Last nights dreams were all about these little guys…hundreds of them flooded my dreams!  They came off the hill to the North, crossed the highway and entered my trapping area nose to tail.  Once into the main stream, they spread out like ants on a gum drop, devouring everything that had meat in it, including my caught rats!  I developed a plan to attack their front line and will implement it today!

Six live traps will be my defense and I plan to catch six of these guys every day until I have their numbers under control!

Pete told me that all summer long there are continual dead raccoons along this area of the highway.  With the small amount of traffic that drives that road, there must be a lot of raccoons crossing there and going down the hill to the headwaters of this drainage.  In this water are found hundreds of thousands of fresh water clams and the shells of those that have been eaten before are strewn throughout the bottom of the stream.  I picture an every night scene of many raccoons going down the water way digging and picking up the clams, breaking them open and eating them.  Then along comes me, and the rats are bonus food for the critters!  I hope they all get a belly ache from eating so much!  And hope that a scene like this will be mine to observe soon:

Today I have to be home earlier than usual and so trap setting will be at a minimum, if I can get 10 set that would be great, but 5 will be acceptable.

How many rats will the line produce today?  Boy, after yesterday that is a tough one to guess.  I think Pete’s pond is just about empty of rats and so I’ll give it a one rat catch today and will probably pull the traps from there tomorrow.  Bull Run will net 10 rats and I hope at least 2 of them are still intact.  Remember I need 3 to pay for gas.  So, 11 rats are expected today.

Bears Butt

February 12, 2014

Feb.11,2014 P.M. Report

It was a beautiful day to be outside today…warm, sunny and mild.  They don’t get any better than this one.

Checking traps at Pete’s pond, only the two colony traps produced, 3 in one and 1 in the other…4 rats!  Not bad!

At the top of Bull Run, I took this picture:

You really have to look closely to see the bulls scattered across on the other side of the snowy field.  I said earlier there were 18 bulls, today I counted 24.  The fear factor exponentially increased.

Pete stopped by to talk a bit and I told him about my fear of bulls, he laughed and told me he has never raised even one man eating bull.

I suppose that means in all his years of ranching he has never lost a cowboy to a bull either.

This gave me much confidence.

So, I proceeded to load up the toy with additional traps and made my mind up I was going out there come bull or high water and set my 20 or so traps.  But first I had 18 to check.  With 4 already in the bag, I was feeling pretty good about the days’ catch that was waiting for me.

My first two sets are my only bait sets (leg holds) and as I approached trap number one, I could see something was terribly amess.  The toolies were all gone around where I set the trap.  As I got closer I could see why:

Mr. Raccoon.  Yesterday I didn’t see any sign of a raccoon and now I have one caught.  Well, that will net us about $12 once it’s on the stretcher.  I had to go back to the toy to get my 22 pistol and while I did, I checked the other 3 traps in this area.

A very disappointing sight.  A rat that was caught had been shredded by a raccoon, maybe even the one I caught.  But there goes $10 down the tube.

I did manage to catch a rat that was not torn up in my 4th trap, the 3rd trap had nothing in it.

I gathered up the 22 and ventured back out to Mr raccoon and popped him in the head.  Then went to resetting the traps.

As I proceeded down the line checking traps, I had the distinct feeling that a raccoon was following my line.

This is kind of hard to see, but the trap is being held on the top of my stake, while it appears the rat is on the bottom of the stream bed.  There were bits of bones and assorted other rat parts scattered all over the ground outside the water.  When I picked up what appeared to be the rat in the bottom of the stream it was more like a wet sock.  Just the skin was there, but the hide was so torn up all I could do was toss it away.  I reset the trap and moved to the next set.

Another rat destroyed.  This is most annoying.  I quit taking pictures of the destruction and finished checking the remaining traps.  Of the 18 traps, one held the raccoon, 12 others had rats.  5 of the 12 were totaled beyond any salvage at all and 2 were what I call salvageable, I brought them home hoping we can save them.  The other 5 were what you hope to see caught and not damaged.

So, I did catch the 16 rats I was hoping for, but didn’t count on losing 5.

The war is on!  I’m taking 2 live traps out and set them near this area and Bob is bringing down 4 live traps he has had set for 2 days up by Pete’s stackyard.  6 live traps should help us take out a few of these pesky little varmints!  I did see a skunk den and I’ll make sure I keep the traps far away from there.

It was not a good trade to lose $50 worth of rats for a $12 raccoon.

As you can tell, I survived the days romping near the bulls.  I managed to set another 21 traps and only got down to where the bulls like to hang out.  Tomorrow I will have to “go among them”.  My last parking spot was within 30 yards of some of the bulls and they only showed a little curiosity about why I was there.  I didn’t have that guttural fear I usually get being that close to 1300 pound animals with large male glands and the looks of beasts backed into a corner.

I must say, Bull Run has a ton of rat sign and so many places that a trap can be set, it was actually hard making the decision as to where to place the traps.  Deep runs taking the rats from one place to the next completely out of sight from predators were the easy ones, the “on top” sets had to be disguised in hopes of getting to the rat before Mr raccoon does.

Now my big question is, do I have enough 22 shells for dispatching raccoons?  I think I have about 3,000 shells, that should do it.

Bears Butt

February 11, 2014

A bad night for sleeping for me last night.

Today I face my nemesis, 18 of them!  I had a dream however, that they had all slowly fed their way into an area where I could close a gate and contain them in the South 40.  I doubt that has happened during the night.

If you read last nights prediction on the number of rats I’ll catch today, you know I’m expecting 16 rats.  My goal is to get close to finishing the setting of traps on Bull Run.  If I can get another 30 or so traps set today, I should be able to finish setting it tomorrow.

Wish me luck in the bull fields!

Bears Butt

February 11, 2014

WOW!  My behind is kicked!  I can’t believe how out of shape I am!  And all along I thought I was doing pretty dang good.

I stopped at Pete’s place and looked over the pond.  Very little sign, but what was there I set.  I placed two colony traps in two deep runs and that should just about take care of all the rats there.  I did set 3 other connie bear traps just because.  I’m guessing 10 rats at the most are living there.  We will see and it should not take more than 3 days to find out.

From there I moved down to Bull Run and looked it over from the roadway while I ate a bologna sandwich…mmmmmm…Bologna!  As I sat there I could see all of Pete’s bulls are out in that area….YUK!  I have decided that since bulls are a phobia of mine, I need to address them right up front.  I really am afraid of them, but I still need to trap this area.  18 bulls is what I counted today and I think that is all of them.  One red one…what’s so significant about a red one?  I REALLY DON’T LIKE RED ONES!  Red ones are what bad dreams are made of.  So as I sat there enjoying my sandwich I made my mind up to just go ahead and set the traps in there and deal with them.  Pete has said many times, “They won’t bother you, heck we have a tough time rounding them up, they just go away from us”.  Well I’m about to see if that is true.  I bit the bullet today, loaded up the toy and opened the gate…drove in and set 18 traps.  That is just the beginning of setting this area as I usually have close to 100 traps before I reach the end of it.  Normally the end is where the gate is that holds the bulls on the other side of the fence…not so now…they don’t have the gate closed down there, so I might as well trap the entire length of the the drainage.  Unless of course a bull takes me to lunch, at which time someone else will have to pull the traps.  I’m making a very good detailed map so someone can come behind me and gather all the traps up should my worst nightmare happen.

So, 23 traps set today!  The sign on Bull Run was unbelievable!  Rat crap on almost every bump along the main stream!  Tons of holes coming out from the banks on both sides!  It was really easy to set those 18 traps.  I expect the rest of the run will continue to show the same kind of sign all the way to the end, or at least to where the ice is still covering everything up.

I saw very little raccoon sign as well, which is good, but I’m prepared to take care of those pesky guys when I find sign of them…I have snares and one live trap, as well as a bunch of number 3 leg holds should I need them.  I hate to set leg holds because of Pete’s dogs and his helpers dogs.  Leg holds will be a very last resort.  Snares I can “loop down” and “set low” to keep dogs from getting their necks in them.

So, let’s call this my “prediction” post for tomorrows catch.  23 sets, which include two very good colony traps…I’m saying the colony traps will each catch 3 rats and the remaining 21 traps will net me 10 more rats….16 rats for tomorrow!  That’s a pretty high expectancy!

With gas prices right now at $2.90 or so, I need to catch 2 rats to pay for one day of trapping.  That is basing the rat pelt price to net us $10 each this year.

By the way, Bob managed to set 14 more traps today and he caught 2 more nice big rats.  I’ll tell you the rats out there are huge.  Tomorrow I’m strapping on my pistol and carrying it loaded!  One man all alone in a swamp with cat tails and phragmites higher than his head, it wouldn’t take much for a couple of rats to tackle him and pull him under!  I hope if that happens my pistol can shoot good under water!

Bears Butt

February 10, 2014

The weather is absolutely perfect for the start of the 2014 trapping season!  I’m not really sure if I have remembered everything and this just reminds me that I need to make a check list for next year.

This morning I made sure the trapping shed was pretty much ready for the beginning of the season and the only thing that doesn’t seem to work real well right now is the heater, but we will figure something out with that.  Maybe we will have to purchase another one….Anyone have a small electric heater with a fan and a thermostat they want to sell me for cheap?

I was going to cover the outside of the shed with rolled roofing today, but I didn’t have enough to even do one side, so I bagged that idea and just got the Tyvek back up.

So, now the only thing left to do is head out and set some traps.  My goal is to set Pete’s pond and if that is all I get done, so be it, at least I’ll have a dozen or so traps out.

So, let’s see what the rig looks like inside:

80 conibear traps and 20 leg holds.  My home made floating colony trap, two fold up colony traps, 4 snares, two pairs of hip boots, hydration pack, two rain coats, two pairs of gauntlet gloves, an empty cooler to carry rats, a whacking stick, 22 pistol and box of shells, camera….what else?

Carrots for bait, flagging clips….I think I’m ready.

The toy is loaded and I’ve checked to make sure I have plenty of map making papers to draft where my traps are located.  The rigs are topped off with fuel…let’s go!

It’s now 10:45 and I’ll make myself a sandwich and head on out!

Time for trapping folks!  Check back in each day to see what is going on.  I’ll be posting twice each day (If I can), once in the morning to let you know what I expect to happen that day, and again in the evening to let you know what actually happened.

So, here goes Bears Butt off into the 2014 trapping season…

Bears Butt

February 10, 2014

Looks great on the trailer!

This “getting ready for trapping” is really taking a lot of time.  Yesterday I didn’t have a lot of time but I figured I could get everything done and loaded and ready for Monday morning (that’s tomorrow by the way).  But, when I looked at my old rubber gloves one pair had to be tossed in the garbage right away and the other I thought might have a chance at being fixed.  I’ve been working on them since yesterday and now am having doubts about their usability.

It’s the right hand glove that takes the most beating, notice the tape between the thumb and index finger.  There is a dime size hole under that tape.  That is what I’m trying to patch right now.

I also grabbed my bag of flagging clips and started to count out my 150 for my trap lines and found that some of them were so faded there would be no way to be able to see them out in the swamp if I didn’t change the tape.  I also found that most of them were so wrapped around each other that making them come apart in order to be seen would be more trouble than just changing them out right now.

So, that is what I did, I spent the next 3 hours taking the old flagging off and putting on new.  You can see from this picture why I had to do it.

The new flags will be a lot easier to see, plus they are not all wrapped around each other and not flapping in the breeze.  I thought of another thing to do with them and later on (someday) I’ll let you in on my newest idea!  Always gotta be thinking!

So, now my allotment of 150 flagging clips are ready for the swamp.

That’s pretty much all I got done yesterday and with church and all today, there has not been much getting ready.  So tomorrow morning I’ll be back busy getting more done.  I hope to get out of town by noon and get a few traps set up at Pete’s pond.  If I can get that done at least I have started.  If for some unknown reason that doesn’t happen then it won’t be until Tuesday morning that I will start.  Times awastin and 40 degree weather is upon us!

Today, Bob caught 4 rats in the 7 traps he has in open water and he saw a whole pile of rat houses in an area that is mine to trap.  I think they were covered with snow is the reason he has not seen them until today.  Bob also got all his live traps set for racoons and that will mean more fur and a bigger check in the end.  Racoons went for an average of about $18 (I guessing at the number, as I didn’t put the numbers in the calculator, just looked and made a guess, it might be more) at the Utah Fur Trappers Auction yesterday.  Rats were only a bit over $9 average at this auction but I think I know the guy who bought them and that tells me A LOT!

So, with hopes running very high on a large catch and a pay off of more than we have ever netted in the past on the horizon, we are charging forth with as much enthusiasm as a couple of guys can muster up!

I’ll be posting daily trapping “stuff”, so keep coming back and seeing just what is going on out on the trapping line.  I’ll be taking lots of pictures and trying to keep dry at the same time!  Trapping is fun and every trap is like a new Christmas present…you just never know what might be waiting in it!

Bears Butt

February 9, 2014