Today was a beautiful day. Really. The sun was out, nearly no wind, temps right around zero...about as good as you could want this time of year. Unlike the last few days which have been rediculous - more RAIN accompanied by sleet, snow, and then more RAIN repeated several times over the last 72 hours. That was the kind of weather that makes it suck to be a trapper. Weather that makes you forget you are on the Yukon Delta in the middle of winter for crying out loud.....
..But I digress..I said today was a beautiful day, and I meant it. So I set out this morning with high hopes of setting a new marten area I had scouted out on google earth as well as checking the existing 'line. It didn't take me long to realize that my plans would change. At the very first turn heading off the Yukon, the first thing I saw while entering the slough was overflow. LOTS of overflow. Overflow occurs when water pushes out, up, and through the existing ice and begins to flow on top of the ice in its normal fashion. This usually occurs when thawing or heavy rains occur (see above :D ). The trouble is this - usually, you can not tell if the water is 3 inches deep or 4 feet deep. You know the ice is down there. Somewhere. But you don't know how far. And so you have to gun the motor and hydroplane across the water in your snowmachine. Then you don't have to care how deep the water is - well, at least you don't have to care if you go fast enough.... I'll try and post a video of this later, because there are bigger fish to fry.
Today after crossing the various pools of overflow and arriving on the Kashunuk river sloughs where our Lynx sets are (No that doesn't give much away, the Kashunuk is much longer than you think....) :) I noticed Lynx tracks about 300 yds away from one of our sets. Of course, I immediately got excited, and started staring at the tracks. They continued in my very own old snowmachine tracks all the way to within a short distance of our Dead Tree set. Unfortunately at this point they turned left sharply, and went up the rise straight to the Turkey Neck set, which I had pulled on the last check. The little sucker went on a beeline directly to the set and munched what was left of the turkey neck and the beaver leg - now that the trap is gone of course...and then moved off in the opposite direction of the other sets in the area. So I continued on to the Dead Tree set. Nada. Undisturbed. The freeze/thaw cycles combined with the rain however turned the snow over the trap into a nightmarish, impenetrable crust. I think I could have stood on the pan and the trap would not have gone off. "Oh, well, at least we didn't lose any more bait", I thought. After the remake, I looked over at Sarah's set and I couldn't see it very well as I had to look directly into the sun. I crossed the slough and walked over the rise to inspect it closer, anticipating the annoying remake that the weather bestowed upon me. "But wait....what was that?!...Did I just see movement?... No, there's nothing there at the set...Something caught my eye though...what the..whoa! The flagging is on the ground! But there's nothing there....and the spruce hen is gone...but there's nothing th..." And then two little black tufted ears moved and appeared behind the trees making up the cubby. There, behind the stump, was Sarah's very first, and her very own, Lynx canadensis!!!!! Yesssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First I must divulge this top secret photo of Sarah as we were about to disembark on one of our recent journeys. I think it is the trip during which she made the set, but she disagrees:
At any rate, here are some more pics of her first Lynx trapping endeavor. (first solo that is, as we all know she is partly responsible for ALL of our lynx so far)
She picked the location, she broke the dead limbs, she created the cubby, she blocked it up, and placed the stepping sticks:
Here she is with her finished product:
Now I have to give you a little background. On Saturday, while she was playing b-ball in St Mary's, she was fouled, and with that foul came a scratch on her left middle finger that left the whole fingernail coated in dried blood. Almost immediately upon arriving home Saturday night, she took off her glove and told me about the foul, and then added, "Hey that must mean I got my Lynx in the left front paw, huh?" This is reference of course to my belief in the 'voodoo' about drawing blood and the success of the hunt/trapping/fishing trip. There are countless examples from which to choose from in order to validate my claims, but I will let this one speak for itself. She did this all on her own, without provocation. I daresay she may even have been mocking the voodoo, but I will never know. I know this, however - the following are photos of a Lynx. And its foot is firmly held in a trap. Sarah's trap. And it is a LEFT FRONT FOOT that is IN the trap!!!!!! ......"Touche", say I !!!!! Every other Lynx trap I checked today was crusted over with snow and ice. I also must add that the rain began on Saturday, and the freezing temps Saturday night and Sunday night and...The Voodoo has spoken! If you want my bet, the cat was caught in the trap Saturday night, but I'll leave it at that. :D Have a look:
And, turn up the volume and check out this clip of a VERY VERY angry kitty. Lots of hissing and growls on this one:
Check this out as well - you couldn't get a Lynx paw any further in that trap if you HELD it for 'em:
CONGRATULATIONS to "Honeysweets"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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