Good morning mole.

Mostly cloudy and 42.

WS

X2

12 F clear calm cool. Have a Good one.

Gandy Dancers

5 today

Satellite maps are extremely helpful. Use several sources, including bing, google, etc., to study the area.

Look for combinations of several good habitat factors. Natural bottlenecks and travel coridors, protruding pockets of good habitat surrounded by inferior habitat, rivers and creeks (especially where they have deep valleys, and places where one creek falls into another), steep slopes, spruce-dominated areas, and especially old growth areas (biggest trees, easily visible on satellite images). Relatively fresh burn sites after low- to medium intensity forest fires and areas of mosaic habitat (including man-made aberrations such as cleared areas for oil pipes or power lines) bordeing large areas of core old-stand habitat are also good. The more spruce (= the more red-backed voles) the better, but it all works for areas with no spruce or conifers whatsoever.

If the area has considerable elevation changes, when looking for bottlenecks and pockets, take into account the downward direction of marten movement as they descend into valleys early in the season.

Combine that with ease of access. This way you can single out spots with high potential very precisely and eliminate the need to waste time hiking and exploring the general area, so it will only take you a few minutes to assess and set each spot (or decide against it) when you visit it.

It will save you a ton of time on actual scouting.

Thanks for posting those links , Crowfoot.

Both were a good read.

Not anymore.

I ask them how much they scrutinize the title and how good they are at detecting forged documents

You may have a rodent problem.....

Fat girls are like mopeds…fun to ride until your friends find out.

I’m a fan of Bruce’s posts. I’m not a fan of heart or liver lol.

A freeze drier is safer because they go down to around -58F, which kills lots of bacteria and parasites and destroys lots of viruses. Pet food isn't regulated all that much, so both are probably legal, but you should check.

One of the companies I sell to freeze dries whole, ground prey, so it be stored a very long time, without refrigeration. He got the machine back in May and gave us some candy and ice cream sandwiches he ran through too. The ground meat is hydrophobic when first placed in water. It takes about 15 minutes to become hydrated. Afterwards, it is surprisingly similar to what it started as.

Keith