Nice otter

Man did we get dumped on! Went out today to close the rest of the line, had a heck of a time just getting to my trailhead! We got about a foot and a half of snow out there and then the wind kicked up creating some serious drifts. Had some gear under 2 -3 ft of snow. Got stuck a few times, but it is what it is. Everything is pulled, now just need to run trough it and get it stowed away for next season.

Cut a set of kitty track and 2 sets of yote track, seed for next year My one bait station has a whole moose on it compliments of F&G, hopefully the critters will find it and give me a bunch of YOY to catch next year

Got home and the wife had ran to the PO. I had left a gator, a scarf , and a trap in Howlers truck when I flew back here. Totally spaced them out. Imagine my surprise when I got the box of that stuff with this in there

Helfrich 750




That will go on the wall brother, TY!

Headed up to Ted's next week for a few days to give him a hand with some fur, then back here and start prepping for spring beaver

Be safe out there guys!

What! Leaving a good trap on the wall?

Sounds like you had a party picking up sets. It would be interesting to see all the critters that stop by the moose carcass.

isnarewolves, yep on the wall It is the memories and thoughts that are behind it. I have a old Victor #1 LS I found along the bank of the Yukon from a moose hunting adventure, a BL # 4 DLS hat I found in the Nashua River in MA from when I first started chasing beaver, and a few others that bring back memories of good times

bfisch I had thought about hanging a trail cam back there, pretty easy to get to when there is snow on the ground and it is froze up, but once it is gone it is pretty boggy. Cant get a wheeler to it and if you walk in the junk is between ankle and knee deep. I will know what has been back there come next season Firm believer in topping off bait stations at the end of the season to help the critters through the toughest months.

was the 750 a Ben Hopson trap?

Isnarewolves, nope, JR only has 1 of those and it is in his collection. He had picked up a bunch of gear from a old wolf trapper out of Healy that had about a dozen Helfrich 750's.

Went up and saw Ted the past few days, I always hate this time of year, between March and April there ain't much to do down here except get ready for bears, beaver, and fishing. On the plus side I got out of spring cleaning with the wife

Well Ted had a little skinning that needed done.......



Always enjoy spending time up there, just BS ing about trapping, making fishing plans, and of course ALOT of skinning



I picked up a few new things to add to skinning game as well. He showed me a new method of doing yote ears for taxidermy.



And this happened....... I broke the golden rule of using a knife, always cut away from yourself. I was trying to knuckle a wolf toe and was having a hard time, instead of pushing I pulled. Well I got the knuckle undone But when it popped I kinda poked myself.

5 Stitches and a tetanus shot later I finished that dang wolf



I got a lot of ribbing over that stupid mistake, the daughter actually called me a rookie But seriously I got very lucky, so with that said, just a friendly reminder to always follow the golden rule of cutting away from yourself.

Oh man! Lucky I guess !!!!!!! Glad you're ok!


Skinning a deer with my FIL one time. He was squatted down and skinning down the side of deer. Snagged up on a tendon.........gave a jerk and buried the knife clear to the hilt in his thigh ! He passed out cold !

Got him in the truck and to the hospital. He made it but had a nasty infection. Just missed femoral artery

Good aim! You missed your eye

That’s too close, Glad it wasn’t worse!

Glad it wasn't worse. Might want to wait a while before you shoot any big guns. Scope eye would about duplicate that scuff, and likely cause some discomfort, lol. And add to the Frankenstein look! Glad you are ok.

It would be nice to do some skinning with an experienced guy like Ted, probably pick up a few tips. I need to get faster.

Sounds like you had a good visit. Glad you missed your eye! What is the dark thing at the top of the critter picture (not the trash bag)?

Yeah I was very lucky, things happen and we got to poke fun at me, there wont be a next time

bfisch that was a pretty black wolf

It is amazing that we don't have serious knife accidents more often. I was once opening an ammo can that had been zip tied with a really heavy duty zip tie. I was using a long thin boning knife, pulling it very hard towards me, the zip-tie finally pops and the knife comes straight back into my upper eye lid burying the tip in the back upper part of my eye socket. Very sore for several days, just happy I still had my eye.

If it would have been 3/4 of an inch lower it probably would have gone through my optic nerve, into my brain and resulted in a very embarrassing way to die. I can hear it now; "I always knew Wagner was going to die doing something stupid like that".

Well the wound healed up good, got the stitches out last week

A friend had wrote me and said they had seen swans down by the river, sure enough Saturday morning I had 5 of them come cruising by the house, Spring is just around the corner

Got my gear all set and ready for open water. Ted stopped by today and dropped of the final thing I needed



I decided to break down and give these beetles a try for cleaning skulls, I got enough chow for them for a while so we will see how they pan out.
Got a otter skull in there now.

Share the skulls results when they are done. Where did you get the beetles? I wish open water beaver trapping was more of an option for me, but as soon as breakup happens a lot of the beaver are just too hard to get to.

bfisch, got them from this place............

http://bonesandbugs.com/purchase-de...ys4URajCRlspXO-uqZVq4KMNcu4vjjOUxIvD5fyA

I hear you on the bev. Been watching Dunlap updates as he traps spring beaver, it kills me!

What a pile of critters up at Teds. Glad you missed your eye, we all get way lucky using knifes and other sharp objects.

The beetles are a lot of fun and do a great job of cleaning skulls. I noticed my skulls seemed to have less oil with this method then they did when using maceration. Removing the brains or as much of the brains as you can also helps speed up the beetle process, they don't seem to like the brains so it starts to smell and take way longer if you leave them in. Keeping them in a moderately warm area speeds them up also but don't let it get too warm or they start flying.

Well finally had the river closest to me open up and decided to go set a few traps for the beaver. The weather down here has been pretty nice, highs in the 60's and lows in the 30's. Got caught up on stuff around the house so it was time to get busy and break the ice. Not a lot of sign but did manage to find a few spots.

Took this young buck with me, he got a nice one



Picked up two younger ones, one at a cross over and the other at a castor mound set.





Not bad for only having 6 traps out.