Well It is past that time I guess. I wasn't going to do a journal this season, but hey, why not. I hardly took a picture of fall trapping, as I was extremely busy and did far less than I usually would. Ran a small beaver and Muskrat line, took a couple dozen beaver and 50 rats in a week. Set for bait this season. Coyote baits are all running, only one has sets, the rest are going in the next few days. My North trapline is set on the road section, chopping my way through deadfall and setting as I go in the bush section. Tomorrow will be the first check on that line (partially set). Of note I caught a nice male Fisher and a few squirrels and weasels in the first 2 days while setting.

This weekends plans are to finish setting the bush, and hang snares at my wolf baits (I will apply bait next week). I will also be setting my Coyote baits in farmland and setting a few beaver colonies on the North line.

A nice Skunk I picked up on a creek while trapping beavers.



This is why I advocate for people to use a 17 HMR. Shot this Coyote at 3 yards...no fur damage, no exit.



Been doing a lot of this! Still around 100 beavers to finish up.

I can't imagine doing 100 beaver. I just finished up doing 15, one after another, and I don't want to see another 'till April!

Thanks for your pictures and you are a busy fellow !

Very nice job on the put up,Spruce.

Good luck this season spruce! Always look forward to your posts. Love the country you're in. Do you have lots of skunks in your area?

Been a busy couple weeks trying to get North Line in setting all of my resident Coyote baits. The deadfall has been a real issue, and really slowing down production. Good thing I had some holidays to use up, or I would just be cutting trees, not doing any trapping. North Line is set for Fisher (and hopefully Marten). Baits are started for Coyote, they just need to make a few trails for me. Proven blind sets in for Wolves, and first Wolf bait is set and fully armed....they just need to investigate.

Too many Ermine this year, they are filled up my Fisher sets.



This little guy wouldn't even leave the box, just stuck his head out for a picture. I added a weasel set there.

Fisher sign everywhere, even a few Marten tracks this season. Picked up 4 Fisher a Marten, and my 2nd Skunk.


Nice Female in a 160.


This Marten was still warm. Nice Juvenile male.


This skunk ate a weasel out the weasel box before going after the chunk of beaver in the 160 box. Maybe weasels make good Skunk bait?

Lots of issues posting pictures on here now. Most of mine are just over the 2 MB restriction...I'll do my best, I don't know how to reduce JPG files.

Spruce

I can't figure it out.

Ok update time. Had some issues with pictures, lost a few, but got it figured out (easiest way was to email them to myself and modify at that point).

My short line for Coyotes is 80% in and producing well, up to 17 as of today, with a good bait to check after work.

Here was my first triple this season. First check off a new bait (2 day). Picked up another beauty there today.




Lots of yotes like this one this season, great pale colors. This yote is right in front of the Ram snare set remake.



This is the result of a Cougar attacking a freshly caught yote. The cat must have thought it was sleeping....hopefully no more to come from this,
as we are not allowed to trap Cougars here. Didn't see any cat sign there last night.

The North line is almost at quota for Fisher, and 3 of 4 Wolf baits are set. I'll be checking that line this evening in the dark, and adding Lynx and Otter sets this weekend as they have both now opened.

The East Line was set Tuesday evening for Fisher, and I set in 2 Coyote/Wolf baits. Seemed to be a lot of Fisher and Otter sign there...can't wait for first check.

Happy this is back working again....hopefully I get some good pictures this evening!

Spruce

Nice looking coyotes Spruce-stack em up like cordwood.

Those are some nice looking yotes.Spruce where can you purchase your green boxes .

https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/bait-b...84-153bfb3812b2

Halfords has them, and generally ships quickly. You can also check Trapper Gords. II like them, seems like they will last forever.

Spruce

Spruce thank you for your time and effort to post the pictures of your line and catches.

Made the first check of the East line Saturday (on a 3 day soak), more because I really wanted to hang snares at my baits then anything.
It was a good check, picked up 3 nice Fisher (2 males, 1 female), and a nice Coyote pup in 1 of my 2 blind snares from the other day.

Female Fisher


Male # 1


Male # 2


Blind set Coyote.


There was lots of Otter sign, but I was pressed for time, so I will investigate next check. Should of had 4 Fisher, but a weasel beat the Fisher to the box...
That Fisher ate the weasel and stole the bait. I am sure it will be there next check. Both baits are now 90% set with snares, just need to backfill any new trails made.

North Line was a bust with the rain and warm, picked up a bunch of weasels, that's it. On a good note, the Otter woke up, so I added a half dozen Otter sets and some mink sets also.
Fully armed one wolf/coyote bait, and 50 % armed another. K9's have not located my far North bait, so I added a yote carcass on the trail to get the birds in the area.

Spruce

Looks like you're having a good season Spruce! Wish I had more fisher!

Good job Spruce! Got a good start to the season going!

Looks like you got some work in the fur shed! Congrats!

Lunchtime check yesterday. One beauty, and a large male. Both caught in RAMs. Rams have just taken the lead in catches (I am basically set 50/50).

Nice Pale.



Big old dog.


I love how the ram flips them right off the side of the trail (I am standing on the Coyote trail taking the pic).


East Line this evening.

Spruce

Been a busy week! Had some out of town business at work, that went well...but worried the whole time about this warm weather and sets and catches.
Picked up a few more Yotes, a nice Female Fisher, got my first Otter of the season, turned out to be a double...Checking East line this evening again, along with a couple local baits.
Prepping fur for the FHA shipment tomorrow AM (will be sad to see it all go). I will likely drop off some NAFA pelts while I am there, and completely clean out the fur shed.
Then checking the North line, and setting it hard for Lynx and Otter. I will be pulling all of my boxes here, and I will have hit my quota for Fisher this check.
A nice Female Fisher.



Very Nice female Yote caught in a Ram on a trail the escapee cows made...now that this trail is froze, I bet I will get a dozen Coyotes in this set.



The set remade.


Otter double, I reset, as this was a female and kit. Looks like there were a few more big otter around, early for them to group up like that.

100 beaver put up? Ah! I just started taking beaver out of the freezer to get started. I don't have near that many. I was starting to feel sorry for myself. Not anymore.

Ended up getting Fisher Quota on both lines. First shipment sent off to FHA (Beavers, Castor and Weasels), NAFA (Mink, Skunk, Otter, Fisher, Coyote, Squirrel, Marten). I ended up with about 10lbs of castor, hopefully that sells as well as everyone thinks it will. Didn't end up getting as many Lynx sets in as I would of liked, but I will get that all put before Christmas on both the East and North lines. I have one more Coyote bait to get in this week close to home, then all baits are up and running. It slowed down a bit with the warmer weather, but I still produced a fair bit of fur last week. Cold weather starting tonight! Hopefully todays lunch time check goes well. A few pics from the weekend.

First fox of the season in a Ram.


Nice Coyote in a wolfmaster on the East line.


One of my favourite sets, big male yote on duck under downed tree.


The last of my Fishers, 2 big almost twin males.

Nice haul Spruce.I will ship my marten to Helsinki this year.Last year the trappers around here did about a $15 better avg at FHA than those that shipped marten to NAFA.

That's a great well rounded catch Spruce. I see you still have a bit of snow. This warm alberta weather sucks

Nice work! I sure need to get on trapping/snaring yotes more effectively. Thanks for taking the time to post!

Nice work, love the variety of furs. Thanks for taking us along.

Are you on a registered line, spruce. Curious just where you are in Ab. that you get both Fisher and marten. Bushman never talks about Fisher I believe.
mt

Nice catches and pictures.

Nice catch. Congratulations

I am currently trapping 2 registered lines, and also do a lot of resident trapping on private and crown lands. I am in the East Central part of AB, around Bonnyville.
Marten are not overly common, however we are over run with Fisher. I sure wish they would drop our quota system for them.

Spruce

Fisher are fun to trap.My favorite

Been a while since I updated...however not a whole bunch going on. NAFA's notice for Coyotes came at a good time, I have picked up another 25 over the Christmas break so far.
It has been 1-4 per bait per check since the temps dipped below -30 C. Wolves are still hiding, and the Otter typically don't move in these low temps. No problem, I'll stack up the K9's. My goal is to have 30 lynx pens in by the end of the weekend as well.
Stay warm!


Nice days catch, minus one I had already skinned and a mangy one.


Here is a nice big male from a set I have previously shown pictures of. This guy broke the support willow, so I have to move the set a little ways down the trail.


This coyote decided to die right on the bush ice and froze in nicely. I tried warm water, that didn't do anything.


The ice spud did the trick, nice looking year old female. $$

Nice catch of fur

Hope you do well at the auction Spruce.Its better to bring home a few pounds of ice than leave plucked fur in the bush.

Nice!!! Got a bit of skinning there to do!

Spruce told you that ice spud would work. When I'm on the skidoo I have a nice axe I can use. Nice catches!

Beautiful fisher, my mama used to sew with them when I was growing up.

Looks like your having a good season so far.

Happy New year trappers! Had a good finish to the break, caught another mess of Coyotes, had an odd catch as well. Put in a bunch of Lynx pens last weekend, started a new bait, and set some wolves as well. I have one resident bait that needs to go in this week, and I will start my river bait on the East line as well. A bit of a warm up here this week, but not + temps like before, a respectable -10 for lows. Don't have to worry so much about the birds cleaning out a bait in one day.

Morning coffee view from the cabin on North Line. Was quick that day, was -34 C.



Finally caught a nice healthy Coyote on the North Line.


Just another Power Ram Coyote catch. I did notice my free hanger snare catch spiked this week, I was a true 50/50 catch between them and Rams.


This guy fooled me, though He was quite dead...until I grabbed His leg and He tried to bite me! I must have chased Him into the snare, first one I have ever seen live in a ram.
He was froze exactly in the position I left Him the next day, didn't move.


Here was my surprise catch...nothing to different being a Fisher. Caught this little female under an ice shelf in a Mink box though. The fisher came into the trap from under the ice, that's what surprised me. Was not really planning on catching any more Fisher on the North line this season, I have harvested enough.

The fur shed never seems to empty, the coyotes just look different from day to day.
The 4 on the ground by the lawn tractor came off of my first quad catch at a bait this season (East Line).

Happy Trapping, Spruce

You sure have some nice primarily grey ones Sprucce. Congrats on all your hard work paying off.

Osky

Wow, you get a pile of yotes! Look like nice ones. How long does it take you to process one of those?

I am usually 30-45 mins skinned fleshed boarded and turned and brushed on coyotes. Some are quicker, some take longer of course. I am no speed demon.


Dud check yesterday evening. Hopefully the East Line has a few Yotes strung up for me this evening.

Nice!!!

That's pretty fast by my standards. I'm too slow to be willing to post times on here!

Nice mix of fur you got on your line Spruce

Nothing too exciting my way last week. Took in the second fur shipment yesterday for the NAFA sale, so an almost empty shop too boot. I have a few coyotes boarded, and a couple from last night to do as well. Set a bunch more Lynx and Wolf on the North line on the weekend. I'll likely put in a new bait on the river on the East line this week time permitting. River should finally be safe to travel. Cold and blowing snow here today, may likely be one of the best K9 checks this year on Thursday/Friday. Everything was put in place and fully baited in anticipation for the storm.


Nice double on Reds. Haven't been catching many this season. This is only # 3 and 4, usually have a dozen or so by now.

Nice! Hope things pan out for you after the storm! I did that last week, put in a bunch of footholds in anticipation of the snow we were going to get.....and we got to much Had to go out and redo everything. Name of the game

Nice catches Spruce. I did the same thing I made sure my baits were refreshed and full of loops.... now wait out this storm and it should be good

You doing good Spruce - nice pic’s.

Unfortunately it was a slow and cold weekend. No wolf sign anywhere on the North line (well any K9's for that matter). I set another wolf bait, with completely different tactics yesterday. Lynx were still active, but didn't connect. Added some pens, blind sets and trail sets for them. Had one refusal, would have gotten it, just a left one hole in the fencing it used. Resident and East line was also slow, but still picked up a few more coyotes and another Fox. Supposed to warm a bit this week, should get everything moving.


Nice young male.


Dark male in a Ram under a big spruce. 4th coyote from this set. Looks tore up due to lack of snow under the spruce, but the coyotes keep using the trail.


nice XXP red.

Beavers are looking good!

Even you still have lots of red. Mine are almost like that just a little reder. Maybe by February.

I haven't been around much lately, and was out of town for work this week, thus no updates. There hasn't been a whole lot to update anyway, just a slow grind with coyotes and some fox still being sprinkled in. Looking for sure that I will hit my 100+ coyotes ready for sale this season (unless Feb is a bust). Of note I picked up a fox yesterday that had a minor rub on its flanks...I am thinking more from the last warm weather pulling a few hairs than an actual rub. Coyotes still look great. Checked the resident coyote bait line last night, picked up another 3 coyotes, and said fox. I will have to snap a picture of the one Male coyote this evening before I skin it, looks like it may be the biggest ever, very close anyways. a 40+ dog.
Checking East line this evening, and North line tomorrow. Getting pounded with snow today, that never hurts.

Nice female


Really dark young male.

Your posts here are better than reading a book or watching a movie. Thanks, Spruce

Well finally connected on a Lynx, unfortunately it had some thing wrong with it. It had a big growth on its back paw, and the fur was falling out on the ankles. It also had something funky happening on the back end. Very skinny cat, short hair, very unusual looking. Coyotes are picking up again, had a triple off one bait, and a double off another. A couple more checks and then Lynx season will be closed. Then I am off to Idaho fishing for 5 days! That will be a fun trip. Then the water trapping will start to snowball. Beavers under ice, rats under ice, then rats on warm days in huts, then open water mayhem. I plan to up my game this spring. Hoping for 500+ ice rats, and 100-150 under ice/spring beaver.

Here is the Growth on the Lynx's back paw.


A stunner female caught in a blind set. Might be the nicest one this year, I'll find out when its thawed.

Here are a few more catch pics.

Been busy as always. I have a bunch of trapping pics to put on here, but I'll wait until next week...

Lets hope Fisher sell high! Graded very good as always.

Had a little fishing trip down to Idaho now that trapping is winding down (until I start beaver and Muskrat).
Caught some fatty perch, and soaked in the beautiful sites of the state.
Noticed a lot of Mink and Cat tracks in one are, and Idaho has ALOT of coyotes and Fox. Didn't notice any trapping activity, but the area I was in may also be closed, didn't check.

Some of the views from the lake.



The pas I travelled in on was closed on the way out due to heavy snowfall...that was a bit of a backtrack.


Some fatty perch for the fry pan.

Thanks for sharing! Those are some big perch!

Been waiting for your fishing report. Coyote are probably rubbed this late. Fox are on National Forest only in Valley county. Lots of trappers,check the Idaho fur sales threads.

Imagine a vacation to Idaho. Trapping cats and yotes, ice fishing for perch...........and drinking BEER!!

How thick is your ice , Spruce ? I am at 40" here at Lake of the Woods . It is thicker in places.

Depends on the lake here, between 36 and 48" is the norm. Ice in Idaho was 10-13"...Man I wish that's all I had to deal with beaver trapping!

Spruce

Got a little colder after you left. Thursday morning -17 f.,been snowing off and on for a week. Lots of new snow. Hope you had a good trip,I know your fish didn't come easy.

Makes a guy want to chip ice and make a couple of beaver sets!

I do believe I am going to set a few houses this weekend. Otter look like they are really starting to move as well, so I'll chase them too on North and East lines.

K9 trapping closes tomorrow, so all sets will be pulled except a couple otter sets. Gotta trap something or I'll go nuts. Only about 20 beavers left to board....time for a freezer refill.

Spruce