It's that time again...

Mid January.  The fox are pairing (or now paired, for some) up and looking for love.  What does this mean?....  It means nice easy post sets and an exponential increase in the chances for doubles, that's what it means!  There might be no better time to be out trapping our furry red friends - a nuance of the 'season of love' is that the fox will travel more and eat less now.  Well, at least those who haven't already found a partner, anyway.  And their traveling is in pairs instead of solo.  Which means, for those of us laying steel, that scent posts are where it's at.  Here's an example.  An "outstanding object". In this case, a knob at the base end of a downed log that sticks up above the snow.  This one happens to be in the near-middle of a slough, so there is nothing close to it in ANY direction.  By close I mean 100 yards or more depending on direction.  An object like this placed in a canine key crossing is solid gold.  This one happens to be about four feet off a major snowmachine trail however, and that is the sole reason why I haven't set it.  I don't like trapping for someone else.  Anyway, here is the branch, only two nights after a fresh snow.  How many trails do you see leading to and from it?

 There are tracks of no less than seven visits to this object.  In two days' time.  Check below where I highlighted the paths and then look again.  Some are harder to see as they are in depressions and shadowed, but they are there.  Easily could have had a double here, and likely the number of individuals this represents is much higher than two.  But, I have to make sets in the area but more hidden so as to be the one taking my fox home.  My guess is if I came across a spot like this in a secluded area - meadow, etc - there would be consecutive days of doubles at such a set-up.  And once you get the catch circle with added eye appeal, not to mention scent, the traffic will increase yet again as well.

Now for some friends of mine...

This little fellow must only have been in the trap a few minutes when I got there - note the utter lack of catch circle.  The rock used in the post is right in front of him, and the snow isn't even knocked off it yet:

And then there's this guy - reminds me of the pics I see of the fellas out west with their badger catches - Boom! explosion!  The snow was around his shoulder height when the set was made, and of course flat as a board.  He was busy!  And check out the willow tree shrapnel he flung all over the dang place!  And yet he was as nice and calm as could be when I showed up to take his picture. :)  Sure wish I had some better light, but what can you do when you trap in a heavily traveled area and you have to be the first one there.... A statement image of why I love this time of year so much...

And then there's this guy..he duped me several times, and then I decided it was time for the feather set.  Sure enough, a double front foot catch.  Gotcha! should have already started with the double sets, too, apparently.  Looked like several others checked him out during his stay...

This year has thus far produced the biggest red fox I have seen yet here in the bush - this big male goes 39 inches from nose to the end of the leather, all but 59 inches WITH the tail.  The five-foot fox pelt is within reach!!!...

Also got some cleaning done here lately.  Had a tote of 'backup' traps that sat for a while and must have had some water in the tote.  We're talking chunky colonies of rust, not just rust.  The bottom of the tote is now orange permanently.   Anyhow, I enlisted the help of Warren and we got 'er done together.  Here is a shot of him sampling the task, complete with his snowmachine goggles for eye protection. :)  If he's like this when he's two I can't wait til he gets older....

So this is what many of the traps in that tote looked like, some better, some worse...

Start with several charged cordless drill batteries (this will EAT 'em)  and attach one of these babies to the drill:

After wire brushing them, they need a good rinse, and then re-boil them. They look a lot nicer already. :)

Once you have them reboiled, you need to get yourself a first-class setup to dye traps, like I have. :D  This means in the kitchen on the floor, with a tub of Formula One trap dye in the bottom of a rubbermaid tote.  Once dipped, I wire each bundle to a cut plank for framing to dry between coats.  Excess drips into the tub of dye, and the assorted storage containers I position to collect drips from spring safeties, dog triggers, etc.  Like so:  (These were literally just dipped, and so still have the purple-black wet look.)

Even the wolf and wolverine traps that were unfortunate enough to be in the tote of rusty death joined the fun...