Today was a bad day. I won't get into it all because some is still unresolved, but you never want this to happen. Wolf in snare, big grey, caught by the foot. Got the gun out, realized the mess he had made and figured he had been there for long enough for me to get a pic. He is in the first pic, not a good one. But then gives one more yank leaving me with a couple toes and him with his freedom. The little snub nose .22 didn't help me much. Not a good feeling scrambling around trying to get a shot! Would have been number 7 if number 6 had been recovered. That's the rest of the bad day, but will leave it at that for now.





He made a mess of the place. Chewed off a couple 5" alders and leveled the brush.

I’ve been there and know that feeling. I’m sorry to hear that happened.
Positive side is I’d bet it never happens again.

"What is missed, remains a mystery...what is hit is history." phrase from a old museum collector. fits the bill

Dude that is a bummer!

Thanks to you, if my first wolf is up, he's going down the moment I lay eyes on him. Photos are cool, but that's a heartbreaker.

A clever you may encounter that wolf again - and, when you do, you will know it! We will look forward to THAT post...

We have legends about bears named "ole three toes" - so why not wolves. Has anybody on here ever caught a "marked animal" they were familiar with? I have, but that was a beaver.

Feel for ya Nate. I had one of those days last week myself. I've been wanting to try one of those extra large body grip traps for wolverine. I done know what exactly happened but the wolverine laid in front of the set for a bit after the trap fired. My best guess is he got hit hard when the trap fired. I had a crate set in the same area but he wouldnt go near it.

Wolverine hunter, a couple years ago I had a wolf pull a toe off in a trap (not with me watching), ended up catching him a few weeks later. It happens, hoping so with this guy.

Too bad Dave, that's a bummer. Always a bummer to lose something.

I am still looking for "Ol' 19 toes", a wolverine that left me a toe in a V-14. That started my search for a better wolverine trap.
So far, that animal has eluded me.

SO SORRY FOR YA.! It's hard enough to get em in place to loose em the last minute.
We have all done something like that, shoot a deer set gun down to take a quick pic and wolla, the buck jumps up and gone for good, was in Newfy once with a ladies that shot a fine caribou, set gun down to get pack and camera out, the Bou jumps up and runs away not to be killed..
Endeavor to persevere so they say!

Sorry to hear that Nate, I experienced the same 12 years ago and have never made that mistake again as I'm sure you won't either.

I had walked almost a half mile checking snares on a bluff. The last snare had this guy in it. I had left my .22 in the windshield bag (never again) so i took a pic and headed back. Upon return as I climbed the bluff I could hear him fighting the snare. Right as I crested he hit the end and I heard a loud snap as the cable snapped. No time to shoot and all I could do was listen as the cable slashed off the trees on his way out.

What a major bummer. I have been lucky so far and not had that issue but now you have me thinking I should bring a rifle instead of a pistol!

Caught one a few years ago with right front paw missing totally healed.

Bummer alright. We've all had them bad days!

That was my point. I was trying to encourage you, and help get you out of your funk, and back to being positive and hopeful (assuming you would be feeling the way I would be feeling.)

Can you tell I am a therapist when I'm not trapping???

Haven't lost a wolf in a trap or snare while I was there, but have lost one to poor snare maintenance on my part. I did lose one while I was watching in a trap that someone else had set the year before and it was hidden under the leaves when the wolf stepped in it. Remained set all spring summer anf fall until I came along.
It appears you don't have much snow, at least compared to the area around Fbks. Without looking for specifics, where in the interior is there that little snow?
mt

Delta area has little or nothing. Wind doesn't help either. Supposed to get a bit tomorrow.

I spent a summer in Delta Junction working on some projects for the military. I liked the area. Do you have to travel far to get into good trapping?

I lost a beaver earlier in the year in a foothold when a drowning lock failed me. Caught him a month latter in a BG. I hope you get another crack at that one.

Mostly have to travel a ways to get away from other people.

This is why I don't do glory pictures any more. Pretty heartbreaking to catch a cool critter and spend enough time photographing it so that it gets fully wound up and breaks free just as my gun is coming to bear. Now I just shoot and figure if it's cool, I'll still get a picture out of it.

I didn't say anything about this in my first post because I hate unresolved stuff. The rest of my bad day was catching a wolf and not being able to find it. With the little to no snow in my area, then a windstorm and warm weather, tracking conditions are terrible. So the story is I had a wolf hit a #9 pee post, trap had a steel hook and a (dead) birch pole on it. Trap was gone, wolf spent a bit of time there and disappeared. I looked for about 3 hours, back and forth trying to find some sign. It was real hard to see much of anything. While I was looking for him is when I found the other one who pulled his toes off. Anyway, had to press on and formulate a plan for recovery.

Today I went flying out there and located where he had gotten hung up. We got a bit of snow yesterday, so that helped make the dirt spots stand out. Couldn't see the wolf, thought maybe he had pulled out or something. Ended up going back out on the ground and found him. He had gotten back on the trail and gone another 2.5 miles before he hung up. Went off a few times, started to tangle and thought better and got back on the trail. 97 lb male, makes #6. I could have gotten decent pics this time, but figured my luck might have a swivel pop or something and I would be wiping the egg off my face again.

I'm glad you found him!

We lost one last year only to catch him a week later in another set . Have him I trail camra so I know it is same one .

That is awesome to hear! Glad you were able to recover him!

Very nice. What pistol you shooting there?

Ruger LCR 22, nice little revolver that carries easily in a pocket.

Right on. Soon you’ll post about catching ol’ Toeless too I think. I shot a wolf one year with a missing foot about 2 weeks after it ran away with another guys trap on it. It’s foot must’ve still been sore because it fell behind the pack right away. Good job man.

Nice job on the recovery congrats

That's good news !!

Nice work on the recovery of #6 Nate. These grapples and drags are pretty new to me and not liking the fact that some will travel with them. My #7 would have be hard to find if it would have snowed and wind blew and he was only 200 yards. At least the one missing 2 toes isn't wearing the snare. Keep up the good work.

Man thats some impressive distance he covered with a trap and two drags. Way to stick with it and find him.

Great job! I'm glad you had closure with that one. I hope you get the other one later.

smalltimetenacioustrapper

Congrats on finding #6, glad you didn't give up.

I don't generally carry a camera on the line because I'm always worried about something pulling free just as I'm walking up to it. But I do love seeing other people's pics of catches.

I was in Anchorage this weekend, so my partner ran the line and we had some more success. A couple cats and wolves. This is #7, about 75 lb female. This is the same pee post set I got that one at a couple weeks ago that took me awhile to find. You can see I have a good sized green black spruce pole there, still made it a little ways before hooking up. Not sure what the deal is with toes this year, but this one was caught by one toe in a #9. Lucky it hadn't been there too long or I might have had an addition to the anonymous digit collection.

Another note, don't turn your back on a wolf when you are in it's catch radius. When you do and you hear it coming, don't turn your head to look cuz you might trip on a tussock and have it snapping at your boot when it hits the end of the chain!



Holding, but not by much! Might have to send this back to the manufacturer for some timing adjustments!



This is #8 about a 70 lb female. Blind trial set with a #9, kinda funny to catch by a back foot in that situation.

NIce! A catch is a catch! You think it could be because of the snow conditions? With the fluctuating temps here we been getting a pretty solid crust. Congrats on the critters!

Nice job !! Is that second one looking 'springy' ??

Not as bad as that picture looks. Kinda matted down and dirty from rolling around in the dirt there, but decent hair.

Good to see you giving those 9's a workout!

First off nice work Nate. Second... Don't get inside the catch circle with a live wolf. As for the toe catches, I think a lot of that has to be with foot placement to trap placement. IMHO.. I believe when an animal steps on the spring ear and the pan at the same time, the foot gets pushed out resulting in a miss or toe catch. Pan tension is another factor to enter into the equation. This year I've lightened up some pan tension to help with the freeze thaw conditions and seem to still be getting full paw catches but also coyotes trigger the set too. Anyway, keep it up as you are doing something right.

Nice job

You are getting me fired up. I don't have any leg holds out YET but I put out 40 fresh snares yesterday, and I have an idea how and where I want to use my leg holds. Congrats!

Way to go on the wolves man!

This is wolf #9 in a #9 at an old kill site that has been freshened up from time to time. This trap has been sitting here for a few weeks and was still functional under a soft drift. Wolves hadn't come by this spot for awhile and glad they did before I pulled everything for the year.



Caught by a couple toes, but the 9 was up to the task. Buddy and I miss judged this thing, thinking 80 lber, gained 15 lbs when it went on the scale. Usually it's ground shrinkage, but this one got bigger. Looked small in the trap, but 95 lb male.



Almost looks bluish, what do you guys think? Maybe would have been a true blue in a couple years?







Getting close to wrapping it up for the year. Everything pulled except some wolf gear, might get one more shot before it's over. Would be nice to get to 10 for the year, maybe ol' 3 toes will pay a visit.

Nice one!!! Congrats!

Nice work this year Nate. When you get that wolf in the right sun, he'll look like a blue. Send him down to Moyles and when they add that brighter to the tan, wowser. Keep it up and hope to see ya at the Fling in a couple weeks.

What do I think? Happy for you and just a little jealous too! Nice work

Nice! Hope you make #10 before it's over.
How was the foxes this year...any silvers ?

Nice wolf Nate. It is what I call a dark blue.

Nice wolf. I’d call it a silver. I’ve shot a few like that but have never got a true blue. One of my buddy’s did though.

Got 2 silvers, down from my all time high of 4 last year.

Silver, I like the sound of that.

I'm thinking guys using footholds do better in low snow years. Thoughts, past years experiences?
mt

Low snow is definitely easier for keeping gear working. You can leave a set for weeks and let it "mature" with no additional disturbance from you. I've spent lots of time digging stuff out and reworking on high snow years. Of course the major drawback is terrible travel conditions, sometimes harder to see new sign, etc. But I would say easier to keep traps working.

Very nice wolf. A good friend of mine got this wolf a few years back I would call it a blue.