Starting off the New Year!...well, soon I hope....

The last month or so has been a disaster for the trappers here in SW Alaska. Horrible weather and conditions have everything locked up in ice, no snow to be had for traveling, and even several RAIN storms. (yep...RAIN...in interior Alaska.....in freaking December!?!?!...) Seriously, there have been deaths this winter because of snowmachines going through the ice, - those folks will never be seen again. Not being able to trap is nowhere near as tragic as that kind of loss, but it has been frustrating for those of us trying to harvest fur, and the fatalities I have heard of so far this year were in fact trappers, trying to head out and check their lines despite the limitations.

At any rate, I figured I should have a before and after set of pics for the massive comeback I'm going to have in 2010 - that's my resolution :) and so I took a few for the end of 2009.

This first one is the cool "marbled" paint job on the marten we got on our last check. The buyers can't dock me for it being too light OR too dark this time..its BOTH!! lol He is laying on top of one of the beavers and so the pic may seem a little abstract:


Next up is the first beaver of the year which we got back in the Fall. We had it tanned, as we are doing with several of the furs this year, (in order to make things, that I will post later about.....) and I took these shots to show how 'red' he is...




Here we have that same tanned beaver laid over the most recent piglet, (the 50 lb'er) in order to show the difference between an early season beaver that is exposed to lots more light, and a winter beaver that stays under the ice and in the dark of the lodge all winter. There is a noticeable pigment difference in the fur, and, of course, much thicker underfur also in the winter beav:


And last, but not least, is the End of 2009 pic (NOT the "end of trapping season" pic, of course), which, as stated, is meager so far. That said, there are 16 beaver, one otter, one mink, and two fox not in this picture that have a rightful place in it.


So as of right now, with the entire month of December being omitted due to weather, the traps I have set/been able to keep operational have so far caught:

18 Beaver
8 Red Fox
1 Marten
1 Otter
and the bird-ravaged mink in Sarah's set. Not a phenomenal haul, but we're going to make it better. :)



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .....now let's get some snow and go trappin'.........