Well, well, well am I ever disappointed.  Those $130 boots I bought have developed a leak, right behind my right knee!  I felt water come into the boot last Saturday, but I thought perhaps I had stepped in too deep and it went over the top.  Today, it did it again!

I can not see any hole inside or outside, so there is a flaw that needs to be rectified.

When I got home the first thing I did was call the store I bought them from.  He asked me a series of questions and then said to send them back and they will replace them with a new pair.  I asked if they had had other complaints and he said “none”.

So, until further notice DO NOT BUY “Godwin Muck boots”…..It’s a good think I’m here to test these sort of things for you folks.

Bears Butt

March 2012

This could be put in with Jokes I like, but I decided not to.

Last night Brek was skinning, Bob was stretching and I was fleshing and we were talking about people in the South doing the same thing.  Brek said, ya, we skin the rats and sell the hides and save the glands.  We make lots of money.

I said, Ya but, they do the same, but then they sell the rat bodies to the local restaurants and they clean them, cut them up and cook em and folks buy them as a delicacy as “marsh rabbit”.

Brek took a long look at me.

I glanced over at him and then went on with, AND then the restaurant folks sell the heads of the muskrats to the local dentists!

He looked puzzled at me.  So did Bob.  (and so you see a total work stoppage in the fur shed).  I continued to flesh the rat I had on the board until I was done.

Then looked up at the two of them, both staring at me.

Brek broke the silence with “why would a dentist buy a muskrat head”?

I picked up my next rat hide to flesh and put it on the board.  Bob went back to stretching his rat and Brek just sat there staring toward me waiting for the response.

I said, “You know how those Redneck people look with them buck teeth?  Where do you think they get them teeth implants”?  The ladies get the bottom ones and the guys get the top ones!

Totally made up by me!

If you are sporting some of them teeth,  let me be the first to tell you they look GREAT!

Bears Butt

March 17, 2012

Hey folks!  Do you have a young hunter in your home or who looks up to you to show them how it is done?  Here is your chance to donate $20 to a very good cause and give that youngster a chance at one of  SIX guided turkey hunts this year (2012)!

It’s from the United Wildlife Cooperative (UWC) and R&K Hunting Company.

What they have lined up are SIX youth hunts for turkey this May!  Get all the details at:

http://unitedwildlifecooperative.org/TURKEY_CAMP.html

What a deal for SIX lucky youth hunters.  The hunts will take place in Northern Utah and includes a turkey training camp, lodging, food and it’s all done on private property!  Oh, and the flyer I got says there will be some live entertainment!

Now this does not mean the youth will be turned out free and wild at this camp, there are rules involved.  The biggest rule is that one parent or guardian will also be there with the youth hunter!  So, Dad, Mom, Best Buddy…Get that young hunter entered!  You could also be there to see their turkey get harvested.  Maybe even get to video the whole thing!

WOW!  This sounds like the SIX lucky winners will be treated like real celebrities….Well of course they will be treated that way…because they WILL BE CELEBRITIES!!!  And they will get a chance to shoot a wild turkey!

Get your kids ready by making sure they have passed the Utah hunter education course in plenty of time to be eligible to enter this contest.  Only 4 weeks left!  So, GET IT DONE!  NOW!!!!

After a relatively warm night in the swamps, I am expecting to see many traps filled with fur.  My hope is 12 and as always it is considered a necessity to catch 2 to pay for fuel.

I may even venture a bit farther West and start to set another line.  Lord knows I have a bunch of traps that are not in the water and they sure don’t do any good where they are right now.

Bears Butt

Feb. 23  A.M.

P.M. Report

Before I left the house this morning to head out and check traps, I told Winemaker I was going to be a little later because I wanted to set some traps on the West line.

A bit of background on my hip boots.  I have been having problems with both boots leaking but the leaks have been just “bothersome” of late.  Last night I decided to put a patch on the worst areas of both boots and I did that.  I also inspected the rest of both boots and decided they should last until my new boots arrive.

At the swamp, I donned all my stuff and headed off to check traps.  Three steps in the icy water and water came gushing up into my left boot!  Did any of you hear me cussing?  Water that has a thin layer of ice on top is about as cold a water as I ever want to play in.

I checked that trap and found it empty.  Back at the toy I found the large gaping rip and when I elevated my foot against the side of the toy, the water calmly drained out onto the ground.  My foot was numb.  I went to my second set and by now my foot was in “cold pain”, they type that causes you to hold your breath and let the tears roll down the face.

I ventured out into the water and checked those traps.  Two rats were waiting for me there, and I soon forgot about the frozen foot and leg.  Back at the toy I again drained the water from the hole.  I thought about taking my knife and cutting a hole in the side of the sole to let the water out faster, but I did not do it.

Long story short, I stuck with checking the rest of that line and decided if the pain was too much when I got back to the truck I would head for home.  As it turned out, my pain went from cold and numbing to just plain “I don’t feel a thing”.  So, off I went to check the rest of my traps.  Two hours later I am back at the truck ripping those “pieces of crap boots” off my person.  Both feet totally soaked and the left leg wet to my knee.

My plans to set more traps was ended.  No way could I venture out and put up with more of that cold miserable wet environment.

I pulled off my wool socks and wrung the water out of them both and then put on my shoes for the ride home.  Heater set to the floor setting and the fan on full blast.  By the time I arrived at home, my left foot was starting to have some feeling returning.

I talked to Winemaker about the situation and the need to check and set more traps soon.  Do I forgo checking the traps I have out and wait for those expensive boots I ordered earlier this week to arrive?  Do I go out and buy a cheap pair and hope they hold together until the expensive ones get here?

At this point it looks like I could have saved some money by having the company send those $130 boots by overnight delivery for the additional $50.  I would have had them by yesterday at the latest and would not have lost todays trap setting time.  But I chose to go with UPS Ground for $20 and I am hoping they arrive by tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.  Watch them show up on Monday…that would be ok too.  What kind of boots did I order that cost so very much?  “Godwins Muck Boots”, Guaranteed not to rip because of thorns or briars and guaranteed against snake bites!

I read about them on a forum used by houndsmen back east and south who run hounds through the swamps chasing raccoons and other critters.  All those guys were swearing by their Godwin boots.  And when I say “swearing by their boots”, it is a totally different type of “swearing” than I am doing at my holey boots right now!

So, I warn all of you and I hope the company that makes these boots reads this thread.  I bought them less than one year ago and they are pieces of real crap!  I can not find any name on them except “Caddis”…so take it from me folks  DO NOT BUY CADDIS HIP BOOTS!!!!!

Winemaker felt sorry for me and my situation and said that the price of rats just went up and we went to Cal Ranch and bought a pair of “Frog Tog” boots, for $59 plus tax…$64 total.  Hopefully they will see me through until the expensive boots get here and I can use them as my fishing boots later on.

Catch for the day:  8 rats with 3 other traps set off, one trap was caught open by the trigger catching on the jaw and keeping it from closing all the way…lucky rat.  By the way Wapiti, that trap we set yesterday paid off  with a nice big fat rat!

And so, you can see that life on the trapline is not always sunny, balmy and without problems!

By the way, for those keeping track, Bob had dog problems today and did not make it out to check his lines…so, Bob = zero.

Bears Butt

Feb. 22,

A great day ahead.  High is expected to be in the 50’s!  That is quite warm for Feb.  The rats should be out all day checking on the sunshine and looking for love.

Wapiti has decided to join me and travel the lines today.  I guess he just got plain bored being retired and wants to check out the holes in his boots.

I’ll show him some of the trapping areas and maybe, just maybe he will get interested enough to join Bob and I on our trapping adventures.  We could use a couple more trappers to get the job done right.  As it is, we can only hit what we can hit and we always leave a ton of areas un-trapped.

I am expecting 10 rats today, but would not balk at 20.  More to come.

Bears Butt

A.M. report

P.M. report

It was a beautiful day…We made it out to the trap line about 10:30 or so, time does not matter, what does matter is that Wapiti and I were on our wheelers and checking iron.

I was trying to inform Wapiti about the area and some of the things I have encountered during my trapping with Bob.  I think I bored him aLOT!

In the end I only caught 7 rats!  Bummer deal.  But I also had 7 traps set off and so, I should have caught 14.  That would have been a lot better deal.  But not so…

One of the traps wasn’t “quite” set off, the trap pan was depressed and only a Milli-fraction of the pan needed to move downward in order to let the “jaws of capture” surround the leg of the animal.  But why did it not do the job it was made to do?  A little bitty stem of bullrush…..OMG…(for those of you not into texting..OMG means OH MY GAUHD), and it was stuck just under the pan and just thick enough to not let the trap dog release the jaws of capture.

It was so very close to doing what it was meant to do, when I picked up the trap to show Wapiti how “down” the pan was, as I raised the trap toward the heavens, a combination of  “gravitational pull” (downward) and the “force of the wind” upon the trap pan by my raising the trap upward toward the heavens, depressed the bullrush reed just enough to set the trap off.  SNAP!

So close.

And so, the day was a beautiful one on the trap line and Wapiti wants to go out again.

We did not see anything exceptional or out of the ordinary on this trip, but we did have a wonderful day…two brothers out in the swamp…mucking our way through and trying n0t to get our wheelers stuck.

One note.  Wapiti wanted to go with me to check a couple of traps.  I had warned him about the depth of some of the runs and the fact that you needed to make sure you had solid footing before putting your full weight on the reeds as you walked.  He acknowledged all was well and we started across the swamp, me in the lead.  As I approached the first of two traps, I turned and there was Wapiti…grasping quickly for something to keep him upright, as his left leg sank deeply into the depths of  “no bottom land”….His right hand grasped a huge clump of toolies and his right leg was planted firmly on solid “something” and the combination of it all allowed him to upright his nearly horizontal body and keep him from baptizing himself in the cold waters of Pete Holmgrens “Trellis Line”.

Later he said, “The water came up to the end of the barrel of his concealed carry”, I trust that means he was close to going for a swim.

He decided he would go back to the wheelers and watch me from the distance.

A wonderful day, great company, and a few cooperative rats.  Thanks for joining me Wapiti and thanks for the JU-JU treats.

Bears Butt

Feb. 21, rain/snow mix today.  The plan:  Pull all my traps down Arrow Head and set them on Extreme Fish Springs.  I will only check a couple of my best producing traps on the Trellis line today, giving me more time to set the traps I pull.

Tomorrow’s high is expected to be in the 50’s!  I need iron in the swamp to take advantage of the rats moving in that balmy weather.

Snap!  Snap!  Snap!  Goes the traps! Wiggle!  Wiggle!  Wiggle!  Goes the rats!  KaChing!  KaChing!  KaChing!  Goes the Cash!  GaRin!  GaRin!  GaRin!  Goes the Bears Butt!

More to this report later this afternoon!

Bears Butt

9 a.m. Feb. 21, 2012

P. M. Report

WOW!  What a surprise.  As I proceeded to set traps, I ran out of Swamp!!!!!  I could not believe my eyes.  The toolies quit and the water just flooded out into the salt grass!!!!  I was ast0nished!

I set 7 traps after pulling 43.  OH WELL!  Tell me things don’t come around when you don’t think they will.

Tomorrow will be a fun day.  More tomorrow!

Bears Butt.

Feb. 20th, After two days off from trapping, I headed out and the weather was rather nice and balmy.  I checked my traps and had 13 rats.  Not too bad.  As I finished up checking my traps, a stiff South wind began to blow.  The temp dropped 20 degrees within 30 minutes,  I went to setting more traps down an area I have never trapped before…Distant Fish Springs is what I am calling it….I set 43 traps…that was all I had with me.  It was VERY COLD when I finished at 3:30 p.m.

Tomorrow I am going to pull 35 traps on a line I call, Arrow Head, and put them out on Distant Fish Springs, providing there are places for that many traps.

Back home to skin, Bob had 3 rats and he had already skinned 3 he caught last Saturday.  We have caught 75 rats in the first week I have been trapping and don’t forget the 100 Bob has in his freezer.  A good start to our season.

Today, Monday Feb. 20, 2012 marks the day of one of the biggest wild fur sales of the year, only beat by the one to be held in May.

Speculators have been predicting Muskrat fur prices to be anywhere upwards of possibly $11!  For us trappers, that is very good news.  Of course at our level, we could not possibly get that price, but we should be able to get somewhere close to a couple of dollars less than that.  A price totally acceptable in my mind.

The first of two runs is currently ongoing in the swamp and those who have the opportunity to be out there will iron in the water ways, should be catching some pretty good numbers of the little critters.

Later, I will post the results of the auction in Canada.  They said they only had 360,000 muskrats in the auction, a number quite substantially below the average.  They usually have near one million rat hides.  What is going on with the trappers?  Are they holding their catches?  Or, are they not trapping them?

Bears Butt

Muskrat sold for $10.19 average!!!!!  That is HUGE!  Bring your big check books Mr. fur buyers!

OK.  So here is the deal.  Bob owns all the traps and has them all tagged with his trapper number.  I have a permission slip signed by him allowing me to use his traps in pursuit of the wild fur bearers that inhabit the swamps.  Everything is legal.

He has been trapping since the first of January and including his catch from yesterday, which was 5 rats, he has 99 rats caught, skinned and in the freezer.  In order to keep things simple, and simple is the very best way to keep all things, I “lent” him one of my rats from yesterdays catch, in order to have an even 100 rats in the freezer.  Heck, we are partners in this trapping deal anyway, so why not lend him one of my famous rats.

So, Monday I started trapping for this season and I set 35 traps.  Yesterday I checked those 35 traps and had 19 rats caught!  Not bad for an old guy.  I also had about 5 other traps that were set off, with nothing in them.  I consider yesterdays catch “above average”.

I also, took a few hours and set an additional 35 traps.  So, I have a total of 70 traps out in the field.  Bob has 85 traps out, but about half of them are frozen in about 8 inches of ice…totally unusable, until things thaw out.

We have evidence that the rats are beginning their spring run.  What does that mean?  They are out looking for mates…it’s mating season.  We have seen where the majority of the males have swollen glands which is a good sign of the beginning of the season, and we are seeing some bite marks on some, which means they are fighting.  We don’t like to see the bite marks, but it comes with the trapping season.  If you think about it, almost every male animal in the world fights when it comes to mating season.

And so, throughout this trapping season, I will be updating you on the catches of the day, the interesting things that take place on the trap line and a running total of “ME against BOB” on the catch rate.

Today, we awoke to snow!  YUK.  A rat trappers “not fun” thing to have to deal with.  It lays the toolies down, covers up the flags that mark where the traps are located, and makes you really wet while checking the traps.  Bob has already called and is taking the day off.  I, on the other hand, have a strong desire to catch 100 rats before Monday of next week, and so I am driven to go out into the cold, snowy elements in pursuit of the tricky little rat of the swamp…”The Marshrabbit”!

Until later today!

Bears Butt

Wed., Feb. 15th, 2012

With it snowing as I left the house and headed west, the roads were terrible from West Corinne out to just past Little Mountain.  20 mph and I felt like I was on a skating rink.  Once out at the parking spot, I called Bob and told him to save his gas and don’t try to attempt coming out, it just wasn’t worth it.

Then I donned every bit of warm/dry clothes, coats, gloves etc. that I had with me and headed out to check my 70 traps.  By the time I got the 70th one checked I was soaked to the bone!  Cold, wet and not really feeling all that well.  I passed on setting more traps and headed back to the truck.

Right now I’m recovering from the chill and wet while I wait for Bob to come back from grocery shopping.  And then it will be time to head to the shed and do some skinning/fleshing and stretching of fur….Total count for today…19!

As for that number I again consider it a success, as last night was windy and snowy.  A night that most rats would rather stay huddled in their homes than venture out looking for love or food.

More tomorrow!

Feb. 16…It’s tomorrow already.  The weather looks a whole lot better than yesterday.  Today it’s clear and a bit colder.  I expect a thin layer of ice on the water and am hoping for 12 rats.  12 would give me an even 50 rats in 3 days trapping.  I would love that!

I am expecting to set another line of traps this afternoon.  I would have set them yesterday, but I was cold and totally soaked.  Everything is dry now and I’m ready for a very positive day on the line.  Maybe I’ll take a picture or two.

Later!

Bears Butt

Feb. 17…Had plans to put out another 30 or so traps today, but then we decided to take a little trip tomorrow (Sat.) down to SLC to a show.  So, rather than catch a bunch of rats and have them sitting like dead ducks for the hawks and raccoons I passed on setting more traps until Monday.

Todays catch was not great.  Was breaking 1/2 inch of ice all day, that means last night was very cold.  Only caught 7 rats today and Bob caught none.

No trapping tomorrow or Sunday…next report will be Monday, Feb. 20.

Bears Butt

Feb 13, 2012….Let the trapping begin!!!

I have loaded in the truck, 100 conibears, 50 leg holds, 3 colony traps and 5 snares….do I need more?

The toy is gassed, I have loads of clothes in case it gets cold and/or wet.  Boots, rubber gloves, stocking cap, sandwich, water, pistol, bullets….it almost sounds like I’m going for a week.

Move over muskrats, here I come!

Bears Butt

Feb. 2012

Set 35 traps today.  Awesome and beautiful day.  Almost hot outside.