But then - on my way to the office to clock out, I saw Albert Beans on the bench, so I walked over to see if he had gotten any wolves his last time out and to check why he had called me this morning. I believe his EXACT words were "..yeah, somebody told me yesterday that you had a Lynx over in the Driftwood somewhere...." My mind was backstepping trying to recover from the instant adrenaline rush when I realized/remembered that "the Driftwood" is the term that locals such as Albert use for an area roughly the size of Texas and Oklahoma...put together. Instantly, I thought of the Turkey neck set because of Pappy's vision from the other day, but I knew it could have been any one of our sets, based on the magnitude of "The Driftwood"...
Once back at home, I hastily rounded up what I thought I needed, only to forget half of it on my way out the door in a crazy, whirlwind of rushed, half-dressed uselessness, all while trying to keep Ada in the house and keep the snow machine running so it could warm up. A recipe for disaster. But I made it out of the house unscathed and soon I was barreling down the Yukon as fast as I dared go without looking at the speedometer.
Got to the first slough and made it to the turnoff without wrecking, which was impressive for the rate of speed I was experiencing. A few minutes and miles later, I was fast approaching the next turn, this time a left, which would bring me to the scene of the turkey neck set. It just HAD to be the turkey neck set. The catch to that set is this....it is about 3 feet off the trail, and just over a blind rise, which means if you are driving the trail on a snowmachine, a highly pissed off trap-caught Lynx would most certainly be able to ambush you and reach your jugular AND your vital organs with all three of his use-able paws...and likely his teeth would follow. Have you ever seen the frightening creature a housecat turns into around a vacuum cleaner? Well, to give you an idea, I am thinking I am about to roll up on a larger, much-more-capable-of-death version of a housecat with a roaring 550cc motor running around 4000rpm.....you can imagine what I am preparing for...so, I get to the turn, and, holding my breath, I goose the throttle and pop up over the rise, ready to bail at a moment's notice...and....nothing. Not a damn thing. Well, except for some tracks in the fresh snow which clearly show me that at least one lynx has approached, and REFUSED, my set in the last 24 hours. What the.....!
Hmmm....now I am really confused. Is there a set-off trap under that new snow? Is our Lynx gone? Did someone steal it?...I only then, in my heightened state, remembered that we have two more sets out there. OK, so the turkey neck set isn't the one Albert meant...I remove the drifted snow from the set and remake it, then I back out the trail, down over the rise, and head for the next set, which is the very one Sarah and I got the first Lynx in. As I approached the spot, I simultaneously realized that 1) There is, once again, NO FLAGGING marking our set (where it SHOULD be), and 2) There is a highly pissed off Devil Cat looking at me....We caught another one! Yeeeeee-hawwwwww!!!!!!!!!
And his demeanor told me that my previously expressed concern about the Turkey neck set was justified. He was not impressed with the trap - or me:
What goes through your head at a time like this?...well, here's an idea:
"Wow! that is about the coolest thing I have ever seen!....man, I hope that trap holds.....Holy Cow look at those white paws!....Man, if he pulls out of that trap, I'm gonna bleed.....Oh, cool - listen to that growling sound he's making!......."
And so, I put the camera down, because I realize I am going to need two more hands than I actually have, as it is. And I approach the cat. With just a snare. At this point, he is just waiting for me, watching every move, and growling at a volume that increases exponentially with every inch I gain on him:
Finally, I am barely out of his reach when I stop and give myself the quick pep talk. And then, a lunge - from both of us. Only his was much, much faster than my own. a miss. I once again prepare my steel lasso and move in. "C'mon, how hard can this be" I ask myself - and then I find out: I throw the lasso at his head. He sees this coming, about 30 seconds before it actually left my hand. He rolls over onto his back like an airborne bird of prey, and twice as fast (it was like watching "The Matrix" all over again), making the loop miss his head by an embarrassing distance. But the Lynx?..ohhhh no, he does NOT miss...he grabs ahold of that steel cable with every available claw - AND tooth - and proceeds to try and show me just how measly steel cable can be. I am convinced instantly, and out of concern I desperately try to pull back the snare. Heh heh. Not happenin'. He's got it, he knows what it's there for, and nobody's getting that snare back just then. I briefly think to myself, through the "fight or flight" haze, that if he wasn't stuck in a trap, he'd be using the snare on ME about now. I try again to regain possession. All my adrenaline is useless. He's still got the snare. And I am starting to think he can just keep it. Finally, he must have tried to shift his grip a little, or maybe he broke a tooth, because he let go and I retrieved the snare from the writhing ball of fury. I unsuccessfully tried several more times with the snare, before firmly deciding that although many others may doubt the intensity of what I was trying to do, I knew better. Anyone - and I say again, ANYONE, who has tried Lynx lassoing while the fore-mentioned cat has both front legs free, knows better right along with me, too.
It was then that I went to the backup plan: a dose of lead poisoning to the upper spinal column. The job was done. And I've got a lynx to skin. I'll post some video in the next day or so - got some good footage of him growling at me while actually wagging his stub of a tail. Yes, like a dog. I think it was a challenge......
As promised, here is the (unedited, so pardon my nerdiness...) video of the moments prior to and after the above incident. Enjoy. ...In order to hear him growl, unfortunately, you may have to turn up the volume to a very loud setting, as the camera didn't pick it up all that well - but you CAN hear it...I'll do better on that next time - maybe approach the Devil cat a little closer before I hit record. :)
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