The furs went out to be sealed and then tanned. It has been a memorable season! The whole season my wife has been watching my back via InReach and ready to hear my trapline stories each time I arrive home. It is good to have a woman that understands it is good for a guy to get out. My kids think its great when I bring something home with the youngest naming them wolf, marten, lynx, fox, etc. as I skin and board. I am blessed to have such family and experiences!



Two things I learned this season: 1) Mark your trail sooner than later, 2) Don't leave the snare in the bag even if the location isn't the best.
Two things I was reminded of this season: 1) Animals in traps are fair game to animals not in traps, 2) The weather is going to make things difficult at times.
Two things to be grateful for this season: 1) Family who backs you up and encourages your endeavors, 2) The health and ability to get out and trap and enjoy God's creation.



I still plan to go after a couple beaver and chase wolves a few more weeks, but things are certainly winding down.

That is a dang good looking batch of fur! A lot of hard work there! Congrats on a good season and I hope you connect with a few more wolves! Thank you for sharing!

Very nice collection of fur you have there I've enjoyed your posts congratulations on a good season I'm sure you will have continued success and do well selling those pelts .

Great job this season! Nice display of all your hard work, It is great having an understanding and supportive family like that.

Warm, wet and then freezing at night. Tough for the few wolf traps I have out. Good thing the snares are still operational.
Snagged a wolf in a snare I just put out on Monday. I think I did her a favor. She has no guard hair and a broken back leg. No outside puncture marks so I am guessing she got kicked by a moose. She looked mature but was really skinny and absolutely no fat anywhere.

Wolf #9 76 lb female (didn't take a picutre out on the line)



Hard work and persistence paid off. After having them steal the bait too many times without getting caught, I switched my set up a little and connected on another beaver. Finally!

What's the secret on beaver. They were mostly getting the best of me on the one house I trapped this winter.
mt

Good deal on the wolf! Sounds like you did do her a favor! Good looking beaver! Glad your connecting with them!

Another Folicular D wolf? At least your removing them from the gene pool.
mt

Yeah, it seems about half the wolves I caught this year have it, but guys around here say it is pretty common. FD or not they still eat moose.

As far as the beaver snaring. I think it is persistence as much as anything else. I was hanging two snares off a pole above the ice (cold enough to freeze fast) with the bait between and sometime to one side or another. I caught one out of the two house I had set. Then it got warm and barely freezing even at night. So I made then placed snares off a dry spruce pole that I stuck into the mud on the bottom and a cross pole wired above the ice. This way if it doesn't freeze the beaver can't come up onto the ice. Anyway, I wired the willow or cottonwood bait to the pole and finally caught another. I have three houses out and plan to check tomorrow.

Great season bfisch... That is a good looking pile of fur. Take care of it. Bill Wivoda is looking for lynx with feet on and wolves. With the fur market the way it is, I send my fur to Moyle's to get tanned and sell it later or out of the house. Keep it up on the beaver. Bear baiters pay good money for the carcasses.

Bill Wivoda isn't looking for lynx with feet anymore, just wovles and wolverine....................

Decided to keep it all for now. It is on its way to the tannery. I will be eating the beaver meat. I may take some later on when the water opens for bear bait.

First time this year the whole family was able to join me to check sets! Nice day and fun to share the experience. We had a picnic of fresh beaver meat, fresh caribou ribs, and smores. We found a moose freshly killed by wolves. The 50 or so ravens were hard to miss. Put some wolf snares on the trails around it. Checked the three beaver houses I have set and pulled one adult male out of the water.

Was out yesterday with the neighbor boy. I told him that if he worked hauling wood with me we would go set some beaver snares (I didn't tell him I had wolf gear out too). So we took off and came to the first beaver house. I had broke trail the day before and checked ice safeness knowing he would be joining me. When we pulled up I warned him to only walk on the snow machine trail or where I walked. I checked ice with the ice pick and found a spot where there was no ice at the feed bed. The spot had too many stick and was really shallow. We moved about three feet away and got to work. The ice was much thicker and the water deeper. Going to the second house we hit some over flow, but being out the day before making trail I knew where it was and drove accordingly. Arriving at the second house I warned him again about walking only where I did and staying a few steps behind me. This house had very deep snow around it and many places with little to no ice. It was pretty sketchy as one place would have a good 5-6 inches of ice and 6 inches away nothing. It was like this with very little rhyme or reason.

After the work we started the fun! Heading out to where I had set up the wolf kill, I could see fresh tracks in the snow from the night before. They were spending extra time on the trail so I guessed something was up. Before I knew it there was a trench going down my trail about 8 inches wide and 4 inches deep with wolf tracks everywhere. At first I was confused and then I figured it out with surprise. The only explanation was that I had caught a wolf in the one trap I had set at the kill (blind trail set) and that wolf was dragging the 5 1/2 foot birch log that is 6 inches in diameter down the trail. I was impressed as this was a 1/2 mile from where I had left the trap. We were both excited, but continued onto check the snares at the kill site before going after the one in the trap. I was anticipating a catch as the snares (I thought) were in great locations. Sure enough they came back to the kill, but apparently the snow had a good enough crust their tracks were on top and they didn't even use their trails. Oh well, still needed to track down the other one. We headed back to where the wolf had left my main trail and took off down a secondary trail that I hadn't been down in over a month. It goes about a mile and ending in a spruce ridge. The sides of the opening are small spruce and willow. As we followed the trench, we could see that the wolf didn't like being caught in the open, but every time it left the snow machine trail it would face deep snow and snagging willows. The wolf learned fast that the packed trail was the best even when hauling a green birch log weighing 50 lbs. After about a mile from the catch site he had finally exited as the secondary trail wasn't that great that far down. He barely even made it to the tree line. Pulling up to about 50 feet way I parked and told my partner to stay on the snow machine. As I walked over to dispatch the big male gave a bark and a growl that made the skin on the back of my neck feel tight as the hair raised. I quickly ended the discussion. My neighbor boy was thrilled as he had never seen a live wolf and I was thrilled that the wolf was still in the MB 750 after a mile dragging that birch and only caught by two toes on the front foot.

Wolf #10 104 lb Male



We then went onto check the beaver snares. First two houses the bait was untouched. The last house the bait was also untouched and pulling up the pole I could tell the snare was stuck on a stick. "We caught a stick," I said. The stick didn't give so I rolled up my sleeves and started fishing. I soon realized we had a stick and a beaver! We finally managed to get it untangled and pulled the snares not resetting as this was the second beaver at this house.



It was a good day and before I dropped the boy off at his house, he asked me, "Are you going out again tomorrow?"

That is awesome! Congrats on the wolf and for getting a youngster out there!

Good looking wolf. That’s sounded like a great time. Thanks for sharing

What a great day and way to keep youngsters involved and excited about getting out more!

Hard to tell in the pic. Does he have FD?
mt

It was a fun day for sure!



He does, but not as bad as some I've caught.

That makes me Howl at the Moon! Thanks for sharing your stories!