Our season closes March 15. Finally the water has opened up so I can get a few (very few) rat traps out. Finished up my coyote snares last week. Here is my last one, and some rats caught today. Also saw a water snake up in the phrags soakin' up some sun.

Looks like you are livin' the life!

Nice haul!

Good deal. Our season closes for most things too 3-15

Trapping ending on the Ides of March makes it easy to remember. Beware the trapper, who traps after the Ides of March. You could get ticketed.

Keith

So what about your mink trapping (snaring). I remember that you said most of your mink have disappeared somehow a few months ago. Have they all vanished from your area?......jk

I left Sussex County to return to Alaska WAY too soon this year.

You had a 70 degree day this week. I awoke this morning to -37 degrees and 90" of total snow! NOT Spring here yet!

Pete

Rats trapping with colonies is probably my favorite. Nothings better then pulling a set and having it be stuffed.

jk: Mink are downrite scarce by me. This winter with all the snow I saw only 1 set of mink tracks and that was a female at the far end of my old mink line on the Vernon-New York border. Did not even set a mink snare this season. Last Saturday there was a dead male mink on route 23 in Hamburg. I was on the way to my grandson's wrestling tournament and was gonna' scoop him up on my return. Somebody beat me to him, I thought Pete had swooped down off of his Hamburg Mountain cabin and scooped it up but I guess he was already back in Alaska. Was 66 here yesterday and snowing right now, gotta' love March in Sussex County.

Any thought's on the reason for the decline?

Guinea Worms have killed off mink in my area, I believe.
Took up my last 2 rat traps today as tomorrow I have to go to my granddaughter's basketball tournament. Watching basketball for me is like watching paint dry but sometimes just have to do it.
Anyway had only 2 traps out in culverts under railroad beds where they connect different swamps. These are the 2 best rat locations on my line. 5 in one trap, 4 in the other. Notice the big wire on the front of the trap. Traps are slid into the culvert and the wire blocks any way around the trap. Back in the day when rats were numerous I would catch 100 or more in each culvert in less than a month. Like most places around here once there are cornfields or athletic fields upstream the rats all but disappear.


The underwater culvert

Nice rig, I sure do enjoy your demos at conventions. Sorry to hear about your mink problem. Do you think the worms will disappear soon or is that the end of your mink? You have taught us a lot, thanks for that.......jk

Way to go