There is a lot to read both in books and on the internet about proper fur handling.  It is really easy once you get a handle on how it’s done, but then too it is VERY easy to stop doing some of the little steps that could just make your stack of furs not look as good as they could.  I’ve told you some of the reasons that the wild fur demand is not what it was even a year ago and prices are at a low we haven’t seen for a few years.  We sold a raccoon at the auction last January and received a check for $.23….That’s right!  The fur sold for a quarter and after the commission for the auction house we netted a whole 23 cents!  Not even a fourth of what is needed for a cup of coffee at the cheap place.  We took a lot of pride in those raccoons and put them up according to the book.  It wasn’t because it was shabbily put up, but more because it probably wasn’t fully prime, but still, what would we have gotten had we not done to it what we did?

So, with that illustration of market prices, you can still make a few dollars if you go above and beyond what is needed in order to sell your furs for a fair price.

With our muskrats, we want the fur side very dry before we put them on the stretchers.  After skinning them, if they show any signs of being wet, we lay them on a drying rack or hang them from the over head rafters of the skinning shed where they will get the most benefit from our 60 degree heater.  We maintain the rafter area of the shed at 55 to 65 degrees and we tend to lean towards the 55 temp more than the upper temp.  We accomplish that with a small heater that can be regulated to turn itself on and off based on the setting we use.  I picked it up at a garage sale for $5 and it works very well.

When the furs are completely dry, Weasel grabs up a curry comb once used to groom the horses and goes to work making sure he gets any burrs, weed seeds and mud out of the fur and also makes sure the fur fluffs up really nice.  When his Quality Control mind says it’s perfectly combed, he tosses it to me….I’m the fleshing man.

I’ll turn the hide fur side in and place it on the fleshing board and go to work with my fleshing tool.  My choice of fleshing tools is a plain old windshield ice scraper.  Most of them have sharp corners and so I begin by filing off the sharp edges, as these have a tendency to snag the hide and rip holes while you aren’t looking.  My fleshing board is one I have to lean into.  It is long enough to come up to my belt buckle and I place the butt end of it against the wall and scrape down the hide.  A little “grease” left on the hide is totally acceptable, but no meat or large chunks of fat can be left anywhere on the hide.  When the hide is adequately fleshed, I take it off the board and hand it to my brother Bob.

Bob is the oldest in the family and has been trapping nearly his whole life.  He is old enough to know the business from end to end.  I think if it were not for trapping he wouldn’t be in the healthy shape he is in.  He takes the hide and positions it on the stretcher making sure it is centered.  The leg holes, eyes and ears must be in a certain position before he pins the nose with a clothes pin and then pulls the hide down tight at the bottom of the stretcher.

A lot of guys will just pull the hide down on the stretcher without the clothes pin holding the nose.  This causes the “mouth” hole to stretch out and the end of the stretcher protrude above the hide.  A totally acceptable practice, but it makes for hides that are not uniform, gives an impression to the buyers that the trapper doesn’t care much and so they will offer less than what maybe the hides are really worth.

Take this for what I might be imagining, but if I were a fur buyer and came across a batch of  prime hides, full of burrs, mud, put up while wet and the mouth ends of them were wide, I would not offer a very high price for them.  After all, once I own them, they are reflecting on MY character and even if the auction house buyers are un-caring about how the hides look I like to think MY hides are the best in the building.  On the other hand, if I came across a batch of prime hides with uniform mouth (nose) ends, combed, put up dry and all looking very uniform in shapes, I’d tend to pay a higher price for them as they will reflect MY way of thinking and WOULD be the best looking batch of hides in the auction house.  Think about it.

Well, that is what we have right now, 515 perfectly put up rats, all ready for the local fur buyer to come and take a look at and give us a price.  We like to deal with a “straight through price”, one in which the buyer says “I’ll give you X dollars for each rat you have and I won’t grade them”!  515 times $ = he takes them and we wish him the best of luck at the auction house!  Bob always likes to think he will net the biggest and best price for his furs out of all the other trappers in this end of the state and 9 out of 10 times he does.  I’ll help him catch and put them up, but they are his in the end and he negotiates the price.  I don’t like the haggling end of the business.

He keeps me informed as the buyers begin their haggling.  Of course they want the furs for the least amount of money they have to give and we want the most because we know they are worth it.  Of course everyone knows that nobody wants to come out losing.  We know that and are fair with out side of the bargain, but we also know what they are worth.  We are into them our gas money, wear and tear on the vehicles and a token amount for our time in the skinning shed.  Anything over that we consider a profit that will cover the cost of something we are dreaming about obtaining with our fur checks this year.  If, however the buyers don’t come through with what we figure a good price….well….we have enough freezer space to keep them until next year.  515 rats is a good catch and a fair bargaining number, but with next years catch, we would have over 1,000 rats AND that my friend is a much bigger bargaining batch of perfectly put up rats!

Bears Butt

March 24, 2015

Today marks the end of the trapping season for 2015.  Bob and I will be pulling all our traps and then we have shed work to finish up with.  100 rats lay in wait for fleshing and stretching.  Today I also get the pleasure of meeting someone I’ve been providing carcasses to for the last couple of months.  This guy owns Bones N Beasts Taxidermy and uses the carcasses to keep his flesh eating beetles alive (enter nightmares about that).  He sent me a picture of one of his beetle colonies…..

I’m sure they are in a place that they could do no harm should they escape, but in my dreams they can and do get out in large numbers and roam the house looking for sleeping members to devour.  He hasn’t counted his beetles and so his guesstimate is several thousand….creepy.

So, this morning I’ll head out to Doris’ pond and pull the 5 traps I set yesterday, I don’t expect to catch any rats out there.  Then on in closer to pull the remaining 57 traps.  It is sort of a sad day in one way, but on another note I won’t be spending gas money and wear and tear on the vehicle(s) chasing rats that don’t exist.

More to come on the daily happenings when I get back!

Bears Butt

March 13, 2015    (Friday the 13th)

UPDATE:

Well the trapping season is officially over….I ended up with one rat (a run of one) and Bob ended with 5 rats.  Not bad for the season.  And with Weasels rats from the farm pond of 5, a total of 515 rats for the season!

We would like to thank our sponsors…..uhhhh….

Well, we would like to have sponsors like, Victor traps, Conibear traps, Chevron Gas, Chevrolet, Yamaha ATV, Toyota, Bobs Floats, Willow stakes, Water Proof boots, Gauntlet gloves, Sharp knives, Mak’em good stretchers, Shed warm heaters and humidifiers, Olympia and Keystone brewers and a host of other sponsors.  You too could join the team…just send cash, check or money orders to……please respond in the comments below and I’ll get back with you!  Any amount will be gladly accepted and remember….It ain’t tax deferred.

Thanks for following the 2015 trapping stories!  Watch out for next years events…God Willing!

Bears Butt

Well today marked day two of no rats on my big line.  In fact I caught ZERO rats today and no traps were set off.  The season is over.  I went over to Doris’ pond and they have done a whole heap of work around the pond.  Widened the bank where the dam is, put in a very large drain pipe.  Dug out the pond nearly 3/4 the way around it and it looked like they used a hydro unit to do the digging as it is very deep.  They also raised the level of the water at least a foot.  The toolies that are on one end of the pond have water about a third of the way up on the stocks.  I’m sure when they raised the water level it would have drowned any rats living in the bank, or at least caused them to move out.  There was no sign anywhere, but I did set 5 traps, just so they can see I tried.

I don’t expect to catch any rats there and am planning on pulling the 5 traps tomorrow right along with the rest of my traps.

Pete closed the gate on my raccoon line area up on Bull Run which forced me to park on the side of the highway and open the gate.  It is not an easy gate to deal with.  That was all I needed to encourage me to pull all the raccoon traps.

So, it looks like the 2015 rat trapping season is over.  I stopped along the highway and talked to Bob, he had 5 rats and was feeling good!  He too is ready to call it a season.

Bears Butt

March 12, 2015

It’s been a day or two since I’ve posted a trapping update.  Yesterday was Tracker and my day to head out to the trapline for a couple of reasons.  One was the Orbiter Rocket Motor test firing and the other was to check my traps that are out that way.  We were in quite a traffic jam for about a half hour as hundreds of people were going to see the test firing of the rocket motor.  I hadn’t thought of that aspect of things.  Had I put my thinking cap on I would have gone at least a half hour before we actually did.  As it were, we made it but with no time to spare.  We were set up to watch from our position when the announcer said “T Minus 3 minutes”!  That is how close we were to missing it.

Well, we did get to see and feel it and it was a very big deal.  Lots of noise!  Lots of fire!  Lots of rumbling of the ground!  Very cool experience AND if I can ever get my video to publish on You Tube, I’ll be sending you there on this site.  But it hasn’t happened yet.

Back to trapping!

Tracker took quite a few short video clips while I checked my traps and I ended up with two rats for the day.  No coons or skunks.  However, they did manage to knock over one of my dog proof traps and covered the entire thing in mud.  Do you think they know what it is?

Meanwhile, Bob came out and checked his traps after the crowd had left the rocket motor test site and he managed to catch 4 rats….3 from a colony trap he had set the day before.

Today I’m heading out to Doris’ place to set her pond and hopefully I’ll run into Richard and make arrangements to set his slough.  He has to remove his bulls however before I’ll step foot in there.  If it’s anything like last year it should be good for about 50 rats.

After setting Doris’ pond I’ll come back to the Big Spring line and pull it.  Two rats is not worth the trouble.

If I catch two today it will be a bonus catch, in my opinion.

Bears Butt

March 12, 2015

This Daylight Savings Time stuff has really got me out of whack!  Couple it with a scratchy throat and little sleep and it will take me awhile to catch up with everything going on.

Yesterday on the trap line was a very warm one!  Over 60 degrees!  And the rats were somewhat cooperative.  I ended up with 15, but one was a small one we didn’t skin.  And Bob netted 12 on his line!!!!  That was a very good catch!

My rats seem to be a pretty good mix of males and females, but his were mostly males and they are definitely running!  Nature has a special way of telling the critters when it is time to do what and I guess even though the weather has been unseasonably warm, the rats have got it all figured out.  Here we are at the end of our season and they decide it is time to do their thing.  We will take advantage of them while we can and as long as the fur isn’t slipping we will load up.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day out on the line.  Tracker is going to accompany me in order to video the testing of the latest Orbitor rocket boosters.  The plan is to stack all five of the booster rocket motors on top of each other, (parallel) and blast them all off at the same time!  Can you imagine the noise?!?  Over 1.3 million pounds of solid rocket fuel will be consumed in less than 2 minutes!!!  We are in for a real treat and I hope to video it myself and post it up on here.  The Orbitor is the newest rocket that is planned to take people to Mars eventually.

I’m running late right now and have to cut this short, but my expected catch today is 8 rats.  The run effects Bob’s trap lines more than it does mine.  Why?  My lines are pretty well self contained, while his line gets rats commuting from one area to the next.  His line is in an area that connects two different waterfowl management units.  Remember when you were in high school and it wasn’t really too cool to date the girls or boys from your school, but it was way cool to date the ones from the rival school?  Well it works the same with rats.  Those in the Salt Creek waterfowl management area like to date the rats in the Public Shooting Grounds WMA and vise versa.  When they meet up in the crossing zone they battle and cause damage to their pelts.  It’s just the same as high school.

Gotta Go!

Bears Butt

March 10, 2015

UPDATE:

I guess the rat Gods are telling me the season is over.  Yesterday I caught 14 keepers and 1 small toss out rat….today….ONE!  And a coon.

My Granddaughters are really quite entertaining.  Yesterday while just beginning to take care of the catch of the day, in walked in Kenzie and Addie, both with a desire to help with the skinning job.  OK!  Let’s do this!  Kenzie, as we have noted previously has had her hands in the dirty work and did very well at skinning a couple of muskrats and so it was just a matter of getting her dressing in her skinning outfit.  We have to protect the kids from getting anything on their clothes or hands.  So, we dress them well with rubber pants, aprons, gloves and whatever else we need to take care of this.  The one thing we never want to have happen is for them to get cut in the process.  Knife safety is number one.  Secondly, no blood or other stuff is to get on any clothing.  For a mother to come unglued about them skinning rats would not be a pretty sight.

So, back to the scene.  In they walk with the confidence and desire of true sportswomen!  We want to help!

When they got the “OK”, Addie just had to go home and get her own knife!  While she was gone we got Kenzie dressed up with rubber pants to cover her legs, an apron to cover her upper body and rubber gloves for her hands and wrists.  She grabbed a rat and a knife and began without much hesitation.  I looked down at her shoes and because they looked like they could be brand new, I decided she needed something over them.  She agreed.  Looking around the shed, I grabbed the only thing that looked like it might do the trick.

Perfect!

And now you are probably asking just what in the heck are those blue things?

Well, at least they worked.

Addie arrived about that time and showed me her knife.  A really nice knife, but it is the kind used in the woods as an all purpose knife and not a good one for a beginning skinner.  So she put that one away and I gave her another one.

In the shed we have a limited supply of clothing coverings for young skinners and I had to make do to cover Addie adequately.  She donned a rubber apron which more than covered her tiny frame and then I put a burlap bag over her shoes.  Add the rubber gloves and she was ready to go to work.  I told her right at the beginning that if at any time she felt like her stomach couldn’t handle the job, it was ok to put the rat down and leave the room.  She said she would and then began the task.

I instructed her on every cut and move and she did fine all the way through the process.  Never grimacing at a torn belly or anything.

And as the fur came off the body of the rat, it wasn’t long until the job was done!  She did very well for her first ever skinning job…nice ears, nice eyes, nose and whiskers….all in tact!

Now let’s turn it fur side out and put it on the drying rack!

I suppose some folks would consider me a terrible person for allowing these young girls to skin muskrats.  But the way I look at it, they can never in their lifetimes say they have never skinned a muskrat and among their fellow peers they are probably the only ones to have even had the opportunity, yet alone tackled the job.  I look at it as a very good life lesson and it sure as heck beats playing on a Nintendo or Nook.  Besides, they both earned 50 cents for each rat they skinned.  Kenzie skinned two while Addie was learning the job.

Good job girls!  May there be many more!

Bears Butt

March 8, 2015

These dog proof (DP) traps are the latest craze among raccoon trappers these days.  They have a lot of benefit in only capturing the targeted animal and no domestic animals get caught in them.  With me, nothing gets caught in them.

I have followed all the instructions I have been given and even placed a walnut on top and in the hole to prevent the rodents from getting in and eating the bait before the raccoons come along. Yesterday I checked the traps, fully expecting to find at least one raccoon in one of the traps….nothing.  At the first DP trap, the walnut was gone….all the bait was eaten and nothing in the trap.  DP number 2….same thing.  DP number 3 the walnut was laying next to the trap and all bait was gone.

Had I been the one to invent this “piece of equipment” (saying it lightly), I would be taking it out of the field and replacing it with a good old leg hold trap.  But, I am not the one who invented it and I will continue to employ it in my arsenal and continue to catch the very critter(s) who stole about 25 rats from me this season.

Today is sort of a day of relaxation on the line.  I set all the traps I have places for out on Big Spring yesterday and today is just a “check them” day.  I actually got to sleep in a whole hour longer than usual.  I will lazily finish my tasks at home before heading out to the trap line.  A wonderful day is expected weather wise with a high near 60!  Clear blue skies and no wind.  A very good day to be outside enjoying nature.

Expected catch today is 15 rats.  Raccoons will come when ever they decide.  I’m giving up predicting catching them.

Bears Butt

March 6, 2015

UPDATE:

Regardless of my in-ability to catch coons with dog proof traps, Bob gave me the three he was using and I set them as well.  I’ve taken the walnuts and pressed them down into the tube of the trap in hopes of keeping the rodents from getting to the bait.  If a coon comes along they will work it until they get it off.  We will see.

A beautiful day out in the swamp today.  Lots and lots of wildlife, mostly waterfowl.  Snow Geese, Dark Geese, Swans, Ducks of every kind.  Eagles, Hawks….they are all out there.  Pretty cool place.

Rats….Me 13, Bob 3.  A match to yesterdays catch!  We will take it!

Butt

Well, the fur shed is filling up pretty good.  Not only have we pulled down a bunch of finished rats, we also are just about full again on the drying lines!  Our goal of 500 rats is getting very close now and with the trapping season beginning to wind down we should easily reach that goal.

Today, I’m moving a bunch of traps I have out on the Big Spring line.  The top end of the line is dead (no rats) while the bottom seems to have a pretty good supply.  Did the rats move once I set traps?  I don’t know for sure, but I’ve got to get some iron out on that end of the line.  My only problem is the toolies are soooooo thick and laying down it is very hard to get around.  The canopy of toolies lends itself very well for the life of a muskrat, as they can go anywhere they desire without the worry of overhead predators hampering their movements.  When I bust through that canopy looking for a place to set a trap it reminds me of the shopping mall…..trails going in every direction.  Oh, and for you planning and engineering folks out there, rats know just how many bathrooms they need to keep everyone happy.  No lines, no waiting!

On a negative (or positive, depending on your outlook) note, the amount of energy it takes to set even one trap in conditions like these is brutal!  If a fire was to consume those 20 plus years of toolie growth it sure would make trapping a lot easier.  High stepping through that mess takes a lot out of a short and old trapper like me.  For those of you who trap in the snow, someone needs to invent a toolie-shoe!  I come home with my butt dragging and wake up each morning with aches and growns a-plenty.

Well, my exercise awaits!

I placed walnuts on my dog proof traps and it is going to be interesting to see if the mice ganged up on them to move them, or if the raccoons were given that opportunity.  Either way, I placed fresh muskrat out for them and hope to nail at least one today.

The rat line should produce 10 on a light side guess, but I’ll gamble with a 12 today.  Look for an update around 6 tonight!

Pack up the mule fellas!

Bears Butt

March 5, 2015

UPDATE:

With my butt firmly kicked, I sit here writing to update you on todays catch….I managed to pull the top half of the Big Spring line and gave it my best effort to set the rest of the line out to the SE….I hit ice!  It was hard to believe there was ice out there.  We had a cold snap way back in Oct/Nov and then unseasonably warm weather for months.  Ice?!?  Well, I decided with ice holding up my trap setting efforts I would go exploring.  I drove around the swamp and ended up way out by some telephone poles.  Way out there I found a small patch of ice free toolies!  16 traps later, I was coming back to the truck.  I ended up setting 20 traps today.

Back home I counted 15 rats that dumped out of the bag!  Two of them will not be skinned as they are so tiny….baby rats fresh out of the nest.  So my count is 13.  Bob ended up with two and a weasel in transition…White underside and light tan back.  I’ll just bet Weasel will want that skin.

Butt

The old toy horse is going to be loaded down this morning.  Yesterday was going to be my day to set a bunch of traps…..and then the snow came and spoiled it all.  The day wasn’t wasted in my mind as I did get something made I have been thinking about for awhile.  But no traps were put out and now I have to make up for it.  My plan is to set traps early and check the line later.  Depending on how many I get set I also plan to pull the top part of the Big Spring line….it’s dead.  I also expect to have problems finding my sets because the snow will have pushed my flags down into the brush and it will be harder to find them.

What I expect today:

21 new traps and two nights to fill up, I should get 10 rats out of them.  The rest of the line might produce one rat but I’m not counting on that.  Add one raccoon to the mix and there you have what I expect to catch.

I am also going to try the walnut over the opening on the dog proof traps idea!

Later!

Bears Butt

March 4, 2015

UPDATE:

Who’s butt is kicked is MINE!

Set just over 20 traps and pulled nearly that many.  Still quite a number to pull (move).  I’ll do that tomorrow.

And to top off the day….only 6 rats!  Bummer!  But Bob caught 5!  That gives us an 11 rat day!  We’ll take it!

Butt