WI Trapping OPENER

Good luck if you are going out and setting some traps today. I know it is way too early but might set some just to scratch the itch.

Brian

Good luck - always more enjoyable for the kids when the temps are above freezing.
Stay safe

I'm waiting until early NOv.

To wet around here to access any fields.
I'm waiting till next week some time.

Good luck guys!
Jim

I didn't even know it was this weekend....

Yep dry all summer now too much rain
Ours starts tomorrow. But it's suppose to rain all week end so no sense in setting till it stops

Way too early. Bluegill fishing is just getting started.

Went from powder dry to way wet here.. Can't even get excited about setting traps. I did clean,, pressure wash some coyote traps the other day I'm going to boil and dye one day this week. Plan to head out first part of November unless we're up to our butts in snow??
Hard to get motivated this year, but I always scratch the itch a little it seems...

Mac

Honestly,

Had no idea it was even this weekend.

Early November for me!

Thought it was tomorrow?

Today opens for dryland coon, fox,coyote. Way to early for coon. I'll wait till November 1st. Handitrapper has the right idea lol

I retired in August, always thought I would be running long lines when I was able to spend the time to do it in daylight. Instead I put some traps on craigslist yesterday, I have plenty for what I plan to do.

will be setting some for coyotes tomorrow. my kids will hopefully wait a couple weeks before they go after coon. they aint worth it but we need to keep population in check and the kids love trapping them

Took my boy and his buddy out today set six dps and two weasel boxes. Raining now so we will see but they both want a skin for the wall and I just got my background check done for becoming a trappers ed instructor. I help with the first class on the 28th and it would be nice to have a few animals for the students to skin.





My boy is in the orange hat and his friend is in the hoodie. His buddy's little brother is going to check with us tomorrow it will be his first time out.
The boys have been trapping three years and were showing me different tracks and identifiying them as well.

Great to see those kids out enjoying the outdoors. Can't wait to get my boys out on the trap line. Have a fun and safe season everyone. Adam

My kids are older now and have lost interest. Not as much fun for me anymore now.

I’ll get after some coons mid to late November. Gonna save the rats for a January thaw or later in February.

Love the pictures Trap Setter. The season opener is a great time to get the young trappers out and even some of the old folks who used to trap when they were young. They enjoy it more when the weather is nice.

Brian

I got in 13 sets today, planned on putting in Yote/fox sets all day. Got a call to track a deer and with all the rain coming in tonight, I loaded up the Hound and went and recovered a hunters first deer with the bow..

I did some handi work for my daughter. Trimmed out some new doors and laid a new kitchen floor.
New kitchen cabins are the next project. Then she wants a new barn wood wall Installed. But first I have to tear the boards off the barn. lOL

Looks like with all this rain I'll have to wait till things dry out a bit before I start running my coyote line.
I'm going to pre stake the marsh on Monday or Tuesday.

Same thing in Michigan dry last 30 days and monsoons began today. I'll probably wait a week for things to dry a little, would like to kill a few coyote around my deer hunting grounds.

Crazy how Mother Nature has her way of 'stepping in'

Well no catch this morning but the boys had a great time especially the youngest one (first timer)



The brothers^

Keep posting Trap Setter. I’ll be following.

Great photos Teapsetter! Good to see kids outdoors.

Dave

Good luck guys. I'm going to wait a few weeks yet as well. Everyone be safe out there.

Set 6 tote traps Sunday. First check is 1 flipped, 1 possum, and one close call with some fur. Made 3 mode sets today. Will prolly put in a few more tomorrow unless the wife takes me fishing:)

no waiting here started setting traps opening day at midnight set all day
first check on sunday 34




wont let me post todays picture but another 21

Nice catch cable.

thanks for sharing pic keep them coming

Great start for first couple checks, way to go!
Jim

todays catch of 25 brings me to 80 in 3 checks



lots of skinning i guess i could also mention this is all on public land

Nice!


Large tracs or just small public land parcels?

This is what wildlife management is all about!

I'm headed out this morning to put In some coyote sets. The ground has dried up some so I should be able to get around.

Nice work my man.. How is the fur looking.?

Getting possums and skunks out of the way over here.:)

Brian

day 4 20 brought me to 100

day 5 21 121

day 6 today only 7 haha 128 in 6 days wasn't expecting to catch this much but ill take it!

not sure how to do the cool quote things but to answer your question tweed its large tracts of public forests bordering private crop fields

the fur looks pretty good to me you can see for yourself nice thing about fur is if it looks good it probably is good...

I've caught 4 coyotes In 2 days and I have made $396.00 a ($99.00 average) and I haven't ha dto skin any of them. You just got to love It when a plan comes together.
Junk totals 2 grinners and 1 skunk.

Awesome!

CableAble,

What Is Your Primary Methodology Used In Catching These Coon ?

Snares Or Cable Restraints, Coilsprings in Water Or Dirtholes, Body-Grips in Boxes/Buckets Or Trails, Or Baited Dogproofs ?

Great Catches.

w

If it weren’t for that government money, you would probably have made more on the skunk and grinners.

Oh, and the bluegill bite is on.

mr. walleyed method is setting dog proof traps (duke brad by the way...)on dryland trails right off the road primarily around crops public woods on one side going to private corn type deal i know your a big rat guy the main reason im at them is because ill be on rats till they freeze so wont have time for coon rats open next weekend here in wi

dog proof set up is marshmallow on trigger a few pieces of cheap dogfood then fish oil around trap

todays check of 13 brings me to 141 been 1 week today also got the first skunk must not be many around

Thanks CableAble,

Great Job and Consistant Catches.

Good Luck On The Rats Next Week.

I Own Around 50 Duke DP's Myself, Besides My COON DAGGERS!!!

Rock On !!

w

How many traps are you running if you don't mind telling? Just curious to know. Adam

This will be my 4th year not trapping. Anybody live near Kenosha, WI.? I am selling most anything. Body grip, footholds, dog proof, stretchers.

22 more today up to 163 another skunk to same trap as yesterday

adam i am running 12 dozen traps on a 200 mile round trip

Way to go.Keep getting them.

CableAble, are you releasing smaller coon at all? Curious how you're able to keep up with skinning/fleshing/drying 160+ coon in a week.

Well know I'm up to 9 coyotes and the fur shed Is still clean LOL Got to love that government money.

Got to get dirty this next week got to stake the marsh.

CableAble- You certainly have the position on those woods/crop edge masked bandits. Congrats!! Do you catch most of your coon the last half of October...?

Good job on the coon.But the ones I have caught In our coyotes sets aren't worth skinning I hope yours are better.

Beav you got it made, coyote hotline on speed dial (they must have you on direct deposit by now) and a private marsh to trap muskrat s. Living the dream!

thanks all! been fun so far

tlguy- i release small coon lave let over a dozen go so far i didnt flesh for the first 2 or 3 days (till i filled my freezers haha) since then ive been fleshing and putting up everything skinning is easy because of my skinning machine im able to reuse my boards every day because of a drying shed i have built just a foam building with a heater and 2 blower fans dries fully in 24 hours no real secret to keeping up with it though just work haha

nonpcfed- i am this year because come thursday im pulling all my coon gear and switching over to rats full time i trap a big marsh and cant wait thousands of rats on it once it freezes over i will be back out cableing fox and coyote and whatever coon i find and then as the coon rut kicks off ill be setting heavy for them again

How are the coon looking when put up? I am waiting a little longer. Nice catches. Adam

slow day i blame the weather haha 9 bringing me to 172 hope i can hit 200 by thursday

adam potsczek- they are looking good last few days the worse i got are slate but most have fairly clear leather

With Cables work ethic just imagine what he could do to the yotes around here!

i care much more for the fox we get around here than the darn rubbed coyotes haha ill be cabling them soon as we freeze up if its december of course hence the name "cable" able

Sold any coon yet?

no i sell with fur harvesters anyway so got a little while to go

Good job cableAble.Hope you get a good return from FHA.

thanks for sharing

This thread made me get ambitious enough to set a couple traps yesterday, at least a little bit. It is pouring down rain here on Tuesday morning.

slow day today cold last night and looks like it will be very cold tonight see if i catch any coon at all tomorrow!
go get em fishdog! good luck

8 more brings me to 186 in 11 checks tomorrow all the traps will get pulled its been fun but im ready for some rats!

not sure if anyone is still watching this thread but this is pretty much my last day with coon so ill post it here
todays catch was 10 that takes me to 196 in 12 checks i pulled most of the line today but did leave some traps set to try and pick up the last 4 i need to hit 200

Nice job.

Congrats, that's a great season in a very short time. Good luck on the rats.

thanks all!

Good catch CableAble!

cant wait to see rat line pictures

Looks like hard water coming across Northern MN, Wi and MI. We are supposed to drop to upper teens tomorrow night in the Dakotas. Makes for TOUGH rat trapping. Tough on old folks, boots and waders, boats and canoes etc.

I'm glad I stayed home and didn't head to ND this fall. Normally when the Ice goes out In the spring It stays open.

yep rough looking forecast this next 7 days

Was looking at the 10 day forecast for some areas we were looking to trap and we decided to stay home. I set 90 sets 11 years ago in a flowage and we had one night of 19 and another of 21 before we got a super heat wave and a whole day of rain! Breaking ice in front of a canoe with a scoop shovel is something I don't plan to repeat if I can help it.

Bryce

yeah this weather is looking like some bull possum for sure! i hope we dont freeze to early ice breaking is not an issue for me because i use a motor makes it a little easier
i actualy extended my boat from 12 to 15.5 to accommodate long stakes

Nice

my buddy thought i was nuts! .050 aluminum and my first time tig welding went great just looks like crap haha

nice job

pretty cool

I'm impressed! That's one way of getting a longer boat.

I bet that thing could pop a wheelie pretty easy!!

Take care!

Yep pretty impressive. But why not just let the stakes hang over the end. LOL

i wouldn't have anywhere to stand if my stake is 10 feet and my boat is 12 haha not to mention i couldn't really punch through the cattails with stakes flopping all over also can take alot more payload this way its hard for me to imagine that it was only 12 when im in it now haha

Creative for sure.

couldn't shell out the million bucks for a new boat and still have it not be what i want at least thats how i justified the 200 dollars in argon...haha!

Main reason is , need room for all them rats !
Is it filling up with snow there today ?
Coming down good here !

Good luck tomorrow guys. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.

Brian

you got it right riversnorth13!
no snow down here a little cool but thats about it feels like rat trapping weather haha!
might snow and rain all day tomorrow they say....going to be a lovely day in the marsh for sure oh well maybe it will keep some duck hunters home although i doubt it

Won’t keep this duck hunter home. That’s for sure.

There were at least 200 honkers on the marsh this morning. They won't be there tommrow since I'll be setting rat traps. Bound to catch a few when you set huts.
Trucks loaded with about 150 traps and I'm ready to go.

ive got half in the boat 200 and the other half 200 on my fathers car who said he would drive the boat going to be fun!

hope you have a good shoot handitrapper!

4 hrs and 45 min to go! I look forward to another muskrat trapping season! Despite lower fur prices and not so great weather forecasted I wouldn't miss it. Great catches Cable, I look forward to your muskrat adventure. To all venturing out be safe and good luck

thanks deerfly! yep not long now gonna be a long night and day then night again haha

You guys are die hards if your going out before light.

No way would I set before full daylight. But then I'm trapping all private land.

Starting my morning 25’ up a tree waiting on a shooter buck. Will get some steel out later in the day, all on private land.

Good luck to you guys out setting today!

Dave

Your 25' feet up a tree? You must be getting hazardous duty pay to be up that high. Be safe.

Got 30 sets in last night, not much compared to some of you guys, but this was my first real attempt at setting in a marsh. Beautiful night to be on the water. Going back to check and set some more in a few hours.

Good luck everyone!

Great post CableAble....really enjoyed the pictures and discussion on TRAPPING.....Hope to see where you got to your goal. Tom

Safety harness worn at all times! Normally don’t go up quite that high but the setup calls for it. Sat until 9:30 in a light mist, 3 different encounters for a total of 5 does and no bucks. If wind stays the same will be back in same tree tonight.

Off to get some rat traps out.

Dave

Who u referring to with the old folks statement?

I went to the marsh today I set 30 traps and had to give up. I'm just going to have to admit that I just can't do It any more. Bad bottom and tons of suspend vegetation. Can't effectively work Out of the boat. So It looks like one check and I'm done. Might have to wait for Ice.
It's time to spend more time pursuing that speedy beef. And $99.00 coyotes Or $5.00 coyotes LOL

Come On Beav,

Say It Aint So !!

If This Old Fat Man Can Catch Rats Out Of A 16 Foot Canoe, Anybody Can.

Maybe Just Scale Back Your Goals A Little Bit.

But If You ReallY Are All Done........Can I Have All Your Rat Traps Since You'll No Longer Have any Use For Them ?

w

Back aches and it was hard but got 150 sets out in 2 sloughs and a marsh. Sign is better than last year but not like it was 20 years ago. Water levels are much higher. Around us we have had betweein 4 and 6.6 inches of rain the last 16-17 days.
Bending gets a bit harder and lifting ones feet out of the mud and over the cattails is hard for me but it was an enjoyable day. I am hoping for catch of about 35-40% as I over set and move in 2-3 days.
Bryce

Good luck to all of you guys.

We killed our limit of 18 ducks in an hour and a half this morning. Going again tomorrow.

Good luck to all you guys out there trapping those rats,ect. I love to trap but my old 61 yr old bones cannot take walking through them swamps anymore. I will just stick to Cabling yotes is all that's left for me along with my ATV. Sure wish I was young again. Good Luck!

PaulB, the "old folks" I was referring to were you and me. Looks like we might have to add the Beav, not surprising, I'd guess we are all within two years of age.

Yes I am 69 soon to be 70 and I have noticed the decline in my ability to plow through the muck, mud and vegetation. My wife keeps asking why do you do this when it is so hard and I keep telling her don't worry there will be a day when I can't and I will be around the house more and causing problems there.

Bryce

Be safe out there on the water ,whatever your doing !
Alot of our small stuff will probably start freezing up here , she's not getting much above freezing .

Whew, that was a long and difficult check. Can't say it is fatigue with only two days in but tired and sore for sure. pulling my otter sled up a steep hill with totes of rats and then a canoe etc. etc. takes a lot out of me these days.
It was a pretty good day all in all. I had estimated about a 35-40% catch rate and got 61 out of 150 or about 40%. Actually I have 60.5 as one of the largest rats is about 1/3rd gone. I got one coon and one coon left 3 toes. I have never had a coon lost before with 3 front toes in my 1 stoploss. Last year these 3 areas gave me 37 rats in two checks so numbers are up and there are are more smaller size so reproduction must be going well.
Two more checks here and then to the moving water!

Bryce

When you get to be 78 you will see even a further decline.LOL

Broke Ice all morning got 6 rats out of 30 sets. Pulled I'm done going to wait for the stiffening of the waters.

This marsh Is full of that arrow weed and when It dies It just sinks and stays suspended. You can hardly push through It and you can't lift your legs high enough to get over It. It Is just plain brutal.

Those traps are mine. I've already been added into the will.

Beav, there is always this coming spring.

I know Beav as I have seen how my ability to lift my legs high with waders, and how much I have lost sine I was 61 too. I snowshoe with a back pack and the big Michigan snowshoes and that helps some with the lifting or raising of those legs. My stamina is not so bad but that short burst of anaerobic energy to drag a loaded canoe say 60 feet up hill is long gone.
Taking a break as giving a bit more time for the next batch of rats to dry. I got 24 done and another 12 will be ready in a half hour. Time to rest and eat some supper.

Bryce

Well missed mink and muskrat opener but... finally had the opportunity to be an assistant trappers ed instructor! One more class and I can apply to be a full fleged instructor. Thanks to Don for letting me get in on his class yesterday it was alot of fun and the Kickapoo Reserve is a beautiful place. Got a few hrs to scratch the itch today and got 23 sets out I have to pull them tomorrow but just enjoyed the walk and love this time of year.

Spring fling In ND.

The traps are yours 49er LOL

Checked yesterday late morning and only had 4 rats, so I was a little discouraged. Checked again this afternoon and got 12 plus a mink. A mink had pulled one of my rats up on shore, hoping it's the same one I got 100 yards downside.

Added a few more sets along the way, up to about 35. Yesterday I got my first rat in a colony trap, and today I had my first double!

Hey Beav,

What About Me !!!

w

I only got a couple dozen sets out Saturday. Was going to set another 3-4 doz today but got pink eye real bad last night and can barely see. Luckily my few coyote traps are really close! Hopefully it'll get better tomorrow for me to set more and get 1st check in

well i got to the marsh at 10pm friday night was met with 3 other guys we headed out and stared setting at 12am saturday
had 150 sets out by daybreak
got 360 set by 530pm when i left
todays catch was extremely poor to what it should have been oh well! will be moving many traps tomorrow!
also today i got the last 40 traps out for 400 set hope everyone else had fun also!

Wow CableAble, good for you to have 400 out! That is alot of work right there, I admire your work ethic.

Good luck!

Dave

Dang Cable! When do you ever sleep?

He's young . . .

That's the answer.

The few rats I caught realy look good great under fur and realy long guard hair.

yep young guy here haha
anyway another (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) poor day today 44 but oh well i moved manny traps around to newer better looking areas about all i can do i guess at least im having fun! haha

CableAble,
What are your typical catch rates in those areas where you trap? Are you doing worse then normal or is this typical roughtly 40-50 rats with 300- 400 sets?
I see you started at 12:01. Do you feel setting in the dark and working against competition cause you to over set areas or not set places due to limited time and light?

My 2nd check was very low today 2 coons, a mink and 11 rats out of 145 traps. I set heavy by nature and usually move in 2-3 checks. I would have pulled more today but when I read the weather report and saw the wind coming we have now I elected to leave the traps and pull tomorrow.

Bryce

bryce i do believe i over set in the dark the places that are screwing me are where i have lots of traps set the sign is there but i dont know its really no big deal i guess there is lots of marsh left and i can cover it pretty good with my boat i trapped this marsh for the first time last year only for 2 weeks and got 300 im definitely doing better than last year just not where i should be for the amount of gear i have

We set last year at 12:01 AM where sign was heavy and we set heavy, real heavy and wound up getting about 36 rats out of 225 sets. We moved them around the next day but still only got another 15 rats. There had been a 6 inch rain storm about 5 days before the opener and I am sure that moved some rats around. We set another place and got 80 rats with 78 traps in two checks. That we setup in the afternoon of the first day.
Sounds like a very large marsh if you and others can have 400 plus traps set and not get crowded out.

Bryce

I only got about 20 sets in the other day. Today got 5 and put in about 20 more or so. Been wanting to get out in the canoe and set a few dozen but too windy

Got 16 sets out for the boy on Saturday Sunday yielded 13 muskrats.

better than me kickin buck good job!

bryce yes it is a very large marsh thousands of rats it looks like horicon!

trapper20 yeah thats why i like my mud motor so much can go full speed right through chop and direct wind no problem

Yesterday I put in 2 dozen traps on a lake marsh I had not been on in 30 years living here, 5 rats and a coon with a huge bare spot on his back, looked like mange, never seen a coon with it. At age 62 I guess I did OK in the wind today to add another 18 sets, does seem harder than it did 30 years ago, but the guy that trapped it every year died.

I was going to pull the marsh today but with 25-35 mph winds I chickened out and will do it with 16 mph winds tomorrow. I have a high sidewall canoe and with a pile of stakes etc. it catches wind easily and makes things hard. I can use the exercise but hard at my age also means slower and that means less gets done.

Bryce

I made it out at midnight of the opener, put in 100 sets before light. 75 on one marsh and 25 on another. Yesterdays check yielded 54 muskrats. The 25 trap location received an additional 20 traps while checking. Tonight after work I checked the 75 trap location and collected an additional 20 rats. 26% catch for the second check. ill check the 25 trap location tomorrow and let each spot go two nights and move depending on results. Many trappers out this year. I cannot figure out the picture deal or would post pics. good luck to all trapping

Lots of trappers were saying there won't be much pressure this year with low prices but I told some my thoughts were that I feel rat pressure will be pretty high for the price. Early coons are very low in value, lots of counties are not allowing Road Right away trapping, beaver season is not open, our coyotes have limited value especially early so if you want to trap what will you choose to trap? Early rats are not worth a lot but are very marketable, unlike several other WI species that are not higher quality. I enjoy rat trapping even with the high degree of work it takes but if I am going to lose money trapping I may as well lose money doing something I feel good doing.
Skinned a decent size coon today that I caught yesterday in a rat set. My first coon of the year, wow that was one of the fattest early season coons I have ever caught. It was a female. Got two more in rat sets today, both a bit bigger.
Bryce

I trap this marsh It's 99% private and 1% public. THer are at least 20 huts on the public end. No one set It other then us. And access Is right off the parking lot.

It's even the same with this coyote study. There were only 4 or 5 trappers that signed up. Hardly no Interest In $99.00 coyotes hard to figure that one.

sorry for the dark picture i got a late start today anyway got 63 and a mink very crazy catching this mink its the first one any of us have caught out there and there was around 2000 rats taken last year or more haha also caught a stupid otter that i was able to release thankfully darn things

thanks for sharing nice pic.

NICE CATCH CABLeABLE!!! HOPE YOU CATCH A TON OF THEM. THANKS FOR SHARING!!!

CableAble-

I hope you're getting a least a little rest running that many traps. Take care.

P.S. What are you using to post your pictures (maybe you've already said and I missed it)??

a little better today at 78 still having fun haha

nonpcfed i take the picture with my phone then email myself the picture download it to my computer then upload it to here

awesome job guys!!.. all my little ponds are hard now, and looks like it til spring...tough going

Nah keets have faith, end of week warmer plus warm rains, yr little ponds will open up..... trap springs or running water, put that steel out.

haha.... colony traps producing under ice yet!...bubbles showing you where to put em.lol...well, til I get 1-4" tonight anyways

Pulled my sloughs yesterday. Got 80 rats a mink and 3 coons. That was a lot of work for me this year. I wanted to get to my rivers I can wade to see what happened with all our big storms this year. I set a 1/mile section yesterday and sign was good. I set 31 traps and got 18 rats. I got into another section of that river today about a mile away. I set about 3/4 of a mile, half has great sign and the other half was almost void of rats. Lots of reshaping of the river bed and brush clogs with all the big rains this year. The rats have moved a bit but are still there in areas. The area with the few rats have the flatter banks or not steep slope and maybe 1 2 or 3 or 4 of those 3-5 inches may have caught them when they were vulnerable.

Bryce

I have not set yet looking to do so this weekend, was in Bayfield county last weekend but to cold and snowy also ice was forming.

74 today brings me to 325

The section that gave me 18 rats yesterday gave me 5 rats, 2 mink and 1 coon. The other section with the good and very poor sections gave me 11 rats and two coons with one of those rats about 1/3rd eaten. I had about 40 sets out so this area will not yield too many more rats.

CableAble how many traps are you moving each day out of your total. With my heavy setting I never get the catch percentages that many do and the catch drops off very fast. That is one of the reasons I typically pull the third check and some times two. I know that hurts my coon and mink catch but I like to get through my 8 sections of river in about 14-17 days.

Bryce

i move at least 50 traps each day if i can i cant seem to get anywhere near what my catch should be but to me i can justify it because i am very mobile and it is very easy for me to check 400 as it is 200 i am still moving into new areas each day and there is plenty of marsh left for me tomorrow i might get all my sets out into the open so i can check them even faster today i got no trapping done as i stayed at home and skinned

Thanks CableAble, I too took a break today but I am on a much smaller scale than you are. I pulled to lines today and will start over tomorrow afternoon. My rivers are really running hot and cold as to rat presence. I had one section that gave me 24 rats in a half mile in 3 checks and another section close to that size give me 3 rats.
Got my 4th mink today and have only got through 1/3rd of my river water. I typically am running 80-120 sets with moving about a quarter to a third each day but it is by section of river and not by trap. I know I miss quite a few coons and mink when I move in short time but really do want to get into each section this year. The several heavy rains this year have really shifted large sections of some of the river. I have most tile lines still having strong flows out into the river. I have been trying to avoid coon by not putting out baited or lured sets but have caught 7 in the last 4 days and these this year are the fattest early November coons I have ever caught. Corn was late planted here and a lot of it is still out there offering a lot of calories for the animals.

Bryce

Nice catches Cable,Bryce, and others going. Beaver and otter up tomorrow. Good luck to those with a tag to fill.

Just read your last post Bryce, I thought many of the rats I've been catching have had more fat than other years at this time as well.

Opener was pretty cold here. Put 130 rat sets out Saturday. Caught 63 rats Sunday despite having a couple dozen traps froze in. Set another 50 traps Sunday. Monday I caught 73 rats and one mink. Most of the small ponds here froze enough they have stayed frozen even though we had some days in the upper 30's this past week. Looks like lows in the teens and highs barely above freezing for the next week. Been trying to set moving water the last several days but just can't get high numbers of rats there like in the ponds and marshes. Picked up a few really nice coon the last couple days. And I think 18 mink so far this week. Let a couple otter go. (Them darn things are everywhere)! And caught about a dozen beaver on some damage jobs. Really wish we could have another week of warmer weather. Had big plans that I can't capitalize on now. I'll keep plugging away as time allows but only have one more week off of work. Might have to switch gears and go after the fox and yotes this coming week since everything is freezing up.

Thought I'd add a few catch pics. I'm envious of you guys putting up the big numbers, but I think I'm doing pretty good. Had 30 sets out when they were all in, but I've pulled a few that were unproductive or got messed up (had a coon for a little bit that totally decimated the hut it was set on). I'm up to 32 rats and a mink in a week. Going to move some more sets tomorrow and set some fresh huts. Got an idea for how to anchor my canoe and keep it steady while I try and trap out of it, fighting the wind.

My personal goal for the season was 50, so I have a ways to go, but I think I'll hit it before freeze up here.
Keep after em while you can guys!

Trying to figure out the pic thing!
First check last Sunday if it goes through!

First day check 19 rats out of 60 traps. Currently, 45 rats in the first week. Pulling things today due to rain in the forecast for the next several days.

great trapping guys thanks for sharing an pic.

Brian the look like some very sizable rats that you have in that first day catch.

Bryce

Bryce; how do the coon look that you’ve caught?

I’m hoping to get started later this coming week. Just realized I hadn’t bought a license yet. Thank goodness for gowild system.
I’m going to save my rat spots (private) for January or February thaws.

My buddy Is chopping Ice up north on his rat line. One check and It was over.

The coon look to be in really good condition fat wise and those 7 I have skinned will be light slates or better for sure. The front legs are white on most of them and oddly enough out of the 7 5 are females, but then I am trapping all these in the water on my rat line so that is not so surprising. More rain and more mud, makes reaching areas almost impossible and two of my sections of river are where two bridges are out for new bridges and the mud is delaying corn harvest which means I can not 4-wheel down those fields either and then it is liquid manure and chisel plowing. I may wind up not reaching quite a bit of my line this year as everything here field wise is about 2-3 weeks behind schedule. I am wondering if the coons are fatter due to the late harvest of our corn this year. Typically almost all the corn silage is off by mid September, this year that is more like the 10th or later of October, a lot more days to feast. Even high moisture corn is just getting started now.

Bryce

I'll let you know next week what the coon look like.
I'm taking the wardens out on the trap line. I did some scouting and I have a bunch of R/W trails In mind so we should take some coon.
And Zim for your information I have permission. LOL

I just can't figure out these rats. Down the road There Is some prime rat habitat. Last year there were all kinds of huts on this water. This year NOTHING. But just a mile away there Is this farm pond It's not more then 2' deep. And this year there are 10 huts on It. Go figure.

The coon are looking pretty good now. I didn't start till Nov.1. This snow is causing issues up in our area. Getting wet and greasy out there. Adam

Thanks. I’m sure another week will be good for the coon primeness? Long range forecast looks good for trapping too.
Still have some more bluegills to catch before freeze up first.

Beav,
I called the MTC CO road superintendent and the highway commissioner to ask about R/W on the lettered and numbered roads in MTC CO and they stated no go, due to liability.
I know there are other counties that have differing views and thus we now have very different methods usable for trappers on a county basis I guess.

Bryce

These are township roads so I'm good to go. And I have plenty of room to get off the road In most situations.

57 today down very low moved many traps around but got cut off from the area i was planning on moving to so i had to set a different area of seemingly lesser quality i guess we will see

deerfly i have noticed quite a lot of fat on the rats i have been catching

bryce yeah yesterday makes the first day since opening day on the 14th i havent checked traps haha

82 for today brings me to 464 i dont know they say we might freeze over next week what a joke that will be not sure what i will do

nice you have a great catch there keep it up

Take a break, get some rest. There's a lot of season left!

Wait, the season started? Lol

I probably should cut some stakes. Looks like I might not have to wait until December this year for ice.

Plenty ice here already .

Yep. Snow and ice from day 1.

I love these late openers. But, it looks like guys want to jack w/ the season dates again. Whatever.

I trapped for 7 days...checked traps 5 times. I ended up w/ 250 rats to show for it. I probably should have put more effort into it, but I was OK with the results.

man i feel bad for you guys up north! this open water rat fling is one of the cornerstones of my season plan was hoping for a bit longer but i guess i will have to start sleaving! might hit up a river but i dont know how that will go no great launch on it

nimzy i took a day off a few days ago to skin but besides that i have been checking traps every day since 12:12am oct 14 haha

48 for today brings me to 512 not where i should be but ill take it!

Took 2 and a half days off to do some needed tasks and was back out today setting some water. I set up a bit over 2 miles of river. I will pull those Wednesday as they are talking 15 degrees Thursday night! I will have over 2 miles of river I won't get set up b4 the hard water starts. Lot of the water I trap is slow moving river water and shelf ice build quickly. I did not put any coon specific sets out knowing I will pull quickly. I will get enough in my rats sets for sure. Decent sign in several areas but one can see the rats and the coons move quickly when the main food supply leaves an area.

Bryce

hope you do good bryce i might go hit a river for rats and mink im sure there are coon on it to bu it would be around 5 and a half miles one way have trapped around it and caught lots of rats and have always seen plenty of rats in it but never really trapped it before would be interesting yeah im not looking forward to this hard water myself screws me pretty good

CableAble,
I don't need particulars but what is the rough size of the marsh you are on? With 2-4 other guys and you moving traps daily and having a lot of sets out there the area must be pretty large it would seem to me. I see a motor and I have never used a motor for rat trapping so I know my areas are considerably smaller for sure. My river I wade is about 6 to 20 feet wide in most places and only a few known spots over my head and I now know those over my waders too!

Bryce

it is a very big marsh i just walked a line around the outside perimeter on a mapping application it is 5.5 miles around just did my route and i go around 5.6 miles by boat checking traps haha interesting yeah you learn the deep areas quick haha

CA, I want you to rest cuz you're wearing me out. LOL.

Honestly, You got the right idea, numbers are ground out, day after day after day, no doubt. right now youre 512 rats ahead of me. Let em have it, its the best thing for them. IMHO

? you got more there this year then last?

81 today they moved pretty good last night tonight will be a stretch with the skin ice forming they will shut down early im thinking but it sure is nice out right now

nimzy last year i got to this marsh late trapped for 2 weeks till we got froze out and got 300 so im doing quite a bit better than that but that was my plan haha

I was more so referring to the condition of the marsh, population wise. Curious of how the muskrats are responding to heavy trapping pressure. If you are where I think you are, trappers went through that marsh in fall and again in winter last year. Just wondering if their efforts left the marsh short? Or not?

Nice catch CableAble. We already have 27 degrees here at 7 PM! I am pulling tomorrow to get ahead of the two days below freezing and a low of 14 degrees on Thursday night.

Got 34 rats and no coons today. Coon sign all over the place but by not setting coon specific sets or using any lures or baits one minimize coons. I get several in rats sets but I certainly will rather catch $2.50 to $3.50 rats instead of $7-$ coons put up.

Bryce

nimzy yeah one of the guys that trapped this marsh last year got around 3000 and the other guys probably got close to that combined so you figure 6000 some rats taken last year and the population is right around the same this year certainly not noticeably lower pretty amazing really if you think about it

bryce there is frost forming outside already right now darn skin ice will shut the rats down soon im sure oh well nice to avoid the coon if you dont want them good job!

thanks! Not sure how familiar you are with this marsh. Have you noticed any visible changes in the vegetation? I mean has more appeared or disappeared? Is it thicker or thinner? have any plant species changed?

Curious about the muskrats relationships/impact with the marsh.

So far your testimony strengthens the belief that muskrats can withstand heavy trapping pressure. My concern is can the marsh withstand heavy muskrat pressure? I believe these questions can only be answered by those that spend much time studying these situations.

I think a large harvest or heavy trapping pressure only strengthens the genetics. And possibly the breeding population.
Survival of the fittest, if you will. It’s only obvious that the habitat, water and food needs to be present.

Natural selection(survival of the fittest) has NOTHING to do with a situation that includes mans activities such as trapping. If genetic selection is taking place during trapping, the result would be that the sneaky careful individuals would survive while the more agressive or braver or more mobile would be selectively killed. Since no one knows the linkage between such traits and others such as fur quality, the effects of selective harvest(if it occurs at all) are impossible to predict.

Checked again this morning and had to pull half my sets due to ice. Picked up 7 more rats to put me at 70 on the season. Going to get one more check tomorrow and pull the rest of the line ahead of the lows in the teens Thursday night. Happy to have almost 2 weeks of open water trapping. Now just hoping for some clear ice and no snow to do some under ice trapping.

The marsh was Iced over this morning. Now I just have to wait till there Is walking Ice.

I chickened out and pulled all my traps today. Second check on the line I pulled yielded 21 rats and 1 coon. I am catching the highest number of medium and large rats on the rivers I ever have in 36 years. There are more rats in most places than there has been for 15 our so years but maybe our really heavy rains in April, May and June removed a lot of the earlier litters I don't know. Not good to be trying to make money selling large rats but nice to see some solid repro going on.

Bryce

Tomorrow will be one of those days the pushpole will be freezing up in your hands or youre post holing every step.

Amen to the good production Bryce!

Where U trappin Beav, Mercer?

Went looking around today, hopefully it comes around next week, got some catchin up to do. LOL

I am catching more mink per mile of river also, even with the two checks and out. More rats, more mink and by not trapping early I am not getting near the coon as they have moved to where the corn is and most of my river runs through dairy farms and the silage and snaplage have been gone for a couple weeks now. Nice to see the better numbers. One just has to get used to the fact that when you catch more rats in the fall you will catch more younger and smaller rats also. I will take the up tick in numbers.
Several small sloughs that have been dry for years have water and a hut or two. With rats well dispersed they should do well this winter. I have never had a day where I got a 60% success rate on a 2nd check on my river line. This is one section I grant but the one thing I am learning is that 15 rats have about as many feed beds as do 30 the feed beds in use just have more rats coming to them. I can see the big swing from corn fields to the nice alfalfa regrowth that is out there now. That is super feed for rats getting ready to nestle in for the winter.

Bryce

Got sets in Monday. Yesterday was 2 coyotes and a coon. Today 8 coyotes... 24 sets never hit close to that on coyotes per set. One day checks.

One with a tag.

Wow, a 33% catch rate on yotes. That is very well done and not a real small sample size either. Is the tag a DNR tag? Maybe you can let us know who may have tagged the yote.

Bryce

The perfect storm, ahead of the perfect storm?

Congrats on an exciting day! That's what it's all about, Memories made

great day for sure

Thanks all. I was be on excited. But I couldn't read the tag it was a multi color. Here is the other side.

Alpha: we put that out (dnr)). There are a few coyotes with just ear tags. Shoot me an email and I’ll share more information. Nathanm.roberts@wisconsin.gov
Congrats on the great catches!!
Nathan

So the WI DNR Is tagging Illinois coyotes too.

Nope - but one of ours could make it over there. They may have a similar tag too. We tagged two animals last year that we couldn’t collar for one reason or another.
If there is no writing on it- it may have worn off. With a few closer pics we can tell for sure. I guess I should say it may be a DNR tagged coyote. Alpha- send me an email and we will figure it out.

These are all caught in Wi.

Let us know how It goes.

was up late last night skinning so yesterdays was 58 and today was 45 that puts me 4 away from 700 marsh will be freezing over tonight for sure probably wont check till sunday might go saturday but i doubt it will be thawed out by then

great job alpha!!

you better get with it nimzy! haha
as to your question about the cattail survival rate they definitely have a few spots where they ate out pretty good not much cattail re growth in those areas

great catching bryce how many are you up to then?

Great

I am about 1/6th of yours. I have 170 rats and not any traps out right now. A whole bunch of life happenings to deal with the next week.
I looked through my records for the area trapped this year and the last 5 year average for these 3 sloughs and 3 miles of streams is about 90 rats so it is great to see a real nice bump in numbers. Lots of medium sized rats in the rivers which is good from a future aspect but not good for selling in a lackluster market. I am guessing that our several really big floods early this spring took the toll on early litters. The big difference this year is my ability to avoid coon. I usually get a couple dozen in these areas and wound up with 8. All in blind rats sets with no bait or lure. Looks like any rats I get from here on will be through the ice. As I get older that appeals to me more then wading in the muck, walking on rocks etc. etc.
Thanks for posting your adventures and sharing with us your trapping season to date. You got a bunch of coons also so I am guessing your going to be busy soon with working those. My trapping partner and maple sap partner has several dozen coons and I will put up some of those. He caught a couple dozen the last two days and they are looking pretty good.
Bryce

cool that your numbers are up for the area i get a few kit rats every day so they had plenty of good litters out on my marsh lots of good size rats to yeah ive got to get on some of them coon one of these days 1 freezer is full and the other is half full of just coon haha cant wait to get back on them in the snow hope to get quite a few more we will see i gave up on the whole ice rat thing after my first year id rather be chasing fox and coyote on a frozen marsh than chopping ice haha

That's a lot of rats... Hear was mine for today. Still 24 sets 5 today. If they don't move early tonight slow tomorrow. I wasn't going to remake and antifreeze for one night.

What are you guys doing with all your rat carcasses? I'm dropping off my last 30 at the raptor education group in Antigo, and saved some hind quarters for my own use for bait. But I wouldn't know what to do with 700...

It just amazes me the huge variance in the color, coat type, size etc. in coyotes from a relatively small geographical area. It sure seems to add credence to the dispersal theories we associate with many wildlife species.

Bryce

I turned that one because he was so dark. But yes between my NE IL line answer SE Wi. I get them all dark red brown and a few light ones.

Indeed the floods did, Bryce. Hut count is way down in marshes off the Lower W though there are isolated pockets that didn't fluctuate as much with good sign.

my rat carcass go into the trash can i dont use much bait for my fox and coyotes all cables mostly

Tear off the legs, throw 'em in zip lock freezer bags, and keep 'em in the freezer for pocket sets later. A Y-stick can be thrust through one thawed out leg, pushed up into the roof of the pocket back in a ways, makes for an excellent bait for 'rats, mink and 'coon.

i would if i had any freezer space left! haha im going to save a few for bait once we get to the end of open water out on the marsh was going to trap a river using pockets for mink

Heck Bryce, I’m batting a 100%. Haven’t caught anything, but haven’t set a trap yet either.

Still killing ducks. Was also catching gills & crappies thru Wed. But that’ll end now with the arrival of ice.
Hunted ducks this morning. Koshkonong bays were all froze with an 1” of ice overnight.

Put floats on your tracked wheel chair and get out there.
Caught 1 24# coon this morning during warden school. Pull tomorrow and get after that speedy beef.

finally got back out today melting off pretty good ice should be all go tomorrow 25 and a mink for the day

nice looking mink... i busted through an inch of ice on the creeks today to pull some...I should be "zone jumping" south .lol

haha yeah you should keets should be nice for at least the rest of the week the last mink i caught want anywhere near prime this one looks pretty good was my first live one to kinda cool

Nice catches Cable, Bryce and others. The catch has slowed for me. Ice that was good enough to walk on for a day or 2 but hindered the use of footholds in most places. I'm looking forward to trapping rats through the ice.

nice job deerfly! im NOT looking forward to under ice trapping haha to much work!! hopefully by then ill be cabling fox...

No thanks. I’ll wait for those late winter & spring rats. That way I’ll make way more money. Instead of $3 tops, I can get $3.50

All the rats were moving a lot today below me. Should be lots of full traps for those that have them set. Thinking I should get in on this opener pretty soon.

53 for today yeah rats were moving everywhere towards dark set a bunch of traps on feedbeds that i saw rats sitting on even set one and came back past about 30 minutes later and had one so we will see need to move lots of trap around tomorrow

thats more like it 76 today brings me to 850 almost there haha

that's great trapping guys thanks for sharing

Great job guys. Felt great to get a few traps set and only took ten minutes to get on the board. Can I expect top dollar for waiting on this one? Looks like he is priming up nicely.

84 for today and the ole tail catch haha this puts me at 934 almost there haha

wimarshrat that is a top lot for sure!!

well i finally broke 1000 in a big way to today i got 106 bringing me to 1040 i guess this thread went pretty dead haha oh well how to keep the saga all in one place

Way to go!! congrat's Thanks for all the pic's

Nice job! Congrats!

Well Done Cableable,

Way To Keep After Them Relentlessly.

You Are A Driven Trapper.

Are You headed For 2000 Now ?

w

Nice job! Again. A great accomplishment, in any place or region. Looking forward to the remainder of your seasons adventure!

Congratulations cableable!

A lot of hard work and dedication to reach those numbers. Good for you!

Dave

thanks all! hope everyone else is having a fun and productive harvest

walleyed im going till it freezes up haha looks like that may be next weekend we will see!!

keep it up how long till you which to fox and coyote

great job cable.... keep after em

Great job Cable. You setting more traps or are your catch ratios climbing?

Couldn't get the deer off my brain so I was still waiting for a big buck at noon yesterday. Too bad it was white so I had to shoot with the camera.

only 34 today so catch ratio was going up not any more haha i was moving into a new area of the marsh the skim ice killed me today also got another mink

trapper dahlgren im starting after december first when we can start using cables or once the marsh freezes if it stays open past dec 1st

Stack em up CA!

Still got competition?

Approx. what date were you shut down last year, remember?

the last guy left pulled yesterday so im all alone haha last year i was froze out on december 7th i believe dont think we will make it that long this year but ya never know hope i can get a few more hundred before it goes

ice was bad today! around half inch most traps were frozen in only 26 but strangely that number brings me exactly to 1100 haha oh well all the ice was pretty well melted by the time i left should be better tomorrow

Great Job, nice thread! Keep it up

44 for the day and an interesting one with some white fur on his back kinda neat

well it has been a few days that darn freeze thaw shut them down pretty good last 2 days were 9 and 17 rats finally opened up real good with that t shirt weather yesterday so toady had 50 bringing me to 1220 hope everyone else is having fun!

I am going back in the water tomorrow afternoon. The rivers are private land and the hunters have been busy the last week or so.

Bryce

good to hear bryce! go get em! are you going to be targeting rats or coon?

Rats, I will be setting my 1 stoploss traps and not taking any coon gear with. I will probably catch a few in the rat sets but not looking to catch that many. I am fleshing a few dozen for a friend right now and those caught the week b4 deer season look pretty good, with the exception of the tick bites which are pretty common on several of the older coons.

Bryce

Catching a few rats through the ice the last few days. Walkable ice came before Thanksgiving and is still holding me on top despite the warm days we've had. Filled my otter tag today as well. Looking forward to colder weather as the ice is sketchy in places.

That would be some fun trapping in those marshes. Very good job guys. Amazing how much different habitat is from around the country.

another 50 today no more no less than yesterday haha and a first for me a 2 for 1!

great catches deerfly otter looks good im hoping we stay open the way the weather looks we should for a while yet who knows 2000 might not be that much of a pipe dream after all

bryce yeah i was surprised how many prime coon i was catching when i was trapping them early already almost a moth and a half ago by now haha crazy

58 yesterday and 55 today

Excellent work! Thanks for the pics and the reports. Fun, eh?

Great job on keeping this thread going. Well opening day finally arrived for Hazel and me. Dropped a few rat sets in so I can get a little Fisher bait and see if I can catch my incidental otter. Only had an hour so I forgot to take a picture. Maybe tomorrow.

59 yesterday and only 42 today i sure hope this weather keeps up i got froze out of here last year on dec 7th

it sure is fun muskrat glad your enjoying the pictures

go get em wimarshrat!!

CableAble, wow the marsh just keeps on yielding for you. I pulled about 60 traps yesterday as I got back into the water Sunday after the freeze up we had. These were 4 sections of river that were really poor in sign last year. They were better this year but far below the earlier sections I did this fall. I got 25 rats, 4 coons and 4 mink so that puts my rat total at more than 1,000 below yours! Still getting a higher percentage of smaller rats in the rivers even now. Reproduction was better but seems to be later. A friend traps more sloughs and the rats are bigger so maybe with all the high flooding this spring rats moved to the sloughs that have been dry most summers here and did very well. I have 8 mink this year which puts me back at my 15-20 year historical norm of a mink per 20 or so rats. I don't set for mink I just get them in rat sets. Those were my norms from 1985 to about 2007 or so. Four of my rats really got tore up by coons. They seem to be everywhere. All tore up rats were rear foot caught which means they stay alive longer and thus attract attention.
Tomorrow I head out early for a large marsh for 2-3 days of hopefully open water rat trapping. Gear is loaded and alarm is set!

Bryce

Well plans did not work the way I had planned. Got to the marsh at 7:15 AM and it was 22 degrees on the truck thermometer! In places over a half an inch of ice and all the feed bed areas in among the cattails were froze up and the sun was not getting at those sites any time soon. Will lay out a short late season coon line for tomorrow and the rest of the week while we wait for hard water.

Bryce

Sure are some encouraging posts!

Anybody else rush out and set cable restraints today? I got a few out, I figure if I do half as good as I usually do I don't need to sharpen the skinning knife.

58 more 1542 marsh keeps on going dying down these days but set some previously trapped area yesterday and there was good sign everywhere set more today need to move alot more in there tomorrow

hey bryce that marsh wouldn't happen to be horicon would it??
boy half inch eh? man we had a 1/16th at most and all gone when i left

PA trapping started a month ago but it is just now getting cold enough to trap!

Good job CA! Looks like the ice may be your nemesis come Tuesday or Wednesday? Keep piling them up.
I still haven’t set a single trap this season. And now I just bought a different house. So I need to things organized and ready to move in February. Guess I’ll have to skip trapping for this year.

trapre i started trapping 48 days ago hard to believe its been that long!! 1152 hours it looks like and 1739 animals have died in that time frame looks like 1.5 an hour haha numbers are fun!

thanks handitrapper!! congrats on the new house hope you get a good fur shed built!! thats to bad you might not get out this season but thats how life works sometimes i guess eh

Yep. It’s all worth it in the end. Been trying to get the owner to sell me this place for nearly 2 years. And it finally happened. Great fishing right in the backyard. Literally! Always wanted to live on a lake. And @ 52, it’s finally going to happen. I’m pumped for the crappie & bluegill spawn in the spring.

good for you handitrapper! now if only there were rat huts on the lake you would be set haha

There are. And a very good friend of mine owns the 100+ acres of land directly across the road. Plenty of woods, wetlands and close to half mile of shoreline. I’m pretty well set. A dream come true.

Our short little line produced 22 rats. Hazel decided to spread a little love...

When my daughter was young (4ish) she would help in the fur shed @ night. Her job was to dry the rats as I was skinning. She would towel dry, comb, talk to them, and have a little tea party with the muskrats. Like they were little dolls. Every time I finished one, she would hand me another, and the process would start all over again.

Things like that stay with you your entire life.

Yes that was Horicon. It is probably going to thaw tomorrow but I have other things to do.

Bryce

42 more kinda slow

bryce i figured so haha 4 of the guys who trapped this marsh were up there nut if you said there was that thick of ice i dont know how much they go done haha

Well had a little time yesterday afternoon. Tossed a couple sets in at a farm down the road. Made for a nice morning walk along the creek before the boy and I went to grandpa's to make italian sausage, summer sausage and ring bologna. Grandpa also made some venison bacon. All should be coming out of the smoker at 8:00. Making brats tomorrow. What a great time of year!

Temp hit 165º by 6:00 so pulled, cooled and ready to package.


50lbs of Ring bologna and 50lbs of summer sausage!




Bacon!

Trap Setter you are making me hungry.

Line was producing nicely the last few days. Picked up another 24 yesterday and 23 muskrats plus a bonus mink today. Had to pull tonight as I am taking a road trip to MN. Kids were happy to be back out there until they sunk the otter sled.

Good job Justin. Probably best to get them pulled with the cold temperatures coming this week.

Got the partners out again not many traps set. But enough to keep the young ones interested. Only picked up four but the niece got her first official 'rat in her set with her trap on her new license. She took the class in October.





Had a blast this weekend those boys sure say some funny stuff when they think us dads can't hear them

49 today 2 days left pulling tuesday freezing that night by the looks of it oh well no 2000 this year! haha

Have faith CA. There’s almost always a January/February thaw. You’re getting close.

thanks for sharing great pic.

Refuge opened Dec 1

43 more and the trap come out tomorrow cant wait all day pulling only 400 to get out of there haha thanks for tagging along casey it was fun!

what the heck refuge is that nimzy?

boy wouldnt that be nice handitrapper!!

Nice work CA! It's been a grind for me given the weather this season...looks like we'll finally get some decent walking ice soon. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.

yeah this weather has been quite the pain in the but for sure oh well guess thats how it goes always next year i guess

Silly crazy warm today (currently 63) and windy but darn good time.

yeah my phone says its 60 some right now haha wow what a crazy state a real Chinook this is gonna be

Some refer to the federal end of horicon as the "refuge"

CA; Thanks for taking use on your seasons adventure. Be safe while pulling the line in these high winds. You certainly put in some effort.

Caught 26 rats today and they brought me a total of $260.00 and I haven't even skinned them yet. LOL
And I haven't even added In the $100.00 set up fee. Man I love this rat trapping. LOL

well 28 today marks the end of my open water rat trapping got 1704 in all the pulling today was even worse than you can imagine haha

beav you need to charge a wind fee for today to dont forget that!!

nimzy yeah i figured that what you were talking about just never knew it had such wide open water like that!!

handitrapper it was bad haha real bad never sank thankfully but came darn close!!

All nice catches and pictures.

CA it had to be just brutal out there today pulling in that wind!! Thank you for sharing your marsh line with us. Were you running all 400 every day or did you have multiple loops on the marsh?

Bryce

i was running all 400 every day bryce so i defiantly should have been well over 2000 haha oh well still learning im no master just keep on trying only way i can learn yeah that darn wind was unreal very nearly swamped the front of the boat with the big loads i was carrying

Cable, great job and thanks for sharing! Alot of work into a catch like that. Just curious how far the marsh is from your house and the amount of gas for the boat daily.

marsh is about 45 minutes away at 30 mpg very little gas is used and then i have a buddy that lives about 2 miles from the marsh and i store my boat there so i pick it up in the morning and the boat will use about a little over a full tank so maybe about a gallon and a half not sure what the tank is haha 7hp Subaru robin

Good job cableable, now set some cables and report back to us soon! Lol

thats the plan ne wildlife!! we just need some snow now!

Good catch CableAble!

CableAble, thanks for the pictures and frequent updates. You have a great work ethic to put up those kind of numbers and I admire you for that. Look forward to your canine line.

Dave

put the numbers on a chart kinda neat checked 32 days so it really wasn't that great of numbers for what i was running but still adds up haha always next year!!

Would be really cool to correlate this with weather data

thank you cableable guy for letting us follow you on your line it been fun

Tweed - so would you look at daily high temperature or what weather data? This could be a fascinating area to explore.

# of traps in operation vs. catch is what I try to measure myself by and am always curious how that compares to others.

Dave

I'd try to gather any weather data that's available just to see if there's any trend. In addition to temp, I'd be curious about barometric pressure, cloud cover and wind direction.

CableAble has a memory like a trap so it would be cool to see how this info relates to all the sets he had those days and were they were located.


If I can time later this evening I just may wrestle it.

You can look up daily weather history for that area from the national weather service. That marsh may be near Dousman so Google that. I will try later but one also needs to factor in those days with ice, high winds or were traps in an area for say the 3rd or 4th check and then moved. As you look at the chart CA provided one can see roughly 3 major sustained higher levels that lasted for 3-5 days or so. We don't know if the large number of traps were moved enmass or a certain number each day etc.

Bryce

the ups are primarily from moving traps or coming out of a freeze up the crashes are when it freezes up the actual weather like moon and all that other fancy stuff besides frozen and open would be pretty neet to see

CA a suggestion. It would be interesting to edit the chart to include dates. This will show breaks in activity due to ice or any other reasons. Unless of course you trapped 32 consecutive days. 30+ days of boat trapping in the fall, on still water, is impressive, perhaps even excessive? On second thought I am a firm believer in the theory that when the rats are there take them. Contrarians believe the muskrat is his own worst enemy and trapping activity is only a distraction. I hope your marsh continues to thrive and produce, however cycles too often get overdone.

Well done, on hanging in there through thick and thin!

I just looked all over the Wisconsin Trapping regs and do not see anything about name tags on traps. I have a new dozen cables and expected to have to put tags on them, has that requirement gone away? If someone saw the rat traps I have been using they would think I am as antique as the steel I am setting, old style stoploss, traps from my grandfather, pre WW one. I did get 5 rats in a colony trap yesterday, one of my purchases at the NTA convention.

No you need to tag your traps with either your Customer ID # or your name and address.

Colony traps In the right circumstances are hard to beat. 2 checks In the park and 44 rats all In colony traps.

ok here it is with dates all the 0s are skip days due to being frozen over n3 was when i stayed home to skin

What were you doing Nov 16-18th? That's 88 daily average.

that was moving into a new area the best El-darado i found out there haha never did find another place out there that good

well i finally got some cable put out yesterday and here are the results! one coyote in the first set i made yesterday and a coyote and fox as a double in the last 2 i set haha think the fox got caught first but couldn't tell for sure
2 coyotes 1 fox for the season so far hope everyone else is getting some cable out if yer into that kinda thing!! haha

fox number 2 and rat number 1710...haha

How do you set cable restraints for rats?....

haha! good one! maybe i should switch over to snare sets for rats would be nice and light at least haha

coyote 3 on the ice again only got 1 k9 so far on real land haha

Is that a foothold or cable restraint?

all cable casey come on you know that!! haha

Oh I know but that pic you posted made me think you switched things up. Haha

Someone tell me how to anchor both the cable into cattail marsh and the support. I think I can just put a drag under the ice, but that is not legal if it gets the drag up and out. Also on two tracks, my own truck trail on my land, cables side by side or stagger them?

Putting a drag under ice and letting it freeze in would be legal. A yote could pull out of disposable stake or rebar stake on hard ground and they are legal. I use pogos and I have a ice bar and I chop out the ice to get it under the ice and to freeze in. Never had a pull out.

you dont need to do anything fancy to anchor to ice use your standard wolf fang anchors and just pound them through the ice ALWAYS PULL UP ON THEM!!! to make sure the anchor turns and holds as for the support it depends on the type of support you are using if you use sticks just drive a hole with your driver and make sure the stick is not to small you want it a good fit with the hole (your driver size) i use metal supports i made up i put the bigger end into the hole with my anchor and the other end i push in where there is a cattail growing out of the ice

almost forgot stagger your snares on 2 tracks i think they have some crap about cables cant touch other cables but from a practical standpoint you would want them staggered anyway so you could make 2 catches

hey cable show us one set up what do you have on other end of that holder

another marsh coyote down sure wish this weather wouldnt turn so darn hot like its gonna

the ends of my support are 9 guge wire i welded on and there is one set up for fox

I weld a large nail on a piece of #9 wire. Pound the nail into the ground or the ice.

thanks that looks great

that would probably work good to trapper234 do you have much trouble with them turning?

good ole road trapping!!

nice

Not really Cable. They usually freeze in the ground or ice pretty quick.

good deal trapper234 im liking mine so far always just used sticks im liking how i can reuse these every time much better than sticks haha

good ole marshes!!
anybody else still out there?

Those reds get alittle froggy ahead of weather. Looks like they decided to leap.

Catchin up on ya CA! Lol. You couldn't keep me off the "table" in winter. Looks like we'll be rolling a 7 next week.

Artic air sucks!!

Nephew wanted to play the lottery so he tried filling his two otter tags. A muskrat got in the way of his first double. Stupid incidentals. LOL

Hey way to go! Still can't look at it that way just get him next time!

yote and fox today

yep gonna be cold cold eh? thats fine i like that weather keeps all the riff raff out of the woods!! you getting some rat destruction in nimzy?

way to go on the otter!! looks real nice to!

Nice catches Cable, and marshrat nephew. Still on the marsh, just the otherside of the ice as you Cable. Looking at all the activity on top makes me want to give your style a try. Checking daily would be difficult. A shot of some new area for the weekend and some rats from tonight.

CA; Keep the pics coming. You’re really stacking them up. Fun for me to watch, as my schedule is not allowing me to set this season.

3 more!!

yep deerfly its hard for me to think about setting rat traps when i can smell the fox out on the ice!! how many rats ya to?

nice

Heck yeah Cable! Good job.

Where were you with that much snow?

same place as always it dont seem to melt as fast up north of west bend

Nice catch on those reds Cable. I sure don't have that many around me. Yotes are king in my area.

yeah its crazy eh? i dont know of any other place in the state with fox like this i like it that way haha stupid coyotes

Nice work on the reds Cable... Wish we would have them in the same density as we used to have. Seemed to disappear alongside the pheasants here.

Decided to do a little magic and turn a couple muskrats into a fisher.

yeah they are wherever there is alot of rabbits over here i cant get enough of em! haha rats into fisher eh? did ya get one??

Yes. I usually have some handy and they make a decent Fisher bait.


I see the coyotes are hitting a few different rat piles I put out. I might try to cable my first one. Any little tricks I should be aware of before setting?

Thanks for keeping the thread going Cable. I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas eve red!!

merry Christmas everyone!!

nice to see marshrat!! looks like a great one!! most tips i can give you is to set far away from the bait and dont walk on there trails also please use 1x19 cable as 7x7 is easy for them to get through!! other than that no real tricks 10 some inch loop about 10 high will do you fine

Nice!

How long did you have your set out there before you got him?

I put out 2 deer carcasses after gun season. I put 6 CR's far enough away, but on the only trails leading to the deer. Strangely, no action. I did have deer walk up to the carcasses on several occasions. I found that strange. I'm thinking of pulling the traps. As soon as I do, maybe the yotes will show up...

I picked up this 57 lb beaver 12/21. I set a 330 at the bottom of the active slide. Beaver then started using another slide 15' away. On 12/18 I decided to open a new bottle of Dobbins' Woodchipper (never tried it b4). I poked a stick in the 1 oz bottle, and put the stick between the trap & shore. I then had this 1 right away.

Cable restraints must be 7x7 or 7x19 wire according to the regs. Page 9.... 1x19 is not legal. Unless I read it wrong?

they word it about as smart as only wi people can in that pamphlet if you read in the actual regulations they never specify just "cable must be made of multiple strands of wire, with a diameter of 3/32 inches or larger"

AJE ive never used bait stations as i trap all public land so i cant even if i wanted but i probably wouldnt use them if i had the choice just because of the way i operate trapping right along the road easier for me to just find the tracks and set

good ole Christmas day!!

Tweed, it would of been a couple days but a coon found the trap the first couple of nights. They are still coming in.

Very nice indeed!

another red yesterday and nothing today!! lots of coyote runners around today and not many fresh tracks

Thats a beauty.

hes defiantly one of the reddest red so far!!

All these canines made me want to set a trap. Put one in but it looks like I need practice.

another one for the wagon

happy new year all!

bounty of the road!!

you can see they aint as easy to see from the road as you might think

nice what your count so far

Cable, Have loved reading your posts and am going to try snaring some for the first time in my almost 50 years trapping. How do you drive the disposable stake in the ground and what kind are you using? I'm up by Eau Claire, WI. Thanks.

Hey Lance at this time of the year you better be thinking about using Re Bar.
WE have 6" of frost In the ground and It's even tough driving re bar.

Thanks for responding Beav. I didn't even think you could drive a rebar in. I think my rebar is 18" long. I can probably drive them in but may never get them out, LOL. Do you use the swivel on the snare on your stake or add some cable and a normal swivel? I'm going to order some snares that I know are legal and try and rid some of my farms of coyote. I hate skinning them but somebody has to do it.

Lance Call Rally Hess and tell him to make you some snares just like the ones I have him make for me. You will like them.

The trick It to have a quick link attached to you staking swivel Then you can just open It up and remove the snare. Then come back later to retrieve your stakes.

The other trick Is don't drive your re bar In all the way. Leave about 3" sticking up. When you get ready to remove them just drive them In a bit. This will break them loose. Then with a vise grips you can just twist them out.

I use one of those double staking systems. In un frozen ground I use 2 stakes and when the ground gets frozen like It Is now I just use one stake. But then It will depend on your ground conditions. Some times It's better to use 2 stakes and not have to worry about It.

Thanks again Beav. I'll look his number up and give him a call. Does he ship pretty fast? I appreciate you and others for sharing information. Would be difficult to start this with no knowledge like in the old days.

Love this time of the year. Nothing beats following tracks in the fresh snow to see what the critters have been up to. Most want to take the high road. I choose the otter path!

my first 3 legged coyote it was fairly fresh to not years old or anything
as for numbers im at 15 fox and 7 coyotes i guess im rich!! haha i miss open water...

i use earth anchors wolf fang ones i bought a Milwaukee drill and pre drill if driving into ground if on ice i just pilot with the driver than run my anchor down

thats more like it

same trail as the one above by the looks of the tracks there is at least one more male

Glad to see your still connecting on some reds Cable. Maybe next season you can make your own thread, I enjoy following you on your line. Great pictures

i suppose i should this thread is pretty dead eh haha

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I have finally decided to try and cable some. The restraints should arrive today so I'll be ready for the weekend. Appreciate all the tips.

the wagon was hungry today! got a few coons out of traps i set yesterday didnt seem like they moved all that much was expecting more...but that coyote!! ive never gotten one that white before i would have fun trapping them if they all looked like that!!

10 more but this cold is gonna put an end to them i am thinking and now no snow left at all haha oh well!

Keep up the good work. Might have to put overload springs on that little wagon?

haha yeah handi it was bad that first few days 30 some coon haha was dragging pretty good i was gonna make up some lift shims for the rear i feel its a bit to low anyway could use an inch or so i might play with that this summer

nice job thanks for sharing

Nice batch of fur Cable!

had to use the super wagon today the toyotas passenger side window is stuck down need a new regulator and wouldn't you know no auto parts store carries them?? haha had to order it at least i caught something to make up for the 15mpgs haha

You definitely seem to have a good population of reds? Are you getting many coyotes? What’s the ratio between the two?

Personally, I would prefer to have the reds. Maybe not worth as much on average? But much less work as far as put up. Reds have a nicer fur too. IMO.
Keep up the good work.

Hopefully we get some decent snow tonight.

Brian

yep i try and target the fox im skinning them all for taxidermy so i should average far more than the coyotes i dont really go out of my way to go after coyotes just set them if i find them kinda thing i seem to get about twice as many fox as coyotes and yeah i would much rather have the fox haha heck i seen 2 fox out today just standing in a field hope ill find their trails tomorrow...

yep i cant wait for the snow!! need to expand

Hey good to see the burban on the road!

Going to need to catch more to make up for fuel!

yeah no kidding!! sure runs nice and its so nice to be so high off the road haha can see for miles it seems

also handi just to brag more on the population around there it truly is a big population because all these fox come from a stretch of 100 miles or so not just a pocket or 2

would have been 21 but oh well not gonna kill it for no reason found a trail where i seen the 2 yesterday standby....

Is it tough to release from a cable restraint?

not really pretty easy just dont get bit haha i cut the cable so basically i just have to get em by the neck and im good pin the with my Y stick grab the back of the neck and i then cut the cable

Nice to see you let that one live, some guys would have taken it home just to add to their numbers sold, till it brought the average price down a lot.

yeah i always let fox go if they are badly rubbed especially since i skin them all for taxidermy

CableAble, are you able to release incidentals/non-targets fairly easily from a CR by yourself, or does someone hold a board or catch pole for you?

AJ-read the last post on page 20 for your answer.
Tom

What kind of sets did you pick those coon up in, dog proofs? I see we have another warm spell coming this weekend, and I'm looking to pick up another one or two for a hat.

AJE yeah they are very easy to release just got to be brave enough to grab live critters i dont use a catch pole and with the cr you just wind up cutting the loop to get them out of it

tlguy yep all dogproofs only coon trap i use might do the 160 bucket deal next year to help with the freezing as i set alot of ice but we will see same bait set up as usual to marshmallow on the trigger with a bit of cheap dog food yeah this warm up should work out real good kinda sucks for snaring but of well

Yesterday after new snow here I looked at 3 cables on my land and I had a fox over night curled up in the marsh grass, but the cable sat empty. The lock must have loosened enough that it slipped off the neck, cable was not all kinked, no other tracks but the fox when it left. I did see an otter had gone through the marsh, nothing open on the ditch or river, I still have the tag to fill, hard to do on ice!

another fox and a marshyote haha almost thought i had lost one when i walked up to the catch circle!!

fishdog you talk about otter on the ice haha not far from where this coyote was caught i caught my first otter...it was in a cable restraint on the ice haha and i bet that fox was hip caught they can get out of a hip catch sometimes

What size loop are you using for fox? Cable length? Thanks

my loop is about 9 inches and about 8 or 9 inches high i know it sounds big but early in the season i was setting them smaller and had so many turnarounds it wasn't funny!! i feel they need that big of a loop and it also will have a pretty good shot at catching a coyote if it comes by i still get mostly neck catches its the height that really maters and my cables are about 5 feet long i will also cut them down as short as i need to fit into tight spots

Thanks for taking the time to post...I appreciate being able to follow you on your line.

no problem teal!! the one thing i always hated on here was all the one time posts i try and post daily heck its even fun for me to look back now over 3 months ago when i set the first trap cant believe its been that long....feels like just yesterday i was out in a t shirt setting dps at midnight in the rain haha

When does season close, thought it was the 15th?

February 15th

Dah, where did I lose a month.

Kelly, you ever catch up with that elusive Northwoods fisher?

Justin; When we were up cat hunting last week; I took a drive through part of the marten restoration area in the Nicolet. And judging by the amount of tracks we seen, there’s no shortage of marten. But only seen 2 different sets of fisher tracks.

By the way; my wife was successful in harvesting her cat. Which took 11 long years to draw.

its like groundhog day haha i wrote the other day i saw 2 fox standing out in a field well i set it the next day and this fox is from that spot so i know there is at least 1 more!! haha and the coyote was caught across the road from where i caught a fox the other day also look at that bad!! almost lost this one real close the cable came right out only the nut was holding it this is an old snare from last year with the lower pound bad

good to hear your wife got that cat handi 11 years eh.... wow!!

Pure luck with that BAD, huh? Hopefully you get that other red before the crap weather comes Sunday

i was really hoping it would be a double handi haha but oh well yeah snow will be gone soon at least i will have coon haha and yeah that bad was lucky eh!! ive had them look like that before after big coyotes scares ya every time

You guys inspired me to get out.

Nice catch Brian!

Nice yote go get some more.

Maybe it’s just the picture? But that’s certainly pale for our part of the country. Hope you can get more like that.

Nice job Brian! CR or foot hold?

Dave

CR. Probably going to put more out this weekend during this little warm up.

Brian

great looking coyote brian!!

set them fox trails 2 days ago they were caught about 50 yards apart right along the road like that love road trapping!! one was released due to rubbing both big males which i found funny figured male female should mean there are a few more around then one rubbed coyote and one good one good one is a blond kinda cool never got a blond one before

I finally have something to add! Not a great pic as I was trying to snap one quick with my phone and didn't look at it until after I had remade the set.



Caught this female in a dirt hole set with a Bridger 1.75 and some Cavens Hiawatha Valley. Lots of canine tracks around the catch circle, so I hope to connect on the mate or one of the coyotes I've been after.

great tlguy!! good looking fox yeah i hate that when you only have 1 set in a spot and catch one especially a female and there are tracks all over haha this time of the year setting a double is necessary

Got the male this morning in a dirt hole with another 1.75 baited with some Soul Taker about 150 yards from yesterday's catch. Also picked up a raccoon in a DP.

Good Job TL guy. How are you bedding traps in the ground?

Brian

Hey good for you!

Between TL and CA folks are going to start thinking Wisconsin holds all the reds!

Traps are bedded in waxed dirt, with waxed dirt on top and blended with surrounding duff. Using wraparound pipe insulation as an underall.

well the wagon rides again perfect timing with the weather have to keep the window down now that its summer again haha oh well nothing to cool today just coon looks like tomorrow should be a good day for em to

great you got that fox tlguy!! real nice looking

I bet the coons and everything else are going to be moving like crazy tonight with this warm up.

Brian

lets hope so eh green bay! i just hope the marshes hold out

I just came home for dinner and plan in setting some traps tonight.

you better get em set probably get more than you can skin haha!! are you gonna set anywhere but your place?

Im going to run the area just north of me.

It isn't much. Just a few DPs and tomorrow in the light I'll set some 1.5s

A few rats with my daughters today! Couldn't pass up the weather to get them out yesterday. They had fun! Me too
Nice catches everyone, seems people are figuring out the cable restraints and finding them very effective!

rats sure look good these day dont they deerfly great to get your kids out!
i couldn't operate without the cables haha havent caught a canine by the foot all year

another 7 today weird number i set 3 traps at that bridge yesterday was fully expecting a triple they must have not run much last night i guess it was a bit cold oh well!!

I see the canines were being drawn to a few runners.

i couldn't believe the amount of runners during the last warm up haven't seen as many during this warm up yet but im sure its coming

looks like someplace you should have a few cables...

Going to be a sloppy, slippery drive today so be safe driving.

Brian

Hope the raccoons will be moving despite the rain before it cools back down.

12 more what a mess of a day a real nightmare i must say haha also got a skunk kinda cool or smelly i guess haha

Running a short line but got three possums and a coon today.

3 possums eh? i have an order for some large possums for taxidermy an cant catch any to save my life haha well i got one today but it was just a small one never seem to catch many big ones

today brought 1 coyote 1 fox and 13 coon that overflow out on the ice is some bad stuff! pretty funny they still went for a half submerged dp! and the fox must have been carrying that rabbit when i got him kinda cool never had that before good thing i got him and not just the rabbit haha

CableAble, you're really loading up on the racoons

i was hoping to get another hundred or so im at at almost 60 so ive got a bit to go but we will see i needed this snow to expand and looks like its gonna be pretty warm for a while yet hope it will work out! so im at around 260 right now...im rich!! haha

How are you anchoring the DP's in the ice?

just a darn coyote today missed 2 fox that came down the trail i caught yesterdays fox on darn things

lance i anchor same way i do my cable restraints i use wolf fang earth anchors 18 inch long then i stake mthe trap itself into the ice with my hammer and wiggle it around and make sure it pulls up easy

Thanks Cable. I appreciate the tip. I've really enjoyed reading about your line this year. You've had a fantastic season, keep it going.

glad you've enjoyed it lance! man i tell you its hard for me to believe its already this late still some time left i guess and this year ill be doing some spring beaver trapping for the first time should be interesting!

I'm glad Lance asked that question. I was curious myself.

I wan't feeling good yesterday when I got home... Figured I'd take the coons out of the truck in the morning. I just wanted to get inside, eat and go to bed.


Well....That was dumb...I know its common sense but it left me momentarily.... I came out this morning to them frozen to the bed of my truck. I'm hoping it'll warm up enough to thaw them out today.

I picked up this beaver this morning. Haven't weighed it yet. It's nice that some of the streams are more open now that some ice has melted. With this snow, I can really tell where the best sign is. I got this 1 on a 330 Bridger (~75% submerged) @ the bottom of an active bank slide. I'm trapping a co-workers property. It's weird...the little stream is right by the road, but it's like no one's trapped it. The other day when I was at my truck, a neighbor stopped by and basically said 'there's beavers in there?' I said 'Yes, in fact I've now found 7 dams within a couple hundred yards of this culvert that we are standing on.' Sometimes the best spots are in unlikely places I guess. When my co-worker told me to go in there after an otter that she saw, I never imagined to find this kind of beaver activity.

Way to go on the coons! What kind of locations are working out the best for you? How is the fur quality? How many are rubbed?

You have to remember this. Just because there are lots of dams dosen't mean there are lots of beaver.

I was actually wondering about that Beav.

that coyote saw the light today the rat was a hand catch and only 1 stinking coon the way the weather looks tonight is gonna be the night

casey the joys of a station wagon!! haha

nice beaver AJE! im excited for spring gonna go after some never relay trapped for them before just caught them wherever i happened to find a house or bank den

WIrambler thanks! im setting wherever i see tracks crossing the road just trails some of the same ones i trapped earlier in the year the fur looks great and ive had 3 rubbed ones in about 60 coon

What bad timing.....

I have a plumbing issue. Hoping it doesn't interfere with me setting traps during tomorrow's warm up.

thats more like it! but still only 3 coon not sure what the deal is but that coyote is one of the best ive caught in a while big male and perfect fur

It was only in the 20s last night....surprised the coons moved at all. I'm hoping they'll be up tonight.

yeah it was pretty cold i guess eh to bad they dont just move during the day haha

Picked up three coons and a possum today. They were on the move last night and probably will be again tonight.

Brian

I rearranged a few traps after work.

7:30 pm and it's 45 degrees....I'm hoping they'll be all over the place.

Cable- I see you got some possums in there. You find your giant yet?

Looks like your in the station wagon club with CableAble

Day started off good... Had all three traps set in the backyard full....then had a sewage back up and had to rent a roto rooter...
Checked my short line after that fiasco was all done.... 1 coon still there but had 2 pull out of my Duke DPs.

4 coons and a possum for the day. Oh...and my 4 year old joined me for the first time.

Had one coon today.
The one farm I'm trapping the farmer Is spreading crap I just hate driving through that stuff. There Is so much water In those fields I just about have to go where he goes. LOL

i ended up with 24 for today they moved pretty darn good i guess also got a real nice black

nice coon green bay!!

its times like that beav im glad i trap off paved roads! haha

i did finally get a keeper possum casey haha and another one today

another 10 and coyote much better than i thought it was gonna be!

Killed #28 today. Well furred and had a decent color.

That's 40 for the year including the 12 I had collared and released. I sure wish these coyotes were caught In the study area. Every time I kill one I see $99.00 blowing off into the wind. LOL
Will be lucky if these 28 coyotes bring me $200.00.

Wonder when we get to hear how all those dogs with collars are doing?

Have any of you sold the coons you have been catching? I am afraid to find out how little I am going to make on these big boar coons.

i sell with the auction green bay i aint that worried about it im hoping for 10 bucks seems pretty reasonable

good on the coyotes there beav now maybe you will have red fox like i have over here! haha glad yours had good fur mine didnt haha

Congrats Beav on #40. That's some fun skinning. I bet you're happy you got to release 12. LOL

Cable: I averaged almost $13 on my fall coon last year at NAFA so hopefully $10 will be obtainable.

#41 today.
It's the first one that has had mange. It sleeps In the fence row.

yeah im thinking we will do ok on coon i averaged around 11 last year that was with fha haha i guess the legend is true nafa is better haha

and it wasnt even rubbed!

How many yotes is this so far for you?

Put out some canine sets on Sunday and connected today on my first red for the season! They sure are pretty with nice full fur.

Dave

Filled my otter tag yesterday. Eau Claire County

Congratulations. That’s a big un!

Good job Dave.

Nice Otter

Possum (again) for me today.

Brian

i think thats number 18 or so for me

great fox once again dave!! haha i thought it was you on the facebook

real nice otter jsell!!


i went down to fha today and dropped of some rats kinda screwed up i thought i had till mid feb so i could only take what i had done which is 640 i had another 183 already there so ill have 823 at the sale in march oh well...still have 881 to put up haha would have been nice to have them all done but im lazy i guess!!

Great otter JSell. It's huge. Congrats.

Nice pile of rats Cable. Wire or wood stretchers? You'll have time to put the rats up when you're done trapping beaver. LOL

Really curious about your finishing of the coon and rats. Do you freeze whole and thaw and put up when time. Skin and freeze, then put up when time. Outstanding posts over the course of the season!!! Look forward to your pictures!!!
Thanks!!

well the day started out with a nice fox and then a few stops downs a broken distributor!! haha thankfully there was a shop nearby they towed me over and got it fixed had to order the part and i didnt leave till 5! so i wound up checking traps in the dark for the first time in 3 years haha at least there were some eyes glowing back at me!
wound up with 6 coon 2 coyotes and 1 fox

they are all wood stretched but i think im gonna make myself some wire ones for next year to much time with the wood ive found out haha

1weektrap thanks! glad your enjoying the pictures! i was keeping up with my coon early in the year to a degree but skinned and froze alot the rats i pretty much skinned and froze them all i wish i had a freezer big enough fro whole animals! haha then i could be even lazy-er!! i work with 5 7 cubic foot chest freezers

Get any looks from the guys at the shop? Probably don't get too many trapping wagons

4 coon and a fox and a mostly working car haha

the guys at the shop were cool as heck the owner let me take his truck and go check a few traps even! i wanted to check them because i knew they had coon haha but yeah super nice guys!

Dang cold out there tonight with the wind whistling off Green Bay.

Lugging a coon half a mile warmed me up.

you aint kidding green bay! yep coon will do that haha

well it finally happened never thought id ever see one of these in this part of the state!

Sure is a nice lookin fox!

well that took forever....196 hours to be exact hope i get a few more before the end here everybody else quit?

Still at It. 4 days and counting.
Haven't taken a coyote In 4 days. It's getting to be a bit tough driving 2 miles back In the boondocks. How many critters have you lost to roadside bandits. Had any shot before you got there?

never lost a critter this year but i did have 2 coon shot in the early season this is the second critter at this spot i caught a fox just in front of this earlier but in all the critters ive killed along the road ive only ever had 1 coon taken by a man not sure why i dont have more problems haha

You have not been losing any because people have seen fur on the road and know it is not worth a lot, triple the price of fur and things will change.

Well tomorrow is the end of trapping for most WI fur bearers. Looks like everyone had a good season and got outside to enjoy nature.

Have a good off season and get ready for 2018 - 2019.

See you at the the various state and national Rondys in our area this summer.

Brian

Coyote trapping season ends on the 15th.

We can still trap mink and rats till March.

I can remember when fur was even more worthless then It Is now.Johnny sneakum would steal your traps and leave the catch behind.

Sure went by quick.

Just getting good

Rats are now reaching peak primness.

yes they are Beav....I caught 2 this week that are awfully small though.....kits from a 3rd litter perhaps??

I wish it was open for rats in this state till April

Most likely. Or It's due to poor habitat.

We trapped them Into May In ND. It's all about how bit up Is when you quit.

Several states have conservative closures in terms of muskrats. It's just evidence of our ignorance

I have been recording size for a few years now and this winter has been unusual in that regard. Generally by February smalls, mediums and in my case large muskrats no longer occur. This year has been different....haven't created a theory tho

yep lots of trapping left yet spring beaver and who knows when it will ice out might get some spring rats yeah not having a spring season kinda pisses me off sure would be nice...

well i made it out spring beavering first time ive ever trapped beaver like this only ever caught a handful before and they were all in house entrances and bank dens set up last Thursday and pulled yesterday wound up taking 61 an otter and a few rats was a fun time!!

I wondered how you did on beaver, looks like a lot of work, but you did good on them.

it was fun fishdog but yeah alot of work man trapping out of a boat had 5 different launches one of them i had to drang the boat but yeah im wore out glad its over haha

Hey what's that logo on the driver's door in the fur wagon?

Great season Cable. Appreciate you taking the time to post so we could all enjoy the ride. That vehicle of yours has sure taken a beating this year.

its a fox and rabbit form that zootopia movie haha my friend put it on there not sure where he got it from

thanks for keeping us up on your trapping guys great post see you next year

thx for the updates, well done ,sir!

thanks keets! hope you had a good season to