Hello all, welcome to my thread. This will be my main thread to post updates and pictures of my outdoors adventures. A little about myself, I have lived in the village for most of my life and enjoy living a subsistence lifestyle. My family and I work very hard to gather and put away food throughout the year such as: moose, caribou, birds, seal, beluga, berries, greens and many others. I've also been a commercial fisherman for most of my life. Salmon is a very important resource for rural Alaska whether you're a commercial fisherman getting a dollar amount for your product or a subsistence fisherman putting away a food that will feed and provide nourishment to your family for the winter. As for trapping, I will admit I have a lot to learn. I've made a few small "lines" in recent years that have resulted in some success, but I strive to become a better trapper and will take all the advice I can on this website. To start, here are a few pictures to introduce you to my Norton Sound adventures.





















[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/11/full-58175-236459-20240102_155439.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/11/full-58175-236460-20240107_145450.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/11/full-58175-236461-20240314_132211.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/11/full-58175-236462-20240314_132216.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2024/11/full-58175-236463-20240402_173613.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attach...-58175-236464-20240611_072632000_ios.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attach...-58175-236465-20240628_071144459_ios.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attach...-58175-236466-20240820_170859402_ios.jpg[/img]
[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attach...-58175-236467-20241008_230523000_ios.png[/img]

Awesome pics. Trying my best to guess which village you’re in. Checked out your previous posts. Figured it out. I lived there in 2000-2003. Miss trapping around there.

You should be very familiar with this village Mike.

BB I sure thank you for those pictures .Doubtfull that i will ever get to see that country in this life so you filled the gap !!

Great pictures and welcome aboard Bunbun! Looking forward to seeing more of your adventures and life out there.

How far do you have to go for caribou and burbot? What fish are you catching through the ice?

Thanks bronco.

Caribou don’t travel down to our village anymore so we have to travel a ways to hunt them. I think about 260 mile roundtrip is what we were doing last year. We have some burbot in our river here but you only see them in the late fall. The bigger fish we catch through the ice are dollies and the smaller ones we fish for right by town are tomcod and smelt.

Good update this morning.

On the board for fur this year with 2 marten from last nights check. I use mostly bridger 155's for marten with wood boxes. I've been experimenting, setting them different ways and looks like they all work.

Looks like you are set for winter with that variety of meat! Congrats on being on the board! Look forward to reading about your adventures and thank you for sharing!

Is that huge animal, (with the woman in the picture working on it), a walrus?

Welcome BunBun.

Will be fun tagging along with you here.

Nice catches

That would be a bearded seal. That picture is up in Kotzebue when I went hunting with my brother and some buddies. Up there bearded seals are gutted then put back in the boat and then processed at home. Where I'm from I like to break down most of the breaking down and cleaning on the ice. Just an example of how different regions and villages do some things differently.

Thanks. Those Bearded Seals look huge. Don't have those in southeast.

Will be fun to watch your adventures. I spend a lot of time on the lower Yukon area. Buying antlers and trapping again this year.

Update time.

I pulled some gear that I had set for a quick early season soak. Got a marten and a couple beaver from that area. I started to expand my other line that picked up another marten. I've got some high hopes for my next check, saw some promising sign.

I think I will be setting my boxes with the trap facing down from now on. I had a trap that was snapped that caught a marten last check in a trap facing up box. It looked like there was short marten hair from the head pinched in the corner of my 155. I've never had that happen with the trap facing down sets.

Your boxes look good. Are they stackable?

Perhaps you should use some footholds.

Thanks milkcrate. Yeah they stack. I'm making another batch of boxes with my new and improved design. Like the username btw, milk crates are one of my go-to wolverine sets.

Nice marten

I started out using footholds and there's no doubt they do the job. I favor the coni's though because they're so efficient and easy to set. Also, I was getting a lot of bycatch with the foothold even though I had my bait under the pole and trap in the right location.

Thanks Bruce. I've seen a wide variety in our marten color out here, I prefer the darker ones for sure. I will have to find a picture of one of my first marten. It was very pale and just a monster!

Would like to see that

I would like to see some pictures of your new and improved design. Maybe you could post a few?

Great stuff, love it!

Did you ever have trouble with birds with boxes facing up?

You got it milkcrate. Should be done with them some time this week. Waiting for some hardware cloth in the mail. Mail to rural Alaska is painfully slow.

It was my first time setting them that way this season and nothing yet. I’ve gotten birds in 330 cubbies/crates, down facing marten boxes, but mostly marten pole sets.

Good stuff

Great pics.

Who is this? I don't recognize her.

Here is the western Akaska version of the white 17 snare pole set. Try it only with a decent spruce tree.