It’s currently 40 degrees out side and it’s just 7 a.m….The forecast calls for light rain today and that will really help with the removal of the ice.  Where there is water in or near the swamps there is rat sign.  They seem to want out from under that ice as much as we want to be able to set traps.  Bob is really anxious to get some steel in the water.  He set 12 traps yesterday in the internal part of Petes ranch and I suspect he will set a few more today.

That portion of the ranch is sloping in every direction and the mud is really filled with clay.  If he gets on one of the slopes and begins to slide he is in trouble for sure, even with 4 wheel drive.  He made a comment yesterday about how slippery it was.  With the rain he will experience an even slipperier situation.  I wish him luck.  On the plus side, there is a lot of areas where he can put traps, now that the snow has melted to allow him to drive in.  The situation will get better and better from now on, until the fur begins to slip and end our season.

Bull Run is still making me scratch my head.  I have caught over 70 rats from there and it still keeps producing more.  I don’t know where they are living or where they might be coming from, but keep it up and I’ll stay there until the season ends.

This week is closing in quickly, I can’t hardly believe the week begins and suddenly it’s over.  I have to watch carefully when I set new traps out.  Like yesterday when I extended Big Spring, I have to make sure I have at least two full days of checking before any interruptions that will cause me to skip a day or two.  To properly trap, the trapper has to juggle a lot of personal things into the mix.

I have an engagement this Saturday that will take me out of the trapping scene and so I am substituting Sunday, which I normally take off from trapping to re-group.  There will be no re-grouping this weekend.

Today’s goal is to add a few more traps to Big Spring and then just check the rest of the traps.  Yesterday was a full day and it really beat this old mans body down good.  It will be a nice and calm type of day today.  The rain will make it a bit miserable, but one must have a bit of ugly in order to appreciate the nice.

Bears Butt

March 7, 2013