A weekend of runnin steel with my friend Tim. We were out settin for beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, coon, weasel, bobcat, and coyote. The weather was in the teens both days with a light snow falling as we walked the trapline.
Our day started at Tim's house on Saturday morning at 8am. I woke up early to take care of a few chores around the house and then headed off to Tim's. When I got there, I hung out with his cool dog in the front yard while I waited for him to get ready.
Before we left, I got to meet his milking cow. She's a real good lookin Guernsey who was creepin on me from her sleeping pen...
Our first stop of the day was at his friend Jeff's house. Tim works for himself killing livestock for people on their farms and getting them (the animals, not the farmers) all skinned and cleaned and ready to go to the butcher. He kills chickens, hogs, lambs, cows, ducks, geese, anything. So on this particular morning, I was to accompany him to Jeff's to kill a beef. A good sized Jersey cow. It was quite impressive to watch him work and also to learn some of his tricks of the trade.
After the job was done, we stopped and got some gas station pizza for dinner and then headed out to the trapline. We stopped at this one bog-type area where we were scouting for beavers.
We found old chewings all along the bank and a few slides, but we couldn't find their house. Tim thought it was further up river and could only be accessed by canoe, which we didn't have. So we moved on to one of his other beaver spots. It was here that we found many fresh signs and tracks.
The only problem with this location was the water. Normally, when you set for beaver, you place a 330 conibear trap in the water for the beaver to swim through and be caught. The trapping law up here is that all beaver traps must be fully submerged when setting in water to prevent a dog or cat from running through and getting caught. So, although this spot was full of beaver activity and sure to be a dream spot, the water was too shallow to make any sets.
So once again, we moved on. But it was still a cool little spot to see and explore!
Our last stop on Saturday was at a place he's been trappin for years. He had a couple coon box sets out and two muskrat submarine traps in the water. We did some scouting and found a couple places to set some beaver traps and we made two really nice sets in the water. When we checked the submarine traps, we had a muskrat in one!
This is the spot where the submarine trap was set. You can see it on the right there, full of apples. The trap is open on one end with a latch door that swings open when the muskrat swims in, and then closes behind it so it can't get back out. It drowns in the trap and then you go collect your rat. Too easy.
Day two began with an early mornin start checkin and settin snares out on the south side of the mountain. Another cold morning on the mountain. The temperature well in the low teens with a light snow on the ground and more still falling. A perfect day to be out on the trapline.
Our first spot on the line had 3 bucket snares set for bobcats. Tim got his snare set and added bait to the bucket. For bait, he uses the carcasses of the animals he's already caught and skinned. A great way to use all of the animal and the perfect bait to lure in more.
A crafty fisher has been robbing the bait from some of his sets so we had to set a few traps nearby to try to catch him. Once that was done, it was time for me to set my first snare. I'd say it came out nicely. I call it a campfire set.
Anytime you set cat snares, you always want to set a few weasel traps nearby. Because, like the fisher, the weasel will slip in under the snare and steal the bait from your set. Either that, or they'll tear the set apart, knock over your sticks, twist your snare wire, and THEN steal the bait. They're dirty little suckers. So we set weasel traps. The way Tim does it is by taking a gallon milk jug and cutting a hole in the side. He hangs the bait inside the jug from the top and then sets a trap on the bottom. So when the weasel or fisher goes in for the bait, he gets caught in the trap instead of going and destroying the nearby bucket snare set.
A clever and simple design using household goods! And we all know how much milk I drink so i'll be able to make TONS of these sets!
We checked a few more cat sets he had down the line, set some more weasel traps, re-baited the cat sets and checked coyote snares in another spot. No fur to collect today but we should have somethin when we go check later this week!
All in all, it was an awesome trappin weekend. I learned a lot and got a lot of hands on experience. Tim's a real solid guy and we had a lot of fun hangin out on the line. Tomorrow, after chores, I'm headin to his house to help him skin and flesh a coyote, a beaver and a coon he already caught earlier in the season, as well as the muskrat we caught on Saturday. I'm excited to see and learn more about that aspect of the trappin process. Making sets is very important, but the money's in the fur handling. And there's a lot that goes in to getting the fur from trap to buyer and i'm hoping to pick up on some of his techniques. He and I have already traded trappin dvds AND he bought me a coffee this morning. Looks like things are gettin pretty serious... haha
Within the next couple days I'll be adding "Part 2" to this entry where I will upload a lot of video footage from our trapline adventures, along with the fur handling we'll be doing tomorrow night. The footage goes into more depth about the sets we made and the spots we were working, so be on the lookout!
The woods up here on the mountain are incredible. And there's nothin quite like spending the weekend gettin lost in them.
X Jeremiah
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