Here kitty, kitty, kitty….BOOM!

Day 2 of week 3 is about to begin!  Yesterday I used up a big bag of carrot bait and it sure seems to be working like last year.  We have discovered a secret ingredient to add to the chopped carrots and the rats are really attracted to it…at least in our minds they are.

Tonight we have to be at a the High School to see Conner perform with the orchestra…He plays a Cello and is quite good at it.  So there will not be any rat shed fun until tomorrow night.  Skinner Man has been directed to skin yesterdays catch and freeze them until we have more time.

Today will should catch quite a few rats as the temperature last night was very warm….40ish.  But you never know about those little critters.

The trap line is different for me this year, as right now I have more bait sets out than I do Conibears, that is something quite unusual for me.  But the water along the Trellis is so deep I have to have float type sets and it is way too deep for setting Conibears, even though I can see the runs down under the water.  The water is over my boots in some places and I would be setting traps with my face in the water if I wanted to push a stake in to hold the Conibear.

So, everyday means chopping up more carrots and putting in the secret ingredient as the attractant to my bait sets….it’s pretty fun mixing that secret ingredient in.  Today I made a change and am going to do a small experiment to see if this “new” secret ingredient might or might not do.

Weasels rat from the set he made last Saturday….good job Weasel!

The bottom line to all of this is to catch rats and catch them as quickly as we can.  The weather is too warm right now and the run is about to begin.  As we know from past experience, when the run starts it is “go like gang busters” and then suddenly the rats are gone and you can’t buy a rat!  It happens every year and this one will be no exception!

So, this is the type of thing I like to see:

Actually, what I really like to see is two rats in two traps, rather than one rat in two traps.  This one messed things up and on the board was lots of other rat poop, plus this poor bugger had rat poop on his back!  Rats have no mercy!

What do I expect today?

With 17 new sets, they should produce 8 rats.  The other sets along the Trellis will also produce 8 rats, for a total of 16 rats…the live traps will have one skunk and one raccoon.

There you have it!

Bears Butt

February 25, 2014

PM REPORT

As mild as the temperatures were last night it seems the animals didn’t want to leave home….well, maybe they are just smart about our traps right now.

I was extremely surprised by the lack of rats in my traps.  I only caught 11 and most of them were caught in the 17 traps I set yesterday.

No skunks, No raccoons.

As of this moment I have not talked to Bob so I don’t know what his catch was, but I’ll bet it’s a lot like mine.  I’d be surprised if he caught more than me.

Also, Mavryck (Maverik) caught another rat which we will buy from him to add to our collection, that makes 5 from him.

When I went out this morning I saw Pete’s two sons and one Grandson moving the bulls and they ended up pushing them all the way to where Bob is trapping…All of the bulls!  When I told Bob that earlier in the day, he said he would just ignore them….OK…Just ignore them.  I’m just glad I’m not trapping in there.

I will update this when I know what Bob and Weasel caught for the day.

LATER:

Bob = 9,  Weasel = 0

Bears Butt