This late in the year staking is pretty dang difficult especially in frozen ground. Rebar stakes work but you gotta get the thick ones, the smaller ones bend way to easy. An option for you depending on the temps would be to freeze your chain down. Nunamiut here on this forum does that with his on the open tundra. Pokes a hole as deep as he can, drop the chain in it and pour water in the hole. He has caught plenty of wolves with no issue using that method. If that section of trail is on water you could always tap a hole with an auger and do the same thing, or punch through the ice and push a stick attached to your chain or cable through and then tighten it.

I hope you connect with that wolverine I a rooting for you!

Thanks HFT AK!

If I was to drive in a 12 inch spike or get a hole and drop chain in and add water to freezer, how do I retrieve it at the end of the season. The bar where I want to set is sand, very powdery sand. If I waited until after break up it would be gone for good.

The bottom line is your going to lose those stakes if you cant retrieve them after break up. I use a lot of earth anchors, ie fox hollow super stakes, they go in pretty easy the beginning of the season. At the end of the season I just cut the cable, if I use rebar I cut the chain. I go through about a dozen a year and plan on it for the following year when I make my orders. A chunk of metal in the ground ain't going to hurt the environment

That's kinda what I was thinking. Just wondered if there was a better option. Thanks!

Another thought after you either drill or punch a hole in the ground for the chain add a repair link to it fastening your trap chain to it after season remove the trap and leave the short chain .

Nice wolf and model to show it off ha ha !
Allan

Great day to be out today! Sunny and -30 when I took off and sunny and 0 when I got home. Wolves haven't returned, but I did make a trail set on the bar. Tried pounding in a stake for a trap and it wasn't happening. Instead I ended up cutting a huge willow 5ft long and 12 inches in diameter for a drag. I don't really like the idea of a drag on the open sand bar but this one weighs enough that a wolf shouldn't get too far and if it does it will leave an obvious trail to follow.

This red followed my trail for about 1/2 mile marking every other stick and grass hump. That time of year and my nose confirms it. I guess he was too busy having other things on his mind and missed the snare in the trail. Biggest fox I've caught in a while and the fur still looks real good!



The lake has been full of cats this year. The set where I caught the one that was being eaten on and shot the culprit scored again. I used the head that was mostly eaten from the other one for bait and nailed a bright orange chicken wing over the set. By the looks of things there is at least one more still in the area. Also saw some other fresh lynx tracks in other areas of the line. The longer days also has the rabbits on the move.



Set a 220 a while ago at a beaver house where otter were entering/exiting. Almost bypassed the set as it appear untouched under a thin blanket of snow. However, I stopped and using my ax ever so lightly brushed some snow off. I noticed the trigger was no longer set. Surprised I dug out the body grip to find a nice male mink caught smack dab on the center of his head. I don't think he budged after the impact.



Spent some time trying to connect two ends of my trail, but I don't like where I ended up. I thought I was going to be able to cross a drainage but the far side was pretty steep and had thick willows on the other side. I then thought I could just follow the drainage and find a place to cross, but the sides just kept getting steeper the closer I got to the river. I then tried to just ride the drainage out and as it got narrower logs started to block the way. I grabbed my ax and walked ahead to see if I could make it through. After about 50ft I heard a hollow sound underneath. I backed up and swung the ax. It punched through no problem. I widened the hole to see what was underneath. Another layer of thin ice followed by some more ice. That was enough for me to turn around. I will just have to find another way another day.

Good to see your getting fur! Glad you were able to get a set on that bar, got my fingers crossed for you to connect! It always amazes me how you can set a snare on a bunny trail and have a refusal and when you have them out in your trail they walk right into it Good looking fox and mink! Be safe out there!

Hope you catch that gulo, it would make a real nice mixed bag for the year with all the other stuff you are getting.

Still having cool nights but once the sun is above the horizon it warms up 20 to 30 degrees. Not much moving on the line. Ended the day with a pretty little mink.

At least you didnt get skunked! Looks like a pretty one!

Nice mink

Been busy lately but had time to pull most of my lynx, fox, mink, and marten gear on Monday and finished up yesterday. Ended up grabbing this young guy.




I have been really been wanting to catch a cross fox for many years. We don't have a lot around but I know there are a few. Well it finally came to pass! I had a few snares in this spot and had caught a fox at this location earlier. It is a tiny little thing. Maybe the smallest fox I have ever caught but the fur seems good. I will know more when I thaw it out. The last fox I caught is like 3x bigger than this one. It was about as tough as a wolf to skin out. I don't every remember a fox being as tough as that one. Glad to finally score a cross!



In the area I made trail into a while ago and saw the wolverine sign, I dropped some carcasses in a drainage about 500 yards from where I made the wolverine sets. I was hoping to get some birds on them to attract predators and see what may be in the area and hold the wolverine in the area until he found my sets. It was over two weeks before anything showed up. First this dandy came by and sniffed around but that was all.



Two days later this pack of three came by in the middle of five inches of snow and had a three hour party. They made trails everywhere and had a worn path down the center of mine. They even went down my foot trail to where I set up the trail camera. From the tracks it looks like one may have been checking it out from the side about a foot from the camera. I am 90% sure that it is the same pack that I took the one out of that I was pretty sure was a pack of four. Pictures are poor quality, but there is one photo that I can barely see all three (not included). Appears to be two grays and a dark gray. Only had two wolf snares and one wolf trap with me. I set them all and will be bringing more snares next run.




I didn't even know the wolverine came by until I looked at the trail cam pictures. He came the day after I was last out there and before all the snow. Still hoping he comes back. I am really happy about getting the cross though!

Good deal, on the cross! Now you just need a silver You still got gear out for the wolverine and wolves? Pretty cool pic's!

I think silvers are extremely rare around here. I know one elder who has seen one, but I don't know anyone who has got one. I will keep after the wolves and wolverine for a while. I also have two otter sets out and here in a couple weeks plan to go after some beaver.

Cross fox are awesome. I'm pretty fortunate to have lots of those genes where I am. I usually get a few cross and a couple silvers about every year. Good luck on the wolves and gulo!

Nice cross fox bfisch.
We used to have a lot more crosses and silvers here 25 years ago.
Still get the odd cross,but its been a long time since I got any silvers.

Nice fox.

I have thought about traveling just to go after crosses and silvers. It seems there are a few on Kodiak and maybe I could run into a couple on another hunt. Not real serious about it right now. Next I am hoping to get that wolverine and if not this year I have some plans next year that might increase my chances.

One month after getting the first one, I have scored another. I had snares on each side of this small slough. They messed around on one side on a lake and then really hung back after this one was caught on the other side of the slough but stayed out of the trees. I set these snares out during a light snow and then we got about 5 more inches that covered all my sign.

Not a spectacular wolf, but definitely better than some I caught last year. 88lb Male

Nice! Looks like a pretty decent one. Got tangled up pretty good, so no water head. You've still got time to get some more.