January 1 - 5 2012:Well, 2012 is here now. Everyone ready to die next December? (Kidding)
So the first few days of 2012 were non productive, ended up setting a dozen or so rat huts, and got freezing cold temperatures for the next 3 days afterwards which does a number on the huts no matter how good I seal them. So on the 3rd day I checked the sets irregardless of the temperature outside which is still warm for this time of the year by the way. And pulled up 1 lone muskrat out of the 12 sets, and had 3 houses frozen, that was January 1. January 3rd I checked again because I was in the area, no more frozen houses. But I had a pesky mink take care of 1 rat completely and then he drug another one till the chain was tight under the ice, and chewed the back end up on him. No pictures of that for you tonight.
January 4 was a great day, checked another line I have set, and got a weasel which I didn't take a close up picture of because of how close he got to the bloody bait before expiring, and then went over to the beaver lodge, and pulled up a real nice beaver. Probably i'd say a 35 pounder, but you tell me what you think he weighs.
Caught in a 330, in the set shown below with a green piece of poplar wired to the lower jaws:
here's the beaver:
But we continued on, past that beaver pond a whole 500 yards across a swamp to another place I suspected to have a house, and sure enough there was a half decent sized lodge (with double feed bed) and a dam in the bush.
and one of two feed beds (remember the position my dog is walking in for next part)
Alright, so because I knew there was breach in the dam and water was running we never brought the bike and sled on to the ice till we knew it was safe to walk, I take my dog with me trapping and as soon as we got on the ice he started sniffing around and suddenly he basically B-Lined it for a clump of cat tails right beside the running water.(he is shown above with the tail straight out) I heard a few barks from him then a bunch of growling, and he steps back out of the water, and out rolls this little raccoon.
and seeing the little guy just sitting there made me kick in to over drive! I got my partner to grab a "kill stick" off the dam while I took a picture.
He dispatched that coon, and a few seconds later two more came running out in different directions. My dog circled one and tree'd it.
and #3
So anyway, after he dispatched the first coon, it rolled over in to the running water, and I held it there upside down to wash the blood off.
And he went back to get the bike and sled, while he was gone, the coon the dog tree'd tried to come down. I chased it back up, and when I heard the bike get hung up on something and the throttle go up I turned around.
When I turned back the coon was coming down the tree again, I yelled my dogs name, and he jumped up and put his paws on the tree and started barking, the coon bit him on the top of the nose, and I saw some blood drip down his face, so I guess you could say my "motherly insticts" kicked in, and I dispatched that coon with more force then was probably needed..
The bite was just a slight flesh wound, so I washed it out and let him take it easy for awhile.
as for the 3rd coon he crawled down the tree and ran off. Which is alright, i'll get him in traps next time I go out.
So here was the fur from the end of that day.
The weasel is in rough shape, but the beaver and coon have AWESOME pelts on them. Mounted the fleshing beam today in a better position so i'm ready to go. Thanks for reading this post.
