Yesterday was a rather overwhelming day in the field and let me explain why you did not see a P.M. report from me.  This is a combination report for yesterdays “on the trap line” and this mornings expectations.

My Grandson, Conner, accompanied me on the days trapping activities and while we were in progress driving out to the site, I showed him an older camera I have and asked him to learn how it worked.  I could explain a little as I drove and it didn’t take him long to figure it all out.  I told him he could take pictures of whatever he wanted and that there was really no limit to the recording disc.  He clicked on and on.

At the trap line we hit Little Spring and left the Big Spring line for today.  I needed about 45 minutes at the end of the day in order to get ready for a date Sherry and I had planned.  Later in the day I must admit, we needed every minute of that 45.

On Little Spring I have been trying to capture one little rat that has tripped my trap 3 different occasions and when this happens it becomes sort of an obsession on my part to do whatever it takes to make the capture.  This was one of those times, and yesterday that little bugger was held fast in the coni!  I was as happy to see it as was Conner.

Photo courtesy of Conner…..I went to great lengths to finally capture that rat.  I guess whatever it was I did, confused it enough to get it’s head in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It would not be right for me to write the story of yesterdays events without first inviting Conner to do the honors and then I would post it on here for you to read at 12 year olds view of an old man and a day of trapping.  I’ll see if he will do that.

In the meantime trust me when I say that the day was a beauty.  Nice weather, nice company, nice wildlife and all in all a very wonderful day.

We checked the traps on Little Spring and only caught the one rat.  The colony trap that was covered up the day before and that I moved a short distance had a plug in the one end.  I removed the plug but left the trap in place.  If it scores today or not, I will remove it and place it in a new line.  The rat or two left in that spot are too smart for me to spend any more time trying to catch them (it).

Over on the Trellis line we quickly headed to the West end where I have eight traps, we scored one down there.  As we proceeded East from the truck, Bob came driving up so we turned around to B.S. with him.  He was going to go check out an area up near the ranch owners home, the head water spring for a drainage that usually only holds a few rats and a ton of raccoons.  A place we try to avoid, but he is antsy to get some iron in the water and start to catch rats.  When we were done with the B.S.’n we went back to business.

With two rats in the bag I was feeling like we just might find as many as 10 rats by the end of the day.  But the Trellis line yielded up a total of seven rats!  That meant eight rats were in the bag.  Wow!

I gave Conner the option of eating lunch right there or heading over to Bull Run and continue to check traps…he opted for Bull Run.  I quickly loaded up the toy and headed over to that line.

As we started down that line I told him that the first 18 traps had been checked the day before and had good results and that they should only produce maybe 4 or 5 rats, but that the remaining 12 traps had only been set yesterday and they should have about a 50% yield.  What I have to say right now is something that has never happened in my life.  Those 30 traps yielded 16 rats!  For a total catch of the day of 24 rats!  Give it up for one heck of a day of trapping!  I think it was Conner luck that came through for us.

Back at home, Bob brought in one rat…total catch for the day of 25 rats!  A most excellent day.

After the checking and all the gear loaded up, Conner and I ate our lunch on the way back home.  It was running late and with 24 rats to skin my time was going to be very short.  We called the Weasel to come and help us, which he did, but Conner wanted to try his hand at skinning and so we dressed him up in the apron and rubber pants, handed him the knife and the Weasel explained the process and Conner ended up skinning two rats!  Great Job Conner!

We finished the job of skinning and hanging them to dry about 4:20…Just enough time to get a shower and cleaned up for our date….right on time.

As for today:  As we were finishing up the skinning job yesterday, Shipley called and said his fishing partner wasn’t feeling all that well and that if the invitation to go out on the trap line was still there he would like to go with me today.  Absolutely!  He will be here about 9 a.m.

My intent is to check the Big Spring line today and I have not decided if I should check the Little Spring line or not.  My tendency is not to check it as the line is made up of mostly conibears and the two leg holds have not had any rat activity in almost a week.  One of them has not had a rat at all since it was set.  I’ll decide out there whether to check the line or not.

The weather is supposed to be the nicest temperature day so far this calendar year with a high in the upper 40’s.  It was warm last night and so there should have been some rat movement.  If Big Spring kicks out a couple of rats, I’ll be forced to check Little Spring, which would not be a burden, I am just thinking about Shipley’s time.

My expected catch is NOT anywhere near yesterdays catch and I don’t even expect half that many.  Yesterday was an exception to all rules.  I hope to have a P.M. report today as Sherry and I don’t have any post trapping plans except to enjoy each other’s company when I’m done with it all.

Bob and I have 40 rats all dried and ready to flesh and stretch once we get through checking traps and skinning the days catch.  It will be an “after 5” day for us.  I don’t know how much of the “fur shed” activities Shipley is interested in, but maybe he will join us in seeing what goes on once the furs are caught.

Bears Butt

March 2, 2013

March one!  Hard to believe that February is gone.  Last night it did not get down to freezing and there was a lot of snow melt, I love that.  High for today is low 40’s and cloudy…more snow melt!

I heard there wasn’t any school today and so I asked if Conner would like to go with me on the trap line…he does!  So I’m excited to have him come along.  It will be a long day for him but I think he will have fun.  Departure time 9:30 and I have to be home as quickly as I can because Sherry and I have a date to be somewhere at 6…We might have to leave the rats for another day to skin but that will be determined by the number we catch.  I don’t expect a day like yesterday, but with the warm night I might be surprised.

Gotta get goin!

Bears Butt

March 1, 2013

Once again my rear end is kicked.  A late start and a late finish leads to Bears Butt being one tired old man.

It was a great day however and here is how it went.  I got out there around 10:30 or so and headed out to check the Big and Little Springs.  It was cold but not nearly as cold as it was yesterday.  No wind but a little ice to deal with.  I did not have a trap set off where they have been messing with me lately, but I did notice another hole up the way that had some mud coming out of it.  Instead of moving the trap like I did yesterday I set another trap.  In the process of doing that, I noticed mud coming out from under a  snow overhang and I investigated that and found another hole, so in went another trap.  Three traps covering such a small area is really quite insane, but what the heck…a trap in the truck will not catch a rat.

Down to the big channel I went and I’m glad I took my camera with me.  Those little critters have discovered my deep water trap, the one where I have caught two rats in two days…look at this:

The trap is set off, but what is in it?

How about that…they are smart enough to know that if they poke enough stuff down the hole it will eventually set off the trap…it’s filled with water weeds.  Now you tell me those critters aren’t smarter than we give them credit.

So, I check all the traps on Big and Little Spring lines and this is the only trap that is set off.  I did not catch a rat in all those traps.  I’m not really happy about that and don’t have one rat to show for my two hours of checking.  So I head back up the road to the Trellis line thinking I need to catch a couple of rats to pay for the gas that Bob and I will have spent checking traps today.

The Trellis line starts as the others ended…nothing…and then whoa!  A set off trap with nothing in it.  That makes two for the day, but set off traps don’t pay for gas.  Just like deer tracks don’t go too good with gravy.  I keep a positive attitude as I continue up the line.  I know that yesterday I set a trap at the far end and it should produce if none of the others do…my hopes are on that trap.  Then I check a deep run trap and low and behold there is a rat!  I’m a happy guy again!  The next one holds a rat as well…I’m doubly happy…The next one has one…what is going on?  This is wonderful…when I’m done checking the trellis I have seven rats!  I’m on top of the world!  What is the difference between these rats and the ones way out west?  Was the wind blowing out there and not here?  I don’t know but I’m happy as can be.  Seven rats is a good day.

On this line as well, I encountered a skunk wandering down the trail in my direction.  He did not seem to be overly concerned about my presence and made no bones about not moving out of the way…OK…I’ll oblige…I pulled out my 22 pistol and after 9 shots he lay dead…I missed the first 6 shots, but 7 through 9 did him in….AND..He didn’t get a chance to smell the place up.

You can skin him.

Now over to Bull Run.  My hopes are very high right now after putting seven rats in the bag.  Bull Run had a lot of sign on it yesterday when I set the 19 traps and if all holds true to form, I should catch a 50% rate.  But then that is hoping for a lot.

As I proceeded down the line, the traps were either filled with fur or set off, only 4 traps were untouched when I was done.  10 rats came to the bag out of the 19 sets.  AND the best part was there was not new sign of raccoons.

These rats weighed at least 15 pounds apiece and will net us some serious cash.

Am I serious?  No rat weighs 15 pounds unless it’s one of the South East Asian ones.  I was just checking with you to make sure you were reading this and comprehending any of it.

But I must say, every one of the rats is over 15 inches stretched on the stretchers.  And that is saying alot!  Extra Large rats.

Once the set traps were checked I went on to set some more.  The day light was getting to that point where I just couldn’t see into the water and so I only got 12 more traps set.  Back at the toy I said to myself (aloud mind you), Butt you must call it a day…45 minutes to drive home and then to skin out the 17 rats you have caught, plus whatever Bob caught and then flesh and stretch the ones on the drying rack from yesterday….Butt your butt is kicked.

At home I called the Weasel and told him we needed his skinning prowess to help us out with the skinning.  He actually came!  Even brought beer!  I reminded him how to skin a rat, since he hasn’t done it since he was 14, some 25 years ago or so, he did really well and out of the 17 rats the three of us skinned he managed to skin 3….Good job Weasel and Thanks for the Beer!

Bears Butt

Feb. 28, 2013

Getting a very late start today…why?….Carrots to dice for bait, gas for the toy, apply for big game permits, cook breakfast, make lunch, write up a Bears Butt Dot Com….Life is good.

Goal for the day, set more traps on Bull Run.  My plan of attack however is to check all 92 traps that are out there and then “time permitting” set more traps.  I figure Bull Run will take another 40 to 50 traps to get it all set.  There could be an ice issue toward the far end that would prohibit me from getting it all set and only by going down there will I know.  Bob thinks I’m only about 200 yards from the ice, if so another 20 traps should take care of that.

In the same field is another small ditch that hasn’t been trapped since I last trapped it, 3 years ago.  It is generally good for 10 rats and since they have had a relaxed few years, I might be able to snake more than that out of it.  If I get to it today it would be a good thing.

Later!

Bears Butt

Feb. 28, 2013

My goodness it was cold out West this morning!  I thought I was going to freeze my tush off.  Luckily it wasn’t blowing or I would have.

My goal was met in part today.  I did manage to pull the 16 original traps from Big Spring and set some on Bull Run…I’ll explain in a bit.

So as things were very much frozen this morning when I began, I started with the brakes locked up on the toy.  I usually set the rear brake when I load it, but I didn’t think to check for ice and snow crusted around the brake release in the back of the toy.  This morning it was frozen tighter than a drum.  No moving the toy until I could get it loose.

Once on the line things went pretty good.  Remember the set off trap yesterday with the tracks in the mud.  Where I figured the rat came along and tipped the trap over to make it safe?  Guess what?

I got him!  If you look closely, he is frozen into position and so he was caught before it got cold enough to freeze.  I had to chip him out of 1/2 inch of ice.  Then I noticed up the bank about 15 feet some mud coming out of another hole…tricky little guys…I moved the trap up to cover that opening.  Tomorrow will tell if they decided to use that entry instead of this one.

Then it was down to the big water way and the colony trap down there.

There you go!  Another in a series…I love this!  Now with two rats I have c0vered my gas for the day and some bonus bucks as well…the rest of the day is bonus.

Oh!  Lookie!  Another in the lower run set…this is like Christmas.

To say the least, I am flying right now and with lots more traps to check my hopes are very high.  How many will the bag hold at the end of the day?

So on I go and as I do the weather warms slowly until it is almost bearable.  I walk quickly when I walk and hunker low when I riding.  By the time I came around to pulling the 16 traps from around Big Spring I finally realize it’s warm enough I can take off a layer of clothing.  Which I did and then took a big old drink from the camelback.

I secured those 16 traps on the back of the toy because the second part of my goal for the day is to get some traps put out at Bull Run.  If I can get 16 traps set down there it would be a great start.

Over on Little Spring, I have that one colony trap that I moved the other day and caught a sneaky little rat, I’m excited to get to see that trap today.  As I approached the trap I could see a rat inside and I was happy.  But I also saw where the other rats had tried to bury it and for sure blocked off the entry so no more rats would venture down that trail and get caught.

That mud and sticks is what they have packed in there to block the entry.  The first time I saw this done was three years ago in another spot and I couldn’t believe that the rats were that smart to do something like this.  I have seen it a lot since then and even in shallow runs.  By the way, that is ice covering that colony trap.  I broke it out and pulled it up onto the bank to dump out the rat…what is this?

Yehaaaa!  Two rats!  It does get better, but this is wonderful!  Now I am a happy guy!  And the weather is warming quickly!  More happiness for me!  I took some time to clear away all of the debris the rats had filled in the run with and waited until the water cleared enough that I could see nothing more was blocking it.  Then plopped the colony back into the space.

Back at the rig, I loaded up and headed for the Trellis line.  There I met Bob and he had not caught any rats as of that time, but still had a few traps to check.  I feel bad that he can’t get to where he wants to be to trap and is very limited on places he can set traps.  I know just how disappointing it is when you check and check and check the traps and don’t have any rats to show for it.  At this point I tell him I have 9 rats…he is happy about that and knows that these nine will pay for both of our gas for the day.  Then he heads for the upper reaches of Pete’s ranch to check out another possibility spot.  I told him my goal was to swag in some traps on Bull Run if I could find a safe place to pull off the road.

On I went to check the Trellis line.  5 more rats came to the bag, for a total of 14 for the day.  Then up to Bull Run to take a look around.

This is Bull Run.  A series of springs that concentrate their flows in one location and flow out toward the south.  It goes for a couple of miles before coming to the main highway that Bob traps.  I didn’t know if there would be much rat sign there or not, but I loaded the toy up with another batch of 20 traps as well as the 16 from Big Spring and headed on across country.

LOADS of rat sign welcomed me as I walked to the water way.  BUT…also Raccoon, Skunk and Fox tracks filled the areas snow banks as well.  I will have to put my stakes in really deep to keep the raccoons from pulling up the traps when they find a rat caught in them.  Raccoons are notorious for stealing a $10 rat and making it worth nothing.  They can also get away with a $8 to $15 dollar trap.  If raccoons were worth skinning and selling I would be overjoyed by all the sign of them, but they just are not worth the bother.

I kept at setting traps down on Bull Run until the light got so low that I could not see the runs and holes.  I set 19 traps down that line and only made it about 200 yards.  Still a long way to go to get it covered and I figure it will take two more days to do that.

Bears Butt

Feb. 27, 2013

We have an awesome weather forecast coming up…highs near 50 by Saturday and a little rain coming in on Sunday….bring it on!  The snow and ice will disappear quickly out on the trap line when that sort of thing happens!

More sign of the rats beginning to run…swollen glands and bite marks.  Right now we are seeing a pretty stable mix of female and male rats being caught.  Soon however the males will dominate the catch and that is a sure sign of the run in full swing.

It’s a crazy thing too, because we will catch large amounts (relatively speaking) of rats for several days in a row and then….nothing….that is when the game is over.  Where the rats go is anyone’s guess, but they just stop moving around.  Non trappers will begin to notice rats being killed on the roadways, even where there is no water within a quarter mile.  They just go crazy looking for love.

Today’s goal is to pull the 16 traps at Big Spring and hopefully get Bull Run set.  I’m not really sure where I will park at the top of Bull Run as I only drove past there early last week and could not see a wide enough spot on the side of the road to pull off.  Today I hope the snow has melted away enough to allow me to park.  The next big deal will be the snow depth out in the fields.  Can I drive along side the wheat field?  I’ll know more about noon today.

Wish me luck!

Bears Butt

Feb. 27, 2013

Today I decided to carry my camera with me while I checked the traps.  Usually I will leave it in the saddle bag of the toy.  You never know when something interesting is going to show itself and today was a classic.

First off it was very windy and colder than cold out there.  That North wind just bites right through several layers of clothing and I wasn’t sure I had enough on.  My nose is still running like it has all day long.  I wasn’t about to quit though and I just kept mucking along.

Yesterday I caught a rat in a trap where the rat was able to set the trap off and not get caught.  I had moved the trap only about 2 inches and caught him.  Today, another repeat of the rat out foxing me.

It’s almost like he knows it’s there and knows how to set if off.  If you look really close you can see his tail and feet markings in the mud.  Without actually knowing I would have to say, he stood there and pawed at the top of the trap until it snapped.  The trap is laying down in this picture all set off.  A bit of mud in the water indicates to me that the rat went on inside the hole after the trap was made safe.  These critters aren’t as dumb as one might believe.

OK.  I have told you about colony traps and what they are used for.  Multiple catches are what you like to see, but it doesn’t always happen.  This is a colony trap that is under water about 10 inches on the left side and 4 inches on the right.  Look closely and you can see the caught rat on the right end of the trap.

You never know when more than one rat is going to try to get out of or into a den run like this one.  By the way, both of my colony traps payed off today.

As I rode along sniffling and wondering if all of this was worth it (of course it is or I wouldn’t do it), I got to thinking about some of the weirdest things that have happened out on the trap line.  I have caught a rat by the tail once in a conibear.  I’ve caught ducks and geese and even a barn owl once.  Even a fish or two.  FISH!  You are thinking I’m a lying S.O.B. No, really I have caught a trout or two when trapping in the field just NW of home.  Sometimes I’ll come across a set off trap and wonder how a rat can get through without getting caught and it never occurs to me that it might have been a fish.

Yesterday I had just such a situation.  A trap set off with nothing in it.  So I re-positioned it so it would slow the rat down that 1/1,000th of a second to allow the jaws to snap on his body.  Today the trap was set off again and as I stood there scratching my head wondering just what I needed to do to catch the rat I pulled up the trap and lo and behold:

I really do like fishing.

And so you see the day might be colder than all heck.  Your nose may be dripping from that cold.  You might be hungry and thirsty…but when it all boils down to what you would rather be doing…this seems to be a life that is better than having staff meetings and buying donuts for the troops.

Farther down the trap line I came across a caught rat that had actually managed to crawl up and out of the run it was caught in before it died.  I really don’t think it lived too long after being caught and there is a cut off snag on the stake that caught the trap and held it up.  Anyway I thought you might like to see the rat and then the trap re-set after I took the rat out.

Believe it or not this next picture is showing the run where this rat was caught in, directly below the rat in this picture (does that make sense?).

Look how deep that run is..only the spring is above the water.

So, when you are out trapping, sometimes you have a situation that calls for two traps to be set quite closely to one another.  Like two runs, or a bait set and a run set.  I have had times where I set 5 traps around a bait station and the next day had 5 rats caught.  Each situation requires you to decide just what to do.  Just like the conibear on the log the other day…it almost connected.  Well yesterday I had just that…a two run set situation and I set a trap at each one.  Today…bingo…the lower, deeper water set connected.

That rat run is almost 20 inches under the water.  By the way that rat stretched out to be 17 inches!  A humungous rat!

And so goes the life on the trap line for day eight.  Oh ya and I ended up catching 13 rats today….poor old Bob didn’t catch even one…he did have a trap that was set off however.

And I managed to set an0ther 14 traps…so tomorrow I will pull the 16 traps around Big Spring…they haven’t produced a rat in three days now, so it’s time they got moved to a more productive location.

Bears Butt

Feb. 26, 2013

I am really liking the weather forecast for this week.  Todays high 32 and the rest of the week the highs are close to 40!  I really like 40’s for highs.  Not so warm that the snow melts too fast and yet it is getting toward spring time and I like the change from winter to spring.  Almost as much as I like the change from summer to fall.

Today will be a great day in the field.  I now have 3 lines to check and 29 new traps out.  I should catch at least 2 rats today.  I don’t want to sound overly optimistic.  For those of you who recall last years daily ramblings, when I said I thought I would catch “X” number of rats that day, I would come in with some “Y” number that was generally half what I predicted.  I’m not going to do that this year.

I noticed yesterday that the level of the water on my lines doesn’t seem to be as high as usual.  Maybe it is because it is still frozen, or maybe the ground water just isn’t there like it usually is, I don’t know, but I’m able to get around a lot of places that I have not in the past because the water was too deep to allow me to wade through it.  It could be that we have taken enough rats out of the water ways that the ones remaining can only work the main stream flows and not spread out all over the place like when we first started trapping Petes.  You tell me.

My goal is just to check traps today and let my body rest from yesterdays ordeal.  I’m not planning on pulling any traps today either, but probably will pull the original 16 from Big Spring tomorrow.  This week I will set “Bull Run” if the snow depth goes down a few inches.  I have not trapped that area for two years as Bob decided he wanted to trap it.  Last year he got in a bit of hot water with the ranch manager for driving through the grain that is next to Bull Run.  Of all people who should know better too.

As for the rest of Petes water ways, if the snow depth does not go down pretty quickly, I might end up trapping all of the interior of Petes.  Not that I mind doing that, but Bob would be better served to trap those areas and free me up to trap Club 41 and the other two places out on Promontory…including the dreaded “Bull Arena”….shudder……

I will try and take a few pictures today…these posts without pictures suck.

OK…it’s time!

Bears Butt

Feb. 26, 2013

A full inch of new ice out in the trapping fields this morning.  That is a cold bugger when it does that.  Cold like that also keeps the rats hold up in their nice little warm dens.

I had a very big surprise when I pulled the traps at Doris’ pond…I caught a rat!  It must have been a very lonely rat.  So, no more traps are set on Doris’ pond until next year.  By then there should be at least one small family of rats taking up residency there.

At Big and Little Springs I turned one rat on each of the two lines.  Not much of a showing for that many traps, especially after having so many unfilled, set off traps yesterday.  I expected more.  But on Big Spring, the little swamp where the rat had been setting off my trap each day was filled with a big old fat rat today.  I was pleased to pull him from the bank hole.  No other traps on either line were set off, so I figure it was just too cold for most of the critters to get out and about.  There was a whole ton of tracks of coyote, foxes and weasels however.  Those predators had been working hard for whatever they ended up finding to eat.

I was able to go a bit farther east on Big Spring and managed to set 4 more traps out that direction.  I have almost caught up with the ice down that line and maybe tomorrow I will find the edge of the ice and be stopped.  We will see.  The bigger surprise to be found on this line was a bunch of places to set traps on the large flow of water in the Big Channel.  Big Channel is a very large flow of water that goes out and through the Goose Club and is fed by a series of big springs.  For me it is almost a scary place to walk as you never know if you are walking into a spring or not.  It is also where the cow had drowned, only on the other side of the flow.  It’s too deep to wade across as well.  Anyway, I walked out there to rinse off the rat I had caught up in the small slew and it was covered in mud, when I got there I found a very nice deep run coming out of the bank and into the main flow.  A perfect place for a colony trap, which I had pulled from another location.  I also found four more places to set conibears.  So 5 sets went into those locations.  I will mark those places in my mind for upcoming years trapping as I had not found them before.

On Little Spring, I was able to make the round and head west setting more traps down that line.  I reached the ice just before the road crossing on the Goose Club road.  No more traps will be able to be set on that for at least 3 or 4 days and then it will have to warm up quite a lot to free it up.  There is a lot of good trapping down that line from the Goose Club road on out to their fence.  Right now the rats are swimming and playing in absolute safety because the swamp is totally covered with a thick layer of snow and ice and the rats have thousands of miles of runs and swimming channels to use, day and night.  I always like to find an opening in the snow and look under the canopy at all the trails.  The rats will even come out on the edge of the canopy and make a mess…easy pickens for me then.

Once done setting Little Spring I figured I still had lots of time and I decided to go and see if I could set the Trellis.

Bob was waiting up by my rig when I got there and he had 3 rats of his own.  So a total of 6 rats for the day.  We’ll take it.  Both paid for our gas and a little extra to boot.

By the time I got backed into the Trellis parking area it was almost 2:30.  With the sun angle as it is this time of year, I have a difficult time looking down into deep runs to see if they are being used or not, as the sun begins its decline;  So, I had to move fast.  I was able to set 13 sets before I hit the ice line out there.  13 traps in that area is a good number.  A real bummer of a sight was at the point where the water crosses under the road.  The ranch owner had blocked off the pipe, I suppose to get the water to go farther to the east down a ditch in that direction.  The rats have tunneled under the road and now the road is not travel-able.  Huge gaping holes and cave ins going across the road and all the water is gushing through and carrying the road base away.  This is one of the reasons we are out there trying to catch as many rats as we can, but they managed to cut a path under the road and the water will take the path of least resistance and take all the dirt and rocks with it.  I feel bad. (Ed, if you are reading this, don’t try and drive past the pipe going east, even a shovel won’t help you when you crash through that mess).

So, right now I am enjoying my favorite beverage and recalling all the days events.  My rear end is kicked and the hot tub is going to feel very nice tonight.  I was back at the rig by 3:15 and home by 4:15.  Out to the shed with Bob to flesh and stretch the catch and was in the house by 5 p.m., ready to settle in for the evening.  It was a very nice day, but not one to take any time for pictures.  I had 53 traps out, today I set another 29 and pulled 9…so now I have a total of 73 traps out.  Bob has 16.  His catch rate was equal to mine rat for rat today, but his percentage kicked my butt.  Me 5.6%(based on 53 traps) , Bob 18.75%.  I still have him out numbered on total rats caught so far.

And that ends week number one.  Seven days, 38 rats.

As a side note, I looked at the results of the NAFA auction which was held last week and muskrats averaged $11.51 at their sale.  That means we can reasonably expect to get around $9 for our rats if the price holds at that level.  For those of you trapping and reading this, keep in mind you will only get high dollar amounts if you are properly handling the furs after you have trapped them.  That means drying the pelts, properly skinning them, fleshing them and stretching them.  Some people even comb the fur before putting them on the stretchers.  Bob and I are really proud of the way we put up our rats and we expect to get the highest dollar as our reward.

Bears Butt

Feb. 25, 2013

Monday…Week number one ends today and whatever we catch today will be added to the 32 rats we have in the fur shed.  Considering all the nasty weather that really isn’t a bad weeks catch.  As the weather warms we will see an increase in catch rates by day and some days, if everything goes as usual, we will see daily catches close to the weekly catch we have so far.

Today is my day to feed the horses and so I will get that done as soon as my helper, Weasel has time.  We also have an injured horse in the field and I might have to take down a small section of fence to allow it to get back with the rest of the horses.  It has located itself on the creek side of the fence by the “hole” and is favoring its right front leg so badly it won’t put any pressure on it.  The owner says it has had this condition for over 5 years, but yesterday it was not looking too good.  If it doesn’t get well soon the owner will have to take it to a vet or have a vet come out and look at it.  But this morning I’ll go down and see how it looks before I call the owner.

There is always something coming between me and a full day of trapping.  I should be on the road right now instead of sitting here typing.  Life seems tough some times…HAHAHAHA!

Goals for the day:  Pull the traps at Doris’ pond and set as many as I can on the trellis and farther around Little Spring.  I will make an attempt to go farther down the Big Spring line, but yesterday it didn’t look too promising.  I might have to wait until later this week to get any farther down that line.  I need the snow to melt down about 4 inches out there.

In the mean time, I do have places I can set and will be putting out steel on those lines this week.  I would rather have one long line than several short lines, but this year is an exception to the normal trapping rule.  Gotta do what we gotta do.

I noticed yesterday while skinning the rats, we have some males that are showing signs of running.  Running is a good thing bad thing.  The good thing is we can expect to catch a bunch of rats.  The bad thing is we can expect a lot of damage from them fighting.  Holes in the hides means less than top dollar at the market.

More about today will come when the day is done.

Bears Butt

Feb. 25, 2013