Utah Fishing ReportsI’ve said this before and so this is just a reminder. Unless you visit bearsbutt.com on a daily basis, the Sir Butt series will actually be backwards reading for you and won’t make any sense at all as a story. Of course even as a story, it probably still does not make sence. SO……if you look at the very bottom of the post you will see a number in parenthesis…todays is (5)….scroll down until you see (1) and begin reading up through the posts. That will catch you up to the story.
Be sure to visit each day. I don’t always place a Sir Butt continuance on every day, but when I do you don’t want to be left behind!
I hope you are enjoying visiting this site!
Bears Butt
Lost in his own little world………………………………………..and enjoying it.
Yesterday was Monday June 27. This site had 10 brand new visitors and they read 22 pages of whatever it is on here. I thank them dearly and hope they return again!
Bears Butt
I had a cousin and her husband come visiting our home yesterday and we had a very wonderful visit to say the least. During the day we were swapping hunting stories with him (Mike). His son lives in Illinois and of course out in the mid west most if not all of the land is privately owned. Most people who hunt out there have to either join a club that has leased hunting rights or they lease their own. At any rate, their hunting camps are just like my hunting camp. They are all there for a “good time” and the bagging of a buck is a bonus.
From all of the conversations came the thought that perhaps Bears Butt should create another category called Hunting/Fishing stories and I could share some of our experiences at both events with you on this site. All for fun you know!
Give me some comments. Should I or not? Or should I just include them in “Just more stories”?
Bears Butt
It dawned on me that perhaps some of you readers might not know what a “Free Trapper” is. To explain that to you I must explain about the “Company Trappers” of the past.
Demand for beaver pelts was nearing its peak in the early 1800’s by men who liked to wear top hats made from these pelts. It made the men look “stately” and showed others they “had money”. Of course we all know that a lot of men wearing such a hat were pretending the above. At any rate the demand was there, both in the United States and in Europe. Many beaver pelts were made into hats.
In order to gather up the most pelts possible during the time that beaver hides were at their prime, meant that a bunch of trappers had to be in the forests and mountains trapping in February, March and April. This is the time of year the streams and lakes were thawing out and the beaver were busy scurrying about, exercising from a long winter under the ice.
So, there were companies formed like the Hudson Bay Company, who would hire men to trap for them and in exchange would give the trapper a gun (usually a shotgun), powder, ball, shot etc. A few traps, usually 6. A horse, some food supplies and other items that should sustain the man during the months in the mountains. The hired men would travel in groups and would trap streams and lakes along a designated water way.
When they were done with their trapping, skinning and stretching. They would ride back to a designated meeting place and give up their furs to the company man in charge. The company would pay for these furs with a “token” amount of money, as compared to the amount a man not hired by the company would get for the same pelt.
Because the company had “outfitted” the trapper with all the essentials to do his trapping, was the justification to pay a “token” amount for the furs.
Travel and trapping in the mountains by the company men was safer, because of their numbers. A single trapper was constantly at risk of “going under” from the knife or arrow or even from slipping and breaking a leg or being attacked by a grizzly bear. Enough history already.
You should have the idea of what a “Free Trapper” is by now. A “Free Trapper” supplies all of the necessary items for his time in the mountains. He provides his own safety. He provides his own travel route and can change his direction at the pull on a reign. He can begin his trapping season whenever he wants and end it when he feels the pelts won’t bring him a good price. He cashes in his pelts at a place he feels will give him the best price and accepts or denies the purchase of his pelts at his discretion. He owes no allegiance to anyone but himself. He is, after all, a “Free Trapper”.
We have all read stories about Free Trappers who group up on occasion, but if they disagree with the others they can go their own way at any time. Of course they were not stupid men, by any means, and while trapping in areas where it was known there were hostile folks abounding, it was always wisest to stay in small groups. And of course at the rendezvous, when they met to trade their pelts for “supplies” and cash, survivors of small groups could inform the others that “so and so” had “gone under” and tell the story of how their demise happened. Not so, if a trapper traveled alone all the time.
I’m not a very learned man, but that is my take on the Free Trapper deal.
Bears Butt
Went fishing with my two boys Brandon and Mitch and the two oldest grandkids Conner and Sydney, today. Hit Willard Bay about 9:30 or so this morning. Water temp about 74 degrees. We caught 4 wipers (cross between a white bass and a striped bass), Conner caught the biggest wiper at 3 1/4 pounds! Nice fish. We kept the 2 largest wipers and I managed to catch 3 nice catfish. Catfish do not get thrown back…sorry fish…you will be supper one day!
A really gorgeous day to be on the lake. The boys are learning quickly the ins and outs of handling a boat. There will come a day, when they will invite me and we will go boat fishing and I will be in the front of the boat instead of behind the wheel.
Nice day, good fishing and wonderful company!
Bears Butt
bearsbutt.com es un sitio divertido para visitar y leer acerca de algunas de las travesuras de un hombre de la montaña y un compañero llamado Sir Butt. Disfrutar, se trata de entretenimiento!
Bear Butt!
bearsbutt.com это весело, чтобы посетить сайт и прочитать о некоторых проделках человеку горы и кореш имени сэра Батт. Наслаждайтесь, это все о развлечениях!
Медведь Butt!
bearsbutt.com ist eine lustige Seite zu besuchen und über einige der Eskapaden eines Berges Mann und Side Kick namens Sir Butt zu lesen. Genießen, dreht sich alles um Unterhaltung!
Bears Butt!
A new series from Sir Butt is in the making and will be posting soon. This will be a series you won’t want to miss out on. Sir Butt finds himself in some very precarious positions and predicaments, and always seems to wiggle his way out of them, even if it means he just rides away on Something (his steed).
If you have not read about Sir Butt yet, you should make yourself familiar with him and get a good feel for his background or some of what you are about to read will not make much sense (as if there was any sense to be made of any of Sir Butt and his antics).
Please keep an open mind as Sir Butt and the rest of this site is all about fun. Sir Butt has the most fun of all and please, please, please…Read Between the Lines. This is a family show and I must hide some of my true meanings from the children!
Enjoy the ride!
Bears Butt
June 21, 2011