wapiti is heading out with me on the trap line today.  Gotta check all 105 traps and need to make a record of the number of rats caught in the 6 traps Stein and I set on Saturday.  I am hoping for 6 rats in those 6 traps…we will see.

Goal for the day:  Set at least 20 traps on the Big Spring line.  More would be better, but we might run out of day.

Expected rat catch:  14

More to come later in the day.

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

What an incredibly beautiful day it was.  Warm, nice, sunny, one could not have asked for a better day…but wait!  There was some incredible things that happened today that you need to know about.  Mostly just how wonderful a trapper Bears Butt is.  Read on!

Wapiti and I hit the swamp fairly early and when we arrived at our first park and unload station, there was a vehicle blocking our way…OOOOO.

We had to park someplace close but not where we wanted and then that added to our “drive time” to get to the first trap.  Why would someone park directly in front of a closed gate and then leave their vehicle…I’ll tell you…they were college students.  A guy and a gal…what does that tell YOU?

Well, they were in fact college students working for USU and doing a study on the effects of the ATK blasting of rocket motors and the corrosive effects of doing such as that.  I told them they were behind the ball, and that the big blasts have been done for months and years etc., but the guy re-assured me it was science in its best form that they were studying….she on the other hand seemed to be agreeing with me.  I can tell you right now the results of their study will clearly show “no ill effects or corrosive matter is coming from the rocket testing at ATK”.

Back to rat trapping.

Checking the trellis line we did not have one set off trap…sad deal…I need to pull those traps…but wait…I promised Bob I would leave them and check them every other day until we were done so that Bob would show me that the “run” will cause those traps to fill up regularly.

Tomorrow I am pulling those traps…I have already informed Bob that it is a waste of my time and his pocket book that I keep those traps active in their current places.  He agrees.

Back to the Goose Club line…..It’s almost a dead line…by that I mean I have caught all the rats that live near that area.  Ya, there may be one or two, but I need to be thinking about moving away from them and let them have kids and grow to be a big family for next year.

I caught 4 rats out of 75 traps on the Goose Club line.  Poor percentage, but there is one very important thing that came from that.

Me, being so very good at catching numerous rats, every year, had set a leg hold trap on a very good place.  Today there was evidence of a catch at that trap.  The rat, had torn up the swamp weeds and toolies very much, before he luckily pulled his toe off his foot.  DANG!  Close but no banana.

But, being so wiley a trapper, I had set a trap down stream some 50 yards or so, and near the very end of my checking of the line.  What did I find in a trap at the end of the line?  A rat with only 4 toes!  AH HA!  Trapper extraordinaire!  (that’s me)

And so the story goes.  We moved quickly up to the area where Trapper Stein and I had set 6 traps last Saturday.  Stein…this is for you!

Little Pond.  Two traps.  First trap set off with nothing in it!  DANG!

Second trap…filled with a rat!  Wooopeeee!

Big Pond.  Two traps.  First trap…empty….Second trap….Filled with a big old rat!  YAHOOOOO!

Stein Pond.  Two traps.  First trap…set off with nothing in it.  Second trap…big old rat!   Halaouya Brother!  Another rat!

That is 3 rats out of six traps and two others set off…it could have been a 5 for 6 day!  But fate let two rats learn a valuable lesson!  Thanks Stein for the lesson on where to set those traps!

So the rat total for me was 7…..I learned later that Bob caught 5…a good day for us.

The rest of Wapitis day and mine was setting traps and we did a pretty good job of setting Big Spring with 37 traps.   Wait until tomorrow folks…a VERY BIG catch tomorrow.

Bears Butt

P.M. Report!