We took a break because we caught 8 gulos last year, five of which were females. We thought we would "rest" the line. It is also a grind to run the gulo line we do; it is a long ways from the house, a long way on snogo to the traps, and there is consistently inclemental weather on that that line (lots of snow and wind). I have some photos of us digging out traps that would make you laugh.

Makes sense. What do you guys typically consider a 'safe' harvest ratio for your personal areas? I've never caught one(made a few sets)but it is interesting. On the islands here they are few and far between. I actually found a wolf-killed one this year as well as saw a live one on the beach. Accordingly to F and G I probably saw half the population of the island! The mainland, a short distance away, is actually one of the top producers down here. In fact FandG is doing a wolvy study right now over there and alot of specimens from the state are being sent here. Last count they had caught four but three chewed their way out of the box. They were using too soft of wood. It is an interesting study and I'm looking forward to reading the results. They have bait stations set up with cameras hoping to get one on film feeding. They haven't succeeded yet, but I guess they got some good footage of other stuff eating. Apparently there was an eagle hanging off the bait upside down like a bat chewing away.

Oh yeah, Audrey Magaoun and her husband Pat Valkenburg are involved with that. Last I heard they were going to switch to a PVC culvert trap, one with no sides for a skunkbear to chew on.

I have no rules with the wolverine sex ratio. Biologically, males are more dispensable than females, and we thought five females in one season was a bit much. Who knows though, the area we trap might be teaming with wolverine right now. We had planned on checking it out this winter, but have yet to find the time to do it.

Yeah, you are right. I was just in there getting a wolf sealed and I noticed the "new" trap they had sitting there. It was a tube of some sort, I don't know, I got to telling wolf stories and completely forgot to go over and check out the trap. I think the study is on some kind of suspention right now due to the bay freezing in. I don't know, I talked to the guy for a minute, but it sounded like the wife was the one heading up the operation. I haven't got to talk to her yet. They have a lot of help from local guys too so they should eventually be able to get some jewelry on more than just the one female.

Nice pic guloboy, hope you get your septic in.

nice pic, corey. i like your beard

nice catch guloboy

gulo : Glad to see you had another good year. Also glad you mentioned letting the line rest in regards to the female take. I hope others realize how important that is ( imo ) .

S.E.W : You ought to chat with the husband / wife team - they know their stuff.

OK, Piper, why is it important to let the line rest?
Gulo took 8 wolverine, just over half being female.
Gulo, were those all adult females? How about the males?
Adult female wolverine are pregnant when they enter the trapping season. Younger ones would not be.
How many miles of line did those 8 wolverine come from? Were there other trappers, other wolverine taken, near you? How about sign at the end of the season? Were there still tracks of wolverine you didn't catch?
What sort of prey is in the area? Small game? Large game?

I think there are many factors to consider when considering letting a line rest. Just because a certain number of females were taken doesn't necessarily mean you over harvested your area.

Letting a line rest assumes that the animal species your "resting" will repopulate in your absense. Not always the case. There is much more at play in our trapping country than just us trappers.
mt

Martentrapper : Many of the points you mention are all considerations when determining whether to let a line rest. I am no expert/authority on anything. I simply choose to err on the conservative side when taking a large number in a given season - especially if several are female. I have the advantage of being able to survey my area by air, thereby determining population numbers to a degree. After once taking nine in a season , I definitely saw less tracks the following year. Did that mean anything, or would others have moved in from adjacent areas - dammed if I know. It's just my personal belief based on my experience and I'm not trying to convince anyone else. However, I strongly believe it doesn't take a lot to hurt them.

Marten: The line is being rested for numerous reasons. You obviously know a fair bit about wolverine management, and your questions are all pertinent when it comes to deciding how much trapping power one should exhibit on wolverine. We considered all of your points (and a couple others), when we decided to lay off the line for a year.

Refugia is the major key, and is always a good thing. Yes, we do have lots of refugia around us. We have spatial refugias as the adjacent areas have little trapping pressure. There is no doubt, we could of gone out there and caught wolverine this year, but we were unsure if it would of been worth the time, gas and effort to trap it again. When we decided not to trap the line this year, a second type of refugia was created: a temporal refugia. I am willing to bet the decision not to trap this year will benefit us next year.

Nice catch and great picture.

Great bunch of fur. Quick though...sell the fur before the sled and traps have to go with it; I know how those septic systems can climb in importance.

That's the first time I've heard the word 'refugia' before. I better go find a dictionary.

plural for refugium. It has been used frequently in some recent scientific papers on managing furbearer populations. I stole the word from the scientists. I plan on using it in front of the Board of Game this weekend. Unit 11 wolverine season should go into February.

When does it end now, gulo? Don't have a reg book handy tonite?

I would have a hard time believing that anyone using strictly coni's can put a serious dent in their wolverine pop. There's just too many that won't go in one, in my experience.

Refugia is any area that isn't hunted or trapped by humans. Without refugia, us greedy humans kill every critter in the area.......or at least some would say so.
mt

Martentrapper : Your experience appears to be similar to Whites. He wont use buckets with coni's due to his experience with them. With foot holds, he feels if they are near his bait he will get them. My experience with elevated bucket sets is the same as with his foot holds. If they are near the bucket ( I am usually setting on their tracks ) you will almost always get them. That is why I am very careful in not wanting to hurt them. Not a lot of extensive info on wolverine, although the couple doing the study in Petersburg have done some good stuff. I have found some of the research is subject to different variables. With big drainages and abundant feed, there are sometimes more animals in a given area they some would think and their travel distances appear to be a lot less than some of the research suggests. Feed appears to be the factor in these cases. Time of year might also influence travel distances. Fun to be able to observe their habits and learn more about them. Great topic- keep it up.

Well this is supposed to be a "lynx" thread.
For most of us, weasther, snow conditions, etc, etc, limit just how much time and effort we can put into our trapline. I'm skeptical that just catching a certain number of wolverine means you may have overharvested your country. Your example of seeing less tracks after catching nine isn't very relavent in my mind, as seeing tracks from an airplane is so dependant on several variables. Since I'm familiar with what an airplane can and can't do, I'm also skeptical that an airplane trapper can really cover his area well, with sets. An airplane trapper is limited to where he can safely land. Even if you catch every wolverine that hits your sets, your just not going to get enough sets out to overharvest your wolverine pop.
Even if a guy does overharvest at some level, sooner or later, other factors that effect our lives will most likely cause that trapper to do something different on his line, such as Gulo concentrating on lynx this year.
A "healthy" ecosystem is constantly changing. The idea that there should always be X number of every species, or a "minimum" number is not natural in my view. Sure, I'd want to be able to get a certain number of every species if I could, and if I trapped the same area every year. But what we want, and what nature provides, are rarely the same.

Martentrapper : Like I said - not an authority and not trying to convince anyone. So, is anybody besides Gulo catching lynx ?

piperniner,

I ended up with 16 cats for the season. I was happy with that considering my season was only six weeks long and I had out only 30 sets.

Gulo,

Very nice put up on your fur, great job!

Gator jr. : Good for you. You and Gulo sure did well. We are all jealous.