Fantastic photos, and the text is better than National Geo.

I just use a cheap oil-based brand, nothing particular just something Lowes carries. I usually pressure wash my traps and sometimes boil them. I do worry about the smell and that is why I do them early before season and hang them outside to ventilate. I dip mine about every 5 years or so. Not something I do on a yearly basis.

Finally made it out to the trapline last week. Not like I'd like but got out there with an quick flight in the Citabria. Pretty good snow but no base and the ol spare Polaris was riding right on the rocks. Saw lots of moose and caribou around the cabin and even more from the plane. Lots of wolf sign and not much else for fur sign. Put out a dozen #9's and a few snares out within 5 miles of the cabin. Placed 4 catch-all sets behind the cabin for cats, coyote and wolverine.

This is my back-up sled that I left at the cabin. Nice ride but not set up work-wise like the Scandics and sure missed the 4-strokes and pogo-stick front ends.
She's sitting on Pee Post Pass while I'm setting 3 pee posts. I've always had 2 sets but put a new trap bed and stake in last spring while my sister was out here with me. There was sheep tracks all over the pass and there were 9 ewes and lambs watching me while I was placing the traps.


The Polaris didn't like the ice at all so I took it back to the cabin, put her in the shop and put 200 screws in the track. That really helped a lot. The river had froze at it's normal levels so there isn't much ice to work with and traveling up the river on the rocks wasn't good for the machine at all. About 3 miles above the cabin, I decided to turn around and head below the cabin instead since the snow was getting slim. Thought about dropping the Fold-a-Sled at the cabin and breaking trail bobtailed to save the head aches. 50 yards from the cabin, I come to a complete halt wrapping the lower control arm around a rock.

Starting to love that pogo-stick front end being so durable. Not near as comfortable but I'll give that up for durability. Didn't take many moose pictures as the camera wasn't as handy in an Rubbermaid action packer under bungee cords. I did manage to shoot a few pics though.




Flying back out tomorrow and fix the sled and put some wolves on the stretchers? Hot weather up here right now so I don't think I'll have much snow left out there. High hopes for putting some fur up and getting some more gear out. Bringing the rifle and doing some calling if travel isn't good.

Good luck, be safe and Happy Holidays fellow Trappers.

Nice pictures as always JR. Glad to see you finally were able to get out and make some sets! I bet you were chomping at the bit for awhile there. We have that warm spell out here as well. I could have sworn I saw rain today...

AK that is some real God Is Great country, thanks for posting

Awesome pictures and catches.

Looking forward to your catch pics, you always have good ones!

Good to hear you got some gear out! Hope you connect and thanks for sharing!

On your flight over, how does the river look to being frozen? Seems like it is later and later every year to be able to cross the Tanana. I like the lower fuel bill with global warming, but not so much the later and worse ice conditions for traveling.

-TJ

Great stuff as always jr. Did you buy a citabria or one of the neighbors fly ya out?

Not much happening with me this week. The ol river was still in a liquid state so had to get flown back out to the cabin again this week. Got a fire going in the cabin and put the Polaris back together. Grabbed the water jugs and ran on up to Pee Post Pass. Guess I was over confident as I didn't see a single fresh wolf track up to the Pass. Six empty #9's, filled the water jugs and went back to the cabin with a hint of displeasure. Proceeded on up to the other end and picked up a beautiful tom lynx in the Catch-All set on the creek. Pulled the pjs off the lynx when I got home and had some dinner.That check didn't go anything like I thought it would. Saturday it warmed up to +30 degrees and the winds picked up. Put some more gear out and covered some country just loving life and taking a few pics.



Chopped up the lynx and baited a few cubbies behind the cabin. Wasn't gonna trap marten since I haven't seen much sign this year but I have a bait stealing marten. That may change my way of thinking.


Hung a 12 volt winch in the cabin for skinning and cannot wait to hang some wolves on it.

Speaking of wolves, went for a walk on Sunday looking for a moose kill across the river and saw 4 wolves up on the ridge about a mile away. They didn't wanna play. 2 grays and 2 blacks. Spent the better part of the day looking for that kill. Put a lot of miles on and still couldn't find it. The next day I walked up river a mile from the cabin and just sat on the bank waiting for the ravens to feed. 100 yards off the trail in plain sight. I was just looking to hard on the other side of the trail. Year and a half old bull calf mostly eaten but I hung a few snares around. Can't catch wolves with gear in the sled... Did see a lot of moose and caribou again this trip.



I still only have around 10 miles of line partially put in. Missing the durability of those Scandics. Didn't dare break out the canyon on that Polaris Trail Touring. Hopefully next week I'll be able to ride in and get some trail broke and gear lain.

Merry Christmas everyone and see ya next year

Awesome views! Thanks for sharing!

Just got thru this whole thread. A great read. I dont know how you do it, I know its a labor of love for you but wow. Cant wait to follow this season!

Awesome pictures.

Good luck! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing, JR. Merry Christmas and keep us posted!

Thanks for the update Jr. Merry Christmas to you. Hope your efforts pay off next trip.

Hope the weather cooperates and you can get your river crossing established. Good luck!

Merry Christmas thanks for the ride along

Happy New year fellow trappers. Finally got to ride the ol Scandic out to the cabin. I was even luck enough to have a few locals cut the trail out for me to get to their cabin above me. Talk about a bonus as I went out pretty heavy carrying 50 gallons of gas, 18 #9's, food and gear in one sled and 600 pounds of bait in the other. Saw lots of marten sign across the flats but not much else.
The canyon was still a little on the rough side but after a couple trips, I think I found most of the holes to go around. This one took a little work and some rigging.

Put 300 miles on the WT and couldn't even cut a wolf track. I howled every night with no response. I did manage to find a couple old kills to hang a few snares. The warm weather and wind really took a lot of the snow I'd had left.

The overflow was really picking up and had some current keeping me pretty close to the cabin.




Ended up picking up another beautiful lynx behind the cabin in a catch-all set and that was it for fur. Just covered some country looking for fur and adventure.
Headed for town early on Wednesday as I had to work Thursday morn. I decided to set a few marten poles on the way to the truck. Guess I hung around 20 or 25 poles between the cabin and the Tanana river. When I got to the Tanana, this is what I find.

Here we go again. This was knee deep the first step off the bank and it's not the main channel. Wasn't worth the troubles and I turned around. This river is really pushing me to get my own plane. Quick call to work saying I won't be making it in for my shift and a call to friend to fly out and get me weather permitting. This time I had enough gas to get back to the cabin. On the way back I picked up 4 marten in the poles I just set on a 2 to 3 hour soak. 3 juveniles and one large adult pale male that I let go and not on purpose mind you. What better place to spend an extra day then at the cabin. Called Andy early and he flew in at 11am to get me.

Nice flight out till we got to town and spent 20 minutes flying circles in this
Hopefully next week the wolves will make an appearance and cooperate. I imagine I'll have some marten to put on the board. Happy New Year, good luck and be safe.