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Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3616255
02/05/13 04:12 PM
02/05/13 04:12 PM
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 186
Eielson Farm Road. Alaska
FullFreezer Offline
trapper
FullFreezer  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 186
Eielson Farm Road. Alaska
Nice wolverine. Do you have any pictures of your sets before having an animal in them?

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: Family Trapper] #3616409
02/05/13 05:35 PM
02/05/13 05:35 PM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
trapper
Wolverinebait  Offline
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Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: Family Trapper
Outstanding WB. I take it that water is relatively shallow. Yowza. I think I can see rocks. Does it make you pucker? A little warm spell might make it interesting. You seem to catch most of your wolverines in foottraps. How many gulos do you get that nibble on their toes? In those long chains do you ever get one that wants a piece of you? And nearly succeeds? ha ha. Do you walk the chain on the ones you choked out? Your reputation is growing by the photo. ;0)


Thanks Len,... In the above trail picture, after a warm spell dropped the ice out, I don't go around that point any longer, even tho it might look like I do. I do catch almost all my wolverines in footholds,... I would love to use 330's, but I just can't get too many of them to try & go thru one. Just like you have trouble getting marten to climb. Sometimes they will chew on their frozen toes as they're biting & chewing on the trap,... but more times than not, it's not too bad. You just can't use too big of a trap on wolverines,... if they can easily get under the jaws (like in wolf traps), they'll be damaged every time. But foot-caught wolverine will always be "altered" even when they don't chew,... in the picture of those 2 on the boards,... neither one had damaged themselves by chewing,... but it's very obvious what foot they were both caught on.

I have had a few times over the years with wolverines turning and charging me full-throttle and smacking into the end of the chain when I came up to the set. Those are usually the big, more aggressive males that have only been caught for a couple hours at the most. I don't usually take pictures of those. And no, I don't walk out on the chains with wolverines. If I have to choke off a wolverine or wolf, the hardest part is getting a snare over their heads,.. they both bite at anything that gets close. So, I usually poke & prod them with a stick for a little while at first until they finally stop biting at anything that gets close. But even then, occasionally I'll end up getting my snare stuck on their jaw. Then I have an even greater mess,.. because now I have to take a 2nd snare and run the first one thru it, to be able to get the 2nd one over it's head,... and to do that, I have to tie off the first snare to something to keep it somewhat tight & straight,.. and usually the critter doesn't care for all this fooling around,... that's when I tell myself to carry a back-up pistol from now on,... I can think of 3 different times when I have come up on a wolverine caught in a set & watched him pop out & take off,... 2 of those times I chased them down & got 'em anyways. I have some pictures of those too, somewhere.

The teeth on that "pirate" wolverine were fine,... which would indicate that he probably wasn't all that old.




"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: FullFreezer] #3616444
02/05/13 05:51 PM
02/05/13 05:51 PM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
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Wolverinebait  Offline
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Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: Alaskan trapper
Nice wolverine. Do you have any pictures of your sets before having an animal in them?


Not really,... altho I'm sure I have a few somewhere,... but I have more than a few of what they do to sets afterwards,... even in the last couple weeks,...

Here's a couple examples of sets that caught a lynx first, then a wolverine second. The lynx had been caught for a least a few days,.. and hadn't even packed down a full circle yet. Then the next check had a smaller female wolverine that had been caught that night,... less than 12 hours prior,... and was already into the dirt,..





And here's another example. Nice lynx one trip,... then a trip or two later,... and HOLY SMOKES! Looks like the wolverine tried to build an igloo while he was camping here,....





Last edited by Wolverinebait; 02/05/13 06:18 PM.

"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: Wolverinebait] #3616460
02/05/13 06:00 PM
02/05/13 06:00 PM
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 34
Northern Alberta
T
Tundra 300 Offline
trapper
Tundra 300  Offline
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T

Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 34
Northern Alberta
Wow, never seen a cat or gulo work it like that.
Nice pics!

Last edited by Tundra 300; 02/05/13 07:03 PM.
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3616513
02/05/13 06:15 PM
02/05/13 06:15 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,124
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline OP

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline OP

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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,124
McGrath, AK
Was that bottom picture a back foot catch ?


That pirate is quite the critter. AAArrg !


The ones that amaze me are the ones that look like they are break dancing on the corner. Constantly in motion, and flipping on their backs & lunging. Love it !


Mean As Nails
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3616768
02/05/13 07:50 PM
02/05/13 07:50 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,349
Interior Alaska
smalltimetrapper Offline
small greenhorn
smalltimetrapper  Offline
small greenhorn

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,349
Interior Alaska
That is quite a snow pile!

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3616983
02/05/13 08:47 PM
02/05/13 08:47 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,255
Homer, Alaska
Family Trapper Offline
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Family Trapper  Offline
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Posts: 2,255
Homer, Alaska
Reminds me of when I used to catch badgers in Montana. Wow can they excavate the ground.
WB
I was a bit confused by this statement.
Quote:
You just can't use too big of a trap on wolverines,... if they can easily get under the jaws (like in wolf traps), they'll be damaged every time.

You say you can't use too big a trap yet if they are big they chew every time.
Am I reading it right that-
Big is good for catching but bad for damage. So what is the compromise?
#9 good for catching, bad for chewing damage.
#4 victor not as good for catching, better for doing less foot damage?

Have you ever used a tipup for wolverine? Found out that a man in Holy Cross uses them routinely from what his son said?
Be interesting to try and use a #9 on a tipup for wolverine.

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617008
02/05/13 08:54 PM
02/05/13 08:54 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,124
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline OP

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline OP

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,124
McGrath, AK
I believe he means you should NOT use too big a trap because it allows space for them to get their muzzle beneath the jaws.

Just from my limited experience it can have a lot to do with the configuration of the jaws. Some are taller than others even though the trap is nominally the same size. For example...the CDR 750 has more room under the jaws than the MB750. Consequently, IMO, the MB750 is superior in that application.

The #9 is way too much in all respects IMO.


Mean As Nails
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617032
02/05/13 09:03 PM
02/05/13 09:03 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,514
juneau, alaska
A
alaska viking Offline
"Made it two years not being censored"
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Posts: 5,514
juneau, alaska
I am sort of surprised that a #4 Victor would be a trap used for wolverine, actually. Though I am sure that my limited sucess with gulo has something to do with that. While I have a few of them, and have used them many, many times over the years for beaver and otter in drowning sets, I never considered them a wolverine trap.
Care to comment?


Made it almost 3 years without censor!

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617179
02/05/13 09:43 PM
02/05/13 09:43 PM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 107
Alaska
A
Akmike84 Offline
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 107
Alaska
I've caught and held more wolverine in a #4 than any other foot trap. Mb750's are good too, but they are a big trap, so trap damage tends to be worse. But we've had this conversation before. I've only ever caught a couple wolverine in foot traps that didn't at least damage their claw tips or tips of the toes. Back foot catch is definetly better than front though.
I've only ever caught 2 wolverine in #9's. One was gone and the other was something I wouldn't want to describe on here. Just way to much trap.....

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617263
02/05/13 10:08 PM
02/05/13 10:08 PM
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 186
Eielson Farm Road. Alaska
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Posts: 186
Eielson Farm Road. Alaska
Thanks, those are just what I wanted to see.

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617779
02/06/13 01:11 AM
02/06/13 01:11 AM
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 73
Alaska
akpawpincher Offline
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akpawpincher  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 73
Alaska
Great pics and catches per the usual WB!


Trapping and predator hunting since 1984: "So that others may live."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617872
02/06/13 02:09 AM
02/06/13 02:09 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,255
Homer, Alaska
Family Trapper Offline
trapper
Family Trapper  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,255
Homer, Alaska
WB I wish you had the remake of that last set. ;0)

Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617936
02/06/13 04:01 AM
02/06/13 04:01 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
trapper
Wolverinebait  Offline
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: white17
Was that bottom picture a back foot catch ?


Well,... I will never know,.. he got away. This was a case of the worst timing possible. It was a little longer between checks on this set, because I had frozen my cheeks last time,.. it was around -40°, so I had left this set go. Anyway, this wolverine had to have gotten caught within hours of my last visit because of snow conditions, and because of new snow less than 12 hours from this visit, he had escaped just hours before I arrived now. I suppose that's it's somewhat natural to assume that making a snowpile like this would require both front feet to be digging,.. but I don't think one can determine that. I very seldom catch a wolverine by a hind foot, but I looked at the few pictures of the ones that I have gotten in the last few years, and the snow piles they dig with both front feet vs one is not really different. Snow depth, brush, time in the set, individual temperment, etc all will affect how much a wolverine destroys a set. The fact is,... I really don't have any other pictures of a snow pile at a set quite like what this guy just did,... at least with just this little amount of snow,...








"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617947
02/06/13 04:15 AM
02/06/13 04:15 AM
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 65
AUK,Alaska
A
Ak-49 Offline
trapper
Ak-49  Offline
trapper
A

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 65
AUK,Alaska
That's awesome good job


Pile fur
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617954
02/06/13 04:28 AM
02/06/13 04:28 AM
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 65
AUK,Alaska
A
Ak-49 Offline
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Ak-49  Offline
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A

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 65
AUK,Alaska
Would a bridger #5 coil spring offset jaw work? Has some good size don't look to deep, have you ever tried one?


Pile fur
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: Family Trapper] #3617963
02/06/13 05:11 AM
02/06/13 05:11 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
trapper
Wolverinebait  Offline
trapper

Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: Family Trapper
Reminds me of when I used to catch badgers in Montana. Wow can they excavate the ground.
WB
I was a bit confused by this statement.
Quote:
You just can't use too big of a trap on wolverines,... if they can easily get under the jaws (like in wolf traps), they'll be damaged every time.

You say you can't use too big a trap yet if they are big they chew every time.
Am I reading it right that-
Big is good for catching but bad for damage. So what is the compromise?
#9 good for catching, bad for chewing damage.
#4 victor not as good for catching, better for doing less foot damage?

Have you ever used a tipup for wolverine? Found out that a man in Holy Cross uses them routinely from what his son said?
Be interesting to try and use a #9 on a tipup for wolverine.


Yeah, what I meant was,... more jaw spread is good for getting a better grip,... but more jaw spread is bad for more self-inflicted damage.

When Dean Wilson first bought the #9 trap business from Ted Manning in the 80's, him & I went over the whole process and I helped him re-design the parts jigs so we could make the traps faster than one at a time. And in the process of doing this, we had designed what was going to be the Alaskan #7,... a spittin' image of the #9, only a smaller version with a 7" jawspread,... what we hoped might be the ultimate wolverine trap. The main difference was going to be a double-jaw design,.. where a wolverine had no access to his foot beneath the jaws, as much as is possible to make, yet the lightning speed of the #9, and with enough jawspread that snapped & empty traps was going to be a thing of the past. Well, after after getting prices on all the pieces, plus re-tooling costs, etc., this was going to cost almost as much as a #9,... and we both felt that not too many guys were going to be willing to pay $80-$90 for a wolverine trap, so it never happened.

Once a wolverine is caught, he's gonna be biting at everything,... and I don't think they even realize that they are biting their own toes once they freeze & can't feel anything. So, having a low-height trap where they just can't get their mouth/teeth under the jaws of the trap is what you want to prevent toe damage. Jump traps are good in this way, as the underspring restricts access to their toes, but I hate jumps, and you'll almost always get poor foot holds in jumps (at least that has been my experience). And I agree with the others,... a #9 is guaranteed to have major foot damage every time,... and a toe or two catch with that much offset is a pullout waiting to happen.

IMHO, a good compromise is the biggest jawspread with the smallest access,... and one trap that I have & like quite well on wolverines, is the Victor #3 coilspring. It has a jawspread that is the same width as a #4 DLS, but slightly less height. (See pictures). When set, they are virtually identical in dimensions, but it's the closed dimensions that's important for this discussion. I'd rather have a wolverine by 2 toes in a trap where he can't touch them, than a full-paw catch, but he can get his whole head underneath the jaws. I'm kinda old-school,... my standard trap is still the #4 Victor DLS, because that's what I got even before I was out of school,... back then that was about all there was. I have never owned any of the newer Bridgers, etc, so I might be missing out on something that is better than what I'm using, I don't know.

I would love to try some tip-ups on wolverines,... I think that would be a cool thing, and sometime soon I'm gonna make some. I have had a couple wolverines climb into trees after getting caught, then jump or fall out, and hanging there frozen. I don't know why, but it never dawned on me all these years to try tip-ups,...




"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: alaska viking] #3617971
02/06/13 05:35 AM
02/06/13 05:35 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
trapper
Wolverinebait  Offline
trapper

Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: alaska viking
I am sort of surprised that a #4 Victor would be a trap used for wolverine, actually. Though I am sure that my limited sucess with gulo has something to do with that. While I have a few of them, and have used them many, many times over the years for beaver and otter in drowning sets, I never considered them a wolverine trap.
Care to comment?


Well, I'm sure that a Victor #4 is not the best wolverine trap by any standards, but it surely is adequate. I can only think of one time that I had a wolverine pull the jaws out of one, and it was a brand-new trap, and one jaw was broken, so I think it was a defect. I always carry spare pans & dogs in my parka, as they can & do tear parts off. I don't know what else to say,... I've probably stretched over 100 wolverines with this trap. Years ago, even back in the bounty days, no one cared about toe damage, since all wolverines were used for sewing purposes,.. color & hair length were the main things.


"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: Family Trapper] #3617973
02/06/13 05:44 AM
02/06/13 05:44 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Wolverinebait Offline
trapper
Wolverinebait  Offline
trapper

Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
Tonsina, Alaska
Originally Posted By: Family Trapper
WB I wish you had the remake of that last set. ;0)


Well,... here's the remake,... that snow pile was as hard as a rock! You had to pound your heel into it just to make a mark. All I could do now was chisel a hole into it & make a baited snow-hole set, but I doubt that it'll catch anything for the rest of the season. It's going to be a royal pain to get my trap off that tree in a couple weeks. This set was originally a pee-post set next to my trail.

Sorry to everyone,... I didn't mean to hog this thread & tie it up with just my stuff,... I guess I should have started a seperate thread for all this,....



"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings when I called you stupid,... I thought you already knew,..."
Re: The Almighty Alaskan Thread #6 [Re: white17] #3617985
02/06/13 06:29 AM
02/06/13 06:29 AM
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 490
Fairbanks AK
Aknative Offline
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Aknative  Offline
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Posts: 490
Fairbanks AK
Thanks for sharing! It would be cool to see more of your pics and workings.


Rumors of my assimilation have been greatly exaggerated.
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