March 2, P.M. report…I think I need a secretary.  My butt is kicked.

Today, Shipley went on the trap line with me to see just what trapping muskrats is all about.  He arrived right on time, about 9 a.m. and we loaded his stuff in the “two weeks into trapping” rig…

I guess I should explain that one.  Once a person starts a trapping season, the rig he is driving, riding, using, “whatever” does not get cleaned until the season is over.  Be it spilled soda, beer, muskrat innards or whatever happens inside the rig, stays there until the season is over….usually 5 weeks.

I made sure there was enough space inside for him and his gear and off we went.  The cooler (without the lid) in the back filled with yesterdays fur less rat bodies.  I had to stop at the local Maverik for some gas before we seriously headed west.  He had to go into the store for some reason….?????…….

On our way I tried to explain some of my trapping experiences with him and some of the quirks about trapping rats…he was cordial and listened intently (maybe he was asleep)…and when we finally got to our destination of first departure on the toy, he sputtered and asked, “why are we stopping here?”…hmmmmm.

So now he is really excited to finally get to go trapping.  I knew first hand that these first two lines would have either nothing or perhaps one or two rats.  But that is trapping right.  Out on the line he was full of questions and of course I had answers…Answers to questions about trapping from a novice like me are easy…I just make stuff up.  Shipley, not knowing, believed everything I told him (I think).

So once we were done with the two “stupid” trap lines we headed up to the Trellis.  No rats were in the bag at this point…just as I figured.  Shipley said he wanted to make a short video about catching rats and send it to his kids and others and my heart jumped a beat.  Why didn’t he say that in the beginning, I could have saved us a lot of time for that one.

We get to the Trellis line and head out in hopes of finding that first rat of the day…my hopes were high for a couple of the first traps, but nothing was held in them…neither were they set off…my mouth was in a downward trend, but my hopes were high.

The thought of Shipley wanting to film me catching a rat had my hopes really high, you should know by now just how much of a ham I really am, but the traps just kept coming up empty.  I have done too good a job at catching the rats on the Trellis line I guess.  And then it happened….at a feed set, suddenly I could see a caught rat, still alive and looking our way…YES!  A rat!

I worked my way over to the set with Shipley gingerly in tow…not actually in tow, but behind me trying to manage the clumps of toolies and nice footing areas and not the deeper water that would cause his boot to suddenly fill with the cold water of Spring.  We finally make it over to the double feed mound set and I see the alive rat in one trap and the other trap filled with a rat that was normal (drowned and dead).  I have to dispatch this rat the usual way  but remind Shipley that perhaps a video showing that would not be  something a family show would like to see.  My real intent of my suggesting that was to “remind him” of his intention to take a video (put a smiley face here).

I dispatched the rat and took care of business with the other and rebuilt the feed mound setting the two rats carefully in the foreground as I baited the set and re-set the traps…he videoed…I don’t have the footage, perhaps he will interject with his own story at this point or another posting.  At any rate, he showed me the video later…and boy howdy…”Do I Look Good”!!!!

On we went and trap after trap held rats…I was beside him and myself as we harvested four rats total from the Trellis line.  I also showed him some of the damage that rats can cause, including undermining the road way and causing it to collapse.  Not a good scene for the owner of the property and roadway.  Rats are cute as little bugs until they either bite your finger nearly off or dig up your road and not allow you to go where you need to go.  They have not heard of, nor would they listen to the verbiage “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”!!!!

Rats are cute, nice to look at, make nice coats and need to be dead.  End of story.

With the Trellis line checked, we head back to the waiting truck and Bob is arriving at the same time.  We go to chat.

Bob has fallen into a deep spot on his trap line!!!!!  Not so deep as to get to his tracheotomy voice box thingy, but deep enough to fill both boots with mud and water and show clearly the depth of the water up on his chest…he ain’t real happy.  Since this is a family site, I can not tell you exactly how he told us about his ordeal at the spot he fell…I weren’t real pritty.

We B.S.ed a bit (we seem to do that a lot at this spot) and then went on our way.  Bob to go home and dry out and clean up and us up to Bull Run to catch more rats (we hope).

So now we have 4 rats in the bag and we arrive at Bull Run.  To my surprise Shipley never asked how it got it’s name, and I never told him.  We unloaded the toy and launched ourselves in the direction of “more rats”…four rats is not a bad days catch and I did not expect to catch but a few more.  On we went.

At the very first trap checking station (4 traps) one of them was missing.  OH NO!  A rat must have been caught in the trap…along came a raccoon…saw the rat…said…AH HA…grabbed it and the trap and the stake and took off.  We looked all around for 50 yards in all directions to no avail…nothing.  Lost trap, lost rat…I’m not a happy guy (not as unhappy as Bob at this point but still unhappy).  We continue down the line checking traps.  At one point Shipley has had about all he can stand with trapping and falls back into his “teacher” mode.  He is a professional teacher by trade and has taught children for umpteen years about English, Math, Science and Common Sense stuff.  I think his main goal is to expand his teaching to include lots of other forms of life.  Edjukateer is like Shipley in a lot of ways, only not as “civily taught”, Edjukateer don’t got no degrees, where Shipley has lots of degrees.

Shipley has been intrigued as he tries to show these rats the right and the wrong way to approach and get around a locked and loaded trap:

He is trying his best to show these rats the angles of the dangles in order to avoid being caught…..In my mind he has picked a select number of students who either don’t give a dang, or have gone somewhere else mentally for their education.

Shipley was fun to be with today..he even held a couple of rats up for the camera…OOOOOOOOOOO…SOOOOO GRROOOOOSSSSSEEEEEE!

No not really.  He is a trapper at heart, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to show his expertise!

So as one trapper to another, when you catch a bunch of fish or catch a bunch of whatever you are after and you are pretty happy about it, and suddenly you find yourself caught up  in the event…maybe even caught the bug of the sport…you find yourself “hooked” sort of on what you have been doing…you might as well join the ones you have hooked.

Thanks for joining me today Shipley…it was fun and I’m glad the rats decided to play as well.  We ended up with 16 in the bag, with 12 of them coming from the Bull Run line alone.  We lost two rats to raccoons today and one trap as well to them little buggers.  That bites into the profit margin for the day, but goes to show us all that even though we catch a few, there are always those that get away.

I’m taking tomorrow (Sunday) off to catch up on “sleep”, “chores”, “general stuff” and will be back at it on Monday…care to join me on Monday?

Lots of good plans for next week and if you look closely at the calendar (as quickly as the calendar rockets on), there isn’t much time left for us to trap.  I still have to finish my trapping on the Big Spring and Little Spring lines as well as Bull Run, before I head off to Club 41, Bull Arena and Johnson place….I love trapping, hate snow right now and PLEASE don’t stop me and make me plow snow.

Bears Butt

March 2, 2013

Yesterday was a rather overwhelming day in the field and let me explain why you did not see a P.M. report from me.  This is a combination report for yesterdays “on the trap line” and this mornings expectations.

My Grandson, Conner, accompanied me on the days trapping activities and while we were in progress driving out to the site, I showed him an older camera I have and asked him to learn how it worked.  I could explain a little as I drove and it didn’t take him long to figure it all out.  I told him he could take pictures of whatever he wanted and that there was really no limit to the recording disc.  He clicked on and on.

At the trap line we hit Little Spring and left the Big Spring line for today.  I needed about 45 minutes at the end of the day in order to get ready for a date Sherry and I had planned.  Later in the day I must admit, we needed every minute of that 45.

On Little Spring I have been trying to capture one little rat that has tripped my trap 3 different occasions and when this happens it becomes sort of an obsession on my part to do whatever it takes to make the capture.  This was one of those times, and yesterday that little bugger was held fast in the coni!  I was as happy to see it as was Conner.

Photo courtesy of Conner…..I went to great lengths to finally capture that rat.  I guess whatever it was I did, confused it enough to get it’s head in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It would not be right for me to write the story of yesterdays events without first inviting Conner to do the honors and then I would post it on here for you to read at 12 year olds view of an old man and a day of trapping.  I’ll see if he will do that.

In the meantime trust me when I say that the day was a beauty.  Nice weather, nice company, nice wildlife and all in all a very wonderful day.

We checked the traps on Little Spring and only caught the one rat.  The colony trap that was covered up the day before and that I moved a short distance had a plug in the one end.  I removed the plug but left the trap in place.  If it scores today or not, I will remove it and place it in a new line.  The rat or two left in that spot are too smart for me to spend any more time trying to catch them (it).

Over on the Trellis line we quickly headed to the West end where I have eight traps, we scored one down there.  As we proceeded East from the truck, Bob came driving up so we turned around to B.S. with him.  He was going to go check out an area up near the ranch owners home, the head water spring for a drainage that usually only holds a few rats and a ton of raccoons.  A place we try to avoid, but he is antsy to get some iron in the water and start to catch rats.  When we were done with the B.S.’n we went back to business.

With two rats in the bag I was feeling like we just might find as many as 10 rats by the end of the day.  But the Trellis line yielded up a total of seven rats!  That meant eight rats were in the bag.  Wow!

I gave Conner the option of eating lunch right there or heading over to Bull Run and continue to check traps…he opted for Bull Run.  I quickly loaded up the toy and headed over to that line.

As we started down that line I told him that the first 18 traps had been checked the day before and had good results and that they should only produce maybe 4 or 5 rats, but that the remaining 12 traps had only been set yesterday and they should have about a 50% yield.  What I have to say right now is something that has never happened in my life.  Those 30 traps yielded 16 rats!  For a total catch of the day of 24 rats!  Give it up for one heck of a day of trapping!  I think it was Conner luck that came through for us.

Back at home, Bob brought in one rat…total catch for the day of 25 rats!  A most excellent day.

After the checking and all the gear loaded up, Conner and I ate our lunch on the way back home.  It was running late and with 24 rats to skin my time was going to be very short.  We called the Weasel to come and help us, which he did, but Conner wanted to try his hand at skinning and so we dressed him up in the apron and rubber pants, handed him the knife and the Weasel explained the process and Conner ended up skinning two rats!  Great Job Conner!

We finished the job of skinning and hanging them to dry about 4:20…Just enough time to get a shower and cleaned up for our date….right on time.

As for today:  As we were finishing up the skinning job yesterday, Shipley called and said his fishing partner wasn’t feeling all that well and that if the invitation to go out on the trap line was still there he would like to go with me today.  Absolutely!  He will be here about 9 a.m.

My intent is to check the Big Spring line today and I have not decided if I should check the Little Spring line or not.  My tendency is not to check it as the line is made up of mostly conibears and the two leg holds have not had any rat activity in almost a week.  One of them has not had a rat at all since it was set.  I’ll decide out there whether to check the line or not.

The weather is supposed to be the nicest temperature day so far this calendar year with a high in the upper 40’s.  It was warm last night and so there should have been some rat movement.  If Big Spring kicks out a couple of rats, I’ll be forced to check Little Spring, which would not be a burden, I am just thinking about Shipley’s time.

My expected catch is NOT anywhere near yesterdays catch and I don’t even expect half that many.  Yesterday was an exception to all rules.  I hope to have a P.M. report today as Sherry and I don’t have any post trapping plans except to enjoy each other’s company when I’m done with it all.

Bob and I have 40 rats all dried and ready to flesh and stretch once we get through checking traps and skinning the days catch.  It will be an “after 5” day for us.  I don’t know how much of the “fur shed” activities Shipley is interested in, but maybe he will join us in seeing what goes on once the furs are caught.

Bears Butt

March 2, 2013

March one!  Hard to believe that February is gone.  Last night it did not get down to freezing and there was a lot of snow melt, I love that.  High for today is low 40’s and cloudy…more snow melt!

I heard there wasn’t any school today and so I asked if Conner would like to go with me on the trap line…he does!  So I’m excited to have him come along.  It will be a long day for him but I think he will have fun.  Departure time 9:30 and I have to be home as quickly as I can because Sherry and I have a date to be somewhere at 6…We might have to leave the rats for another day to skin but that will be determined by the number we catch.  I don’t expect a day like yesterday, but with the warm night I might be surprised.

Gotta get goin!

Bears Butt

March 1, 2013

Once again my rear end is kicked.  A late start and a late finish leads to Bears Butt being one tired old man.

It was a great day however and here is how it went.  I got out there around 10:30 or so and headed out to check the Big and Little Springs.  It was cold but not nearly as cold as it was yesterday.  No wind but a little ice to deal with.  I did not have a trap set off where they have been messing with me lately, but I did notice another hole up the way that had some mud coming out of it.  Instead of moving the trap like I did yesterday I set another trap.  In the process of doing that, I noticed mud coming out from under a  snow overhang and I investigated that and found another hole, so in went another trap.  Three traps covering such a small area is really quite insane, but what the heck…a trap in the truck will not catch a rat.

Down to the big channel I went and I’m glad I took my camera with me.  Those little critters have discovered my deep water trap, the one where I have caught two rats in two days…look at this:

The trap is set off, but what is in it?

How about that…they are smart enough to know that if they poke enough stuff down the hole it will eventually set off the trap…it’s filled with water weeds.  Now you tell me those critters aren’t smarter than we give them credit.

So, I check all the traps on Big and Little Spring lines and this is the only trap that is set off.  I did not catch a rat in all those traps.  I’m not really happy about that and don’t have one rat to show for my two hours of checking.  So I head back up the road to the Trellis line thinking I need to catch a couple of rats to pay for the gas that Bob and I will have spent checking traps today.

The Trellis line starts as the others ended…nothing…and then whoa!  A set off trap with nothing in it.  That makes two for the day, but set off traps don’t pay for gas.  Just like deer tracks don’t go too good with gravy.  I keep a positive attitude as I continue up the line.  I know that yesterday I set a trap at the far end and it should produce if none of the others do…my hopes are on that trap.  Then I check a deep run trap and low and behold there is a rat!  I’m a happy guy again!  The next one holds a rat as well…I’m doubly happy…The next one has one…what is going on?  This is wonderful…when I’m done checking the trellis I have seven rats!  I’m on top of the world!  What is the difference between these rats and the ones way out west?  Was the wind blowing out there and not here?  I don’t know but I’m happy as can be.  Seven rats is a good day.

On this line as well, I encountered a skunk wandering down the trail in my direction.  He did not seem to be overly concerned about my presence and made no bones about not moving out of the way…OK…I’ll oblige…I pulled out my 22 pistol and after 9 shots he lay dead…I missed the first 6 shots, but 7 through 9 did him in….AND..He didn’t get a chance to smell the place up.

You can skin him.

Now over to Bull Run.  My hopes are very high right now after putting seven rats in the bag.  Bull Run had a lot of sign on it yesterday when I set the 19 traps and if all holds true to form, I should catch a 50% rate.  But then that is hoping for a lot.

As I proceeded down the line, the traps were either filled with fur or set off, only 4 traps were untouched when I was done.  10 rats came to the bag out of the 19 sets.  AND the best part was there was not new sign of raccoons.

These rats weighed at least 15 pounds apiece and will net us some serious cash.

Am I serious?  No rat weighs 15 pounds unless it’s one of the South East Asian ones.  I was just checking with you to make sure you were reading this and comprehending any of it.

But I must say, every one of the rats is over 15 inches stretched on the stretchers.  And that is saying alot!  Extra Large rats.

Once the set traps were checked I went on to set some more.  The day light was getting to that point where I just couldn’t see into the water and so I only got 12 more traps set.  Back at the toy I said to myself (aloud mind you), Butt you must call it a day…45 minutes to drive home and then to skin out the 17 rats you have caught, plus whatever Bob caught and then flesh and stretch the ones on the drying rack from yesterday….Butt your butt is kicked.

At home I called the Weasel and told him we needed his skinning prowess to help us out with the skinning.  He actually came!  Even brought beer!  I reminded him how to skin a rat, since he hasn’t done it since he was 14, some 25 years ago or so, he did really well and out of the 17 rats the three of us skinned he managed to skin 3….Good job Weasel and Thanks for the Beer!

Bears Butt

Feb. 28, 2013

Getting a very late start today…why?….Carrots to dice for bait, gas for the toy, apply for big game permits, cook breakfast, make lunch, write up a Bears Butt Dot Com….Life is good.

Goal for the day, set more traps on Bull Run.  My plan of attack however is to check all 92 traps that are out there and then “time permitting” set more traps.  I figure Bull Run will take another 40 to 50 traps to get it all set.  There could be an ice issue toward the far end that would prohibit me from getting it all set and only by going down there will I know.  Bob thinks I’m only about 200 yards from the ice, if so another 20 traps should take care of that.

In the same field is another small ditch that hasn’t been trapped since I last trapped it, 3 years ago.  It is generally good for 10 rats and since they have had a relaxed few years, I might be able to snake more than that out of it.  If I get to it today it would be a good thing.

Later!

Bears Butt

Feb. 28, 2013

My goodness it was cold out West this morning!  I thought I was going to freeze my tush off.  Luckily it wasn’t blowing or I would have.

My goal was met in part today.  I did manage to pull the 16 original traps from Big Spring and set some on Bull Run…I’ll explain in a bit.

So as things were very much frozen this morning when I began, I started with the brakes locked up on the toy.  I usually set the rear brake when I load it, but I didn’t think to check for ice and snow crusted around the brake release in the back of the toy.  This morning it was frozen tighter than a drum.  No moving the toy until I could get it loose.

Once on the line things went pretty good.  Remember the set off trap yesterday with the tracks in the mud.  Where I figured the rat came along and tipped the trap over to make it safe?  Guess what?

I got him!  If you look closely, he is frozen into position and so he was caught before it got cold enough to freeze.  I had to chip him out of 1/2 inch of ice.  Then I noticed up the bank about 15 feet some mud coming out of another hole…tricky little guys…I moved the trap up to cover that opening.  Tomorrow will tell if they decided to use that entry instead of this one.

Then it was down to the big water way and the colony trap down there.

There you go!  Another in a series…I love this!  Now with two rats I have c0vered my gas for the day and some bonus bucks as well…the rest of the day is bonus.

Oh!  Lookie!  Another in the lower run set…this is like Christmas.

To say the least, I am flying right now and with lots more traps to check my hopes are very high.  How many will the bag hold at the end of the day?

So on I go and as I do the weather warms slowly until it is almost bearable.  I walk quickly when I walk and hunker low when I riding.  By the time I came around to pulling the 16 traps from around Big Spring I finally realize it’s warm enough I can take off a layer of clothing.  Which I did and then took a big old drink from the camelback.

I secured those 16 traps on the back of the toy because the second part of my goal for the day is to get some traps put out at Bull Run.  If I can get 16 traps set down there it would be a great start.

Over on Little Spring, I have that one colony trap that I moved the other day and caught a sneaky little rat, I’m excited to get to see that trap today.  As I approached the trap I could see a rat inside and I was happy.  But I also saw where the other rats had tried to bury it and for sure blocked off the entry so no more rats would venture down that trail and get caught.

That mud and sticks is what they have packed in there to block the entry.  The first time I saw this done was three years ago in another spot and I couldn’t believe that the rats were that smart to do something like this.  I have seen it a lot since then and even in shallow runs.  By the way, that is ice covering that colony trap.  I broke it out and pulled it up onto the bank to dump out the rat…what is this?

Yehaaaa!  Two rats!  It does get better, but this is wonderful!  Now I am a happy guy!  And the weather is warming quickly!  More happiness for me!  I took some time to clear away all of the debris the rats had filled in the run with and waited until the water cleared enough that I could see nothing more was blocking it.  Then plopped the colony back into the space.

Back at the rig, I loaded up and headed for the Trellis line.  There I met Bob and he had not caught any rats as of that time, but still had a few traps to check.  I feel bad that he can’t get to where he wants to be to trap and is very limited on places he can set traps.  I know just how disappointing it is when you check and check and check the traps and don’t have any rats to show for it.  At this point I tell him I have 9 rats…he is happy about that and knows that these nine will pay for both of our gas for the day.  Then he heads for the upper reaches of Pete’s ranch to check out another possibility spot.  I told him my goal was to swag in some traps on Bull Run if I could find a safe place to pull off the road.

On I went to check the Trellis line.  5 more rats came to the bag, for a total of 14 for the day.  Then up to Bull Run to take a look around.

This is Bull Run.  A series of springs that concentrate their flows in one location and flow out toward the south.  It goes for a couple of miles before coming to the main highway that Bob traps.  I didn’t know if there would be much rat sign there or not, but I loaded the toy up with another batch of 20 traps as well as the 16 from Big Spring and headed on across country.

LOADS of rat sign welcomed me as I walked to the water way.  BUT…also Raccoon, Skunk and Fox tracks filled the areas snow banks as well.  I will have to put my stakes in really deep to keep the raccoons from pulling up the traps when they find a rat caught in them.  Raccoons are notorious for stealing a $10 rat and making it worth nothing.  They can also get away with a $8 to $15 dollar trap.  If raccoons were worth skinning and selling I would be overjoyed by all the sign of them, but they just are not worth the bother.

I kept at setting traps down on Bull Run until the light got so low that I could not see the runs and holes.  I set 19 traps down that line and only made it about 200 yards.  Still a long way to go to get it covered and I figure it will take two more days to do that.

Bears Butt

Feb. 27, 2013

We have an awesome weather forecast coming up…highs near 50 by Saturday and a little rain coming in on Sunday….bring it on!  The snow and ice will disappear quickly out on the trap line when that sort of thing happens!

More sign of the rats beginning to run…swollen glands and bite marks.  Right now we are seeing a pretty stable mix of female and male rats being caught.  Soon however the males will dominate the catch and that is a sure sign of the run in full swing.

It’s a crazy thing too, because we will catch large amounts (relatively speaking) of rats for several days in a row and then….nothing….that is when the game is over.  Where the rats go is anyone’s guess, but they just stop moving around.  Non trappers will begin to notice rats being killed on the roadways, even where there is no water within a quarter mile.  They just go crazy looking for love.

Today’s goal is to pull the 16 traps at Big Spring and hopefully get Bull Run set.  I’m not really sure where I will park at the top of Bull Run as I only drove past there early last week and could not see a wide enough spot on the side of the road to pull off.  Today I hope the snow has melted away enough to allow me to park.  The next big deal will be the snow depth out in the fields.  Can I drive along side the wheat field?  I’ll know more about noon today.

Wish me luck!

Bears Butt

Feb. 27, 2013

Today I decided to carry my camera with me while I checked the traps.  Usually I will leave it in the saddle bag of the toy.  You never know when something interesting is going to show itself and today was a classic.

First off it was very windy and colder than cold out there.  That North wind just bites right through several layers of clothing and I wasn’t sure I had enough on.  My nose is still running like it has all day long.  I wasn’t about to quit though and I just kept mucking along.

Yesterday I caught a rat in a trap where the rat was able to set the trap off and not get caught.  I had moved the trap only about 2 inches and caught him.  Today, another repeat of the rat out foxing me.

It’s almost like he knows it’s there and knows how to set if off.  If you look really close you can see his tail and feet markings in the mud.  Without actually knowing I would have to say, he stood there and pawed at the top of the trap until it snapped.  The trap is laying down in this picture all set off.  A bit of mud in the water indicates to me that the rat went on inside the hole after the trap was made safe.  These critters aren’t as dumb as one might believe.

OK.  I have told you about colony traps and what they are used for.  Multiple catches are what you like to see, but it doesn’t always happen.  This is a colony trap that is under water about 10 inches on the left side and 4 inches on the right.  Look closely and you can see the caught rat on the right end of the trap.

You never know when more than one rat is going to try to get out of or into a den run like this one.  By the way, both of my colony traps payed off today.

As I rode along sniffling and wondering if all of this was worth it (of course it is or I wouldn’t do it), I got to thinking about some of the weirdest things that have happened out on the trap line.  I have caught a rat by the tail once in a conibear.  I’ve caught ducks and geese and even a barn owl once.  Even a fish or two.  FISH!  You are thinking I’m a lying S.O.B. No, really I have caught a trout or two when trapping in the field just NW of home.  Sometimes I’ll come across a set off trap and wonder how a rat can get through without getting caught and it never occurs to me that it might have been a fish.

Yesterday I had just such a situation.  A trap set off with nothing in it.  So I re-positioned it so it would slow the rat down that 1/1,000th of a second to allow the jaws to snap on his body.  Today the trap was set off again and as I stood there scratching my head wondering just what I needed to do to catch the rat I pulled up the trap and lo and behold:

I really do like fishing.

And so you see the day might be colder than all heck.  Your nose may be dripping from that cold.  You might be hungry and thirsty…but when it all boils down to what you would rather be doing…this seems to be a life that is better than having staff meetings and buying donuts for the troops.

Farther down the trap line I came across a caught rat that had actually managed to crawl up and out of the run it was caught in before it died.  I really don’t think it lived too long after being caught and there is a cut off snag on the stake that caught the trap and held it up.  Anyway I thought you might like to see the rat and then the trap re-set after I took the rat out.

Believe it or not this next picture is showing the run where this rat was caught in, directly below the rat in this picture (does that make sense?).

Look how deep that run is..only the spring is above the water.

So, when you are out trapping, sometimes you have a situation that calls for two traps to be set quite closely to one another.  Like two runs, or a bait set and a run set.  I have had times where I set 5 traps around a bait station and the next day had 5 rats caught.  Each situation requires you to decide just what to do.  Just like the conibear on the log the other day…it almost connected.  Well yesterday I had just that…a two run set situation and I set a trap at each one.  Today…bingo…the lower, deeper water set connected.

That rat run is almost 20 inches under the water.  By the way that rat stretched out to be 17 inches!  A humungous rat!

And so goes the life on the trap line for day eight.  Oh ya and I ended up catching 13 rats today….poor old Bob didn’t catch even one…he did have a trap that was set off however.

And I managed to set an0ther 14 traps…so tomorrow I will pull the 16 traps around Big Spring…they haven’t produced a rat in three days now, so it’s time they got moved to a more productive location.

Bears Butt

Feb. 26, 2013