Sunday, March 10…MARCH TENTH!  Holy mackerel this month is flying by…Day Light Savings Time and my computer clock says it’s 6:34 a.m., it feels like 5:34 a.m. to me…This change in the clock takes me almost a week to get used to…What would Jim Bridger have done?

Today’s trapping takes Wapiti Dung and I on our adventure.  He has chosen to help us out to gain some ground on the other trap lines we have got to trap and this day is a “gathering and preparation” day.  We need traps in order to set some of the lines “out there”.  Bob says he has one bag of conibears still in his breezeway and we will get them.  Also a bag or two of leg hold are there, they too will come with us.  But we need more.

Remember, 20 conibears in each sack and 10 leg holds in each sack.  Those sacks are not enough traps.  We will pull the Little Spring line today and maybe, just maybe the Trellis line…Wapiti and I will decide.

The weather for the week is calling for warm and Spring weather, some slight breezes typical of March and over all…nice…I like nice.

What to expect with the rats?  One thing will be their desire to “run” and running takes its toll on their fur…big holes and bite marks…It also makes for some very large daily catches and lots of work in the shed, skinning, fleshing and stretching…early mornings with late nights.  But, it is short lived, we only have to deal with it for a couple of weeks and then the run ends, the rats go to where ever it is they go to rest, and our season comes to a screeching halt.  Two weeks is all we have left.  We can do this.

On the other side of the coin, Wapiti is going to see some different country.  Club 41 is a different sort of place.  Yes it’s muddy and wet like any other swampy ground, but it has its own beauty.  Tons of different waterfowl, the normal hawks, eagles, owls, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks and of course the cursed muskrats.  This trapping place made me rethink how to trap.  At first I didn’t think there were any rats out on the Club..then I learned what to look for…little openings hidden in the short salt grass along the banks and ditches.  Places that have openings only about one inch tall and about 4 inches wide…this is where they enter and leave their dens.  I discovered one by accident and it produced a rat every day for almost a week.  Soon I had discovered hundreds of openings just like that one and my catch rate went straight up.  After that is was common to find them…I just had to look.   There are the usual type rat hideouts as well, but the small openings seemed to be the ticket.

Small seeps of drainage’s also hold fairly large populations of the little critters and it didn’t take too long to find those hideouts as well.  It’s all about getting to know the land and doing some exploring.  My first visit to set a small seep I found also found me chasing a rat across the open ground with my whacking stick…I caught him out and away from the main water source…his surprise…my pay for the day!  If I recall, that seep produced nearly 25 rats that first year and an average of 10 since then.  Not bad for a place that can only accept about 10 traps to cover it all.  Two to three nights and you have all of the rats caught.

I talked to one of my rendezvous buddies one time about Club 41, he said he had trapped it once and found it didn’t have enough rats to make it worth his time…hmmmmm….lucky for me!  We usually pull over 100 rats off there in a relatively short period of time and now with two full time trappers on the Club, we should double that amount.  I’m happy!

By the way, the 80th Birthday party for my cousin Sharon was a real fun time…just like a mini-family reunion!  Happy Birthday Sharon!  You don’t look 80 and you sure don’t act 80!  Keep doing what ever it is you are doing to stay so fit and good looking!

Bears Butt

March 10, 2013

I am really running late with this report from yesterday…please accept my apology!  And then I will tell you “tough chit”!

With a hair cut in the works it really cut into the trapping time, making me very late to get to the lines.  I had to check them all because I’m taking today off and any rats that were caught would surely spoil before I got to them tomorrow.  I rushed as quickly as my toy would take me to get the job done.

Little Spring had no rats and I will be pulling that line tomorrow, for a couple of reasons…one…no rats (that’s the biggest reason), two…we need the traps for other lines…I’ll get more into that later.

Big Spring kicked out its share of rats and at the end of the line I added 8 more traps.  I have yet to hit ice out there and for sure with the melting situation we are seeing right now, I don’t expect to find it.  So, that line will continue to produce until I pull the traps in a few days.  Again, we will need the traps on other lines.

The Trellis also share its bounty of a few rats which was very nice to see.  I hate checking dead traps on a dead line and so far this lines has my favor.  It’s worth the time and trouble to continue to check it.  But just like Big Spring I’m being forced to pull the traps soon.

Bull Run continues to amaze me with the rats that are coming out of it.  Yesterday I caught 7 more rats out of there.  I have been keeping a running daily count of just that line alone and with yesterdays count, I have caught a total of 99 rats just from that line!  How many more are in there?  This line will be like the others and I’ll have to pull the traps, probably by mid week.

We have commitments to trap Club 41 and Johnson’s place and of course the Bull Arena is still haunting me…close to 100 rats in there is the only drawing factor that has my interest.  If it were less of a count I’d ignore it…but with $1,000 on the line…those bulls are starting to be tamer than my worried mind has them pictured…In my dreams, I am bent over pulling a rat out of a trap, when suddenly I hear something behind me.  I look over my shoulder and see 19 bulls all within arms length, breathing hot snotty breath and pawing the ground…I’m a dead man.

Back to the rat trapping story.  I mentioned I set 8 more traps yesterday out on the end of Big Spring Line.  Here is Big Spring as viewed from “out there”..

The patch of toolies and bull rush goes for miles and is about 500 yards wide.  Tons of rats live in this place and I just can’t get it all trapped by myself.  This line alone could handle 10 trappers, each with their own 400 yard segment of the line and still it would be a tough place to completely trap.

As I was setting the last of the 8 traps, I found a very likely place for a conibear.  A hole coming from under the toolies.  I plopped in a trap.  But right next to it, where the rats come out of the hole was a nice pile of rat poop.  A perfect place for a bait set.  I set a trap there as well and made sure that a caught rat could not reach the conibear trap.  Baited up real good I am really confident that I will catch two rats there.  As I stepped away from the bait set, I saw another hole coming from another direction just a few feet away from the bait set…I thought to myself, another perfect place for a conibear…then I said to myself again, Bears Butt, are you here to catch rats or just think about catching rats…I went to the toy and got another conibear and set that hole.  Then readjusted the bait set trap so that a caught rat could not reach that conibear too.

Here is that set.  Besides seeing my clippy flag, you should be able to see the three stakes with small flags on them.  All three traps are in an area not 8 feet across.  Tomorrow I will take my camera with me to take a picture of the results of this strange setting.  For my trapping friends, sometimes you just have to think outside the box to catch a bunch of rats.

When the trapping was all done for the day, I had 19 rats in the bag…oh I almost forgot number 20, but we didn’t skin him…

These conibear traps are only 5 inches across and this little rat was only about 10 inches long including the tip of his tail.  Trapping is pretty much a non-selective sport when you are trapping water ways.  You will catch most everything over time that frequents water.  I feel bad for this little guy as he was probably out looking for momma, who is no doubt hanging in the shed.

With my 19 rats I headed for home.  On my way, I saw Bob’s truck parked inside Pete’s area and he was “way in the heck away from it” setting traps.  I thought to myself, you work too hard for these silly rats Bob.  On my way I called the Weasel and told him to invite Conner up for some more money making activities…later the Weasel told me that Conner just wasn’t up to it today…That’s ok…priorities persist.  So Weasel came up to help me skin and as we sat there talking, in walked old Skinner Man himself…Brek!  I told him, jokingly, “I’ll give you ten bucks if you will skin these 19 rats”!  Without hesitation he jumped on the chance and donned his skinning attire…he had them skinned in less than a half hour…and that included getting his skinning clothes on and off when he was done!  Amazing skinner.  Thanks Brek, Good Job!

That freed Weasel and I to pull down 50 more rats from the stretchers and put them on hangers.  Just after Brek left, here came Bob, carrying a bag over his shoulder…This IS a GOOD sign…Bob has rats…

He looked down at the floor and there were no rats piled up…he said, well how many did you skin…we told him about Brek and that he had skinned all 19 rats and was headed for Plymouth…

Bob then proceeded to dump his bag of rats

…11 rats for him today!  Finally Bob is catching rats and it’s been a long time coming!  Times have turned the corner for his trapping and from now on he will be bringing in bags of rats…A 30 rat day for us today!  Good Job all!

Take a look at this trapping shed now:

Rats on stretchers, rats skinned and drying..

And others on hangers, ready for the buyer!

Bob and I are both taking today off and will be back at it tomorrow…Oh and tomorrow brings in another partner…Wapiti Dung has offered his help in our trapping dilemma for the next two and final trapping weeks of this year.  Bob and I are so relieved that he is willing to come out and help us!  Club 41 here we come…Johnsons ranch…Unlock the gate, we are coming in…Bulls make way for our machines (oooooo, I don’t like bulls).

Bears Butt

March 9, 2013

Yesterday was a really good day in the field.  I didn’t get too early of a start as it had rained and was raining when I left town to go out west, so I knew the grain field would be soft no matter what time I arrived.  I still hit Bull Run first as it is the Eastern most line out there for me.

Bull Run continues to amaze me…10 rats came to the bag with a couple of other traps set off.  There was also lots of raccoon tracks in the mud in and around my traps.  Those guys need to go.  In a couple of little springs I managed to set 8 more traps, as more water has given way to the snow and ice.  It is for sure Spring out there.  Little shoots of new growth toolies are up about 3 inches and the rats are enjoying the new veggies.  My carrots laced with anise oil is also working very well.

The Trellis line also continues to produce and so those two lines will stay in play until the furs start to slip unless I just don’t have time to check them and work the other lines I have yet to set.  Time will tell on them.

Way out to the west, I checked Little Spring first and only caught one rat…That line has me puzzled.  I have not caught a single rat up stream from the first 11 traps that Wapiti and I set and yet the runs look like they are being used.  There is no fresh sign of rats sitting anywhere however and so it just might be that they are farther out playing under the ice that is still very much present.  I will probably pull that line on Monday.

I purposely left Big Spring for last as I wanted to put a few more traps out on the end of that string.  I was no big surprise to have a few rats in the newly set traps plus several set off traps with nothing in them.  Again, my ability to catch those critters (or not) is beginning to have me doubt myself.  How can they set off a trap that is at eye level with them and not get caught?  Those types of traps should be no brainers.  Ones in the bottoms of runs are another thing, as the rats are usually going balls to the walls swimming in them and trying to get to an air hole, I can see them passing through the trap before it has time to close on anything but their tail.  I guess it’s just part of trapping, but when I have up to 10 traps that way, it really makes me scratch my head.

Bob was able to set 12 traps the day before and was planning on setting more, I was secretly praying that he would begin to catch a few rats.  Checking traps without any success really begins to wear on a trapper, and he not being able to find open water to put traps in was even worse.  He now has all of the interior of Petes to set traps as he pleases…all the snow and ice is gone.

At the skinning shed the rats were all piled up and the work began on that phase of the days activities…I caught 22 and Bob caught 5!  27 total for the day.  Both of us were pleased as we could be.  It really was nice to see Bobs face all smiles as he approached the shed with a bag slung over his back and 5 rats inside.  Great time to be there for sure.

I called the Weasel as I came into town and asked him to notify Conner that there were rats to be skinned if he wanted to make a few bucks.  50 cents per skinned rat if he wanted to play.  I had barely made it to the shed when he arrived ready for the task.  Conner is my 11 year old Grandson and he has a heart as big as big and a desire to learn as much as he can.  I handed him two skinning knives, he donned his rubber pants, apron and rubber gloves and went right to work.  When he was too cold to do any more, he had skinned 4 rats and did them just right.  No nicks in the hides!  The guy has learned it all and now only needs to do more to get faster and better.  His only problem has been around the eyes, but that is something that comes with time.  I’m proud of him.  He went away with $2 in his pocket and a big old smile on his face.  He knows that if he can get away from the house chores tonight he has another job facing him.

Today:

It’s raining and has been pretty much all night.  The temp is 38 right now and it should have been a good night for the rats to run.  I have to hold back until after I get a hair cut to go out to the lines.  I think they open at 9 and I want to be waiting in line when they open.  Before I head up to get the hair deal over with I have to trim my fuzzy face.  It does look a bit scraggly around the edges but it has kept my face warm out there in the freezing temps of the trap line.

You are probably wondering why on earth I would take time out to trim my beard and get a haircut…well I have a cousin who has her 80th birthday tomorrow and we are going to her party…I’ll be taking tomorrow off from the trap line.

Wish me luck today on catching a few more rats.

Bears Butt

March 8, 2013

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

What a looonnnngggg day it was today.  I made it to Bull Run while the ground was still frozen so I didn’t make any unnecessary marks in the field.  The bulls were all concentrated at the gate and I was sure glad I didn’t go through that gate yesterday.  My Good.

The catch rate was unreal again today…16 rats came off Bull Run…that is crazy…3 one day and then 16 the next…oh well I’ll take it.

The Trellis line gave up 4 rats which was a real nice bonus.

Then out to Big Spring…move the traps from the up-stream portion out to where the ice is.  I pulled those 18 traps and moved them and when I did, I did not find any sign of rats from the end of where I had traps until I had traveled almost 300 yards down stream.  So, I went another 100 yards or so before I began setting traps.  I ran out of those 18 traps long before I hit ice and so I need to put more traps out there.

With that in mind I decided I needed to pull the traps at the East portion of Little Spring and I did just that.  The traps at the big water canal were the most likely to hold rats and of course the trap and colony trap I moved yesterday would probably have a rat or two.  I was determined to pull them all.

As I progressed around the big canal waterway, I did have a rat in one of the conibear traps down there.  I was pleased with that.  I was curious about the colony trap I set yesterday because I had to modify the run to make it work.  Modifying runs always has intrigued me and this is what I did.

There was a hole coming out of the bank and it was about 6 inches under water, then the rats would bend their body upward and come to the surface and then plod along in water barely up to their mid side.  I dug the mud out away from the bank hole as deep as I needed to completely cover the colony trap and about 6 inches farther than its length.  I was careful to follow the run as I dug.  At the far end of the colony trap I dug an additional 6 or so inches out and then using some of the material I had dug up, I put some on each side of the end of the colony trap.  In my mind it looked rather natural and would channel the rats into the mouth of the trap from that end.  I had never done something like that before.  Usually you just find a deep run and plop the trap down.

When I checked it today I was very pleasantly surprised:

THREE rats were in that trap!  I pulled the trap along with all the others because of the size of the pool of water and swamp.  Three rats was probably all there were working that spot.

I finished checking Little Spring and came up with one more rat….a total of 25 rats for today!

Bob caught a rat as well and so we ended with a 26 rat day!  Wonderful for us trappers.

While setting traps, one often comes up with a trap that has issues and just can’t be set as it is.  Fixing traps in the field sometimes requires good luck and fortune.  I had such a thing today.  A conibear trap had its hinge come out and I didn’t have another hinge to replace it with.  I needed that trap to be set as I only had a limited number and I had a great place to put it, I had to fix it.

I went back to the toy and started rummaging through the saddle bags looking for something that just might fix that trap.  A piece of wire was what I ended up using.

Here is the trap and you can see the hinge is missing its part.  The wire under my pliers is what I’m going to try and fix it with.  I’m not really sure if it will work or not.  But it’s one of the last traps I have and if I can’t fix it now, I’ll have to take it home and fix it, and that would mean a night out of service…I think I can fix it and catch a rat in the trap when I check tomorrow.

There it is all fixed and it actually set and I placed it in a run that has high hopes of connecting for me tomorrow.

So, I have pulled a lot of traps today and reset just a hand full of them.  But, rest assured I still have 112 traps out and in pretty good spots to catch some fur.

Tomorrow will be a later start than today.  I assessed the damage the bulls made getting over to the pasture they are in and believe me, I am not going to cause as much damage as they did in that field.

Bears Butt

March 6, 2013

It only happens a couple of times during a trapping season when the trapper has to for-go a good morning to sleep in and get up and get his butt going.  Today is one of those days.

Bull Run requires an early visit in order to help keep the rutting tracks of the atv from ruining a good stand of wheat, even though I run my machine on the extreme edge of the field.  Traveling on frozen ground makes the most sense.  But Bull Run is not everything out there.  I must pick up the traps on the upper end of Big Spring and move them out to the ice line.  Today is the day for doing that.

It is 5:30 a.m. as I am typing this and I need to be out of here no later than 7 if my goals are going to be met, and then everything else needs to fall into place, most of which are way out of my control.  I know that some of you reading this are thinking “5:30…heck that’s nothing…I’m on the freeway heading for work every day before that…you slacker…get going”!  I know, because my work day always had me on the road before 5 a.m. and I did that for 27 years…so back off buck-0…I’m retired now and need my beauty sleep…a 5 a.m. alarm is very early for me now.

Now isn’t that a shot of someone who needs beauty sleep?

Speaking of which, Sherry gave me the word last night…trim the beard and get a hair cut…get ready for me Wyatt’s BS…I’ll be there no later than Saturday!

So, all side notes aside, I have a lot of work ahead of me today.  Work I said…It’s more like play but it isn’t easy.  Wish me luck!

Bears Butt

March 6, 2013

What a beautiful day it was today.  A bit nippy this morning but it warmed up fast and turned off really nice.  A great day to be outside enjoying nature.

I’m not sure what is going on in the swamps but there were two really weird things that happened today.  But before I go into those things….I got Bull Run set down to the big gate that separates the bulls from the grain field.  I had plans to set more on through the gate but ran out of traps.  I set 22 traps and 17 of them went into Bull Run directly.  The other 5 went into a couple of seeps a bit West of Bull Run.  I’ll set a few more sets over in those two seeps tomorrow as well.

Anyway, my goal was to get out there, set the traps, check the Bull Run traps all before the sun started to melt the field…I didn’t make it.  I still left tire marks in the field as I came out.  Tomorrow and for the rest of the time I am checking Bull Run, I will have to get out there earlier than I did today.

So, one of the weird things was the catch rate at Bull Run itself.  3!!!  I did lose two more to raccoons and because of my stakes being pressed in so very deep and hard, they ate the rats right there while basking in the moonlight next to the babbling brook.  S.O.B.’s anyway.

So, to go from catching many, many rats each day down to a 5 rat count really makes me wonder what is going on.  Have I caught all the rats that are in there?  Have they smartened up and not running in the runs I have traps set in?  When you think about it, I have caught nearly 70 rats out of there in this short period of time, I suppose I have caught most of the rats that were in there.  Anyway, I found it quite strange to only catch 5 (3 that count)…especially after yesterdays 12.

So then on to the Trellis….3 more rats…one each at the two bait sets and one in a coni next to a drain pipe…the rest of the line is showing signs of being trapped out.

So, with six rats in the bag I headed west to the Big and Little Spring lines.  Remember we set 22 traps out there yesterday.  My expectancy was high for a possible 50% take on those traps.  I checked the Little Spring line first as it was the most exciting to think about.  No rats were caught until I got to the first set out at the far west end (yesterdays sets).  Wapiti and I had set 11 sets in a large grouping out there at the edge of ice-ville, including one colony trap.  After checking all 11 sets, I was holding six rats and had re-set two traps that were set off with nothing in them.  That is 8 out of 11 traps that had some action last night.  (I hope to be like them 8 traps tonight myself).

Now here is where the real dilemma comes in…From that point on up the line, I checked the remaining 11 traps and not one of them was set off….can you explain that to me?  It has never happened to me that way before and I’m sure there is some sort of reason, but I can’t figure it out.

From there I went on to check the Big Spring line and moved the colony trap and one coni over to another small seep near the two I already have traps in.  The rest of Big Spring was dead.  It’s time to move traps out there, probably tomorrow.  Pull all the traps that are currently set at the head of the spring and move them out to where I encounter the ice.  It will be another big day tomorrow for sure.

Well, with 12 rats in the bag, I can’t feel too bad about the catch.  The percentage is terrible, but what the heck, the day was beautiful and 12 rats should net us an easy hundred bucks, I’d say that isn’t too bad a day….consider the exercise, the fresh air, all the sites of nature, the sun shine  and get paid something while you are doing it…that isn’t such a bad day.

So, now I have over 150 traps out (I have used up my 150 clippie flags and had to resort to old fashioned flags).  As is usual during my trapping, I get that many traps out and then the lines begin to go dead, just like my three older lines are now and then it’s time to pull the traps or move them farther out, if they can be moved.  The Trellis line is maxed right now and some of those traps will have to be brought in.  Big Spring can be extended.  Little Spring is maxed out and so is Bull Run (see next paragraph), except for the little seeps areas.

Let’s talk a bit more about Bull Run….I extended the traps out to a large gate that the ranch has to keep the animals from getting into the grain field that I’m trying so hard not to cause tire ruts in.  I set traps out to the gate and planned on gathering more traps from other locations and setting past that gate.  There are no animals out in those fields, but I don’t have any more traps.  That is when I turned around and headed back up and checked the traps that were in there.  Coming back home I looked over toward the Bull Run area from the road way and sure enough they have turned the bulls into that area…Bull Run is now set….have I told you how I don’t care for bulls?

I’ll take a 12 rat day!

Bears Butt

March 5, 2013

Well, well, well…I suppose this is something we all will have to get used to…The P.M. trapping reports.  Because of the long days that stretch into the evening, my P.M. reports are just going to have to be the beginning of the next days report.  I just don’t have the time, nor the energy, to get it done before bedtime.  Let’s look at yesterday.

Wapiti Dung joined me on the trap line yesterday and we didn’t get too bad a start on the day, leaving town about 8:30.  With two toys, we had to hitch up his larger trailer, which we did with not real big deal and then off we went, arriving at the trapping site about 9:30.

The goal, besides checking all 107 traps was to set some out on the end of the Little Spring line.  The checking went well on both Big Spring and Little Spring lines with a rat caught on each of them…2 rats for the day.  With each catch Wapiti would say, “That’s one of 20!  That’s two of 20”!  I smiled and reminded him that we would be lucky to catch 10 this day.

At the end of Little Spring, we ventured off to the South West to the end of the line…which is a fence that separates this water from a Goose Club…we don’t have permission to play on the Goose Club.  Out at the end we found thick but soft ice…lots of it…and water that is normally not as deep as we found it.  The reason is the ice farther down stream is creating a dam and backing up the water.  We grabbed a few traps and ventured out onto the ice in the swamp, looking for air holes or breaks in the ice where we might be able to stick out head in and see rat sign.  It wasn’t easy but we finally found some open water or places we could break the ice and set some traps.  The water was knee deep when we were able to walk in it.

There was quite a bit of sign, lots of runs but only one or two “rat sitting” spots (places they like to relieve themselves).  We covered the entire area with 22 traps.  Little Spring is now set and will remain so until I figure I have caught the majority of the population out…about 4 days I figure.

Next we traveled up to the Trellis, unloaded and ventured out to see what the little Christmas presents would yield.  6 rats!  For a total of 8 rats in the bag!  Two more to go and we would have the 10 I figured we would capture, and we still have Bull Run to check.  The place we parked to unload in order to check the Trellis line was just off a main highway and up on the hill we saw a pleasant surprise….several deer were munching on the forage and basking in the sun.

During the day we probably saw about 30 deer in different places along our travel route and most of them look pretty good for this time of year.  At least they made it through what I consider a pretty dang tough winter.

Loaded up, we were again off and running, this time to Bull Run…time was getting somewhat late as it was after 2 p.m. (that is late in my mind for just getting to Bull Run).  We had to pull just off the highway and back off the trailer.  The spot we picked was wide and safe from the highway, but what we didn’t take into account was the steepness of the shoulder off the highway.  I backed off without much of an incident, but when Wapiti backed off his front end came off the ground at least a foot!  That was scary!  We would have to do something different when we loaded up later.

I only had two more conibear traps with me and I told Wapiti that when we got to the end of Bull Run I was going to set those two traps just to get them employed.  A trap on the toy does not catch fur.

Now into Bull Run we ventured…”9 of 20″!  “10 of 20”!  “11 0f 20”!  While walking toward the sets where the raccoon had got away with the trap on Saturday, I told Wapiti to keep a close watch out while we walked and maybe we would see the trap.  Who knows which direction the little critter would have gone….There it is!  I found the trap, stake and all!  Lucky guy was me!  When we got to the spot, I re-set it in the same run where the raccoon found the rat, this time I pushed the stake as far into the mud as it would go.

“12 of 20”!  “13 of 20”!  This is getting to be a crazy day of trapping.  Approaching the next trap, there it was, up on the bank with a totally eaten muskrat carcass still stuck in the jaws of the conibear.  At least this time he didn’t get away with the trap.  He had to enjoy his free meal right there on the bank of the Bull Run stream…I hate raccoons.  I’m finding I’m beginning to hate a lot of things…Snow…Raccoons…Bulls….

“14 of 20”!  Another lost rat to another raccoon.  Dang those critters are taking their toll on the line, but at least I haven’t lost any traps to them.  “15 of 20”!  Holy crap Wapiti…we only have 5 more traps to check…It’s possible to make it to 20 rats for the day, but not really practical…we would have to have 5 for 5 on the next check to make it.  Wapiti stayed in a “mud free zone”, while I ventured out past where Shipley almost went over the top of his boot on Saturday…As I approached the flag that indicated a trap was near by, Wapiti would yell to me…”Tell me you have caught rat number “16”, (or whatever the rat count was)”!

With 5 traps left to check, I came to the first one, reached into the hole it was guarding and felt the body of a rat…I held it up…16!  We both yelled “Whooppiieeee”!!!!  Reset the trap and move to the next….Wapiti yelled out again…”Tell me you have caught rat number 17″!  I pulled on the trap chain and up came a big old rat caught squarely in the conibear…”17″!   “Whooppiiiieeeee”!

In my mind the next trap should be empty, as it is not in the most favorable place in my mind, but with two rats in my hand, along with the two conibear traps I plan to check, I make it over to that traps flag and what to my wondering eyes to fall on…the furry back of rat number “18”!  “Whoooppiieee”!  This is getting to be unbelievable!  Now with three rats in one hand and the two conibear traps in the other, I stumble over to the fourth set.  Wapiti yells…”Tell me you have caught number 19 of 20″!  I’m thinking, sure Wapiti, we are going to catch another rat just like that…ha…we will be very lucky to catch one more rat in these last two traps.  As I approach this trap, I can not see the trap in the hole, just the stake.  I yell to Wapiti that the stake is there but I can’t see the trap.  I reach down and feel along the stake for the trap chain, my fear is a raccoon has come along and some how gotten the trap off the stake by pulling the trap ring over the top of the forks on the stick…I feel the trap chain…pulling on that chain it has a lot of weight on it and as it drags through the interior of the hole…up comes rat number 19!…..”Nineteen I yell out”!  “Whoooppiiieeee”!  We both yell!  I am beside myself to think we just might make it to the 20 rat mark and we have that one last set to check.

I turn and head for that set, carrying four rats that must weigh 15 pounds total plus the 2 conibears and mud coming to my knees, this is not an easy task.  I approach the trap and remember I had covered it with a large mass of toolies to keep the raccoons from finding it.  Laid all the rats and traps down and removed the toolies and there laid rat number 20…caught dead fast in that last trap…I pulled up the stake, and quickly held the caught rat up toward Wapiti…”TWENTY”!!!!!  We both were yelling and laughing…if anyone would have been around to hear us they would have called us crazy for sure.

I made my way over to Wapiti with the 5 heavy weight rats and we both crawled our way through the phragmity (spelling) to a spot outside the swamp.  He took the double handful of rats over to the toys, while I went back into the swamp to swag in the two conibear traps.

Back at the skinning shed, Bob had two rats laying on the floor waiting to be skinned!  A 22 rat day!

So, there you have it for yesterdays P.M. report…22 big rats and 24 more traps set.  What will today bring?

My goal for the day is to get over to Bull Run first thing and set more traps.  I would like to get it completely set today, but that might not happen.  It is not frozen like the other places and it may take two days to get it set.  Another reason to get to it early is the ground might be frozen a bit and my toy shouldn’t dig up the grain field as much as waiting until it thaws some.  In order to do that, I’m going to have to stop sitting here and get my butt in gear!

Could there be another 20 rat day in store?  I’ve been missing the count every day so far…I’m not going to venture a guess now.  Two to pay for gas is all I’m hoping for.

Bears Butt

March 5, 2013

I’m writing this tonight as I don’t know how much time I will have in the morning before going trapping.

Wapiti has decided to join me at the trapping line tomorrow (today, Monday).  He likes to go out and see what there is to see and hopefully tomorrow will be filled with Spring time things to be seen.  I asked him how much time he had to spend out there and he said he had all day…that is good, because I need to swag in a few traps out on the end of the Little Spring line.  I’m certain the snow is soft enough that I can work my way out to the end of the line and that is where I need to be right now.

I figure that existing lines need to be extended to their ends and then trapped for the next week before heading out to Club 41 and the other places.  I know I’m repeating things that I wrote yesterday, but it’s important for you to know we are under a time line that only nature controls.  If we aren’t prepared for the run we will lose a lot of fur and being prepared means having steel set.

My week long goal is to set to the ends of the two lines out west and Bull Run and then pull the traps at the beginning of each of those lines in preparation for Club 41.  A lot has to be done between now and then.

With 123 rats in the shed, we are going to have to do some serious catching in order to reach the 500 mark, which by the way, is our goal for this year.  A shorter catch than we are normally used to catching, but with a year like this one has been we will be very lucky to reach this goal.

Today it has rained almost all day and I’m smiling big time watching the snow melt away…have I told you how much I hate snow right now?  The only good snow is melted snow…that’s what I’m saying right now.  The extended weather for the week is calling for slightly warmer day time temps than the average and slightly lower lows than normal.  None of that makes much sense to me, but who cares as long as in the long run the weather is warming up.  The rats should come out in force and be running everywhere by weeks end.  There should also be water opening up for Bob to set some serious traps and I hope he pulls the 6 traps he has in the “splash pond” up by Gregs house.  He would be better served to have those 6 traps near the road at the spring rounding the west field than where they are at now.

Bears Butt

Sunday for Monday, March 4, 2013

March 2, P.M. report…I think I need a secretary.  My butt is kicked.

Today, Shipley went on the trap line with me to see just what trapping muskrats is all about.  He arrived right on time, about 9 a.m. and we loaded his stuff in the “two weeks into trapping” rig…

I guess I should explain that one.  Once a person starts a trapping season, the rig he is driving, riding, using, “whatever” does not get cleaned until the season is over.  Be it spilled soda, beer, muskrat innards or whatever happens inside the rig, stays there until the season is over….usually 5 weeks.

I made sure there was enough space inside for him and his gear and off we went.  The cooler (without the lid) in the back filled with yesterdays fur less rat bodies.  I had to stop at the local Maverik for some gas before we seriously headed west.  He had to go into the store for some reason….?????…….

On our way I tried to explain some of my trapping experiences with him and some of the quirks about trapping rats…he was cordial and listened intently (maybe he was asleep)…and when we finally got to our destination of first departure on the toy, he sputtered and asked, “why are we stopping here?”…hmmmmm.

So now he is really excited to finally get to go trapping.  I knew first hand that these first two lines would have either nothing or perhaps one or two rats.  But that is trapping right.  Out on the line he was full of questions and of course I had answers…Answers to questions about trapping from a novice like me are easy…I just make stuff up.  Shipley, not knowing, believed everything I told him (I think).

So once we were done with the two “stupid” trap lines we headed up to the Trellis.  No rats were in the bag at this point…just as I figured.  Shipley said he wanted to make a short video about catching rats and send it to his kids and others and my heart jumped a beat.  Why didn’t he say that in the beginning, I could have saved us a lot of time for that one.

We get to the Trellis line and head out in hopes of finding that first rat of the day…my hopes were high for a couple of the first traps, but nothing was held in them…neither were they set off…my mouth was in a downward trend, but my hopes were high.

The thought of Shipley wanting to film me catching a rat had my hopes really high, you should know by now just how much of a ham I really am, but the traps just kept coming up empty.  I have done too good a job at catching the rats on the Trellis line I guess.  And then it happened….at a feed set, suddenly I could see a caught rat, still alive and looking our way…YES!  A rat!

I worked my way over to the set with Shipley gingerly in tow…not actually in tow, but behind me trying to manage the clumps of toolies and nice footing areas and not the deeper water that would cause his boot to suddenly fill with the cold water of Spring.  We finally make it over to the double feed mound set and I see the alive rat in one trap and the other trap filled with a rat that was normal (drowned and dead).  I have to dispatch this rat the usual way  but remind Shipley that perhaps a video showing that would not be  something a family show would like to see.  My real intent of my suggesting that was to “remind him” of his intention to take a video (put a smiley face here).

I dispatched the rat and took care of business with the other and rebuilt the feed mound setting the two rats carefully in the foreground as I baited the set and re-set the traps…he videoed…I don’t have the footage, perhaps he will interject with his own story at this point or another posting.  At any rate, he showed me the video later…and boy howdy…”Do I Look Good”!!!!

On we went and trap after trap held rats…I was beside him and myself as we harvested four rats total from the Trellis line.  I also showed him some of the damage that rats can cause, including undermining the road way and causing it to collapse.  Not a good scene for the owner of the property and roadway.  Rats are cute as little bugs until they either bite your finger nearly off or dig up your road and not allow you to go where you need to go.  They have not heard of, nor would they listen to the verbiage “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”!!!!

Rats are cute, nice to look at, make nice coats and need to be dead.  End of story.

With the Trellis line checked, we head back to the waiting truck and Bob is arriving at the same time.  We go to chat.

Bob has fallen into a deep spot on his trap line!!!!!  Not so deep as to get to his tracheotomy voice box thingy, but deep enough to fill both boots with mud and water and show clearly the depth of the water up on his chest…he ain’t real happy.  Since this is a family site, I can not tell you exactly how he told us about his ordeal at the spot he fell…I weren’t real pritty.

We B.S.ed a bit (we seem to do that a lot at this spot) and then went on our way.  Bob to go home and dry out and clean up and us up to Bull Run to catch more rats (we hope).

So now we have 4 rats in the bag and we arrive at Bull Run.  To my surprise Shipley never asked how it got it’s name, and I never told him.  We unloaded the toy and launched ourselves in the direction of “more rats”…four rats is not a bad days catch and I did not expect to catch but a few more.  On we went.

At the very first trap checking station (4 traps) one of them was missing.  OH NO!  A rat must have been caught in the trap…along came a raccoon…saw the rat…said…AH HA…grabbed it and the trap and the stake and took off.  We looked all around for 50 yards in all directions to no avail…nothing.  Lost trap, lost rat…I’m not a happy guy (not as unhappy as Bob at this point but still unhappy).  We continue down the line checking traps.  At one point Shipley has had about all he can stand with trapping and falls back into his “teacher” mode.  He is a professional teacher by trade and has taught children for umpteen years about English, Math, Science and Common Sense stuff.  I think his main goal is to expand his teaching to include lots of other forms of life.  Edjukateer is like Shipley in a lot of ways, only not as “civily taught”, Edjukateer don’t got no degrees, where Shipley has lots of degrees.

Shipley has been intrigued as he tries to show these rats the right and the wrong way to approach and get around a locked and loaded trap:

He is trying his best to show these rats the angles of the dangles in order to avoid being caught…..In my mind he has picked a select number of students who either don’t give a dang, or have gone somewhere else mentally for their education.

Shipley was fun to be with today..he even held a couple of rats up for the camera…OOOOOOOOOOO…SOOOOO GRROOOOOSSSSSEEEEEE!

No not really.  He is a trapper at heart, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to show his expertise!

So as one trapper to another, when you catch a bunch of fish or catch a bunch of whatever you are after and you are pretty happy about it, and suddenly you find yourself caught up  in the event…maybe even caught the bug of the sport…you find yourself “hooked” sort of on what you have been doing…you might as well join the ones you have hooked.

Thanks for joining me today Shipley…it was fun and I’m glad the rats decided to play as well.  We ended up with 16 in the bag, with 12 of them coming from the Bull Run line alone.  We lost two rats to raccoons today and one trap as well to them little buggers.  That bites into the profit margin for the day, but goes to show us all that even though we catch a few, there are always those that get away.

I’m taking tomorrow (Sunday) off to catch up on “sleep”, “chores”, “general stuff” and will be back at it on Monday…care to join me on Monday?

Lots of good plans for next week and if you look closely at the calendar (as quickly as the calendar rockets on), there isn’t much time left for us to trap.  I still have to finish my trapping on the Big Spring and Little Spring lines as well as Bull Run, before I head off to Club 41, Bull Arena and Johnson place….I love trapping, hate snow right now and PLEASE don’t stop me and make me plow snow.

Bears Butt

March 2, 2013