Until we sell our furs I think I’ll continue to put related stories in the Daily Trapping Events category, it makes sense to me and I doubt you really care one way or another.  Yesterday I went to an auction site that had their auction last week, Fur Harvesters (http://www.furharvesters.com/) and looked at the prices paid for the various furs they had.  The price of muskrat was not what I expected to see, but still higher than we would get from a local buyer.  They had just short of 90,000 muskrats in their auction and they sold 98% of them at an average of $10.65.  Lower than what has been the average price, but still pretty high when you consider a silly little muskrat fur.  The bigger item was the price paid for the “Top” furs…$23!  Can you imagine paying $23 for one muskrat fur?  It makes you wonder what on earth would make one fur worth $23 when the average is going for around $11?

I have done a little research in the area trying to find out what drives a fur to be of more value than another and have yet to find out why.

I suppose, like a person who is into harvesting and hanging on his wall, a bunch of trophy animals of one species and he only needs one more to have obtained his quest of having one of each, then and only then would the value of that one animal be so much in demand (in his own mind) to make it worth selling his children, his house, all his properties and farming out his wife to get the money to buy the tag to go hunt it.  Of course not to harvest it would be out of the question and he would go to any end to make it a 100% success.

BUT, there are sooooo many muskrats in the world, why would a person pay over $20 for one?  It makes no sense to me.

Our big time dream for this season is to find that buyer who just has to have our lot of furs and will pay big time bucks for them!  I think I’ll write to one of the auction houses and see if they will respond to my question about “top lot” furs.  In the mean time, look at the picture of Weasel and the two rats he is holding up.  Certainly the small one would be worth less than the big one…well maybe not…what if you were a taxidermist putting together a scene of a mommy and daddy muskrat and some babies running around and you needed one more baby muskrat to finish it off.  That little guy could be worth a small fortune.  On the other hand, let’s say you are making a muskrat coat for your lovely wife and you needed one more large pelt to finish it off and it has to be just the right color and the big rat was the perfect one for the job…it could be worth a small fortune as well.

Demand…meet…Supply!

Bears Butt

March 17, 2014

A rat is a rat, is a rat…right?  In this case the one on your left is one that came out looking for its momma, the one on the right was also looking for its momma, but for different reasons.

It’s really funny how fate works, or better yet, Nothing happens without a reason, or I’ve heard it said, There are no accidents.  Yesterday I messaged the guy who picks up fur locally for shipping to the North American Fur Auction (NAFA).  I was curious as to how he got paid and if I was expected to give him a tip when he picks up our furs.  His answer came with a surprise;  He said he got paid via commission when the furs he sends in gets sold.  This makes perfect sense to me.  The next part of his comment was what caught me with my feet flat.  He said the latest fur pickup for the next sale was the end of this month, March.  WHAT?  The next fur pickup is not until May!  What’s going on?

I quickly went to the NAFA site and saw a special notice, dated back on February 20th that said the auction scheduled for June had been moved up to May and that the last fur pickup was in March!  Wholly smokes!  We still have about 150 raw skins to flesh and put up!  Will we have time to do this and have them adequately dried on the stretchers?

I messaged him back asking about the change in the schedule and when would be a good time for him to meet up with us to get our furs…as of right this minute I have not heard back from him.  He is a very busy guy, working a farm as well as being the fur pickup guy in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and parts of Colorado.

So, I called Bob and Weasel to let them know we didn’t have the month of April to work in our raw furs, but rather we had a couple of days to get them up on stretchers or we will miss the due date for the next auction.  We quickly got the remaining bags of rats out of the freezer and put them out to thaw and dry.  Tomorrow will be a big day to process the furs and get them up on stretchers.

We still should have enough time available to do our own measuring and grading of our furs so we have something to compare to when we get the paper work back from NAFA after the sale in May.  This is all new to us and we are speculating just what will happen to our furs when they get to the auction house.  We can’t help but believe we have a top lot mess of rats and we should get a very good price for them.  Even after the commission that gets taken out and given to the auction house, we should net more than what a local buyer would offer us for these same rats.  Our gamble.

I haven’t told you the total rat count for the catch at the end of week 5 and the end of the season.

End of week 5 = 73 rats!  End of season total = 731 (recount is needed for week 3)

As a side note, since the season has ended:  I weighed myself the first day I set any traps and weighed 144 lbs., this morning I got on the same scales and it read 133.5 lbs!  I realized I was having to tighten my belt more than usual, but didn’t think to that extreme!

Bears Butt

March 16, 2014

The plan was to enter through this gate one last time for the 2014 season.  But that had to be revised as the day progressed.  This is the Big Spring area and I took another shot of the spring from a different angle to show you the size of it and why I call it Big Spring…

It’s a very big spring indeed!

Out on the trap line I did not expect to catch any rats and was pleasantly surprised to find a rat in one of the traps…BONUS!  And as I continued up the line from the far end toward the beginning, the traps were coming up empty just as I suspected.  And then I made a great decision!  Why should I go around this one area, when I can drive across it and be where I need to be to pull more traps…makes sense right?  Well, what seemed like a good decision at the time turned ugly really quick.

In one of my business classes the questions were asked:  “Have you ever made a good decision that turned out good”?  “Have you ever made a bad decision that turned out good”?  “Have you ever made a good decision that turned out bad”?  “Have you ever made a bad decision that turned out bad”?

In my life time I have made all of these questions come true and yesterday I really proved the last question can come to be.

These 4 wheel drive little buggies are great, as long as you have clearance under the carriage, they will go anywhere.  They save a ton of work, time, effort and everything good in life.  I have enjoyed the freedom of this toy for years and years without a hitch…oh, there was one time when it tipped over on its side when I didn’t know there was a deep rut in the mountain road that was covered in deep snow, but other than that the wheels have always been under it.  This time the wheels are still under it, but there is nothing the wheels are touching but wet and sticky mud and the frame is solidly stuck in the slime.

The poor thing seems to be sinking as I’m standing there.  The mud gods must have felt a need to be riding it more than I and they sent me on a full mile long hike to get help.  This picture shows what it looked like when we arrived to pull it out and I do think it has sunk in a couple more inches as it sat there.

I think I gave you a bit of a heads up as to my plight and the brief undertaking of getting Weasel and Wapiti to assist my dire need in my PM report yesterday, so I won’t go into that here.  My decision to save 5 minutes cost me 3 hours of time I really thought I needed to close out my trapping season for the year.  But when one makes a bad decision that turns out bad, what more could be expected than something like this.  The biggest thing that came from this is the re-naming of this portion of my trap line…Instead of calling it the East line of Big Spring, it has officially been renamed “The Big Stuck”!  A very appropriate name for sinking a toy in over the hubs.

The trusty and powerful winch on the front of the rig is absolutely worthless in a situation like this.  It can only help “recover” if there is something solid to hook it to and in this case I don’t think little weeds like you are seeing here are strong enough to try it.  I did not need my “decision matrix” to find that out.  And so, my good decision to go and get help turned out to be the good decision that turned out good.

My trek back to the truck also taught me how I can cuss myself out and really get down to some hurting statements and teach myself a good life changing lesson.  That lesson is this:  If you have to think about it before doing it, it probably should not be done.  If there is an inkling of doubt anywhere in your mind about the outcome not being a good outcome, don’t do it.

And so, my saviors have come to my rescue.  Wapiti has brought the big and powerful rig owned by Edjukateer, a 650 horsepower work machine that vibrates the ground around it when it’s running.  The only thing it lacks is stabilizer pads and a backhoe.  A machine that can do anything the operator isn’t afraid to do.  Along with that he has loaded up his big long heavy duty chain, a brand new 6,000 pound tow strap with hooks on both ends and a “pretend to be good” ratchet strap that is all of an inch wide.

Weasel!  Bring the Chain!!!!!!

Take all of those things and hook them end to end and add my 30 feet of “made in Brazil, out of recycled plastic” rope and you can see we will prevail!

You are probably wondering how we got all of this stuff out near the Big Stuck with only one big powerful machine, plus us three guys….

Way over there is my toy hauling trailer and that is as close as we could get it without getting it stuck too.  It carried not only boards, chains and rubber gloves, it carried the Weasel…a lot of bouncing around to get here, but without it we would have had to make several trips back to the trucks to get materials.

We were “all hooked up”, so to speak and I had one last council session with Wapiti.  I said something like this to him: “Now Wapiti, “if” the rig starts to come out and it looks like we are making ground, don’t stop pulling me until you are sitting on very hard and dry ground.  I’ll try to keep from tipping over as I drive it backwards, just keep going”!!!!  He nodded in agreement.

And THAT is how it’s done!  Good Lord willing and the creek mud don’t rise!  A BIG HEARTY THANK YOU TO WAPITI AND WEASEL FOR COMING TO MY AID!

Bears Butt

March 16, 2014

The last trip through the Big Springs gate for the 2014 season.  It has been an interesting event trapping so far out on the East line.  I have learned a thing or two about trapping out there and if there was more time I’m sure I would learn even more about it.  The length of the line extends farther than I can see and I just know the majority of the rats are ‘out there’!  Out there where the edge of the ice covers the main flow of water, where the Marti Gras is!

The season closing is a bitter-sweet event and I guess the biggest thing about it is the expense of travel fuel comes to an end…this pleases Winemaker, as it isn’t cheap running a rig that only gets 12 or 13 mpg.  I need a different rig…something that has power enough to pull my hunting trailer, is a pickup with 4 doors and gets 50 mpg….is there such a rig out there for under $5,000?  Only in my dreams.

Yesterday when I pulled into the yard, I got out and immediately noticed I had a very low tire on the trailer.  I had been watching that tire all season and keeping my fingers crossed that it would make it to the end of the season before I had to replace it.  In the shed I have had two replacement tires to put on the trailer that Crock gave me last year and I had procrastinated doing it, so it is my fault the tire didn’t make it to the last day.  So, I had to do some scrambling to get the tires off the trailer and up to Rattler to have them both changed out.  He jumped right on it for me, gave me a deal on the work that was unbelievable (Thank you Rattler) and I had the “new” tires on within an hour.  They aren’t balanced on the rims, but what the heck…it’s a utility trailer.  If I detect problems I’ll take them to some place that can balance them.

So, the tires I had on the trailer were 195 75R 15’s…whatever that means…and the replacement tires are 205 75R 15’s…bigger and wider than the ones that came off.  My spare is on a 14 inch rim, so now I’m looking to get that upgraded to a 15 inch and putting the “good” tire I had Rattler change out on the 15 inch rim when I get one.  As for today, if I have a flat, the trailer will look and act funny with an oversize tire on one side and a 14 inch tire on the other.  I’ll have to drive the slow go way if that happens.

I have been very blessed this trapping season to have made it to the last day with that tire and not had any issues with the vehicles.  When you think about all that could happen with any one of the three (tow rig, trailer, toy) and not to have any issues except the flat yesterday, I have been very lucky and I know that.  Thanks to the powers that be for that!

Well, don’t think that this will be the last story of this season because it won’t be.  There is still a lot of work to be done at home to get the remaining furs ready for the auction.  This will be our first year to ship furs to the auction and I want each of you to ride with us on this journey.  There will be plenty of play-by-play action in this regard.

Out on the line yesterday, I stopped and helped Bob with a couple of this floats that he was pulling.  He has a tough time with their bulkiness and excess water weight.  Floats are great to catch a lot of rats swimming around in deep open water, but when it comes to pulling them, they have soaked up a ton of water and are not a very pleasant tool to pull.  We are thinking about replacing them with some made out of a different, lighter material.  When we get around to experimenting with our idea you can be assured there will be a story printed, with pictures, on our attempt.

Well, while helping Bob with the floats, he offered a “beer bet” and for the sake of a beer bet, I took him up on it…my foolishness, just for the sake of a beer bet.  The bet:  Bob, “I’ll bet you a beer I catch more rats than you tomorrow”!  Me, “Ok”!

I know I don’t have a ghost of a chance to win that and so I have already kissed the 25 ounce beer that he gave me the other day for my “win” and am prepared to give it back to him tonight when we are taking care of the rats from today and yesterday in the shed.  I tried to talk him out of the bet last night buy he wouldn’t have anything to do with that….a bet made is a bet made….and remember “It’s better to be ‘owed’ then screwed out of it”!

Todays weather is going to be somewhat windy but otherwise warm and dry, highs expected in the mid to upper 50’s…it will be nice and what better day for pulling the last of the traps.

I don’t expect to catch any rats today and so it will be a trap pulling day with the fuel expense all coming out of the pocket.  It’s worth it just to be out there in the field.

Bears Butt

March 15, 2014 (“Et to Brute, Beware the ides of March”)

P.M. REPORT

They said it was going to be nice weather today, what they didn’t say was it wouldn’t quit blowing until after noon!  And it was pretty cold to boot!

I arrived at the trapping spot about 9:15 and unloaded.  I doubled up on my rain coats for the wind protection and headed for the far end of the line.  By pulling traps from the last trap towards the first trap it makes the burden a lot easier.  About half way through the line I came to a spot where I drive around a pretty big expanse of toolies and wet ground.  Earlier in the week I had driven over the wet ground without any problems and so I thought I’d save myself about 5 minutes by cutting across it this time.  The problem was the ground had thawed out during the week and I mean thawed out BIG TIME!  I felt the tires sinking but I didn’t think I had that far to go to get across and so I gunned it!  The tires spun and down I went!  Clear up to the running boards!  I was hung and being hung in a condition like this was not a good thing.

Nearby was what was left of an old corral and so I slogged my way over to it and brought back some boards and logs, thinking I could lay them down across the treads and get myself un-stuck.  I tried and tried and only got into the mire deeper and deeper.  There was no way I could get out without help!  HELP!

I looked toward the truck, hoping to see a knight in shining armor coming my way…had I been a princess I’m certain I would have seen one, but in my case, I felt like the ugly toad with nothing to look forward to but the wart on the witches chin to look at.  I had to walk.  It was close to a mile back to the truck, so I grabbed my hydration pack and began my saunter.  Et To Butt/e.  It took me quite awhile to get back and in the meanwhile I had a good long talk to myself about being stupid.  Trying to save a couple of minutes now will cost me the rest of the day.  And what if everyone has plans, I’ll have to come back tomorrow.  Butt, you are the most stupid, ignorant, lazy, good for nothing, dumb, think you know everything, butt wipe in the whole wide world!  Of course I can’t tell you everything I said to myself while I walked that mile back to the truck, nor can I tell you everything that was said while I drove down the road to get cell phone service to make my first call.

I got hold of Weasel and he was more than happy to drop all his plans and come to the aid of his dad.  After all, what’s the difference between making $1,000 programming or getting muddy and pushing his stupid dads toy out of the bog that he shouldn’t have been playing in in the first place?

I then continued toward home and called Wapiti…He too dropped everything he had planned the rest of the day in order to put on his hip boots and come play in the mud with me and Weasel.  What better to do on a lovely Spring day?  Drink beer and have a picnic?  Heck no!  Let’s go get muddy and mucky and break stuff because of a dummie like Butt who likes to get his rig buried in mud up to the bottom of the seat!  Sure, I’ll be glad to help your out!

More on all of this tomorrow.

We did get the rig unstuck and I did get my traps pulled.  That should suffice.

What did I catch?  Heck!  I expected ZERO…instead I caught 3!!!!  Wooppiiiieeee!

The down side is Bob caught 5….there goes that 25 ouncer!

Bears Butt

This picture should be the clue as to why I call this area Big Spring.  It is actually closer to 100 springs that feed this water source and the folks from the past have channeled the water away to the South.  Back in the days of the Fremont Indians (who occupied this area thousands of years ago), it would have been interesting to see what the area looked like with all that water flooding its way across the flats and toward the Great Salt Lake.  Talk about a muskrat heaven!  Yaaaa Baby!

If you have ever driven out to the site of the driving of the Golden Spike, you have passed this Big Spring area and if you were really noticing everything around you as you drove (or rode) along, you probably noticed signs along the way that read “No Motorized Vehicles” at each of the gates.  The gates are there for the ranchers to use to get their animals in and out of the land on the other side of the fence, but the signs are there so that people who are not authorized don’t run their atv’s or utv’s or motorcycles or trucks or cars or what-have-you, down the hump in the land.  That hump is the old railroad grade that took the trains from one coast to the next.  It’s pretty amazing how they built up the dirt and it was all done with pure back breaking labor from Chinese on one side (working from the West Coast toward the East) and Irishmen on the other (working from the East toward the West).  Nothing powered by anything other than human muscles.  You really need to go and visit the Golden Spike National Monument at least once in your life and if you get that chance and have a choice of when to go, I suggest May 10th, they really put on a great show that day…Oh and see the signs I’m telling you about!

I was once approached by a Utah Fish and Game warden and his first comment was, “You must be one of the important ones who get to drive on there”.  My answer, “Yes”!  Nuff said.  And I have never been approached by anyone else since then.  Maybe they too have read Bears Butt dot Com!

Today is THE most relaxing day on the trap line…always has been and always will be…The day before it all ends for the season.  No traps to pull.  No traps to set.  Just check the ones that are out there, collect up the bounty that God is giving and then come on home.  It really does not get any better than that.  Tomorrow will be a different story all together, but still an enjoyable day will be had.

The weather today is calling for a very pleasant temperature, no chance of rain and a beautiful Spring day.  Couple that with no trapping pressure and I think I’ll take a few pictures of some of the wildlife.  After all, I don’t have to be home until 5:30…the designated time to meet in the trapping shed!

What does the old Bears Butt think he will net today?  I’m expecting 5 to 8 rats today.  I caught nothing on the big channel yesterday and so I expect the same today.  Stein Spring kicked out two rats yesterday, one male, one female and so I caught the rats that lived there, so no more will be caught there today or tomorrow for that matter.  The rest of the line will catch the few stragglers that were lagging behind the rest of the pack out chasing the ice.

So, it’s not fair to say 5 to 8, I’ll nail it down with a solid 6!

Bears Butt

March 14, 2014

P.M. REPORT

A BEAUTIFUL DAY TODAY!  But the rat catching was off!

I caught 3, Bob caught 5!  We made a beer bet for tomorrow:  I’ll catch more than he will catch.

Bears Butt

Well it looks like all the “bull” is behind us now and the trapping season is coming to a close.  We saw our first sign of slippage last night, as one of the rats we put up dropped a little of the guard hair as it was being combed.  Things like that will only continue to get worse as time goes by.  So the trapping is almost over.  There is still a lot that has to be done before shipping the furs off, but the trips out West will subside soon.

So, here is the plan as discussed last night in the skinning shed:

I’ll pull the West line of Big Spring today (Thursday) and retain the 44 trap line I set yesterday until this Saturday, when I’ll pull all those traps.  We will begin pulling sacks of frozen rats out of the freezer on Monday and put those rats up one sack at a time until they are all on stretchers.  The timing of pulling the sacks out of the freezer will be determined by the amount of dried rats we have on stretchers that can be pulled down to make room for the number in the sack.  In the meantime, traps will be inspected and repaired as needed for next season.  I have taken on the task of fixing all the live traps myself, as the racoons really tore them up.  One even bent the trigger extension rod that holds the door open.  They are tough little critters.

What do I expect from todays trap check?

The West line kicked out a surprising two rats yesterday, but will produce a big fat zero today.  The new line of 44 traps should produce 50%, but I will not go out on a limb and say 20, I made a beer bet with Bob last night for 13 so I’ll stick with that.  13 rats for me today!

Bears Butt

March 13, 2014

P.M. REPORT

What a beautiful Spring day outside!  Wonderful!

I managed to pull the West line of Big Spring this morning and had a two rat surprise!  YEAAA!  And then on to the East line to see what good fortune awaited.  I ended up catching 14 more up there for a total of 16 rats!  Another YEAAAA!

Back home Bob had laid out the 6 rats he caught and so we had a 22 rat day!  A very good ending hurrah to a fine trapping season and even though we won’t be pulling our traps completely out until Saturday we won’t see this many rats again in a one day total!

Weasel is going to put two live traps down in the field to see if he can snag the two raccoons that have been hanging around his snares…can he catch them by Saturday?

Bears Butt

The weather for today is calling for “warmer than yesterday” and I’m glad!  Yesterday the wind made it so cold I almost cried.  My hands got sooooo cold!  Even with wool gloves on under the rubber gloves they got cold and hurt like crazy, until the sun warmed things up just enough to make it bearable.  Warmer than yesterday sounds good to me!

The talk in the rat shed last night sounds like the season is just about over.  With only 9 rats caught and over 100 traps out it sure looks like the end has come.  Everyone has their theory about where the rats go when the run is over and I have mine.  Here it is:

The rats have been under an ice cap all winter long and they have gotten used to the protection, like us being in a big tent, out of the elements and protected from the predators above.  Consider you have just spent several months in this tent and suddenly your tent is gone!  You enjoy the sunlight for a time but then the predators start to bother you and so you head off to seek a place you are comfortable with…an ice cap.

Along comes Mr. Trapper and he finds sign plenty!  Mounds of rat poop, chew stations and plenty of runs that look real fresh!  Of course he finds this, the rats just made them…..as they are migrating toward the ice cap downstream!  Mr. Trapper sets his traps and the next day comes to check them and they are empty!  Of course they are empty, the rats have moved!  They are downstream, under the cap of ice having a big old party!  They are safe, all their buddies are there and it’s party time dude!  Mating like crazy…a Mardi Gras…with all the food they want!  All the sex they can handle!  All the drinks they want!  And Mr. Trapper can’t get to them.  If you don’t believe my theory and are a Spring time water trapper, just go find the ice, walk about 30 yards down stream from the edge of it, lay down on it and put your ear to it!  You’ll hear one heck of a party going on!

Well, that’s my theory and I plan on going out to the East end of the Big Spring run today and lay my ear down on some ice!

My plan is to set a few traps out that way as well, but I’m only going to set traps that are “almost guaranteed” to catch a rat!  No time to waste right now and we only need 12 rats to make it to our 700 rat goal!  12 lousy rats!  That is how many I lost to raccoons up on Bull Run!

Speaking of Bull Run…I still need to pull my live traps up there and I hope Mr. Bull is far from where I saw him last night!  Laying right smack dab in the middle of my live traps!  OOOOOOOO!

What will we catch today?  I don’t expect to catch even one rat today in the 51 traps set out on the West run of Big Spring….not one!

And as for the live traps, you just watch, Mr. Bull will be just far enough away for me to brave going in to pull the live traps and get them closer to the gate, and I’ll have a couple of skunks that need dispatching.  The sounds of the shots will alert the bull to my presence and he will come a running to see what all the commotion is about!  (insert frowney face here)

Bears Butt

March 12, 2014

P.M. REPORT

All the while I was driving out to the trapping area I was imagining the bull at the gate but as I got closer I could see it down to the West about 200 yards and facing away from the gate while eating.

I decided it was worth the effort to sneak out to the farthest traps and hurry them back to the gate.  My heart was racing as the traps were a good 200 yards away and down in the swamp.  I hustled like no other 65 year old can do and made it back to the gate in “record” time.  The bull had not moved from his position and so, I dashed back to get the two middle traps, 150 yards out.  Once back to the gate and seeing the bull was contently eating “way down there”, I slowed my pace and went back for the last two traps, 100 yards out.  Back at the gate I wondered why I was panting so hard, I’m done!  It’s over!  Maybe at Rendezous we should have a “Bull Dash” race……

And with a little rearranging, all six traps fit nicely in the back of the rig…a little stinky from the skunk spray, but headed home none the less.

Now out to the muskrat line!

I didn’t make a note as to the time when I arrived at the line parking spot, but it was still rather early.  I debated with myself to check the traps that were set first, or go see if there was any sign on the East line.  My debate lasted about 30 seconds and I decided to go set a couple of traps down by the main channel first and then the seep I call “Stein”.  Those two spots are usually good for a few traps and I generally catch all the rats there in one night…two at the most.

So off in that direction I went.  Let me tell you, that Big Spring of water that feeds that channel is scarey.  The water is crystal clear and you can see the hundreds of springs out in it bubbling up mud like a boiling pot.  Even close to the bank you can see holes with the water churning up the mud.  I’d hate to fall in it because it would be all over, you’d never get out alive.

I found 7 sets on those two areas and then headed out to the East line to see what the sign looked like….just as I suspected, it looked just like the sign out on the West line.  I went as far as half way down as far as I usually trap it and all the sign looked the same.  Then I decided to go wayyyyy down the line to where I usually end my trapping and check for sign down there.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the sign much fresher down there.  Not a lot of it, but at least it was fresh.

I set two colony traps and one conibear and was going to head back to the truck and check them in the morning and if I had rats in them I’d finish setting the line tomorrow.  I was back at the toy when two ducks jumped up just a little ways out in the swamp…ducks mean open water, so I grabbed a couple of conibears and went out to see what the sign looked like where the ducks had been sitting.  HMMMM, it didn’t take long to set those two traps and so I decided I might as well just keep going and see how many traps I could get set before I hit ice.

I set all the conibear traps I had strapped to the toy and then headed back to the truck….it was 2 p.m.!  I had set 44 traps.  Exhausted as I was I knew I had to go and check the other line.  I had one rat in a colony trap up at the head of the line and then the next to the last trap on the far end held a rat…2 rats…that’s 2 more than I expected to catch today….that line needs to be pulled and the traps bagged and made ready for next years season.

I’m 99.99% sure I have set my last trap for this trapping season and while driving home I figured I would pull the West line tomorrow and then the line I set today on Saturday.  That gives the latest line 3 nights to catch what few rats live in that part of the country.  I must say, that part is very interesting, as I have never been out there to see what it was like, let alone set any traps.  It is usually frozen so solid I could drive the toy all the way to the Trellis line from there.  Not so today…there are a lot of toolies, small streams meandering here and there and eventually meeting up and forming another big toolie patch about 2 miles from the rig, and from where I set the last trap I had, the toolies continued to go out as far as I could see.  Much too much area for one trapper.

Back home I saw where Bob had caught 2 rats also…a four rat day…Not enough to cover both of our fuel expenses.

Bears Butt

Today is “Pull the traps on Club 41” day.  To most of you it probably seems that I’m wasting my time setting and pulling traps, but trust me when I tell you when you have trapped an area out it is time to move and in this case there were not many rats in there to begin with and now there are even fewer.  It would be a major waste of time to keep going in there trying to catch more rats, than it is to pull out and set somewhere else.

Yesterday I managed to find places for 25 traps on the West line of Big Spring and today I’ll finish setting that line with probably 5 or maybe 10 more sets and then that line will be completed and I can move over to the East line of Big Spring.  From experience, the West line will be caught out and completed before the weekend and I’ll pull out of there and only have the East line to trap.  This will be the last line for the season unless something comes up that puts us into a new area and I doubt that will happen.

We still have not seen any sign of fur slippage and so perhaps what will happen to us and our season, we will just plain and simply have caught all the rats we can catch on the areas available to us and have to quit because we have no where else to go to trap.  An unusual thing for us to face.

What to expect today:

It snowed late last night and is currently snowing here in town and hopefully it isn’t snowing out “there”, even if it is, I’ll brave through it and pull the traps on Club 41.  That will take me some time as I  have two lines containing 45 traps, plus the 5 floats which are big and bulky and now heavily soaked with water.  But what about rats caught in those traps?

The channel line should produce 3 rat.  The seep line and its 16 traps really surprised me with only 3 rats yesterday, and so I can only expect 1 or 2 rats there….I’ll go out on a limb and say 2 (my positive attitude prevailing).  The 5 floats will produce one rat…..so 6 rats from Club 41.  To anyone trapping and expecting about $10 p/rat, would say, “What’s wrong with catching $60 worth of rats in an area, isn’t it worth it to continue to trap there”?  My answer, yes, if it was the only area I had to trap, I’d continue to trap it and hope to catch the 3 rats I need to pay for the fuel, but when you look at it from a business point of view, I “might” catch 6 rats and put $30 in my pocket, but then what if I don’t catch 6 rats and only catch 3…I’ve wasted my time and barely paid for the fuel, all the while that same amount of time could have been spent in an area where I could catch 10 or more rats almost guaranteed. There comes that point in trapping where you just have to move and Club 41 is at that point right now.

What about the West line of Big Spring?  Well, yesterday I managed to set 25 traps in there.  Those traps are in and around the 20 traps that Bob has had in there since Friday and Saturday of last week.  He caught two rats in his 20 traps yesterday and asked me to take over the checking of them as long as I’m out there, which is what needed to happen.  He was working his butt off way too hard checking those 20 traps as he has to walk and walking in those toolie conditions works your muscles too hard.  It’s time he considered buying a toy and learning how to operate it on the trap line.

That would give him more maneuverability and allow him to cover some of the same territory as I do, we could even team up on areas like the East line of Big Spring, he on one side and me on the other, we would catch a hell-slew of rats then!

So, the West line should produce 8 rats today.  Add those to the 6 from Club 41 and I expect to catch 14 rats today.

Bears Butt

March 11, 2014

P.M. REPORT

The surprises continue to come!

I hit Club 41 as early as I could get out there….within reason of course, I like my coffee and my breakfast, but I was there before 9:30…that’s good huh?  Pulling the traps out there took longer than I thought they would and I didn’t start leaving there until after 12 noon.  I caught 2 rats on the channel, and nothing else anywhere….boy was it time to leave there.  I have to do some serious thinking about the future of trapping that place as in the week or so that I was on there I only caught 25 rats.

Up to the West line of Big Spring, I started by setting a few more traps from the spring down to my first trap (the last trap I set yesterday), I managed to find places for 5 traps.  Then I began checking the line.  I was a happy guy when the first 3 traps all held rats….but happy guy didn’t last long as trap after trap after trap was empty all the way down to where Bob had set his 20…then there was one rat in a bait set….the remainder of the traps were empty.  45 traps and 4 rats!  Unbelievable!  The sign that looked good and fresh yesterday looked like it was a week old today.

I then went up to pick up a few of the live traps, only to find one of Pete’s bulls laying down right in the middle of my line of traps!  Bum deal!  I picked up the only live trap that was “get-able” and farthest away from the bull….loaded it up and came on home!  Starting tomorrow I’ll have to make a run up past the area to see if the bull is far enough away I can sneak in there and take a couple of traps.  If I find him WAY FAR AWAY, I’ll go get all the traps and put them up next to the fence and retrieve them three per day…I don’t have room in the rig for more than 3 at a time.

So, I caught six rats today and by the looks of things tomorrow will even be worse.

Back home I dropped off the floats and the one live trap and talked to Bob….His day was just as  bad with a catch of only 3.  Nine rats for the day.

Bob talked to Gary Slot last night and he told Bob that he had pulled his traps because the run was over and he wasn’t catching anything.  He also said the two guys that were trapping the Public Shooting Grounds had ran their course and pulled out and went back to Idaho where they live.  It looks like the trapping season is over.  I still plan to put a few traps in on the East line of Big Spring…maybe there will be enough rats up there to make our 700 goal….maybe not.

Bears Butt

Week 5…..will this be the last week of the trapping season?   I am hoping we get at least one more week.  My plans include setting Big Spring before the season ends and this is the week to begin putting steel in that area.  This week will be a pretty busy one no matter what the rats dictate.

Today I’ll pull Doris’ pond and the adjacent property and then head over to Club 41 and check those traps.  If there is time, I’ll move into Big Spring and begin setting part of that.  If you recall from past years, there are actually two lines to set out there and I’ll begin where I normally end.  This being a year a bit different than past years I might as well set differently as well.  Big Spring normally takes me parts of four days to set so if I can get in there today it would help big time.

What do I expect in the catching bracket today?

The animals have had two warm nights with little or no wind to bother them and no rain or snow either.  I expect that the 13 traps on Doris’ pond will remain empty.  I noticed Saturday the clarity of the water there is all but “see to the bottom” and so I’m certain I caught every rat that was living there.  The 22 traps in the adjacent property should have four rats, maybe 5, but I just don’t think there were more than 15 rats there in total and I’ve already taken 8 out of there…I’ll have to lean on 4.  Then over to the channel line on Club 41 and the 29 traps there.  My thoughts on the channel line are that the rats will use that as their traveling thoroughfare during the run, but we may have already seen the run (I think we have), so four rats from those traps is a pretty good possibility.  The 16 sets I put out Saturday just might be a big surprise to me, with two nights and the fact that 3 of those traps are colony traps, I could have 11 rats there, which is what I suspect live there in total.  It’s possible to catch all the rats in two nights, but not probable, I’ll go out on a limb and say 11…..And then there are the five floats I set Saturday….two nights of rats cruising the big dam just might kick out 4 rats from the 10 traps laying in wait.  That is as long as I don’t get ducks wanting to climb up on those chunks of wood.

(This is an edit, I forgot about the live traps)  Two warm nights and fresh bait should mean a skunk and a raccoon!

So, 4+4+11+4 = 23 (that’s a pretty big order).

Bears Butt

March 10, 2014

P.M. REPORT

I was fooled again!  Big time!

I managed to catch 4 on the seep near Doris’ place and then went out to Club 41.  The channel line yielded up 5 rats, which was a very pleasant surprise, but the floats only had one rat and two other traps set off with nothing in them.  The big surprise was the 16 traps I set Saturday.  I was counting on the 3 colony traps to catch multiple rats, but only one rat was caught.  The rest of the traps held 2 rats and none were set off without anything in them.  That was the big surprise!  So I ended up with 13 rats.  I’ll update the post as soon as I hear from Bob and Weasel.

Bears Butt

This picture is of a rat that was wet and we put it on the drying rack overnight to dry.  Even though it is very dry it still looks bad…i.e. matted, gnarly, dirty and just plain not good.  This has been our usual for many years…make sure they are dry and then put them up on the stretchers.  I can pretty safely say that most trappers who process their furs will do this very thing and it’s ok to do that.  This year we decided early on that we were going to go the extra step in making sure our furs are the best they can be to go to market.  So, a combing is in order before this rat goes on the stretcher.

It is hard to believe that this is the same rat fur as in the previous picture.  It looks soft and cushy and a fur buyer will feel up inside the stretched and dry pelt and feel there are no lumps, bumps, burs or any reason not to grade this fur as high as possible.  All our furs are combed and we are very pleased with the way they look and feel.

Last night while we were putting up some of the dried pelts, Weasel had combed one in particular and made a comment about the dirt that was coming off of it.  For sure it is a rat that came off of Club 41.  The water there is filled with very fine soil and when you are walking in the mud, it is very sticky and makes your boots want to come off, or worse yet, it won’t let you get your foot out of the mud and you tip over and get all muddy and wet (Wapiti can attest to that).  Well, this fine silty dirt gets into the fur very badly and even though I wash them before putting them in the catch bag, they still have a lot of dirt on the fur.  So, in my process of fleshing this particular rat, I came upon a “bump” that was big enough to notice.  I felt up under the skin and found a small lump of mud still attached to the fur.  The comb missed it and it’s understandable as Weasel was trying to do his best but the comb he is using just missed this one little lump.  I smushed it and shook the hide and the dirt fell out easily.

So, in our process we have checks and balances to make sure nothing is missed….even if those checks and balances are by accident (insert smiley face here).

And so, we have completed week 4 of our trapping season and things are beginning to look like the end of the season is coming fast.  Do we have a full week of trapping left?  Can we stretch it to two more weeks?  All the males are in full swing mating, we are seeing a few smashed rats on the road ways, the weather is warm for this time of year, the ice on the water ways is almost non existent….all signs are pointing toward the end EXCEPT we have NOT seen any fur slippage as of yet.  When the comb starts to show large quantities of fur coming out, we will have to call an end to the season.

Week 4 ended with 116 rats either hanging or put into the freezer….space in the shed is getting tight, and that is a good thing!  Our main goal is still 1,000 rats, but we have yet to cross the 700 mark, a goal we will make before Wednesday of this week!

So, this story has been done on my new computer, can you see a difference?  I thought not….some things just don’t change.  All my files from the old computer are now uploaded onto this new one and it’s time for that computer to go to Weasel’s house for a thorough cleaning and then over to Three Breaks for its new environment!

Bears Butt

March 9, 2014