Well it has been a busy off season and I am starting to get things geared up for this season. Thought I'd share a little..
Bear baiting this year was a little frustrating. Didn't see anything but brownies and seriously considering finding a new location. My buddy picked up one right at the end of June and I got mine at the beginning of July. I hate it when they dig everything out and just eat the marshmellows...

And then the big boys come around and do this to your barrel.... found it 50 yards in the bush.

But I got the culprit We ran the bait stations, my buddies is about a mile down river from mine. We checked his no hit, mine on the other hand was hit and still had half a barrel. I knew the joker would be back and my buddy being a team player said hey "I will just crash here in the boat." So there I was sitting in my tree stand listening to my buddy snore in the boat 50 yards away as I am thinking there is no way a bear is going to come in..... low and behold out walks a nice 6 footer.:) One shot between the eyes and plenty of burger in the freezer


I spent a week chasing moose during archery season, pretty much just scouting and seeing what was out there, plus a little fishing for silvers. Saw three legal bulls just couldn't get within range. Me and my buddy headed out the day before rifle season and set up camp. Opening day I saw a cow in the morning and that was it. That evening I went back out to a little knoll above a drainage and was sitting there enjoying the scenery when I heard a grunt, I thought it was my belly at first but abut 10 minutes later I heard a snort and knew there was a moose in the area. I walked down to a meadow didn't see anything and went back to the knoll. I knew I heard something so I figured I should at least grunt and see if one came my way. Sure enough 20 minutes later I heard the foot step of a moose walking in a slough headed my way. We quartered him out that night and packed him out in the morning. Nice and tender.


Now that the freezer is full I have been passing time chasing ducks and getting wings for trapping season. I actually got a banded bird this year. Kinda cool.

We didn't hit the Haul Road this year, but we are planning a hunt for deer in Oct. Looking forward to chasing beaver later this month.

Great story and pics..
Keep us updated, enjoy the hunting and fishing y'all have in the great state of AK.

Good Stuff!!!! keep it coming !!

what was it that went through the side of that red barrel?

That would have been the chain securing it to the tree.

that's a lot of brute force to rip the chain through the side of the barrel like that. Makes me think you had the right bait in the barrel for sure...

Looks like your having a good year.

Run over to aih. Get a flat bar of steel 2-3" wide and 1/4" thick.

Put that vertically in the barrel. Drill holes through it.
Put a full eye bolt in there... one of the cast or whatever complete circle ones. Not the open sided ones.

Run chain trough too and bottom eye bolts around the tree
No more pull throughs.

I ended up doing this during the predator control stuff and it worked.

The regular eye bolts they straighten like fish hooks.

Wish I knew you needed a barrel. I just took my mint condition barrel to the dump

Sounds like some fun times!
I made a necklace out of a band from a goose for a buddy a few years ago. I inlayed it wrapped around a small piece of fossilized ivory form him.
I heard of a polar bear ripping open the corner of a connex to get to some whale and seal samples when I was living in Utqaigavik(Barrow). Powerful beasts for sure.

Just got in from one of my favorite trips of the year with Recondo chasing beavers. It rained pretty good on us the last night out there but we still had a blast! Beautiful fall weather, pretty colors and plenty of beaver!
This is my basic set up for fall beaver. Been using those bershire stakes but I think next year I am going to go with extensions, bent and broke quite a few of them this trip.

I run all Duke #4's for footholds, love that trap for the beavers......

And I love seeing this, he wasn't going anywhere

But I normally catch them by the front foot.

This was a pic of camp and our last day haul.

And of course I had to get one with my mug shot in it

Had a good trip, got 17 total. Plenty of bait to start off the season!

And this is my favorite part of the trip, the big camp fires

And I forgot a pic of the basic set

Nice haul.

We where talking about you Boco last night around the campfire! Wishing you where here to help skin and board! You always do awesome put up's on the beaver!

If I was near I would for sure.
How far do you travel by boat,HFT, to get to your beaver trapping ground.

Looks like fun john !! But.........here's a piece of advice I'll pass along that i learned the hard way !!

In the fall, in beaver country......tie your boat off to something the beaver won't likely cut. Like a spruce or a piece of steel you carried with you.


I have even used both bow and stern lines on my boat after the hard learned lesson

I love how this state and its land are always "teaching lessons" to those of us that like to learn the hard way.

-TJ

White, I never thought about that! That would totally bite waking up to!!! Will keep that in mind next time!!!

Boco, we ran a small loop this year maybe 5 miles. Camp was a 10 minute run from the launch. We normally go a lot further but Recondo isn't trapping this year. I figured I only needed about 20 bev to get me started during the regular season. Next fall it is game on though. We have a solid plan for an area that has not been touched in years, that run will be about a 20 mile loop.

Looks like a fun trip our beaver season opens Tue. hope to get out and get a few way up the river from me

Reminds me of the time I couldn't find my paddle. I couldn't figure it out until I seen it half covered in mud on a beaver house. So don't leave paddles unattended either. We seen a beaver house while moose hunting a couple weeks ago that had orange plastic snow fence built in.

The beaver are all put, castor is trying, meat is getting tainted Decided to go hit some ducks this morning out on my line.

I like fall mallard! How much HP in the sea ark?

Ryan I honestly have no clue. That is my buddy Recondo's boat. I just know that the joker has a bunch of zip! We take it down on the Copper River though the canyon, fast mad water and that puppy still flies! I will find out though.

Congrats on the bear and caribou .....nice pics and stories !!!

Ryan- That Sea Ark has a 200 hsp in it.

Well just got back in from a awesome adventure in PWS. Headed out of Whittier to Montague Island to chase a few deer with 3 buddies. The one owns a nice 30 ft boat with two 250's on it. It is a mover on calm water! Beautiful scenery, and seen a bunch of cool wild life. Pretty dang wet and cold out there, but the sea's were good to us. Definitely puts gear to the test

Saw these guys high and dry on a rock, don't know what kind they are but they where pretty big!


This picture of a pod of Orca's does't do them justice. pretty cool creatures to see. The amount of wildlife we saw out there was amazing, seals, sea otters, swans, ducks, bears, was pretty awesome!

We did a little fishing and limited out on rock fish

I even caught me a shark

But the highlight was Recondo connecting with 2 deer.

Wanted to get more pic's but water and electronics do not mix well and after smoking a charger I decided to play it safe
Got a little bait now for the otters and the bait stations!

Those pinnipeds on the rocks look like Stellars sea lions?

Those sand sharks/ dogfish are good eating, if you're not worried about the mercury. Just hold him by the gills and cut the backstrap off with one cut. Nice white meat. Of course with a mess of rockfish, you might not bother .

Re: bait barrels: to prevent rip-outs, just cut a hole in the end of the barrel near the edge, and another hole in the side so you can run your chain through the corner. The rim of a barrel is the strongest part. Even better is if you use oil drums with bungs in em, you have 2 reinforced holes built in. Same thing, drill a hole in the side so chain runs through the corner.

Thanks for posting.

AV- might be, we saw a few harbor seals in the bay we where tucked in and the head shape is different.

KK- Our captain, ( a Buddy ) said they tasted like crap We threw them all back! I will try that next year on the barrels
.
Been busy the past few days, got a call from the troopers and picked up a moose, I think I am set on bait for the start of the season!

Knocked out getting the wheeler ready, does't look like we are going to have enough snow again this year to kick off the season.

Got my order in from F&T today, knocked out 4 dozen wolf snares for a fellow T Man member and Alaskan

Picked up a few of those stinger kill spring systems, going to try them out this year at a few spots.

Are you using 1X19 cable?

12 ft of 3/32 1x19 cable, BMI loc. 645 lbs BAD.

VegasJim turned me onto these little stinger set ups from Senneker. I picked up two dozen with this last order and knocked out a few yote snares.

Nice!!! Great pics and write up.

We too are going to give those senneker snares another shot too. For wolves.

Have a good season John.

That spring set up looks like a lot of bling for a canine. I assume some twigs, etc. will be used to hide it.
mt

martentrapper- nope, flat grey/brown spray paint blends in pretty good in the spruce thickets down here, refusals are rare.

Does the additional hardware on the lock end pose challenges with keeping the loop open? Seems that you would need to compensate for the additional weight, somehow?

The challenge I see is after the catch and trying to remove the snare from the target animal what ever that maybe. Without doing any damage to yourself so in other works be very careful if and when you cut cable while the spring is sprung.
Don't loose the setter for the trigger that's my suggestion when using Marty's snare setup.
I'm still a fan of the coil spring on the snares I build for myself and or to sell.
Stay Safe out there !
Allan

Allan I used those coils spring ones, still using bunch of them and they work. I have had a few yotes that have managed to get that coil wrapped up in thier fur pretty dang good were there ended up being damage. And of course that damage is always right behind the head on the neck.

AV- honestly I see no differance, but then again those slim loc's seem to hold their position pretty good even in the wind.

So the cable is swagged to what appears to be #9 wire? Or is that #11?

That is 11, it fits perfect in a 3/32 double ferrule . If I was using 9 wire 1/8 double ferrule would work.

Nice!

HFT, Put your trigger on the side of the spring, not the top. It will fire a lot better, "at the right time". Sometimes when set on the top it can work against its self and jam up.
It will still fire, but will take a lot more pulling to engage. Marty explained this to me (the guy who makes those). Just a tip

Spruce

The coyotes here don't seem to mind. I sometimes do a little bit of blocking. The link in my signature has a lot of set pics.

Allan is right about being careful when you cut them free, that end stop turns into a bullet when the spring is loaded.

Spruce, thanks for the tip and I will do that!

Allan and JMF, thanks for the input and I will keep that in mind. I lost a front tooth to one of those RAM power snares a few years back and when it comes to anything with a spring I tend to listen

Nice like the new snares gonna have to let me know how they work out hope they work well nothing wrong with trying new stuff a qwik kill is what all trappers prefer. I made a ton of snares last night defently need to invest in a bench swage a lot easier. I'm gonna chase otter before the ice gets to thick got my signs hung on my line had to make some new ones cause my nice ones got stolen this moose season. Really wish people would leave my stuff alone this season. Good luck tomorrow hope u connect

Well went out this morning to run the line and break the trail, the ice is pretty dang sketchy and I broke through a few times on the sloughs, but over all a bumpy easy ride. Can only access 60% of it because the river is still wide open. Bunny track where few and far, no kitty or marten track, but I did see a bunch of these

Looking forward to getting busy early in the am, it is snowing now and hopefully we will pick a a few inches

Always a fun read HFT. Looking forward to more or your season.

We're getting a little snow up here but need some cold weather to turn those river solid. Looking to get a couple baits out myself. Good luck and be safe this season.

I hear you on needing colder temps JR, we have been hovering around zero some nights but it looks like that has come to a end this week ? So much for a wild Montana winter so far.
HFT, I hope those snares work well for you in all honesty I'm still a fan of the coil spring behind a wedge or death blow lock but then that's always open for debate.
Stay Safe out there and catch a bunch !
Allan

Slowly getting gear out there and waiting for a front to come through. Picked up this boy on a bunny trail, 3/32 1x19 with a slim loc.

That's a nice fox , wish we could get them going down here, I've got a couple couple friends who has pictures of them here.....but fish and game still don't believe it lol As for bunnys I have been seeing a ton of tracks while out scouting different areas for a new line :-) the last couple years have been getting better, but there are a lot more down here this year than last by far !!!!

HFT, very nice fox keep up the good work on hammering the critters !
Enjoy what snow you have we had 52 above with high winds, tomorrow's high may reach the mid 40's so much for any snow we had.
Well without going into much detail I'm going through some less than fun times so I'm living vicariously through many of your trap lines I'm hopeful things will be better in January 2018 . Sorry I'm really not trying to high jack your post HFT I promise.
Stay Safe out there and stop by the auction bid often and high this is for a great cause !
Allan

Hey HFT, when you hang snares on bunny trails do you hang them like normal for fox/coyote or do you hang them a touch higher to avoid catching rabbits?

Jurassic Park, I set them higher, and try to get the snare to set where they land in their hop, not in between. 9/10 times they miss it.

Cool! I might set a few on the rabbit trails and give it a shot!

Pretty good run today, picked up 3 yotes. Got about 2 inches of snow last night/ this morning and I am already looking forward to my next check.
Nothing line looking down a bunny trail and seeing ears sticking up out of the fresh snow 3/32 1x19 slim loc

This boy ran the wrong bunny trail 1/16 1x19 slim loc

Caught this one at a bait station. From where the bait is I can pretty much see 360 at all of the snare in the wood line about 50 yds away. As I scanned the top of the ridge I couldn't see the last snare, then I realized the freaking tree I had tied off on was gone to! Sure enough it had up rooted a spruce tree and dragged it about 10 yds before it got wedged and hung up. It was a solid tree the roots gave out.

Got them hung to thaw and dry out. Looks like a busy night in the fur shed

Nice haul.

Skinning is winning! You are off to a great start this season.

Happy skinning!

Went out behind the house on Tuesday and got things set up, saw some pretty good sign. Picked this boy up today at a bait station, 1/16. 1x19, slim loc. In that picture it shows how I do my blocking around bait stations, I created that choke point 8 years ago

Congratulations on your continued success on your snare line !
Allan

Right on! I like that choke point. I’m gonna make some of those at my bait stations!

Picked up 2 more yotes today The first one was at a bait station, 1/16 1x19 cable with one of those stinger springs, knocked him dead.

2nd one 1/16, 1x19, slim loc.

Leave the feet on John. Good luck.

Well do Jim

Picked up another red, same bait station as last one. 1/16, 1x19, slim loc. We got a little snow today

Good start John! I hope you have a great season!

Another beautiful morning out in the office

There is nothing like cutting track in fresh snow on your trail heading towards a bait station. I followed this joker for almost a mile down my trail, he bypassed the bait station but made a wrong turn trying to go up a hill Those little stinger springs put them down pretty quick! 1/16 1x19, slim loc.

Nice!

Nice!

nice i really like your blocking, how long did you see for those trails to really start picking up?

I have had those bait stations out there for 8 years now, the second year is when I started doing the blocking. Got tired of trying figure out where they where going to go and made it that they have to go there, tried it at one, it worked, and did the rest.
I do the same thing at a lot of my marten sets, narrow spruce thickets, and slough edges. Pick up a lot of yotes and fox that away.

Well after our deer hunt last month we kicked around the idea of going again over Thanksgiving weekend. We all got out kitchen passes and we hit the water at first light Thanksgiving day morning. The seas that day where smooth as glass and as we passed a few of the islands I spotted a doe on the bank! After a little excitement, we got the boat stopped and recondo made a 200 yd shot that dropped it where it stood.
We made it to out hunting area about noon and hit the woods. There was about a foot of snow and there where freaking tracks all over the place! It really helped that the bucks where obviously in the rut. I wasn't even in the woods a hour and had a nice 6 point pop out in front of me trailing a doe at about 200 yds.One shot and he dropped.
Day 1, 1 doe, 1 buck.
Day 2 the weather went south pretty bad and we had to re anchor in a different cove. It is a little scary when in the middle of the night that alarm goes off on that boat saying you are drifting! Got a late start and stalked a few miles, finally connected with a little yearling. Day 3, I decided to try a different route and as I started I heard a buddy shoot 1 shot. Thinking he got one I trended over there to give him a hand only to find out that he had flat out missed. I went back to my original plan and started stalking in the thick junk, hoping to kick up a deer. Well it got a little to thick and as I busted out of the brush there stood a nice 3 pointer. Missed that joker at 150 yds the first shot, but the follow up dropped him.
A pretty good weekend

Woo hoo!

I'm glad you had a good weekend.
(stalking like I'm supposed to. )

Sissy hopefully you will have a few pictures to share now that you guys got gear out

Got the lines back up and running, picked up this little female, 1/16 1x19 slim loc.



Hitting the creek line tomorrow time to start chasing the mink and otters

Picked up another yote today 1/16 1x19, cam loc, and a little ermine. We actually got some snow! However now they are calling for rain for the next 3 days

I'd take the rain!! Way too much snow for this early! HORRIBLE dangerous freeze-up this year

Yeah it has been wierd here. 2 weeks ago I tried getting on part of the creek I run. I got of the sled and walked to the creek, about 10 feet from where it is I hit shelf ice. Punched through and it felt froze underneath. 2 more steps and I was up to my knees in water and never made the creek bank.
Headed out Tuesday to try and drop some gear, took a ice chisel with me. Poke around and was able to actually make it in a few spots. One spot narrows down to 4ft wide. I took that ice chisel and tapped the ice and 15ft down from me and 20 ft up the entire ice shelf dropped 3ft into open water. Glad I did that I hate getting wet

It can ruin a guy's day!!

Nice stuff HFT! Be careful with that ice!

Picked this nice buck mink up the other day in a bucket set. The voles are pretty bad this year with hardly any freeze up. Lucky for me they used the backdoor and didn't ruin the fur.

The weather has been bonkers here. All the snow we had disappeared with the 40 degree weather we been having and it is a skating ring out there.

Hit my first marten box on my short line and found this. What the heck would poop on the box like that?

Picked up a nice red, 1/16, 1x19, cam loc

And got my first cross of the year. 3/32, 1X19, slim loc.

Great catches, good start to your season. I wish we had more fox here, they are a beautiful animal...but I'll take the pale Coyotes all day long!
Full traps!

Spruce

The cross fox looks beautiful!

Look who I found in Anchorage!!! Sissy! She said she knew how to skin fox so I put her to work

Thanks for letting me come and hang out.

Can't beat that!

Picked up this big boy on a moose trail, 1/16 1x19 cam loc. Pretty dead out there, no snow, +40 weather, I think things are chilling until it either snows again or gets colder.

Nice man at least your still connecting I can’t even take my sled out at all I got a few sets on foot. Not much sign up here cut some wolf tracks so maybe that’s why not sure. I’ve been doing a lot of fishing out here though caught a 42” pike she was a fatty a lot of fun catching threw the ice. Fingers crossed for snow and better ice Give me a shout when your out this way sometime

Sure, catch a coyote the day before I leave.

Nice catches and pictures.

It always amazes me how a change in the weather makes things move. Good run this morning
All three of them on bunny trails. I know I am missing a lot right now, I set all those snares when we had 6 inches of snow on the ground and they are way high, but I figure the snows coming and the fur can only get primer.
!/16 1x19 cam loc

Second cross of the year, 1/16 1x19 slim loc

1/16 1x19 slim loc

I was really hoping for snow before I took the wife out on her winter moose hunt, nothing like driving the sled right up to them after they are down. Took the wife over to Recondo's place week before last, he let her borrow a nice Weatherby 308. We dialed it in and she was ready to go. I enlisted the help of fellow Tman member akcowboy and he brought out his quad and I took my beater of a sled
Ready to roll.........



I did a recon of the area we were going to hunt yesterday and saw a few moose so I was pretty confident about her connecting today. Got out to our hunting area a little before light and went on the prowl through some bedding area's. We kicked up three but they didn't stick around long enough for her to get a shot.

We ended up making our way back to the quad and took a little cruise, about a mile and a half down the trail we spotted one in the brush that gave her an opportunity, and she connected

Nice! Will taste good all winter.

Congrats.Nothin like a big pot of moose stew.

Nice! I need to get my wife on a moose.

Nice! Little sumthin' to freshen up the bait pot as well!

Pretty day out in the office Lots of fresh snow The gut pile is already gone from the moose, pretty amazing how quick the critters clean up!

Picked up this girl, 1/16 1x19 slim loc.

Nice work! The canines are getting some good laughs on my line dancing all over frozen traps.

Haha I had that happen yesterday, following a set of yote track down my trail, rolled around a corner to where I had a hayset, 4 inches of wet snow,.............he popped the trap but got the bait Heading out tomorrow to put in a few snowholes, the weather is perfect for it for the next week.

Made a quick run behind the house today. The moose are starting to drop their antlers, hope I find a few more!

Picked up 2 reds,both 1/16 1x19 with cam loc's.

Good start to your season John. Filling the stretchers and the freezers. Keep it up and Merry Christmas

Picked this big boy up today, 1/16 1x19 slim loc.

Been pretty slow this week, clear skies and cold doesn't favor me Picked up this little guy the other day.

Did a little exploring, found a dead moose the yotes are on and set up on that. Found a few gut piles from the winter hunts, set up on those. Justa waiting for a change in weather now and critters to move. Love the scenery out there though...


Driving around today I was thinking how low I am on bait, out of the blue got a call from fish and game to go get a moose!

Very nice about the moose

Nice HFT! Do you catch any wolves?

Jurassic- I may have one come through my line maybe once a year if I am lucky. Other then that nope. I think alot depends on the amount of snow we get and the past two years we have not had any significant amount to push them in to my AO. I got a bunch of moose that winter here though!

Well it has been pretty dead out on my line here a late. This weather is pretty ridiculous with huge temp changes, from the single negatives to +44, from rain to snow and back to rain. But it does make for some pretty scenery



Picked up a few of these guys, I finally saw some otter track on the river, of course no where near my gear.



And this guy decided to run the wrong bunny trail, 1/16 1x19 slim loc.



Another front is pushing in so hopefully the critters will get up and move!

Cool, I have gone minkless this season. Early freeze up, and no open water so far on creeks. Season will likely close before I see any sign.

Nice catches. I haven’t set for mink but the odd one climbs to the Martin boxes.

Such a beautiful winter wonderland. Congrats on the fox and mink. Fur, fur, fur.

This weather is killing me!!!! Saturday night it was 43 here at the house and freaking raining...........
Managed to pick up two yotes, this one on a bait station, 1/16. 1x19, slim loc.

And I have been waiting on this joker. He ran the creek when it was super skinny begining of the season, about the 1st week of Dec I was able to get out there and neck the creek down with deadfall and hang a snare, he was waiting for me this morning 5/62 7x7 BMI loc

I hear you. Temps suck. Pushing 50, here.
At least the Vikings won.

Well it has been pretty slow out on my line, this freaking weather has not helped at all this season. Have not cut a kitty track all season long, went to relure a set under a huge spruce tree and looked over to the edge of the slough for a snare I had set there. It was gone! Looked over the bank and saw this 1/16, 1x19, slim loc.

Yay! Gets hard to stay positive, at times.perseverances pays.

Right on, I'd take those over a yote any day!

Excellent John!

Well what do you know! The weatherman was actually right for a change and we got a few inches of snow I knew something moved last night and decided to run out back. Picked this red up on a trail leading into the swamp. 1/16 1x19 slim loc. Always love seeing that red on pristine white snow

Nice! We finally got a few inches here, as well. And a gale warning. Go figure.