Hi all! I wanted to get this started earlier but was busy with school; which I Just finished up. I only survived the days behind a computer screen by reading through other peoples Mountain Journals... So I figured why not share some adventures on here!

Picked up these two nice deer earlier this month; made me wish I had brought a backpack! Dragged them both out to the boat, took about three hours, well worth it! Plus I got a bonus killer whale showing while I loaded up the boat; no good pictures of that though.

Also picked up the first bit of fur this season two days ago! Managed to throw out three traps and had this guy hanging in the first one. Had some time to throw together a few more sets including a wolverine snare pen.

No snow in the picture, but yesterday changed that, on our way back to looking like a winter wonderland!

Wow, it's so different trapping down there compared to up here. Good luck on your season.

Glad you are done with school. Congratulations for sticking it out.

Good looking deer! Hope you connect with some more fur! Be safe out there!

I’ve been fiddling with some snowshoe hare snares this week. Been having intense snow-rain events which has rendered them useless quickly most every day. Ran up my line the other day and picked up two more nice marten though! One of which had a big porcupine quill into its forearm.

Had a rookie mistake and left the safeties on a 120 leaning pole... followed tracks right up to it but a sprung trap with nothing in it. Also had a trap set off up in the alpine with all of the spruce boughs tossed around. Put a box cubby in on that set and we will see if that can convince whatever did it to try again.

Also managed to put in another wolverine cubby up a bit higher on the mountain. Hoping the snow will stay around up there for ease of travel.

Beautiful colors on the first marten yesterday. Striking orange throat patch.

Thanks for sharing! Hope you can get a wolverine.

Nice start on the fur. It’s been challenging already with the two large snow falls backed with warm temps to melt it all.
It is pretty common to find porcupine quills in the skin and even deeper in our marten, wolverine, and fisher. I have found them working their way back out of animals by basically passing through a forearm or leg, on marten typically. Some of the wolverine can have quite large numbers imbedded in them. One stands out in memory, 387 quills i plucked, using hemostats, from the the back of one I caught. None in its face or bottom side. It was like the thing killed a porkie, then just rolled on it.

Good luck with the rest of your season!

Thats a huge orange throat patch, neat seeing the different coloring on marten.

I killed a very large black bear about where you are standing in your last alpine picture.
Good job, Pilgrim.

Awesome! Hope you connect with a bunch more!

How is the shack holding up? Needed a door and new visqueen for the window, last time I was up there.

Since your using coni's in a somewhat warm climate, if a marten dies with a full tummy in above, or at, freezing temps his belly will sour. Depending on time, you could get hair slippage on the belly.

I have also watched some great bears in that area, after your recommendation AV! The shack has seen better days for sure. Still in need of a door and window.

Martentrapper, I tend to do my checks more around weather and climate rather than a normal schedule due to our varying temps... helps avoid green belly or any slippage.

Is the couch still up there, just past the shack?
Always amazed me that it got packed up there!

Yep! Couch is there. Partly burned and beaten down. I always aspire to be tired enough to rest on that couch!

Awesome catches! I would like to hunt some deer sometime. May try heading down to Haines to visit my sister and do that. Been a few years since I have been down there. Hope to see more catches. Still waiting for snow here, not much places we can travel with out it. May need to head out with four wheeler

Yeah we don’t have much snow either, @That Fool, traveling on foot always here.

Not a whole bunch going on down here with windy and rainy weather. Looked for deer yesterday but didn’t see a thing; plenty of tracks though. Been prepping a few traps to extend the line a bit.

Lucked out today and caught this marten in the set I missed one the other day. Saw a few more sets of tracks around some sets but none of them committing to the set. Oh well. Just means I have a chance to get them another day!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays and everything that comes along with it!

For those that don't know, this young man was one of my "apprentices", several years ago.
Extremely proud of him, and his tenacity. The area he is trapping is not friendly: brutally steep access, gets terrible winds, at times, and can get a LOT of snow. However, it can produce.
Good job, buddy!