A Year In The Life - Day 224, December 31, 2014

The successful porcupine hunter.  This fellow would make either a nice stew, or a pile of bait.  Doesn't matter which, as long as you're careful in preparing it either way.  :)

A Year In The Life - Day 223, December 30, 2014

Today's image is from out on the 'line - of which there will be lots to come.  This burl has got to be the largest I have ever seen.  It is nearly five feet in height and is as wide as it looks here all the way around.  Sure wish there was a way to get it out of the woods, it would be awesome to work with.  Of course you would have a little trouble throwing it around in the shop too once you got it there... :)

A Year In The Life - Day 222, December 29, 2014

Today we have Warren playing king of the hill :)  His Grand-Aunt Esther would be proud! :)

It was a 'long slog' up there... :)

A Year In The Life - Day 221, December 28, 2014

"What the heck is this?" ...you ask?  It is the frost crystals forming at the entrance to a mouse hole.  A well-used one...all those crystals mean a whole-lotta mouse breath coming out that hole...  Pretty cool when you stop to notice the small stuff while you are out in the great wide open.  (note below)

In this pic the hole from above is at lower right, semi-hidden behind the grass.  You can see the trail leading from the hole to the nearest tree and back again.  They have gone back and forth so many times the little tracks are well trenched into the crusty snow, each time stepping in the same prints. 

A Year In The Life - Day 220, December 27, 2014

Life is hard out there in winter.  Just ask this guy.  Came across this carcass in the snow, and the mice had eaten so much of it that there wasn't really much to identify what species of hawk it used to be. Maybe a Northern Goshawk, maybe a Kestrel?...it is a pretty small raptor, that much is for sure.  Thought that what remained of his skull and feet were cool enough to take some pics.  A reminder that everything is tough out there when you're a wild animal, no matter how far up or down the chain you are, and even the critters that you eat to stay alive, may come back for a little return when you go yourself...

A Year In The Life - Day 219, December 26, 2014

Uppa with the latest marten to fall for one of the tip up sets, - remake right behind him.  A belated Christmas present of sorts...

A Year In The Life - Day 218, December 25, 2014

A picture?...for today?  ....picture THIS:

...................and Merry Christmas!!!

A Year In The Life - Day 217, December 24, 2014

Happy Christmas Eve!!  In preparation for Santa's arrival, S and the boys made some cookies together today.  A good time had by all, and now Santa has something to wash down with his glass of milk...  :)  

A Year In The Life - Day 216, December 23, 2014

Warren was a marten (he calls them all 'Marty')  skinning phenom tonight, helping dad all the way through - whether holding something, "pulling here", or asking dad questions about Marty's 'meaty little legs' or why his 'ribs are so squishy"...great times.

A Year In The Life - Day 215, December 22, 2014

In the winter months, the school gym often becomes a source of fun when the weather is nasty - or sometimes it just makes the top of the boys' list.  This shot of Abram is a good indication of how much fun they have up there...and today was a gym day.

A Year In The Life - Day 214, December 21, 2014

Happy Solstice!!  We are ready for our seven minutes more sun a day...and in honor of that, here's a picture of something COLD..... :)  It's all downhill from here...  The pic?  Some ice on a stick :)  Thought the formations were pretty sweet when I spotted them checking traps - just wish I had the macro lens with me instead of just the phone.

The '14-'15 Line, Check #1

Well, things started out like a house on fire, but we quickly ran into some points for thought.  There's my synopsis.  :)

THE SUSPENSE

We got a bit earlier start this morning, and arrived on the line not long after the 10AM-ish sunrise.  Upon relocating our trail in the semi-dark, we entered the slough, and followed it to where it's three branches 'Y' out, with us being in the long tail of the Y.  If we took the left fork of the Y, we head toward the wolverine cubby and a few sets on the burn edge, leading to some more sets around a large lake in some travel corridors.  The right Y heads southerly and has the main body of our marten line thus far.  When we got to this juncture, our decision was made easier by these:

Those, my friends, are WOLF tracks.  And do you know where they are heading?...around the back side of that point of spruce there, roughly 150 yards distant...is our wolverine set.  The cubby.  Oh. baby.  The adrenaline was in overdrive.   I kept telling myself. "There's no way you prepared for wolf.  The traps weren't as scent free as they they should be, the cubby is too tight for them to want to go in, just settle down, because they didn't go in there."  But still, the heart races.  :)  It's one thign to see wolf tracks on your line.  It's another to see them heading toward a trap you KNOW has the ability to actually hold them until you get there...but I just didn't think it was possible.  We did, however, decide to go this direction, as if you could have thought otherwise.  Around the trees we went.  Now the wolf tracks weren't along side our trail, they were IN our trail.  And there were MORE of them.  At least three, I think four.  Heart goes up a notch.  Now, as we approach the set, we have a lynx cubby and a marten set.  We stop to check those, but I can tell you, our eyes were on those wolf tracks more than our sets.  Nothing in either one, so we both hop back on our machines and head for the cubby.  Now, my head is saying "Wolf", and as Uppa gets to within about 30 yards of the cubby I see him leap off the still moving machine, grabbing his .22 as he went.  I rev up to his machine and immediately shut it off, eyes wide.  The first thing I hear Uppa utter from this distance through my facemask and hat sounds a lot like "Wolverine" !!! ( I later would find out he was saying "Moving" or some such).  Now my brain is receiving thoughts of both wolves and wolverines, all being carried in on a surge of straight, 200 proof adrenaline.  I grab the .223 and get over to the cubby in about two steps.  There is dark, weasel-like movement (brain says "Wolverine", again) under the moose head, and I hear growling directed towards Uppa...It is at this point I realize we have not a wolf, not a wolverine, but a.......marten.  I was flabbergasted.  What?!?!...  Not that catching a marten is ever a bad thing, but in this set, under these circumstances, it was enough to confuse a guy.  Once we got over the surprise, we got some shots of him, and proceeded with the dispatch.  Marten can make lightning look slow, and this guy wasn't holding still for any close-ups, though that would've been awesome.  Best I could get was these, as he tried to put a couple holes in us for the trouble we caused him...

After putting him down, we placed him into a conibear ( I like to MAKE SURE they are done before throwing them in the sled and 'forgetting' about them.  I am the guy who has had pheasants and rabbits come back to life in his vest pouch many a time...)  And this little fellow is like a Benjamin Franklin walking around on four legs, so we "ain't havin none o that".   Uppa then posed with him, the first fur of our new line:

Now, it was about at this point that something started to become terribly obvious.  The marten were refusing to climb.  For the rest of the day, we saw where marten after marten (some were the same one no doubt)  went to nearly EVERY single set we had out, and refused to climb.  Even the one we caught in the wolverine cubby had checked out one of Uppa's sets just yards away, before refusing it and heading into his demise - on the ground.  Here's his tracks heading up our trail to where we got him, after passing up the moose hide and spruce chicken bait Uppa had out for him:

Time after time, same story.  We started taking down pots, building ground cubbies, and generally changing things up.  I changed up lure, and am really thinking of changing from tainted moose scraps to beaver.  I thought about spruce chicken, but I really want to save those for lynx.  We'll see.  The next check though, will bring some serious change if the results don't improve.  We thought some of Uppa's sets would perform better after a bit, as he used some leaning tree sets that were lower to the ground, but no.  They would jump up and grab his moose hide attractors, chewing them right off the string, but they would NOT climb for the bait, or stick their heads in the traps.

THE MYSTERY BEAST

So, the first time we set, we saw some tracks.  Bigger than marten, with longer strides, but not as big as, say, wolverine.  However, all the weasels (marten and wolverine included) travel much the same way - with tracks that have two or three footprints in each set - not four.  Marten usually will have only two.  Wolverine three.  One foot, or two feet as the case may be, fall into the exact same spot as a foot before it, creating these track sets.  You can see the normal marten 'two' above.  These tracks came in threes.  Always three.  Never two.  And they were right in-between as far as size.  We said to each other, this is either the BIGGEST marten we'll ever see, or it is a 'baby' wolverine...   Well, this time we saw it again, and I had to take some pics.  Five toes. Five claws. With an elongated pad, not nice and circular like a normal marten track. What is it?....Fisher?...they're not supposed to be here...but then I guess people are killing mountain lions all over the US that aren't supposed to be there, too.....check these out:

  Either way, we're going to have to catch the damn thing and find out.  Just hope the snow allows the tracks to remain when we do get him so we can prove it, whatever it is. :)

THE SETS

So, to wrap up, here are some of the sets we've been making.  Our marten have totally refused to climb thus far, so cubbies and ground sets are the norm now.

A typical marten set of mine.  Classic 300 flowerpot with a spruce branch added to cover the spring and help steer them in.  You can see tracks in this pic of weasel, fox, and marten underneath...but again, no climbing.  These sets are weather proof except for the lure, which I usually place on top of the pot, and then have to scrape off snow and refresh.  Putting them on a spruce tree though keeps the set under the tree's boughs and dry, like this one has been staying.

A ground cubby, with a 1.5 longspring guarding the bait.  We also have been making these with tip up poles, as well, which will follow.

The tip up sets consist of a marten cubby, but we cut a long (8 ft. +) pole (live tree) with a "heavy end" (that sticks out way farther past the tree you attach it to) and a 'light end".  The trap chain attaches to the "light end".  Then drive a nail through the pole to secure it to a larger tree, like a spruce.  The single nail allows the pole to swing or rock like a see saw.  A loose wrap of wire or string is then run around the tree and pole for security, but to still allowing the pole to swing freely.  The trap is set once attached to the light end of the pole, which is kept near the ground.  Then drive another nail into the big tree, and hook a link of your trap chain over it.  This holds the pole in place, with tension on it.  The "heavy end" of the see saw pole is up in the air, and the "light end" is near the ground with the trap attached.  WHen the marten gets caught, he invariably jumps and pulls around enough to pull the trap chain off the nail, releasing the tension, making the heavy end of the see saw drop down, which of course then brings Mr. marten up into the air, dangling from the trap, swinging freely in the air so he cannot get any traction on anything.  Due to their high metabolism, marten expire EXTREMELY quickly.  The plus side of these sets is that your catch is up off the ground and cannot be chewed by voles or munched by fox, etc.  Here are some pics showing part of the setup.  I will do a 'tutorial' on these sets in the future.  Guaranteed.

Here's one all set up.  Pole is nailed to tree with wire around it, heavy end up.

Close-up of the nail holding the link of chain:

You can even use the pole to help with blocking while you are making the cubby:

Again, I'll have to make a tutorial post for this set soon.  Here are some more random sets we are trying on the line thus far:

Leaning tree:  (Not very weather proof)

Ground flowerpot set.  Semi-weather proof due to being under a large spruce.  (Notice the bare grass not flattened by snowfall) :)

Marten tracks in foreground leading under those deadfalls, where I made a set.  This is under a 'double' beaver lodge.

It's under that 'biggest' hole there, center-right.  Just a simple cubby in a natural hole, longspring guarding it.  Don't need to worry about marten being too trap-shy, which is nice...

Ta-ta for now.....

A Year In The Life - Day 213, December 20, 2014

Today we have an action shot. :)  The first marten of the year, playing peek-a-boo with the camera while trying to put some holes in the fellow holding it...blurry, I know, but a great shot, in other ways.

A Year In The Life - Day 212, December 19, 2014

Today a "village" image, for sure.  A snowmachine outside the house, and three mini-snowmachine replica sleds/racers parked nearby for the young 'uns.  That's 'bush'...

A Year In The Life - Day 211, December 18, 2014

Today was the first rabbit snaring success for the Trapping Class!  Yeehaw!  They have now successfully trapped/snared all three things they set out to catch this quarter!  I don't think I am quite as proud as they are, but I am proud of them nonetheless.  Here's some shots of the glory :)

Warren and Abram with their turn holding the prize:

The setter of the snare that scored:

Another happy classmate happy to take their turn carrying their quarry:

And some close ups of the furry beast:

Check out the fur on those feet!!

The '14 - '15 line has begun...

Well, well.  Here we are again.  The waiting now underway, the clock ticking as slowly as it possibly can...traps are set, and anticipation is high.  Sleepless nights sure to come for the next 3-4 months.  Did we take off all the safety catches?...Did I remember to lure that beaver dam set?...Is this the week the wolverine comes back through his range?....   Ohhhh, baby....gotta love it.

This past weekend, my new partner and I (his nickname is 'Uppa') got out to a place we have been talking about setting up for over a year now.  Trees were cut, trails have been made, and the fun meter is rising.  The line thus far is only a 35-40 mile loop, most of which is travel time to and from. Our maiden voyage produced only around 20 sets - 1 for wolverine, 3 for lynx, and the rest for marten.  On the first check, we will hopefully expand the line to at least double that.  Primarily the line will focus on the lynx and the wolverine, with the marten sets thrown in to keep us in gas money. :)  That, of course, is just the plan.  I haven't set a trapline yet that didn't evolve and change in goals, purpose, and results.  So we'll see.

Heading out towards the line, into a burning sun.  Uppa is actually one of those 'trees' out there, just below the left edge of the sun.

As this is just the 'opener' post, I'll keep it relatively short.  These pics also have been featured in the daily pics, too, if you are reading those... The highlight of the trip was this natural cubby (unbelievable) that we found on the edge of where the timber meets the old 'burn'.  It is a DREAM spot for a wolverine set.  Virtually weather proof, and in an ideal location.  This one will be keeping us up at night for a long time to come.

Here's a pic of the edge of where the burn meets the timber:

We set up the moose head with a #4 double longspring and an MB750.  Uppa chose to put his close to the bait (he's bedding ti in the pic), and I put mine in that snow covered spot at center right, so that when they step over, or jump down from, that log, it goes SNAP!  The trap is bedded in this pic.  I added the fencing at left to create a better opening for them to come in over the log. We shall see.  It can be a looooong time til a wolverine comes back.

The first check is going to be Saturday, so I am chomping at the bit.....  All posts from this year will have the Trapping '14-'15 season tag, for family and friends wanting to follow along...Here's to tight chains!!

A Year In The Life - Day 210, December 17, 2014

Another shot of Abram and Warren today, back on the sled and loving it, despite the colder temps...

A Year In The Life - Day 209, December 16, 2014

Some rabbit snares in today's pics.  The trapping class set these about a week ago, and so far we have only scored near-misses.  Can you spot the snares? :)  The one in the second pic is way easier than the first... These are set on trails, but as you can see, there aren't many new tracks since our latest snow...

A Year In The Life - Day 208, December 15, 2014

Another irresistible puppy shot with Warren. :)  He appears to have a magnet-like effect on them, and they come running to him everywhere we go in the village.  If we actually wanted one, we'd have no trouble...