Well started trapping at 3 today and got about 6 or so miles from home and the phone went to 10% battery so ran back home and got the charger. Started trapping again and the phone would charge for a bit and then wouldn't, well it finally died a couple of hours before I stopped trapping. Got 24 floats out, 2 colony traps, and 1 hagz bracket. Had a rat caught before I came in for the night but it had got itself caught between both traps and couldn't get off the float so I stopped and dealt with it and flipped it off the side of the float until Saturday. Also, have reports of a beaver moving around near where I trap. No pictures today but the first check is Saturday and I'll get the rest of the floats out too and as many hagz brackets as possible.

Good luck YT, I didn’t trap rats this spring, first time in a while.

Way to go YT. Hope today's check is plentiful

Well, today was a good day. Figured out my line is 45 miles in total. I have 32 floats, 1 hagz, and 2 colony traps. Moved my big 10"x10" colony trap to a culvert that fit it better. Put in 4 new floats on a chunk of the road I must travel to get back to my house. Still have 3 floats left in the back of my truck. Had a double on a colony trap and dumped them out but couldn't grab them both quick enough and lost one, I searched for 5 minutes. Got 33 rats today that I actually brought back home, never found that 1 rat, I think it got sucked into the culvert. So yeah 33 rats on a 45 mile line in 4.5 hours, seems like a good time to me, out of 67 traps. Have photos but they're too big it says so I will have to find some other way to post them.

50percent catch rate. Sounds like you're having a good trap line time. Lots of people here can tell you how to resize your photos

Great day Youth Trapper!

Well, 42 rats today out of 32 floats. Wasn't the most fun check since the wind was blowing and it was cold. Also put up 39 rats today, heard of good prices so I will most likely sell whatever I can put up but the overflow will have to be sold on carcass since I only have so many stretchers and time. Going to run the line again tomorrow and most likely have to sell whatever I have left over from today's check and tomorrow's check. Also got a dryer for drying my rats now, tried it on 6 of them and it worked great, made them fluffy and wicked most of the moisture off of them. Hopefully, this will speed up my put up process. Got my pictures resized so now here are the pictures from the last two days. That rat really wanted that carrot with Lenon's Super All Call Muskrat lure on it, the lure is amazing, the jars could be built a bit better though, cracked the lid in one spot and broke it in another. Here are a couple of videos from the last couple of days too.











https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FyPK1Z9Kkdc


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Famx38Cvx74

Good job. Sure looks like fun!

Nice catch.. Our season just ended.

Get that fan blowing right on the hides. That'll dry them faster. Skin and freeze the rest. They don't take up much room at all in a freezer. Then you can put them all up your self when time allows and stretches are freed up
Great going. Stay at it. Wish I had rats like that around and a spring season.

I blow mine off with an air compressor.

Yep! I'm going to pull them off the stretchers tomorrow after I get done checking the line. I honestly don't have the time to skin and freeze them to put up later, I have too many irons in the fire. Also SD makes it so you have to report any fur that's left over 10 days after the season and I'll still be in school when that happens. I love my water trapping, that's for sure.

Yeah, I tried that because the guy I bought all of my traps from said he did that too and it does a good job but I still find quite a bit of moisture in them. With the dryer, there's very very little moisture and it's less time hands on so I can skin other rats while the dryer runs and then do it that way.

Well, today was the windiest day of them all. Did I ever mention that I hate the wind with a passion? Had white caps on one of the sloughs I was trapping, that was fun. Also with the wind, the ice moves around. I lost a hagz bracket setup yesterday and wrote it off. I lost a float setup today about halfway through my line and I get to where I lost the hagz bracket. And I'm driving back to the main road of my line and I see my fiberglass pole sticking up. My whole setup was still there! Hoping to find my float sometime since I know the general location. Anyways, 31 rats today, I only saw 1 rat out on the way to the fur buyers. I think the wind is keeping them tucked away right now. Sold 67 carcass rats and only 3 of them went small. Also sold 3 put up rats from earlier last week and got 3$ for 2 of them and 2$ for the other. Got 145$ in total, still have the 37 put up rats in the fur shed. Going to bring those in on the next load. Here are the few pictures I have from today.





Here's what the rats look like after going through the dryer

You're doing well.

Nice looking bunch o' rats!

good job.

Those are nice and fluffy spring rats! You might consider getting some tanned. You did well if you caught 31 in that wind!

You will be alright with fur after the season, that won't be a problem

yeah, I thought about getting some tanned for thank you's to landowners but should have done that with winter rats. Oh well though, I always have next year. Yeah that wind was not ok at all, nice day today though.