Fur is fur and when there is a demand to capture up that fur it is time to do it! Some times the demand does not require the fur to be prime, other times it does. And so the makings of a true trapper comes out in the end.
On the muzz deer hunt this year we found Bones in a real dilemma. She had some wild deer mice livin in her lodge and she don’t like deer mice one bit. She didn’t have any traps even though I offered her the only one I had, she figured it might be too small to hold such a big critter as a deer mouse. So she lived with the deer mice until her husband, Tracker, came up to camp with a whole pack of mouse traps.
Now his traps were not the mouse trap ordinaire…no sirree…these babys were meant ta kill an kill quick like.
So they set their trap line out on Friday night. Baited them up real good with whatever they baited them with and turned off all the lights in the lodge. Both of them expected a full trap line of fur by first light the next day.
What they found were still set traps with not a speck of bait left on any of them. Those deer mice snuck in and very carefully lifted the bait off the triggers and got away with it all.
So, they reset the entire line with new bait, only this time they really pressed the bait onto and into the triggers…this time for sure they would have a full trap line of fur come the next morning.
Next morning….nuttin! Well it just so happened the next morning was the day we were to head for home and so they carried the little critters home with them and would deal with them there. What happened is anyone’s guess as I have not heard either way.
BUT, had we had our senses about us we could have built her a very effective and catch all fur trap like the one in this explanation.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly110.html
Next year Bones…Next year. In the mean time good luck with the Beavers!
Bears Butt
Oct. 30, 2012