It’s been really nice to have a day off from trapping, but don’t think for a minute it is a total day off, just a day not to travel out to the trap lines.  A good sleep in was sure welcome and an excellent breakfast of venison steak, spuds and eggs, sure beats a quick frozen sausage patty and a hard cooked egg on a half slice of toast.

This will be the last week of the trapping.  Wapiti, Bob and I have had a short discussion about this week and decided that for Wapiti and I, Friday will be the last day for us, we will pull our traps by that day.  Bob will most likely extend into Saturday and I’m sure part of his reasoning is to maybe get some help from a Grandson to help him.  Pulling traps is a full time job if you wait and do it all in one day.

Wapiti and I have talked about segmenting the job by lines.

I made up a batch of carrots this morning for the upcoming week and I think I have plenty to cover us.  There was a good read in the latest “Fur, Fish and Game” magazine about putting Anis Oil extract in with our chopped carrots.  The author said he always did it and increased his catch rate by doing so.  This year Bob and I decided we would give it a go as well.  We have always used carrots and so to add anis oil would be no big deal.  We found a local source for 2 oz bottles of the stuff for 88 cents, pour a bottle of it in the bag with the chopped carrots and add about six ounces of water, mix it around and seal the bag…it smells great…licorice carrots…sure a whole lot better than rat carcasses in the back of the truck!

We have lots of traps we can set and we also have a game plan beginning tomorrow morning…another 8 a.m. start and we only have Club 41 to deal with.  Check the existing traps, modify our float sets to include mud on top and under the traps (something I totally forgot needed to be done) and then get to setting as many traps as we can.  We have loads of places we need to trap yet.  Our goal is to maintain our 30 plus rat days until it is all over, and “over” is nye at hand.

So trap setting will continue through Wednesday and by that day we will begin pulling some traps from lines that have gone dead on us (Pollock Pond for one).  Wapiti will get to see the rest of Club 41 this week.

Enjoy your St. Patricks Day…Green Beer…Corned Beef and Cabbage, and good family company!

Bears Butt

March 17, 2013

Another fine day on the trap line for Wapiti and I.  Especially getting back to town by 2:30!  Woooppppeeeee!

Conner, Wapiti and I got away from town just about 8 a.m. and headed as fast as we could for Peterson’s place across the Great Salt Lake…Arriving there while it was still a cool morning.  The sun would soon warm us up to where coats and sweaters would not be needed.

Our objective was to pull the entire line out there and then head to Club 41.  With nearly 80 traps to pull it was going to take some time and we felt the need to hurry somewhat…hurrying to old people is sometimes a joke….We also hoped to catch as many as maybe 4 rats.

We pulled traps and hung them on the toys as quickly as we could, Conner was in charge of the clippie flags on Wapiti’s line.  When a section of a line was picked up we would make a quick look over the line to see if we had missed any traps, clippies or whatever…all traps were accounted for.

Back at the truck we counted 7 rats!  There must have been a mini-run take place down there last night.

And so the total rat count for just Peterson’s place….106!  That is a whole lot of rats from one little spot.  As we came home I called Mr. Peterson and told him the total count and the fact that we were completely pulled out of there.  I thanked him for the opportunity to trap and told him I thought we had not damaged anything but if he noticed anything that he thought we had done, to give me a call.  He thanked us for catching that many rats and invited us back for next year!

On the way to Club 41, Wapiti told stories about “Area 51” and especially about the eagles with 3 feet, rats with pink eyes and glow in the dark teeth and about women who spend much time out there have babies with red hair.  It is a strange place but I’m not so sure it’s that strange.

Off to check the lines out there…again Wapiti and Conner went to the head of the line on the channel while I went to the end…we were hoping for 11 rats.  Upon meeting in the middle Wapiti again said that the “beer bet” set produced another fine rat…that made me feel good…we counted the rats…they totaled 10.  Not too far off from our desires.

Back over to the rig to have some lunch and drop off the rats.  We had a very nice lunch in the warm sun and even took an extra 5 minutes to enjoy it.  Of course Conner would not have been a happy guy if we had only taken our usual 15 minute lunch break…too much to eat in such a short period of time.

While we ate, the owners of the cattle came to feed them some protein so we ventured over to them to greet and meet and jaw jack a bit.  We didn’t want to retain them very long and so the conversation was short…we (and they) had work to do!

Before proceeding to check the remainder of our traps we decided we needed enough to make our total 35 rats…that would mean we would have to collect 18 more of the little buggers.

Down to Pollock pond we went.  The first three traps each held a rat and as I proceeded out to the set in the middle of the dam, it too held a rat.  I had to fix that trap and as I was doing that I thought to myself..”we might just make 18 rats at this rate”….The three of us were checking along and making “Whoopppeeee” sounds to each other as we encountered another rat in a trap.  Conner was the best at it.

When that line was done we had 12 rats….now for the floats…Conner is the math wizard and asked how many floats we had…we said 6…and each float has 2 traps on it for a total of 12 traps…he said we would have to have at least one rat on each of the floats in order to make our goal, but that we could go over by six if all the traps connected….Wapiti and I thought about what he had said and then agreed with him.

Over to the big dam to check those floats….I can see my first one from the road and both traps are missing from view…could it be that I have caught two rats?  A quick walk to the float revealed both traps set off, but only one held a rat…dang!  Wapiti said that his first float was also missing both traps…unfortunately neither of them held a rat, just set off…dang!  My next float was missing one trap and it held a rat!  YES!  Wapitis next float was missing one trap and it held a rat!  YES!

My last float still had both traps and also rats had pooped on it and ate all the bait…dang!  Wapiti’s last float still had both traps and the bait had been eaten, a rat had pooped on a clump near by…dang!

So do the math…31!  Not too bad a day if I do say so myself.

Out of Club 41 and headed for home..it was just after 2 p.m….nice!  Along the way we stopped to see Bob as he checked his line.  He had just pulled a rat from one of his sets and the other trap held a duck.  I got the duck out for him and it went off with a sore foot but otherwise unharmed.

Bob had 12 rats when we left him…could it be that he will once again catch around 30 rats?  Wouldn’t that be cool?!!!!

We told Bob all he had to catch was 8 more rats and we would have another 50 rat day and that we just might top 700 rats by weeks end…THAT would be sweet!

I went to the shed and placed 50 of the dried rats into a paper bag and took them to the freezer.  We have space for about 50 more rats to be put up on stretchers, but we are not going to process today’s rats, but rather will freeze them after they are skinned.  All of us have our butts kicked from this week of trapping and need to take a day off.

I had just finished taking care of the dried rats when Bob honked his horn.  He was pretty happy when he got out of the truck and I came to help haul in his days catch…he had 20 rats!

What an incredible week of trapping!  Tuesday-50 rats, Wednesday – 46 rats, Thursday – 57 rats, Friday – 62 rats and today 51 rats!  That is a whole lot of rats!

Bears Butt

March 16, 2013

An exceptional day on the line yesterday!  60 plus degree weather sure makes for a great day to be out in the fresh air enjoying what is out there and it sure doesn’t hurt to have company to enjoy it.

Wapiti and I were off and running at 8 a.m., at Peterson’s at about 9:15 and going strong on the trap

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And so, that was the story from yesterday….rather disappointing huh?  Since the computer had an issue I will attempt to restructure what I had written….

Wapiti and I got out to Peterson’s in great time and checked the lines.  As expected the older line produced a few but the new line didn’t produce the 50% expected.  We did have quite a good take however..how many?…you are asking me and that was two days ago…I can’t remember, but I think it was 22…don’t hold me to that however.

Now on to Club 41 (Wapiti calls it Area 51)….We have some traps set, but need to cover it with more and believe me there is a whole lot more of the area that needs to be trapped.  We check the existing traps, Wapiti from one end of the line and me from the other.  The bait sets are producing rats like mad on my end and from Wapiti’s as well…when we meet up, his first question to me was “Do I have to pay you a beer for each rat caught at that set”?  I responded no, only the first day…he was relieved.

Our total catch for the day was 37 rats!  An exceptional day on the line to say the least.

It was just after noon when we stopped to enjoy the view and have some lunch.

After our 15 minute break, we were off to set some steel!  There is a small pond of water to our West and we needed to set that.  When we arrived it looked like it was void of any rats.  I have been pounding it the last couple of years, catching rats like crazy, but of course you just can’t catch them all and the run always brings in new ones.  I was in the water walking along looking for runs, while Wapiti was on higher ground looking out into the water for runs.  He spotted one and upon further investigation we set a conibear in the opening about 18 inches under water.  Then went on checking for more spots to set traps.  Wapiti was about 50 yards ahead of me crossing the dam of the pond when a rat suddenly broke from under his feet….he yelled in my direction and I looked up to see the wave of an under water rat headed my way…soon it broke the surface and swam past my position…it was headed in the direction of the coni we had just set…then it veered to the right of the set and dove under.  I made a mental note to go over and try to find the hole it had dove into, when suddenly it broke the surface again and swam toward the coni set.  It stopped next to the stake and just sat there on the surface looking at it, probably saying to itself…”I don’t think that thing was there yesterday”!…So with it sitting there looking at the stake, I took a few steps in its direction…it turned slightly in the water to look at me and then quickly it dove under the water….The next thing was the stake started to shake violently…I yelled out to Wapiti…”WE GOT HIM”!!!!  Wapiti yelled out “YES”!!!  And we both had our hands high above our heads in celebration!

We continued to look for and set traps and then came back to the coni where Wapiti did the honors of taking that dumb rat out of the trap…we now call the pond Pollock Pond….

Can a trapper ever have enough fun?  That made the total take for the day 38!  We were happy at 37 but a bonus is never something to look at lightly!  $10 more bucks!  Now maybe the boss will give us a day off….nope…..

We set about 20 more traps and 6 floats and then called it a day…and what a day it was too.

Back at the skinning shed I called Brek (Skinner Man) and he assured me he would be there to skin…I was so relieved to hear him say that.  We still had the rats from yesterday to flesh and stretch and to add the skinning would have meant we would be working until midnight.

Bob came in from his trap line with a big bag of rats and dumped them on the pile!  19 rats!!!!!!  Wholy Moly…that means 57 rats!  A new record for us!!!!!

You can’t say the run is not in full swing right now!  And Bob never even got over to the traps he has on Pete’s place!

On the down side, Brek didn’t arrive until way after 6 p.m. and we were out in the shed until after 8 p.m….Thanks to Weasel, he came and helped pull down rats and put them on hangers and then took the skinned rats and turned them fur side out and put them on the drying rack and at the same time took the stretched rats from Bob and hung them up to dry as well.  Those tasks take time and he saved us a lot of time by doing that.

I can not go into the expected catch rate for the day to come because that was yesterday (remember this story got 86ed by the computer and I’m re-writing it the best I can today)…..

Speaking of today…let me tell you about yesterday….

Again Wapiti and I got off to a great start…well not really…My computer died on me and I couldn’t get my story written which made me quite upset…I had a headache as well.  We had to stop for gas and it was then that Wapiti remembered he forgot his hat…so back to Willard we had to go…a 30 minute delay…out at the Peterson ranch, Mr. Peterson came to talk and that cost us about 45 more minutes…precious time this time of year….

Oh the life of a trapper………………………………….

I told Wapiti we would probably only take 20 to maybe 25 rats for the day and that we had to pull the upper traps off our lines out here on the Peterson place.  We agreed to pull the first 20 traps of each of our lines…which we did….Back at the truck we counted the rats in the bags….8…..just about what I expected.

Now over to Club 41….we have the 23 original traps to check, plus the 28 traps and 6 floats we set yesterday…what do I expect from those….the 23 should produce about 11 rats…the 28 new ones?…I don’t have a good feeling about the place we set them in, not enough cover to be much good…maybe 7 or 8 rats…the 6 floats however, could produce 7 or 8 rats…But when you add up the numbers 8+11+7+7….that equals 33 and would not be a bad day at all.

I can’t tell you where we caught the rats nor what lines produced how many, but we did end up with exactly that…33 rats!

We then proceeded to set 13 more traps…why 13?  No reason, it was just that I took 8 off my toy and Wapiti took 5…purely random….

Back at the shed, Brek, the savior, was again there to skin rats and went right to work when he got there.

Bob came in about an hour later than we did.  We did stop and talk to him on his line as we were driving home.  At that point he had 11 rats and still had most of his line to check…we told him he needed to catch 17 to get us to the 50 rat point…Then we came on home.

When he arrived, Weasel, (who again had come to help us and drink beer and joke and do stuff the Weasel does best…we welcome the Weasel to join us any time he wishes) went out to carry his bag of 11 or so rats to the shed.  What I didn’t see was that Bob was carrying a bag too and he set it outside the door.  Weasel dumped his bag of rats on the pile of 33 rats and said loudly…19 rats.  Yes!  I said!  That is over 50 rats!  Good Job Bob!  Then there was a slight hesitation and Weasel said…Dad, get that bag out by the door…I turned and sure enough there was a bag laying on the ground…I picked it up, took it in and Weasel counted out 10 more rats!  Bob had caught 29 rats!  My heck that makes it a 62 rat day!  ANOTHER RECORD!!!!

Bob said that 29 rats was the most he has ever caught in one day!!!  And what about the traps that were set off and nothing was in them!  WOW!  What a great day on the trapline!!!!!  We have now exceeded our goal of 500 rats and still have a few days left to trap!

So having a day that started off so poorly, ended up to be a monumental day on the trap line!

I feel better now that these last two days of trapping has been documented here on this site.

The weather for today and tomorrow (I declare tomorrow a day off…I’m tired) calls for warm today, high near 60…with increasing clouds, a chance for rain after midnight tonight through tomorrow and cooler…highs in the 40’s tomorrow….

We have the pleasure of having Conner join us today on the trap line…welcome Conner!

My catch expectancy for the day…Petersons 3, maybe 4 rats…Club 41…9 + 5 + 5+ 2 = 24.

Today we pull all the rest of the traps off the Peterson property and will have a full catch report from those small seeps when we are done…you will find out how many rats we took off there in tomorrows report.  Then over to Club 41 to check traps…no setting today as we are taking tomorrow off.  I also have a commitment to go and see one of my Granddaughters act in a play…I need to get home early to clean up…that is something else a trapper should do on occasion.

Lunch will be processed ham on a slice of bread.  Chips and lots and lots of water.

Bears Butt

March 16, 2013

Where did yesterday go?

Wapiti and I were at the Big Spring shortly after nine a.m., we unloaded and split up, he took the close end of the line and I went to the far end.  We picked up all the traps and were back at the rig by 10:30…one rat was caught.

Out to Peterson’s we went.  It’s a pretty long ride out to his place and the road is not the best in the world…Tommy Boy…would you put the County crew on fixing that problem.  Those ranchers out there deserve better for their taxes!  Once we got there and unloaded, I saw the ranch owner off in the distance fixing fence.

Wapiti and I checked the two floats and the nearest of the traps before we went through the gate and down to the other two lines.  Before we started checking those traps, we went over to say “Howdy” to Steve Peterson.  He is a great guy with a story for about anything.  We talked for probably a half hour and decided if we didn’t get moving we would not get any traps set on Club 41 (Wapiti calls it Area 51).  On our ride back toward the top of our trap lines we had to pass a small seep.  I stopped my toy to take a closer look.  We could see a rat house in the middle of it!  My eyes got really big and got off the toy.

Wapiti said, what did I think and I said I thought we should each take 5 traps and go set them.  10 should be enough to set this little area.  We took our 5 traps each and headed for the water.  My eyes got REALLY BIG upon reaching the edge of the water….runs, deep ditches, rat sign everywhere!  This seep has never been trapped.  In the three previous years of trapping this area I did not know this seep was even here.  We set our 5 traps in short order and there was still lots of places for more traps.  I went back to the toy and Wapiti yelled across the seep…”How many more are you going to set”?  I said 5 more plus a colony trap…he waved and headed for his toy for 5 more…It didn’t take long to realize this had turned into two more trap lines…me on one side of the seep and Wapiti on the other…when we were done, we had set 38 traps!  We now have 128 traps set at Peterson’s!

As I drove back to the top of my line at the seep, Mr. Peterson came over to see our progress…he was amazed at all the flags dotting the small seep…At the time I did not know how many traps Wapiti had set, but I had set 18 and told him that.  I said if he had set as many as I did, or more, we should have about 40 traps swagged out across that area and we would rid him of the little rats once and for all.  He was all grins and thanked me for the effort.  I reminded him I would give him a full report on the catch once we were finished trapping his place, he thanked me for that as well.  Then it was off to check the 90 traps we had out.

The catch rate was pretty much like it always is…a guy sets 50 traps…the first day of checking those you catch 25 rats…the next day 12…the third 5…the fourth just might come up empty or maybe a rat or two…then it’s time to pull the line.  Wapiti and my combined catch for the check was 22 rats!  Not bad for a couple of old, decrepit guys.

So, now we have 23 rats in the basket and are off to Club 41!  Remember we still have 10 traps over there to check and they are fresh newbies!  Expected catch rate of 5……Wapiti has no faith in the 10 traps and says so…No sign to speak of…the area is desolate, muddy, no feed, the only going for it is water is flowing through…all the bait set we made were just that…we made them…why would a rat stop on a human made spot?

Our plan was for him to go check the 10 traps while I set some more in this terrible trapping area Wapiti calls “Area 51″, the home of rats that glow in the dark….Off we go!

I begin where the last trap was set and am looking for holes in the banks, runs under water, natural setting spots etc.  I end up finding only one run that ended with a hole going into the bank, in went a coni bear.  The rest of 13 sets were all hand made setting spots.  I used wood planks I found floating around, cow pies and piles of mud and grass.  As I set my last trap, here came Wapiti driving up and the first thing he said to me was these fine words…”OK!  I owe you a beer”!!!  Wooppiiiiieeee,  I yelled!!!  (Remember the beer bet set I put together yesterday and Wapiti questioned why on earth I would make a set right there?)

Then he asked me about the total number of sets we had made…I said 10 and pulled out the map of the sets…we looked over the map and he recalled the checking of them…ooopppps….he missed one set…a conibear in a place where we had set two conis fairly close together…we have to go back, there is probably a rat in it!  I have confidence!  And so back we went.  I looked from the top of a small hill and said, Wapiti do you want to go down there and get that rat?  I could see a rat caught in the trap from the toy.  He went down and said that he saw the one flag, but missed this one…How many rats did Area 51 produce…10 traps…6 rats!  Not a bad percentage when you consider it so desolate, no sign, no food, no runs, nothing but barren desert clay alkali sticky mud!  I like it!  And so, Wapiti is in total wonderment as to how one can catch rats in such a place as this.

Before I change the subject I have to show you what happened to one of my sets.  This set was just placed in a spot where a rat would go or come from and travel across the trap.  It should be a near guarantee rat the day of checking and it almost was:

See, no big deal on placement…here is a hole coming out of the bank and a trail leading out to water..plop a trap down and see what happens…but wait…look closer at the trap….what the heck!

That pan is all the way down and the dog is holding on by some bit of tiny rust!  Talk about a lucky rat..maybe tomorrow he will go into the bag!

So the days count for Wapiti and I was 29…A very good day.  We pass Bob checking his line as we come driving toward home.  He waves his one finger wave with a hand clutching a rat he just took out of the trap.  When he arrives back at the trapping shed, he is carrying 19 rats!  A 48 rat day!  Incredible!  We give each other high fives!  Oh and the best part was that Brek showed up to skin again!  YES!!!!  Thank you Brek!  The Weasel even showed to help out and a big help he was.  When Bob can just sit there and put rats on stretchers and not have to get up each time to hang the stretcher on the drying rack, that saves a ton of work.  Plus to turn the skinned rats fur side out for drying saves another ton of time.  Thank you Weasel!  You saved us at least an hours worth of work and we still didn’t make it into the house until nearly 7:30!  Talk about butts being kicked!

Pulling Big Springs traps…setting 51 more sets….checking 100 traps…catching 29 rats….fleshing the days catch from yesterday….stretching those same rats….you would think the boss might give you a break and let you have a day off….but NOOOOOO!  Back to work you slave dogs!

Weather calls for highs in the mid 60!  Very nice and we might be trapping with our shirts off today!  I am anxious to get out to Peterson’s to check the newly set traps from yesterday and pick up our bounty of rats…could it be another 50 rat day?  Maybe more?

Let’s look at the odds:  38 plus 13 new sets should equal 25 rats, 90 third day checking traps should equal 12 rats, 10 second day checking should equal 3 rats….Wapiti and I should catch 40 rats….That leaves Bob to only have to catch 10 to make it a 50 rat day….But if he could catch 20, that would take some of the pressure off of Wapiti and I…GO BOB GO!!!!!!

Lunch will be left over chicken fingers, chips and lots of water!

Bears Butt

March 14, 2013

Suddenly it’s Wednesday….

What I saw out at Club 41 yesterday was a real surprise.  It appears the ice has just started to come off the place.  What was normally a large pond or small lake has changed quite a bit since last year.  Has my trapping caused the change?  I think it has.  Where there used to be holes in the banks you can see where the weather has collapsed the holes exposing the roots of the plants growing above.  Another thing is that the main channel has re-routed itself and instead of following the contour of the higher ground is now going more toward the center of the “pond” (which by the way isn’t a pond any more, but rather short bulrush with shallow water), I can see three smallish rat houses out near the middle of the area.

So why not go out and find trapping places near the rat houses?  Well, for one, last year the place was very deep with mud and water.  The area is still partially frozen, so if I were to venture out there (which I could), set some traps and then it thaws out (like it will in the next day or so), and turned into the muddy yuk it usually is, would I lose my traps?  It’s not worth the chance.  The rats will have to come to us.

It is going to be very interesting to see the rest of the Club as we venture down stream and out to the end of the roads.  It is rather comforting to see that the trapping has caused the rats to change their habits, or the lack of them to make positive changes to the place.  Four years ago they really had a major problem with the damage the rats were causing.  You never can get rid of them, but to keep them thinned out makes all the difference in the world.

Today, the weather is going to be in the low 60’s!  I like low 60’s…no chance of rain and it will seem hot out on the line.  Wapiti and I are going to stop at Big Spring (Blue Spring), pick up the traps out there and then head off to Peterson’s to pick up the “plews a-plenty” out there.  Then back to Club 41 to check the 10 traps we set yesterday and set more…hopefully a lot more….I know that if Wapiti knew the area, he could go off in one direction and me in another and set a bunch, but he doesn’t and so we will continue to go along together and he will learn about the Club as we go.  It is a good way to learn.  When I first hit the Club, I had to do a lot of traveling around just to find the water sources and places to trap.  In so doing, I set a lot of traps in waters that had no rats…I can show Wapiti those places and we won’t waste our time on them

The computer has aided me a whole bunch with Club 41, when you go on Google Earth and view the world, the images that you are seeing are always taken during the summer months.  Viewing the Club, you can see where the ponds are dried up…those ponds do not hold rats…only the ones with water in them all year long have the rats.  And so, this time of year you see a pond that has waste deep water in it…but by August will be dried up…don’t bother setting those ponds, they may hold a rat or two “running”, but that is all and it’s not worth your time to set it, the rat sign you might see was yesterdays and he is gone today!

Today, Wapiti will see some small seeps that hold a few rats, more large ponds and hopefully a place to plant Bob’s home made colony trap, one I call the “Motel”…it is designed after a model Bob and I came up with, but requires a very large and deep run.  Large as in 18 inches wide and Deep as in 20 inches or more deep.  It has never been tested properly, used yes, but it never caught anything…I think I know a place to employ it.

What to expect for the day:

Well a sun burn is surely in the mix, but we should not have any problem pulling the “Blue Spring” line quickly, (I don’t expect more than 3 rats from that line) and getting out to Peterson’s…The Peterson line kicked out 43 rats yesterday, but today we will be lucky to catch 20 out there…a 20 rat day is a fine day in any trappers book however and we will take it if it comes…more is always better.  The 10 traps on Club 41 should produce 4 rats.  My expected total for our lines today is 22.

Once we return Bob and I are faced with the 50 rat day from yesterday to flesh and stretch…they are drying right now and will be nice and fluffy by the time we get home…I see an 8 p.m. closure to the day.  Brek most likely will not make it to skin today’s catch and it should be a pretty good one.  Bob set a lot of traps yesterday and he should bring in around 20 rats today.  If he does and we do what I expect we will have another big pile of rats that need to be skinned…sharpen the knives boys…Weasel, are you and Conner up to helping?  It so, we will see you at the trappin shed about 5!  I’ll supply the drinks!

Lunch will be a sausage and egg sandwich, maybe a Tootsie roll and lots of water.  The scales are showing a solid 136 the last three days.  My legs are feeling a whole lot stronger than they did in the beginning of the trapping season three weeks ago and so I think this is an exercise that could be employed by the Biggest Loser!

Bears Butt

March 13, 2013

My computer says it’s 7:06 p.m….I know that it is Tuesday March 12…I know my butt is kicked…I know that Wapiti is probably in bed right now….What a day!

We pulled Bull Run after attempting to help get a calf back to its mama…Chad had to finish the job…Caught 7 rats in the pull and lost one more to a raccoon.  It’s a really good thing we are out of Bull Run.

Then out to Peterson’s to check the traps we set yesterday..payday you know…We figured we should do that as if we hit Club 41 to set traps we might extend ourselves beyond being able to check the traps at Petersons…a wise choice.

We arrived at Petersons around 11 a.m. and headed off.  We usually “whooppeeee” each other as we proceed to check traps and find a rat in one.  We got tired of that.  It seemed like there was a rat in every trap..not really, but it was very much a thing that got to be quite tiring…Pull up to a set of 4 traps…bring back 3 rats…pull up to a set of 5 traps bring back 2 rats…Actually I lied….I really like when that happens!!!!  (put a smiley face here with a grin as wide as my whole face).

Every time I looked up and toward Wapiti checking his line I would see him with a rat in hand and putting it in his bag…What a scene and I wish I would have taken time to take a picture.  But instead I was looking for my favorite smacking stick…I lost it.  Maybe I’ll find it tomorrow.

By the time we got through checking the 90 traps here is what we had:

Look closely:

That my friends is a pile of rats that counts out to be 43!  FORTY THREE!  Talk about a good day on the trap line…multiply that by 10!

So, we decided we owed ourselves a short break for lunch…after munching bologna and cheese or in Wapitis case Roast beef…we headed for Club 41.  Toasting and drinking our waters from our bottles and/or camelback bags in celebration!  43 rats!  What a day!

On Club 41 we didn’t have a whole lot of day left, but we made the best of it.  Set 10 traps and the place has change a whole lot from years past.  The main channel coming  into the club has routed itself into a different position.  Instead of following the high ground around it has chosen to channel straight across the flat…hmmmmmm.  Wapiti and I try our best to figure this one out.  There is still quite a bit of ice and to set traps “way out there” would be very foolish because once it thaws, would we be able to get to the traps or not?  It isn’t worth the gamble.

We only set 10 traps, but one for sure will connect with a rat..I have a beer bet on it!

Back at the trapping shed Brek is there with his money hungry eye on the bags of “whatever” Wapiti and I are carrying…We dump the bags…Dump…Dump…How many Bob asks…50!

Brek comes alive…I’m getting ready to skin…$25 bucks laying there!

Man o Man…I can not tell you how relieved I was to see Brek at Bobs tonight!  Thank you Brek…you saved the day!

And so it goes in the life of a trapper..feast or famine…today we feasted…tomorrow?

We had to celebrate a 50 rat day, I have never had one of those…How about Bob?  Well  he did not check his traps today but instead chose to set more traps..heck I told you that this morning!  But he joined us in the celebration non the less.

Tomorrow?  My butt is kicked right now..how about checking back and I’ll tell you about tomorrow….

Bears Butt

March 12, 2013

Tuesday, March 12…Time marches on whether we like it or not.  Wapiti and I made a command decision yesterday…we are NOT going to take on the Bull Arena area.  We stopped on the highway and looked at the bulls on the other side of the fence and the “big boy” was staring at us with great interest.  Sort of like he was begging us to come through the gate.  He looked just about like the bull on the insurance commercials, only bigger and meaner.

So, with that decision made, today we are pulling the Bull Run traps and moving them to Club 41.  To me that makes the most sense.  Bull Run has been a real pleasure and quite a trip, but the raccoons are there and the rats are gone.  The rat count for yesterday was 3 from there and I lost another to one of the masked bandits.  Wapiti contacted his son in law, who is a wildlife specialist with the Federal Fish and Game about raccoons, specifically if they are color blind.  Thinking they could be smart enough to follow my flags and travel to them and check my traps.  It is just too odd to have a bunch of  rats that I caught on one particular day eaten right out of the traps.  One or two on occasion, maybe, but 5 in one day…???  His reply was that he didn’t know for sure if they are color blind or not, but that they are a highly curious animal and perhaps the waving flags drew their attention, or because they like to travel on “main paths”, my trails through the swamp just might have been the ones they chose to travel, and of course the trails lead to the traps.  They would go along and smell the caught rat, get more curious about the smell, look around until they found the rat and enjoy their feast.

So, first thing this morning we are hitting Bull Run, pulling those traps and will skip checking Big Spring today, go directly to Club 41 and set the traps we have.  And then out to Peterson’s ranch and collect our bounty of rats from the 90 traps we set yesterday.

I’ll bet you know the rest of the plan we have in mind….

Weather for today calls for highs in the low 50’s!  I like 50’s this time of year.  At the trapping fields the snow is all but gone, the water is almost completely free of ice (although I did run into some setting traps yesterday.  It seems like Promontory Mountain hasn’t gotten the word that Spring is here yet).  When I was trying to explain Club 41 to Wapiti yesterday as we drove along the Promontory Mountain road, we could see some ice still clinging to the ponds out that way.  We should still have plenty of open water to set our traps.  If not, at least I’ll be able to show Wapiti the trapping areas that we will keep tabs on and set when they do open up.  Ice or no, we still only have until the end of next week.

In the skinning shed we see “a lot” of sign that the rats are beginning their run.  On the freeway I saw 3 rats smashed which is another sign of the run.  So, even if their is still ice and snow, the rats know when to run.

Bobs plans have him setting traps on his usual “right of way” line and that is what he plans to do beginning today.  This area is almost completely open for him to set traps, even though the big slew waters are very deep because the upstream melt is backing up against the still frozen waters down stream.  He needs to get his traps in for the run.  In the past most of his catch comes from the right of way traps.  He plans to continue to trap the interior of Pete’s place but his concentration will be on the road way.  I told him of our plans to leave the Bull Arena alone and he said he was not afraid…what does that mean?  Does he plan to trap it alone?  Or is he not afraid because he hasn’t seen the bulls?

So we have our plan for the day, the week, the rest of the trapping season….oh, haven’t you got it figured out yet?

Today, pull Bull Run and set those traps on Club 41.  Tomorrow, pull Big Spring and set those traps on Club 41.  Thursday pull Peterson’s and set as many of those traps on Club 41 that we can…So by Thursday we will be totally committed to trapping Club 41.

More bologna for lunch today, but not with cheese and pickle.  That sandwich was really good, but it was like eating a Carl’s Junior burger as I was driving…all drippy and sloppy….I’ll tone it down a bit today.

Bears Butt

March 12, 2013

WAHOOOO!!!!  Wapiti is now a full fledged muskrat trapper…he set over 40 traps today!  Tomorrow we will find out just how well of a trapper he is…trap placement is a big deal…He and I will keep track of how many each of us are catching.  I hope he beats me.

We were off early today, right at 8 a.m. (early for old guys), had to stop for gas, but other than that we were right on time.  Hit Petersons about 9:30…

It was windy, cold and looked like rain at any minute, so we donned our rain attire to start our day.  We needed the early start in order to set the number of traps required at this place…we only have a few days to catch as many rats as we can and then get out to bigger and better places.  Both toys were loaded.  But to start with, we both went to a pond on the property, set two floats and then a few conibears…I say a few…we set 9 plus the two floats…sign was everywhere.

Then back to the rig for taking off coats as it was warming up.  Wapiti was not having the best of days at this point….lost his brand new gloves…we looked and looked…go can find.  So he brandished his borrowed from me pair and off we went.  He went South and down that branch, I went North and down that branch…When we were done setting traps and back to the truck it was 2:30!!!!

Both of our butts were kicked….working constantly…no lunch…no breaks…two old guys could get REALLY old doing that all the time.  But we got it set.  90 traps are now working feverishly for the catching of rats and the betterment of Mr. Peterson’s ranch.

With that huge job done, we ate our lunch as we proceeded back to the Big Spring line…we checked it as fast as we could go and only came away with 2 rats….I say that line is dead.

Then up the road to Bull Run…this line has been treating us really well ever since setting it…today…3 rats and one lost to a raccoon…I say this line is dead.

So I caught 5 rats today….We set 90 traps and now it’s time to go home…both of our butts are kicked…

Back at the house, the shed door has been opened and an empty burlap bag lays outside the door…Bob has been there…I open the door and there lay 7 rats…Dang…I expected close to 20…Oh Well a 12 rat day is all we have.  But heck, 12 rats is over $100 bucks!  Right?  And they are all over 15 inches in length, XXL size rats!

Wapiti has to go home, he is being called to a hot tub of water and a cold drink.  I’ll bet Rut Runner will probably even rub his back and put him to bed tonight.

Not me!  I have rats to flesh, stretch and skin!  Go!  Go!  Go!  So Bob comes out and we take 50 rats off the stretchers and put them on the hangers…more room for more rats to dry while on stretchers.  I call Brek, he can’t come tonight and so once Bob and I get the fleshing done on the rats Brek skinned last night and Bob gets them stretched, we can enjoy the fun time of skinning the 12 rats we caught today…we get it done!

Now it’s 7:30 and I’m ready for a cold one, a hot tub and maybe even supper.

How was your day?

Bears Butt

March 11, 2013

Monday, March 11, 2013, let the last two weeks of trapping begin.  Weather is expected to be partly cloudy all week with highs in the upper 40’s, moving into the mid 60’s by the weekend.  A trapper could not expect a better forecast than that.

Most of the snow is gone or nearly gone and for certain will be non-existent by mid week.  Wapiti and I should have no problems going where we need to go to get the trapping done that is needed.  Bob should also be able to set and check at will.  Bob and I were talking last night about the up coming weeks and today should be our usual catch of 20 plus rats, but after today our catch rate should double and maybe even triple from the usual of late.

Brek was skinning last night and that was a great relief to both of us, as our rear ends were kicked (his more than mine).  We were both ready for a hot shower, hot tub or whatever and then get to bed.  What with the Day Light Saving Time and the hard play of trapping, old people like us get tired.

The toys are loaded with the necessary gear.  I have one colony trap and two floats in the truck for Wapiti and I to use when the situation calls for them.  Today is a “set traps day”, with the last of the day checking Bull Run and Big Spring.

What’s for lunch?  Bologna sandwich with cheese and a slice of dill pickle.  A couple of string cheese’s, some chips and lots of water.  A trapper just plain and simply has a wonderful life!

The trapping shed has been spruced up a bit (I emptied the garbage).  Bob and I agreed last night we would pull down 50 more rats and put them on hangers tonight (we were too tired to do it last night).  If I counted correctly we now have 277 rats, 10 of those were caught last Fall by Cole and are still in the freezer.  The money we get from the 277 and whatever we catch today will be split 50/50 between Bob and I and whatever is caught from tomorrow on will be split 33/33 between Bob, Wapiti and I.  We should have no problem exceeding the 500 rat mark that was Bob and my goal from the beginning.  Todays catch will push us near the 300 mark…It’s going to be a great year!

On a side note, have you been watching the little number in the title…todays number is 136.

Bears Butt

March 11, 2013

What a gorgeous day it was today…almost felt hot.

Wapiti and I left town sharply at 9 am Day Light Savings Time…ugg…But we knew what we had to do and knew what was in store as far as time was concerned.  At this time in the trapping business..trapping is all there is time for.

We hit Bull Run and nailed several rats…but the big thing about that was the fact that the raccoons have figured out that if they look for little red flags flying in the breeze they can follow along and eat really well…Every trap on the upper end of the line that was set off, had a rat in it…and every one was eaten right out of the trap…5 rats lost to raccoons who cordially sat at the stream side and enjoyed their free meal…not one left a tip either!  That is nearly a $50 loss, but at least we didn’t have any traps stolen…that was a blessing.  Bull Run still produced quite well with 10 rats…still it amazes me at the number of rats coming to the traps…we HAVE to pull the traps from there no later than Wednesday..rats or no…

We split up when it came to pulling traps at the Trellis and Little Spring and did a really good job at quickly getting those jobs done.  The little Clippie Flags are working very well for that part of trapping and anyone reading this that does any trapping needs to read that little blog I posted on here last year.  They are quick to set out, quick to take down and saves you tons of flagging tape…wanna buy some from me?  Send me a comment or email.

Anyway, while we were in transition from Bull Run to the Trellis lines, Bob pulled up and said his line (at least the four traps he has on the road right of way) had been pilfered by some rat stealing thief!  He had several traps set off and nothing in them..a sure sign of a thief….Time for trail cameras to be set out to catch them.  It is a felony to steal animals or traps from another trapper.  If you are one of them, please smile for the camera…..

Pulling the Trellis line was rather fun and we caught a few rats in the process..I think I will miss the Trellis line, but we have to go where we are needed.  Sort of like a military man/woman liking their duty station in say Spain and then having to go to Diego Garcia or some such place.  Anyway, we aren’t going to anywhere like either of those places but we are going to Petersons place (I’ve been calling it Johnsons Ranch) tomorrow and will check out Bull Arena while we are there.  We only have traps enough to set Petersons at this point.  Tomorrow IS Monday isn’t it?

So here is the plan:  Set Petersons tomorrow, look over the bull arena, check Big Spring and Bull Run.  Tuesday:  Check Bull Run, Pull Big Spring, check Petersons and set traps on either Bull Arena or Club 41.  Wednesday:  Pull Bull Run and set Bull Arena and/or Club 41.  I’ll only go that far with it because Bull Arena is the big question right now.  We have never been there and don’t know just what to expect…first off are the bulls as friendly as the owner says they are (I doubt it), secondly, are there the number of rats there that appears through binoculars from the road, third, is it bigger than I can see from the road?

At any rate we have a very busy week ahead of us and tomorrow is Monday after all.  I’m really glad Wapiti is there to help.

So, we get done trapping and what does the bag hold?  I did not count a small rat I caught “up” in Big Spring, nor did I count a rat I caught “down” in Big Spring…this one…

That isn’t a field rat, that IS a muskrat…poor thing…Back home the bag showed 22 rats in it!  A very nice day on the line…what does Bob have?  We don’t know at this point.

So, Wapiti and I head for home, traps checked, rats in the basket, life is good.  We have to get ready for tomorrows big day.  We need to make sure we both have an adequate number of traps to set on Petersons, we have to have clippie flags enough to cover the traps we have, we have to have Wapiti some carrots smothered in Annis Oil juice.

We get home and load up Wapitis toy with traps, counting them twice and making sure he has traps in the bag and the stakes are out…this makes for some quick sets and not a struggle getting traps and stakes out of the bag…do that up front and avoid the problem in the field.  Then he needs enough clippie flags for each of his traps..done…My toy is also loaded with enough traps for tomorrows set, clippies included…we had to make some more up…Then I went to the garden and dug up the carrots that have been buried in the snow all winter, washed them off and have them chopped and “brined” for Wapiti to enjoy beginning tomorrow.

Wapiti headed home to take a hot bath and enjoy a beer.  I headed for the shed to wait for Skinner Man Brek to show up at 4 and skin the rats we have.  Bob said he would be there at 4…It was now 4:40 and no Brek..No Bob…Just me.  I started to flesh the dried fur from the other day and planned on putting them on stretchers if my “helpers” didn’t arrive.  No time to waste.

Here comes Bob…7 rats!  Alright!  Yes!  Another fine day of trapping…29 rats!  Yes!

Bob had to go into the house and check on things, put his supper in the oven and do “whatever”, I started fleshing more skins….suddenly the dogs began to bark and here comes Brek and his brother…YES!  Skinner Man has arrived…I am relieved…my back hurts…Bob hurts all over (I know because he traps too hard).  Brek jumps all over the skinning job as I finish the fleshing and Bob comes out (I know he did not want to be there, but he was) to do the stretching.  We work as quickly as old people can at fleshing and stretching and Brek skins like he always has…quickly!

We finish the task at hand just about 6:30…new trash bag in the can…rats hung..rats drying for tomorrows stretching…A new week ahead…who’s butt is kicked is mine…Tonight I am going to take a couple of beers to the hot tub with me and sit back and watch the daylight savings time sun set!

Wapiti…set your clock for 6 a.m. as we are heading out of town at 8!  You can kiss Rut Runner later…say in two weeks…no time for nuthin but trappin now!

Bears Butt

March 10, 2013