A.M. March 7, 2012

I lost a day this week.  Winemaker informed me this morning that today is Wednesday!  It is also Windy’s birthday.  Where did yesterday go?  When did it arrive and what did I do?

The weather yesterday must have affected my pea brain.  Oh Well!

Today the weather is starting off somewhat OK…Well…A whole lot better than yesterday afternoon…I hope my flags are still upright in the swamp.

A warming trend is starting which should make for some great trapping the next few days.

Today, since it is Wednesday, I will begin to pull traps from the Goose Club line.  I’ll pick up the top end today and the rest tomorrow and Friday or Saturday.  I have a possible snow goose hunt in the wind right now and also a cousin passed away and so there is a funeral on Friday.

Expectations for a good catch today is not very high.  Maybe 7 to 10.  As I set traps yesterday in that high wind, my thoughts were not so much on trap placement, but rather, put the trap in a run and let’s get outahere.  I will find out how well that thought produces rats.

Later folks!

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

Boy, the older I get the harder it is to do stuff.  My rear end is kicked right now.

Driving out to the lines, the road west of Corrine all the way to the point of Little Mountain was so slick and the north wind was blowing very hard.  I thought several times I was going to get blown across the highway and into the barrow pit.  20 mph was as fast as I wanted to drive that stretch of road.  When I came back I saw where there must have been a very big accident as I saw lots of painted stuff on the road.  People driving too fast for the conditions is my guess.

I managed to pull the top end of the Goose Club line and check all the other traps.  The wind blew all day long and it was cold.  Not nearly so like yesterday, but cold none the less.

Little Pond had one of the two traps set off with nothing in it.  The other trap un-touched.  Big Pond…no activity.  Stein pond the same..nothing.  I will leave those traps until Saturday and then pull them for the ride out to Club 41.

Todays catch…12 (not counting a baby one).  6 other traps set off with nothing in them.  I wish I could figure out how to get that to stop happening.  Any suggestions?

I was able to set two colony traps and 4 conibears at the end of the Big Spring line.  That completes that line for this season.

Butt

A. M.  March 6, 2012

Slept in.  I guess as I get older my body just can’t take the stess of setting a few traps and going like gang-busters in the swamp like I could in my younger days.  I wanted to be on the road by 7:30 today, but right now it’s 6:45 and there is no way possible for me to be out of here in 45 minutes.  I have not even had a cup of coffee yet.

The wind blew hard last night, you know what that means to the rats.

Goal of the day:  Pull the traps I have been tending on the Trellis line and get them re-set on Big Spring.  So, I will park on the Trellis, drive to the far end of the line and pull traps as I progress back toward the truck.  Then load up, drive to the Big Spring parking area and check from Stein sets out to the end of the Big Spring line as far as we got yesterday and then begin setting the traps I pulled from the Trellis line.  If there is enough time left, I will check the Goose Club line.  If not, they will get checked tomorrow.

The weather is calling for rain today and snow tonight and tomorrow.  Lots of winds upwards of 35 mph.

Talking with Bob last night, we are planning on pulling out of Petes and setting the Club 41 line no later than next Tuesday March 13.  Between now and then I have to contact them and get a key to the gate.  I also need to call Doris and make sure she leaves the loaded shotgun behind the kitchen door.

Rat catch expected today….20.

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

The day started warm with no breeze as I headed to the end of the Trellis line to start pulling those traps.  An hour later, back at the truck, the wind was blowing about 10 mph and the temp had dropped 10 degrees.  I headed for the west lines.

Wanting to get those traps reset, I checked the Big Spring line out to where Wapiti and I had ended yesterday and then began to set the 21 or so traps I had to put in there.  I could have set 100 easily if the weather had cooperated.  But as it was the wind continued to get stronger and stronger to a point my hat kept blowing off.  The temp also dropped another 20 degrees and by the time I set the last trap I was ready for some warmth.

The three ponds that Stein and I set went like this:  Little pond..2 traps..no rats.  Big pond..2 traps..2 rats.  Stein pond…2 traps…no rats.

I did not get out to the Goose Club line to check any traps today.  The total catch for the day was 12 with 6 other set off traps.

It was blowing snow when I left the line today and the winds must have been 40 or maybe even 50 mph.  I don’t think there will be much rat activity tonight.

Bears Butt

I told you all that Stein accompanied me on a day of trapping the other day.  I forgot to introduce you to him.

Stein and his father Brad, called me last Spring (2011) about the possibility of catching a raccoon.  Stein wanted to catch a nice fat fully prime one and then have it tanned.

My assumption was that he would make a rug out of the tanned hide and hang it on the wall.  That was an assumption that did not come true.

We set ourselves a “trapping season” and began our attempt at catching one.  Days went by and our experience was not very fruitful until the last day of our season.  That is the day Stein did in fact catch a very nice male raccoon in full glory.  I must admit it was a very nice raccoon.

I gave him a lesson on skinning the animal and he helped by skinning down one side while I did the other.  A fun day for sure for us both.  Maybe even mom, dad and sis had a good day as well…I don’t know for sure.

Anyway, Stein’s tanned raccoon hide came back in the late summer or early fall of last year (2011) and his mother quietly made a hat out of it.  A finer job of making a raccoon hat could not have been done.  It is beautiful, as you are about to see…..Folks, I introduce you to Stein Waddups……

He may be only 14, but he has very big dreams and I’m here to tell you, I believe he can do anything he puts his mind to doing!

Thanks for going with me that day Stein!  Oh, and thanks for offering me some of your jerky!

Bears Butt

March 2012

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

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

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

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

Expected rat catch:  14

More to come later in the day.

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

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

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

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

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

Back to rat trapping.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Second trap…filled with a rat!  Wooopeeee!

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

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

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

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

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

Bears Butt

P.M. Report!

March 3, Saturday..

I finished my day on the farm by taking a very cold bath in the creek, while dismantling a beaver day that continually gets rebuilt under the railroad track bridge.  The same beaver that kicked my rear end last fall.  You remember the one.  Well he did a good job of placing a stick right where my foot needed to be and down I went, face first and both hip boots immediately filled with ice cold water.

I have come up to the house, changed clothes and am now warm and dry and getting ready to go out on the trap line.

A young man named Stein from North Ogden is joining me today for his first ever excursion on a muskrat trap line.  It should be a good experience for him.  Unfortunately the boots I was going to let him use are now sitting on top of the heat vent drying out.  So he gets to use some old cut off hip boots from past years.   I hope they don’t have holes in them.  Stein will have to just be satisfied with watching me slosh out into the swamp and back.

My plan is to at least set a half dozen traps with him in tow and I have a pretty good idea where we can do that where the water is very low or non existent in placing the traps.  He will get a good idea about what to look for and the little amount of water a muskrat really needs to survive.

My goal on catch rate for today is 8.  My moto for the day “Two to would be fine and make a happy Stein, but eight would be great”!

After today, there should be one more among us who has a story that begins with “Butt and I”!  Or when said really fast “Butt’neye”.

Later!

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

What a day!  Stein and I hit it as usual and of course he had not idea what to expect.  The traps were somewhat frozen in and there appeared to not be any rats anywhere.  We hoped that the next trap would hold a money rat…but no.

We did have three lucky rats that should have come home with us…but no.

But no, seems to be the theme here.

One thing that did come out of the day was the fact that Stein and I had a wonderful day together on the trap line.  No, the rats were not fastened in the traps like I had hoped, but that is trapping.  Every trap is like opening a Christmas present…is it full, or empty?

We saw a lot of empty today.

2 rats is all, with 3 other traps set off….but that is ok…we set 6 traps.

2 at a place we call “lil pond”, 2 at a place we call “big pond” and 2 at a place we call “Stein pond”…for the next few days I will report heavily on the take from these 6 traps.  I hope Stein is reading this.

As we checked empty traps, Bob on the other hand was kicking my rear end….he caught 6 rats today!  Good on Bob!

He also rescued a calf that had been hiding when the fire broke out 6 days ago.  That poor calf had not seen its mother in that many days.  It was so glad to find Bob’s boot toe, even though it did not produce milk.  He was able to save it and that is a BIG deal!  A $300 savings for Pete!

No checking tomorrow and so the next report will be Monday A.M./P.M.  More rats to be caught!

Bears Butt

March 2, 2012 A.M. Report

Well the snow goose hunt that was to happen today with Edjukateer and I fizzled with the blowing snows.  Actually, the person who invited us wants to make sure we have an enjoyable and successful hunt and was unable to locate the birds..so until he does…we are on hold.

This morning I awoke to 3 inches of pretty white fluffy snow and the need to plow the neighborhood again.

Trapping will be delayed until that task is done.

One thing about todays trapping is my newly thought of idea out on the line and my test samples really got the test the last couple of days.  High winds, blowing and drifting snow.  Did they stand the test?  I won’t know until I get out there and see.  I expect I will be trying to find my marking flags and re-taping those that blew away.  A task that haunts our traplines each year.  Without the marking tape we could lose many dollars worth of traps and we don’t want to do that.  I have already lost one $10 trap because the stake did not have a wide enough “Y” on the end of it.

Expected catch today, after two nights, 14….

I also expect the snow to be deep, and the ice to be about 2 inches thick over most of the traps.  Typical spring time trapping.

Later!

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

Moved snow until about 11 and then got ready for the trip west for trapping.  The road west of Corrine looked like it was horrible earlier in the day.  Lots of packed ice and ugly stuff.  There was still some of that to deal with the farther west I got.  But both Bob and I made it ok.

Bob did not want to tackle accessing the internal areas of Petes because the snow was so very deep.  Close to 12 inches and drifted.  I don’t blame him.  So he just ran his road line and that was dangerous for him because he could not pull off the road very far.   The plow guys just made a big pile right on the white line.    He cautioned me about getting stuck where I pull completely off the road and down into some barrow pit stuff.

What I found was deep fluffy snow, no problem for pulling in and/or out.  I ran my lines without a hitch.

Several flags were down and had to be replaced.  3 traps set off with nothing in them.   One of those was set off the other day too…I’ll catch that little critter if he keeps messing with me.

Lots of slushy ice about 2 inches thick that had to be broken.  One of my triggered traps was held open by the ice around the spring.  A very lucky rat.

I was not able to set any traps today because of the plow time.  Tomorrow we have farm work and so that will shut me down from setting any until Monday.

Rat totals for the day…Me 13…Bob 2.

My butt is kicked!  Time for a brew or two.

Bears Butt

March the 1st, 2012

A.M. report on todays activities.

It is currently snowing like it’s no bodies business…which means it is putting it down very hard with big old big flakes and the depth is piling up quickly.

At the next break in the storm I am going to put the plow on the toy and get ready to move the neighborhoods snows from their driveways.  I usually get to do eight driveways and sometimes as many as 12.  It takes about 3 hours to do them usually and so, that being said, there will probably NOT be any trapping today.

Unless of course, the snow stops quickly and the weather map looks like a long clearing is ahead.  But looking out right now, that does not look like it will happen.

Bears Butt

Leap Day, Feb. 29, 2012

A.M. Report:

Holy Moly, winter is about to happen upon us!  We have a winter storm WARNING that begins today at about 9 a.m. and last until Friday about 11 a.m., deep snow accumulations in the valley expected……NOOOOO!  I want to go trapping not move snow!

Well, whatever we have happen with the weather, I am going to the swamp today and see just what happened on my lines last night.  My plan was to set a few traps on the Big Spring line, but this storm might stop me from doing that.  We will see once I’m out there.  The weather is entirely different way out that way than it is up next to the mountains where most of us live.  Sometimes it’s worse, sometimes it’s better.

Todays lunch will be a bologna sandwich with mayo and cheese.  An almost “staple” in my diet.  As I eat my bologna sandwich, I think of steak, tacos, hamburgers, tuna, chicken and pork chops, and when the sandwich is done, I take a large drink of water and then get back to work.

It was cold and windy last night, so what do I expect as a rat catch today?

10 again.  Actually, with over 90 traps out, 10 seems like a low number, actually I’ll take 10 any day.  That is nearly $100 after they are sold and if Bob and I can make that much each day, we each pocket $50 and that is good.

OH!  I almost forgot!  My expensive boots came yesterday!  YAAAA!  I tried them on last night and they are the most foot friendly hip boot I have ever put my foot into.  Soft and cushy!  Now if they will keep the water out, I will be a happy guy with a big ol grin from ear to ear!  The box says they are tough.  The box says they “breath”.  The box says they are the best commercial boot made.

They are made of a thick rubber from the knee down, a cleat sole, but not a sole that will fill with mud and keep the mud captive.  The toe is stiff so you can’t depress it down, but it does not have a steel insert.  And there is a tough cloth type of material that goes from the top of the foot, all the way to the top of the boot.  A material that looks like you could poke it with a sharp knife and it would not cut it.  Briar and thorn proof and snake bite proof…that is what they advertise.

Will they hold up to the bite from a 5 foot rat?  I hope we don’t have to find out.

More later!

Bears Butt

P.M.

What a storm!  I made it to the parking spot and the weather was a little breezy but balmy.  Maybe temps were around 40, maybe even 45.  I don’t have a temp gauge so I don’t know for sure, but it was comfortable.

I put on my new boots…AHHHH…nice!  And the rest of my trapping stuff and headed off.  Checking the Trellis line I netted 2 rats.  About usual in my opinion, and normally I would have all of those traps pulled and set somewhere else, but I promised Bob.  Anyway, 2 paid for the gas.

Then loaded up and headed farther West to check the Goose Club line.

The signs at the line are showing me I am making a big dent in the population on that line and it won’t take too many days to have the bulk of them caught.  4 set off traps and one of them really raised my eyebrows.  A conibear that was triggered but did not close.  Nothing was stopping it from closing and when I picked up the stake with the trap it did not close until I touched the trap…then SNAP!  Lucky rat.

My new boots are wonderful!

Hitting the rest of the line I did not start picking up rats until the few traps just before the channel and then things started looking good to fill my goal.

One bait set down the channel had rat crap on the trap, but no set off trap.  That to me is a rat telling me to “kiss his behind”.  I’ll catch him tomorrow.

Around the horn and to the traps Wapiti and I set yesterday yielded a welcome surprise…rats and more rats.  We set some “air hole” sets and of the 5 sets, 3 of them produced and one was set off (already counted above), not bad for 7 sets.

Down at the end of the line, we set 8 traps and 4 of them produced!  A great day of trapping.

Me: 16, Bob 6!  Great Day.

The weather continually got worse and worse to the point that tumble weeds as big as me were being tossed over my head.  The temperature dropped about 15 degrees since earlier and I decided I had had enough fun for one day and headed for the barn.

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

A.M. Feb. 28, 2012

Currently snowing lightly, some sticking to the roads.

Wapiti and I have decided to delay our venture and not leave town until around 10:30.  Give the road crews a chance to clean up the slick spots or at least give the roads a chance to thaw.  There is one particular spot on the way that is always the worst on a day like today, and the county guys hit it pretty hard with salt, but it takes a while for the salt to work.  An hour will help.

With only two lines left in action, I plan on only checking the Goose Club line today and hopefully (if Wapiti doesn’t have any objections) set from 5 to 10 more traps along that line to finish setting it.

We may take a few minutes and drive along the next line I plan on setting, one I call “Big Spring”.  Just to see what the sign looks like.  We will weigh that out when the time comes.

Expectations on rat catch for today: 12

Why in the world would I expect that many rats?  Mostly because of the 20 traps I set yesterday, that is all I can say.

Later!

Bears Butt

P.M. Edition:

What a cold day it started out to be.  Bundled up really good at the truck and felt like I had too much on by the time we finished.

Wapiti was to be my great helper today.  I’d check one trap while he checked another…..He forgot his hip boots!

So now to quote him:  “I have gone from an almost helper, to no helper at all”.

We made the best of it, he did have on his Buckle up to the ankle rubber boots.  And as one can imagine, was this the only thing that started the day off on the wrong foot, er tire?  Nope.  He arrived at my place with one flat tire on the trailer and no spare…hmmm.

We puffed up the tire and ran up to his place and picked up the spare.  As good fortune would have it, we did not need to change the tire.  It held up all day…Wapiti, if you are reading this, please go and get that tire fixed….

Back on the line….Things started off rather slowly.  No rats, no set off traps, just a casual stroll through the swamp trying to keep as warm as we could.  Wapiti staying on high ground.  We checked several traps before Wapiti finally checked a trap that held a fuzzy critter and he yelled out…WOOPPEEEE!  Now one more to cover our gas.

Several traps later and that job was done.  Rat number two went into the body bag.

The last trap on the first part of this line was a real winner.  A bait (foot hold) trap that had the “dog” completely removed from holding the pan,  the pan completely depressed, the jaws partially closed….this combination NEVER happens, but some lucky rat is out there and does not know just how lucky he was.  We ended up with 4 set of traps counting this one with nothing in them.  Bummer!

As our journey took us to the far end of the line, rats started to fill the bag at regular intervals.  Wapiti, unable to venture into the deep water, stood fast on the edge of the swamp with the body bag open and ready to accept flying rats.  The bag began to fill rapidly.

At the removal of a very large rat, I reminded Wapiti that one of his jobs was to have ready his pistol in case a rate erupted from the undergrowth of the toolies and attacked me while I was preoccupied removing one of its brothers from a trap.  He said he was ready.  Did I see his gun brandished?  No.  I guess his training in Pahrump, Nevada has his instincts so tuned that in an instant he can brandish his pistol and fire before the fangs of a five foot muskrat gnash my throat.

We went on, and Wapiti continued to hold open the body bag until we reached the end of the line.  How many rats were in the body bag?

10.  Rats!  Missed my guess again.  This is getting to be a regular thing.

We then went to setting more traps, our problem was water.  There wasn’t any.  We continued to look and to travel down the corridor of toolies and finally began to look for “air holes”, places where the rats regularly come to the surface for a breath of air.  They all tend to use them and so the ice doesn’t form.  We found a few, very few, but iron was layed and we continued to the end of the line…the Goose Club fence!

We ended up setting 17 traps.  Some excellent sets and some not so good, but what good is a trap in the back of the truck?

Back home, Bob had one rat laying on the skinning shed floor.  One half his gas paid for.

Brek is back with us as our skinner!  YAAA!!!  He can skin a rat in under 30 seconds and not have one flaw in the job.  He had the 11 rats skinned in less than 15 minutes, while Bob and I struggled to flesh and stretch them.  Brek finished his skinning, had a coke, B.S.ed with us and kicked back for the rest of an hour, while Bob and I did our jobs.

All in all…A wonderful day in the swamp!  Thanks Wapiti for coming along and watching my back while I trudged through the ever dangerous swamps of the five foot muskrat.

Bears Butt

A. M. Report, Feb. 27, 2012

Weather will be a factor today and tonight.  20% chance of rain/snow today increasing to 60% by tonight and then 80% by tomorrow!  Accumulations possible.

Well, I plan on Accumulating 12 rats today, my mind says 18, but for this report we will stick to 12.

Goal:  Pull 1/2 of the remaining traps on the Fish Springs line and set the traps I pulled last Saturday out on the Goose Club line.  That should complete that line.

Tomorrow, Wapiti wants to attend the trap line and experience it in a blinding snow storm….it will be an interesting day…more on that tomorrow.

Things look good for a fairly early start today (8:30) and so to reach my goal should be easy…of course there are always the interruptions that seem to occur regularly.  An interruption could be a simple as talking to someone traveling down the road, to a flat tire, to jump starting a stranded motorist, to just plain talking to someone over the fence about daily stuff.  It all consumes time and time is what it takes to properly address a trap line.  All in all, life is good and rats will get caught.

Bob will have his hands full today trying to locate his traps in the burned swamps of Petes place.  I don’t envy him that task.  And wish he would pull those traps and get on with trapping Club 41, our next area.  But he wants us both to hit Club 41 at the same time…oh well.

I have dry boots, fixed and dried rubber gloves, a new bag of carrot and onion bait, water to drink, a sandwich and a brand new week ahead of me.

I’moutahere!

Bears Butt

P.M. Report

Well, it was a pretty good day out in the swamp all things considered.  I was out there about 9:30 with the toy unloaded and ready to head off.  I experienced a whole lot of blown off flags, which makes for a slow hunt to find the traps.  That really irritates me when that happens.

Anyway, I found all the traps and netted 10 rats total for the day and had 5 other traps set off.

I managed to set 20 new sets on the end of my Goose Club line.  I still need to set about 5 or so more to complete the line.  Maybe Wapiti will help me with that tomorrow.

I hit the middle line, which is Fish Spring and decided to pull all of them…38 traps pulled.  I only caught 2 rats out of the 38 traps, which was actually 2 more than I expected.  I just can’t believe that line.  It screams “rats”, but there just aren’t any there.  So, that is it until next year in there.

The short line I promised Bob I would leave through the run, this year, produced 2 rats and it is sort of disappointing to me to even have to check those traps, but I promised and so I will check it every other day through the rest of the season.

ATTENTION!!!!  I just read the winter storm warning for the Wasatch Front.  It said tonight around midnight it will begin to snow and snow hard through the commute in the morning…snow accumulations 1-3 inches on the valley floor.  YUK!  I don’t want no STINKING snow to ruin my trapping tomorrow.

For the count, Bob caught 4 rats today.

Bears Butt