Yesterday I set 4 traps to try and catch raccoons on Bull Run.  This morning I hope to find 4 raccoon in those traps!  We will see.

I also set 18 more rat traps down on Fish Springs.  I now have a total of 71 rat traps out.  The weather is going to be unseasonably warm again today, and last night’s temps were mild and no wind.  The rats should have moved around very much last night.

My expected catch today is 30.  That is saying a lot, but the 18 traps I set should pull through with 10 or more, while the other 53 should yield around 10 themselves.  I have high hopes on the Fish Springs sets and on a rat run during the night coming into the Bull Run area.  I’ll stick to 30.

I’ll post more coming up once I get home from checking traps.

Tomorrow I’m taking the day off from trapping and heading to the big city to spend the day with Winemaker and going to an Ancestry Show and classes on how to research your ancestors.  It will be a fun day.  We plan on taking Tracks to add to the adventure.  What that means in the trapping business is that I will not set any new traps today.  But, believe me, when I get home from trapping today, I have a whole shed full of hides that need to be fleshed and put up on stretchers.

Later!

Bears Butt

February 12, 2015

UPDATE:

It’s late…like 7 p.m.  And to tell you the truth…MY BUTT IS KICKED!

Got to the trapping line about 9:45 this morning, not early, not late….NO raccoons visited the traps last night.  At least not the ones designed to put an end to them.  Sure, wouldn’t you know it, I catch 9 rats in 9 traps and get damaged to the max by raccoons and then I set traps to catch the coon and NOTHING.  My luck.

Oh well, back to the line.  It wasn’t such a bad day, but not exactly what I expected either.  The line I call Bull Run produced 10 rats.  That was about right, maybe a little low and I only lost one rat to raccoons.  And only a couple of set off traps with nothing in them.

The big surprise came over at Fish Springs.  Remember I set 18 traps yesterday and the norm for a one night set of trap is about 50 percent.  At least 50  percent is a good number.  Then it goes to 25, 10, 5 and none.  That is pretty normal.  Well out of the 18 traps I caught 15 rats and had two other traps set off.  Only one trap was un-touched.  Amazing percentage.

So, I ended up with 25 rats while Bob came in with 10 of his own….a pretty good day…35 rats!

We spent several hours in the shed, and thanks to Weasel brushing and helping with skinning, we got all 88 rats processed.  50 stretched and hanging and the rest drying.

My butt is kicked and I’m out of here!

Butt