It will snow again,if you have scrappers on your sled you'll have plenty of lube.However it will be rough until we get another 3 to 6" of snow.Hope to get out one more time before I had out to the land of loonies for a month.Might have to snares a couple of beavers under the ice when I get back before work gets crazy again.

No tracks today,however it was 18 this am so everything was frozen,3 more checks.With this cool down and easy walking on top of the snow maybe the cats will return before I pull.Have a good day everyone.

New guy here from southern MN.

I had a few things fall through this year that allowed me to take 9 days to head up north to try to catch my first cat. With a young family I knew it might be my only chance for a few years to give it a shot. A nice tom has been on my bucket list for some time.

So I found some scrap plywood and made myself some boxes.



I headed out opening morning into some brand new country that I was completely unfamiliar with. My dad tagged along to give me a hand and I got 22 of my 30 boxes out. I got the remaining boxes out Day 2 and found time to catch a limit of walleyes in the evening. Total over the 2 days was 3 sets of cat tracks.

Monday I noticed a bunch of fox tracks near one of my cat sets. I won’t trap fox around home because there are so few of them. I figured it was a good chance to get one so I made a dozen snares Monday night, set them Tuesday, and got my first fox Wednesday.



The next few days revealed very few cat tracks. I made a few otter sets and had some luck with a couple very big male otters.




The days ticked by, fishing got slower, and cat activity remained slow. I had one fisher refusal. Finally on Friday and Saturday I saw a few new sets of cat tracks, but nothing within about 50 yards of any of my sets. I spent my time scheming about how to find time to try again next year. Sunday came and it was time to pull traps. About 2 hours in my body was on autopilot, doing the work while my brain enjoyed the quiet woods. The thought of actually catching anything was pretty much gone. I walked up to a set and noticed my trap was missing. I kicked around looking for a bird or squirrel but couldn’t find trap nor cable. I stood looking around, confused. At one point I turned around, and this is what I saw.



I was in total shock. The first thing I did was call my wife with shaking hands. I talked to the kids and they were super excited. After I hung up I snapped a few more pictures. The smile never left my face picking up the rest of my traps and driving home.

I’d never planned on getting anything mounted if I got one, but this beautiful 30 pound tom changed my mind. He definitely deserves a home in the shop.

Nice catches,
Welcome to trapperman. NoWiser.

Great catches.did the cat break your anchor wire why you couldnt find it a first?

there will be a few wood-turners going nuts after seeing that burl by you axe and otter
Congrats on your catches

Nice bobcat.Congrats

The cat somehow undid the snap connecting my cable to the trap chain. Luckily, he didn’t make it far afterwards.

Lucky

Nice catches.

That burl had me wanting to try my hand at making a bowl. I’m unsure of the legality in cutting it off on that particular tract of land and I make every effort to be 110% legal when trapping.

I got huge burl this past fall that I'm going to make into a coffee table stand this coming summer.Letting it dry out in my work shop this winter.

Nice fox and otter also.

Congratulations...Great pictures and Great Story

Welcome to Tman

Good catches. Have tried boxes and 220's every year at a few cat sets but I have never had luck with them, yet. Welcome aboard!

Are those things of any value,There are dozens of those things in the bush.

Mount that cat, if you don’t you will regret it. You don’t see them like that in the north. I regret not mounting one I caught about 20 years ago that was a red back jacobson strain that weight 49 pounds.

He’s definitely getting mounted.

It’s going to be an expensive year. I’ve got a marten of my daughters to pick up soon.

Nice

Right person and there is a demand.
Bruce drying slower is always better as the wood grain goes all over the place, covered in 6" sawdust is best . Three inches per year drying time.

We can take out permits for speciality wood harvest when we are crown lands if for personal use