Nice thread guys

3 coon, 2 possums today. K Snow I took those pictures of the coon but I can't get them to upload even when I cut them down. I'll try to get a shot of these ones to upload

Pulled all my sets today to get a couple weeks off before deer hunting, ended up with a freezer full of fur not to bad for what I call trapping season 1 of the year just got to process it and get reset for season 2 after deer hunting

Last coon in the frezzer today, big but not real prime ah well can't win them all

Looks like a big hoss for sure. DP catch? I'll be putting 2 little lines out tomorrow, coon and coyote, and a few otter sets if the creek isn't too high from fridays rain.

Yeah it's was a big boy in a dp fur could have been better but it will make some kinda craft project maybe part of a blanket? Good luck Snow hope your traps are full, haven't trapped otter yet I'd like to see a picture if ya get one!

Enjoying everyone’s posts and pics.
I just got back from a week up north, temperature ranged from 29-70 degrees, with sun and rain- we fished, duck hunted, bow hunted and trapped. I finished an ADC beaver job and trapped rats. Ended with 11 beavers, 71 rats and 5 mink. I took 9 beavers out of this same property 3 weeks earlier, in addition to a handful of rats- I anticipated a higher catch rat on rats than I achieved, water levels on the pond were low- I did not see one rat house on the pond, plan to hit a few coon this week to see how they're priming up. Here's a few pics from my water line:



Beaver:
I started out 3 weeks ago with foot hold blind sets on takeouts- this last week I set channels with H stands closer to the lodges and made castor mound 330's set from the previous catches with oil sac. Alot of the beavers were dark colored- not what I would consider black but nice.






Muskrat:
I mainly trapped feedhuts, preening stations on the lake and found trails leading to bean fields (that were now cut). I had more success in the ditches running Sudden Valley posted sets with carrot and poplar bud oil- I don't set stop loss traps on post sets, the weight of the trap is plenty to drown the rat and as you can see it's a good use for #2's from my squandered youth fox trapping days.






Mink:
I caught 1 mink in a mink box, the rest were bottom edge sets and this XL Buck came from a crossover between retention ditches- I always set one high in case they run the bank and you can see the distinct trail where that's exactly what he was doing, in addition to rats.



Keep the post coming- good luck!

Nice pictures Eagle Eye. Those old Blake and lamb stop loss traps are my favorite rat trap.

That looks like a heck of a fun trip Eagle Eye great pictures, I enjoy posts about animals I don't yet pursue makes me think about buying stuff to water trap!

I have been trapping a few private and public stops with my truck the past few days picking up another couple dozen muskrats. Only have about 15 traps out but will put a few more out for mink later this week when it turns colder just to catch a few. Went over the 100 mark on rats yesterday and have one damage complaint to trap for a pair of beaver that just moved in. My new slogan this year is take it slow and easy.

No traps out since Friday. All Day Saturday volunteering with our VFW to sell food and beverages. We needed a venue to create funds as our Memorial Day event was cancelled due to the week long bomb threats we had here.
Also our gas water heater sprung a leak Friday night so was shop vaccing and using towels to suck up the water until today they could come and replace it. Also a couple meetings today and givng platelets so will not set today either. Hoping to get to 3 more river secitons and then some 4wheeler coon and canines. We got just a bit over 2 inches here some places 20 miles from me got over 3 inches.

Bryce

Well we went from no moisture and dry as a bone to the monsoon season overnight. Luckily I don't have more than a handful of sets out because the Creeks came up about 2 ft last night and most sets were inaccessible. More rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow and after that it looks like we might be dealing with some ice. I've been picking up a few rats every day and one nice buck mink today. We will see what next week brings for weather.

Yeah Walt the weather has been weird it was 65 here today and humid last night it poured! I'm glad I pulled my sets looks like it's going to drop off sharp after tomorrow. Been getting my wife and my stuff ready for deer hunting, we'll head to the local range early next week to fine tune the rifles and shotguns and be ready to go. I'm hoping she gets a chance at one this year been awhile for her, although she has a monster hanging on the wall the likes of which I've only ever seen in magazines haha

The 2.5 inches of rain, raised the river line a tad too much for me to wade. If we get some T-storms tomorrow could add some more. set out a dozen colonies at some of the small runs that now have enough water after the rain.
Found 3 really hot coon trails so set them up with body grippers. Will see if they are getting better furred. Just very little rat sign in much of my water.

I am fleshing and boarding the rats now that I caught in a marsh. There are onlly a coupl larger rats. Most are medium, large and xl. Don't know where the larger ones went and not many kits either. With the dry weather I have noticed smaller size and less fat on the rats, maybe food sources are down as well. Also on almost all of mly sloughs and marshes all the cattails are brown. I don't know if tlhe 3 years of high water killed many or not, but dead cattails may not have good root bulbls for rat food either.

Bryce

As of today I have caught 117 rats and noticed exactly what you are saying about the size also Bryce, with only a couple of kits and lots of large and extra large. I also have never seen the marsh vegetation as dry as it has been this year in the fall.

I forgot to add that I trap for the most part around the Eau Claire Menomonie area.

Walt I'm just down by spring valley maybe I'll run into ya one of these days

I do a little mink and rat trapping on Gilbert Creek West of Menomonie usually in December or January maybe see you around there.

Let me know if ya need help I don't know anything about either one but I can carry stuff be more than willing to help

Thanks for the offer I will keep that in mind. You can learn a lot at your District Rendezvous if you belong to the Wisconsin Trappers Association.