That is totally awesome!!!!! Glad you had her along when you connected! Good looking kitty and otter Now that you broke the dry spell I hope things continue to pick up for you!

What are you cutting in the wood yard? Dead spruce, birch?

What a nice day to be out with your family on the line and you got some good catches!

HFT AK- I hope so too! The wolves have been gone for a couple weeks now and I expect them to come back sometime in the next week or less. I think they must have got a moose somewhere else and are fat and lazy for now.

martentrapper- I am cutting dead standing spruce. I wouldn't mind burning more birch, but dead is rotten and green is heavy.

broncoformudv- It was a good! If the warm weather continues I will continue to take them out as opportunity allows.

Green birch is the wood of choice to stoke the stove just before bedtime!

Nice pictures and catches.

I have heard others say the same thing, but with the blaze kings even a nice spruce log can make it through the night.

Ran the line yesterday. The lynx are still playing games with me. I put in another couple sets for them including pee posts with urine collected on sight from the last one I caught. The wolves seemed to have disappeared. Not sure when they will come back. The snow was sticky from how warm it is so I came home a little wet. Sure is nice having a dry pair of extra gloves for the ride home.

1st trap of the day and the only catch of the day. About half the traps had too much snow on them to be effective anyway.


It was snowing nicely when I was out and uncovered all the traps and adjusted snares that needed to be. Forecast called for 1-2 inches which would have been perfect for cover up traps and my sign. After I got home last night the blizzard began and we ended up with 4-5 inches and today it is raining. Yuck! I guess I can expect to get everything back in working order next trip out. I feel for you guys that deal with this kind of problem on a regular basis.

The weather sure likes to play games with trappers. Its hard to beat a dry pair of gloves or mittens for the ride home. I have started carrying spares of those as well a spare dry facemask.

Good looking mink! Have you seen much sign of them? My numbers here are way down, not much track. Hang in there with the kitties! The one thing have learned is the more gear you get out for them the better the odds Yeah the weather bites this year, still have time though for it to get cold and steady!

Weather sure plays a huge factor. I am glad they are calling for the temperature to drop back below 0.

This has been an average year as far as mink sign goes. I don't go after them much. I also miss some using 220s, but I am ok with that because I think it is mostly the smaller females that are getting around the trigger wires. Right now I only have three sets that are for mink/otter. A few years ago it seemed like there were mink everywhere. I don't remember how many I ended the season with, but I caught six in the first month which is more than I have catch a season.

I am hoping mink prices go up, especially with all the culling they did in Europe. Have you thought about using pans on the 220's? I run a mix half and half, they work pretty slick.

I also like mink trapping, but have not intentionally set for them for several years. Still have mink at the auction house going into sale 5-6? XXL DRK-XD, 1.
I live and trap in mink heaven, and end up with 6-8 in marten boxes every year, (climbers).
Last time I actually had a few sets out for them, I got 18 in 3 weeks.
That was the year AFTER I averaged almost $30.00 each.

HFT AK- I have never tried pans on body grips. I guess I have not been that interested in trying yet.

AV- Climbers intrigue me, but I have not heard of anyone around here catching them off the ground. I keep thinking one of these days it will happen. $30 average would convince me to make a few more mink sets. The year I caught the most I sold a couple in Fairbanks for $20 and kept the rest. Since then I just keep them for personal use or give them away.

I get a “wave” of climbing mink each season right about the second week of January. About one out of six of my elevated marten sets will get hit. The only other commonality besides the timing is that the climbing poles have a shallow slope to them. I have not had a mink in an elevated vertical set, yet.

Interesting observation AV. I know mink can climb. I once had one in my arctic entry. I closed the door behind me and tried to get him. He climbed the wall studs straight up with ease and ran around in the rafters before I finally ended his exploration.

Beautiful day on the line yesterday! Right around 5 above and sunny clear skies. I even had to hold up my hand a couple times to see the trail it was so bright!
Had a friend join me for the ride.

Snared this nice little red in a trail snare set in my snow machine trail.


A lot of the time was spent digging out snowed in and/or crusted over traps. Most of the snares were still good with the 4 inches of snow and a bit of rain that we got since the last time I was out.
Best I can figure is that this lynx was caught the night of the snow.


And then this lynx came by, killed it, and began to eat. The lynx (killer) had been on and off the trail zigzagging every which way for the last 3 miles. The set is on the far side of a bigger lake that I cross. Usually the wolves frequent the lake this time of year, but I have been seeing more lynx tracks so I put in a couple lynx sets and some snares. Driving up I noticed the lynx slowly walking away from the set to more cover and thought, "Man! I just spooked him off the set!" I quickly came to a stop and unshouldered the .22 mag. The lynx had stopped at the top of the bank to look back but all I could see was the head sticking out behind a tree. I shot and it ran further in the thick stuff. I restarted the machine, raced up to the set, jumped off, and ran up the hill gun in hand. At the top of the bank I found blood and began scanning the trees for anything. Nothing! I took one step in the direction the lynx ran and there he was just sitting there about 30 feet away facing the other direction. I quickly finished him and claimed my prize.


The lynx that was eaten on could have been a lot worse and as far as I can tell the majority of the pelt will be salvageable for sewing. We don't use the head for sewing anyway.
It was a great day to be out and the action is always a bonus!

Great day on the line.

Good deal on getting that joker before he ate the whole thing! Pretty looking fox! The temps dropped here as well and the critters are on the prowl! Hope you connect with a few more cats!

Glad you got the cannibal.