WI 2019 to 2020

well boys here we go 25 more hours till i start hope everyone else is ready if your heading out this weekend!

To early CA.

Smoke 'em of ya got 'em. Cant wait to see the tailgate shots on this thread. Good luck to everybody who is going out this weekend and be safe.

As much as I want to set this weekend, I am waiting until at least next weekend, or Nov 2nd, when otter opens.

look forward to seeing some pics from you guys....I'll be trapping very little, starting next weekend...overloaded with work

Boy and I are going out for the week starting tomorrow. He has vacation time coming so have to go when he can. Not going to pound on things just enjoy some time in field together. See can he pinch his cat.


Mac

Heading out tomorrow to set some local farms and then will hit it hard first week of November. Wishing everyone a safe and successful season!

Soon!

That is sweet trail. Nice. 3 wks here before I pull the pin

Good luck John this season. Good to see you at Horicon. Our scouting trip the last two days was a bit iffy but we look forward to trapping some new area.
I am going to set out 4 trails tomorrow and go real light for 2 days. I have some farmers who are in want of some harvest and it is not corn either.

Bryce

Will be here before you know it stinkypete good luck

Yeah you to Bryce hope it works out for you!

You better have permission In that Road right a way.

If you're trapping public land today- the Pheasant Season, I believe opens at 9:00am today. Not a bad idea throw on a little blaze orange.

This is always one of my favorite threads of the year - Good Luck to everyone going out. Be safe with the high water areas this fall.

Gymanstics competition for my daughter today and confirmation for my son tomorrow so won't be able to set for a couple more weeks.

Best wishes.

Brian

just gotta love those coon trails.

It's all good bev it's all public on the side I set

Yeah egaleye they were out in force I'll promise I'll have at least 1 coon shot tomorrow or traps messed with just part of trapping during the stupid weekend haha





Well I started setting at midnight like usual but I must have had my line better mapped out this time or something because I got all 165 traps set by 1 usually it takes all day and I still dont get them all out so anyway we will see what tomorrow brings got one so far when I did my rounds

Nobody has been trapping around me in years. Go get em or there will be more road kills. I just snare (cable restraint) yotes now. Sold all my other gear.

You've got drive, Cable Able. Just out of curiosity, who is buying early 'coon?

Good for you but what keeps you motivated when you're trapping for less than a dollar an hour?

I would just have a tough time staying up all night trapping unless I was getting paid

If you're out at midnight making sets for Blue Coon on opening day... you must love to trap - I would go trapping. I'm sure we will see the same level of tenacity on October 26th, I look forward to the pics.

Knowledge is power CA. Regardless of your experience level there is always more to learn. Seems as the more you know the more you figure out, guess that’s what keeps some of us rolling.

It’s a shame your timing is off. By that I mean being young you missed out on the potential of a good fur market. I hope it’s comes back around. I’m quite sure you well be ready. Let er rip!

Except for the Beav.

I caught 2 coon In coyote sets today I released both of them they were small and looked like crap fur wise.
I also caught 2 chucks doing a ADC job and they looked really bad fur wise. We have warden school next month I'm going to let them catch me some coon and some rats. LOL
I refuse to trap $10.00 coon It's just not worth the effort. But I was told to skin every coyote other then the ones with mange.

But If you feel the need getter done.

Checked the nearby marshes yesterday. Muskrat sign is very promising. Ditches next to cornfields are water filled so next week's opener for rats gets a lot of colony traps.

Glad you're seeing lots of sign, MsgRet. I scouted my main marsh yesterday and only saw 2 huts and a few toilets. This is big water, and it's even bigger this year than last. The few bank dens I trapped the last couple years are underwater, so there goes a few slam dunk spots. Still gonna trap this year to make the landowner happy and maintain a presence out there, but not expecting to catch very much. It's too bad, too. We have a late gun deer season this year so I have plenty of time to get after 'em if they were there, assuming we don't get an early freeze.

Going to focus my efforts on trying to fill my fisher tag this fall and save some vacation for spring beaver and filling a couple otter tags.

Can people trap that big wetland off of 141 near Velps?

Not sure about that particular spot, I trap north of there. Lots of space for rats and trappers to spread out, but Tularemia was found last year in the south end of the bay last year, no doubt it came north as well. I only scouted about 1/3 of the area I trapped last year, but like I said I only saw 2 huts in that area, where as last year there were easily 15-20 huts in that same footprint.

My marsh that I have trapped for 40 years use to be about 30 areas now with all the rain we have had over the last 2 years It's know 800 acres. The part I trap has only 8 huts on It I'm not going to mess with It till we get some ice.

Day 1 over with ending up with 57 2 skunks and 2 possum

Muskrat I have a private buyer with a direct market to china they are an easy sell for liners I guess for him he makes it worth it for me

Brasher simple I get more than a dollar an hour haha I just like killing em before rat opens gets me nice and warmed up

Nice job!

They look well fed! Nice job.

I'm sure glad I don't have to skin all those coon.

Big haul and with 165 DPs your running over 33% which is not bad at all even for a first check.
I pulled my 8 body grippers that I had set. One medium grinner and really nice barren female about 20 lbs. Well furred for October 20th so I thought, I did not get any small coons so lets quite for a bit. was amazed that no activity at all on 6 sets in heavy used trails. Warm weather may be slowing things a bit.
Found out one of my upright freezers is not working, so more junk to haul. Was a long, slow trip to get the 6 ewes but they look very good and lots of fog on the way home.

Brycer

Got done skinning at 10 started at 7 3 hours 3.15 a coon I'd say that's not to bad and I barely had to do any work with the machine easy easy!

Yeah I'm getting excited for rats my main marsh is not that great looking so I'm gonna be in a different one that should hopefully be better

Yeah Bryce some of the big coon today looked pretty darn good

And yep nimzy that's what keeps me going I'm gonna learn how to kill crap now when it's cheap and easy so I will be ready if it ever comes back I cant wait to get into horicon haha who knows maybe it will give a few days of open water eh haha

Off and running,..enjoy your posts! Nice job! Keep them coming.

that's a great first day check , thanks for sharing , I will be watching this post as always

Put out 20 DPs at two of the farms I trap and some ADC Beaver sets, spent most of the day on PR and BS rather than trapping, helping with coons and beaver is the ante for chasing Coyotes later.

I set (2) DP's at each location, one with Marsyada's Sweet Coon and one with my Secret Cherry Kool-Aid Smear. I caught (4) coons, everyone was in the DP that had Marsyada's on it. If anyone wants some Cherry Smear- drop by. I also had refusal tracks on a creek bottom where I'm sure a pocket set would've connected. In addition, I took a beaver that was smaller than the smallest coon I had. Beautiful weather, did a lot of scouting for later, ended up with (4) coons and (1) Beaver

NICE

Good job! Kill 'em all!

I have 5 DPs out. I am trying to learn how to be better at catching coons in DPs. I got one really nice male today. So far only two coons and both larger adults so that is good. Too many other things to get done this week so I won't be setting any more, just those 5 traps in two nice runs about 1/4 mile from home.

Bryce

Got my first coyote of the season this morning. Now It's raining and will have to re make everything.

Got skunked Saturday on dryland, did catch a beaver on an adc job. Great day for The Boy and my partner's boys to tag along also nice that my niece is back from California to trap with me this year.



Today I REALLY got skunked!!! At least the truck smells like trapping again lol.

Day 2 kept 34 today and released another 4 so if I hadn't released any I'd be at 99 haha

That's great trap setter!

Is that grinner really that white or just washed out in the picture?

Thanks for sharing all the photos and continued success as your season marches on! Perhaps that possum with the clear white belly will bring big bucks!

Chris

Nice thread folks. Best of luck to all of you this season!

I forgot to mention that possum yes it is all white I got one last year like it to

I pulled my 5 DPs today. I had 4 coons. Three in a trail with a nice full furred sow and two YOY. I released the smaller more off colored one. Probably should have the other as well. It will only be XL. The female was really fat and nipples were shrunken up. The male was on the trail where I got a nice coon yesterday. He was nice large male. They seem well furred for this time of year. Have not fleshed any yet. I have skinned 5 and am seeing more need to get my skinning winch set up. I just don't have the fore arm and hand strength that I did a few years ago. No fun getting old but it is better than the alternative.

Bryce

Been kinda getting my butt whipped by weather I think... had red fox and 3 coon, nice big skunk first check. Yesterday was just plain nasty and a inch and 7 tenths rain turned my pipe sets into rain gauges guarded by mud pie. So wet farmer didn't even want me taking the quad in, so one farm I got to walk now. Had couple places where water coming out of the corn field was literally a small stream to cross. There are washouts on some fields so big they could swallow a truck.. This morning had couple sprung traps, 2 big male coons in DPs and couple grinners.. Pretty bad when I'm not even catch trash in dirt holes. Only staying out until Thursday and only have couple dozen sets spread out on 3 farms..Just a mess glad I don't have more out. I'm on ridge tops and still got standing water in fields. Winds been nasty last two days too..
Doing what I can do though but have to admit hard to stay motivated looking at weather forecast !

Mac

Bryce,
I know the feeling- the stuff I used to jump over - now I trip over, I'll probably pull soon and head north. Picked up 6 today with two doubles- all large coon for this early, I sure hope they're not packing on pounds for an early , long winter.


This was my favorite part of the day... super windy, walked up on these two bedded on a high spot in the cattails.

Great thread again as usual Cable. Love reading your hardcore adventures. I set out 12 coyote sets and caught 2 yesterday. Will focus on the coon a little later when they should be more prime. I don't have much time while working. Keep up the good work.

Day 3
I guess the possum moved stupid things normally I let them go but have to keep them this year for a guy got 11 of the stupid trap cloggers screwd me out of a few coon to as the mud told

For the coon it was 27 kept and 2 released size was up today not nearly as many smalls fur quality also seemed higher

So we are at 118 coon kept
With released ones it would be 129

Good on you lance catching 2 totes right off the bat like that very cool!

Them coon look pretty good egaleye

You all ready for rats bryce?? Haha and yeah a machine makes it nice total time for me to do one is 3 minutes 15 seconds

Hey CA how often do you have a coon open on you using the machine?

Pike river never unless it's a roadkill and I dont pick them up anymore just for that reason haha

how many miles a day this year mister CA?

Keep the stories coming. 3 more weeks before I can get out.

Nice start Cable! And others. Finally made it out for a little scouting for rats this evening. Finally feels like its time. Im usually amped up by the time August ends but have been busy this fall. I look forward to another muskrat opener early Saturday morning! Hope to keep involving my 2 daughters througout the season and show a few first-time trappers a few things. Excited to follow this thread as well as participate when I can. Good luck and be safe to those going out this Friday night.

Imiller it's about 150 round trip this time

I cant wait deerfly but this weather is not looking good at all for it looks like a very early frezze and not sure if its gonna thaw back out has me worried big time but all you can do is get out and set I guess!

Day 4 27 more coon no releases a bunch more stupid possum but not quite like yesterday haha

One of the possum is the smallest I've ever caught about the size of a small muskrat and it's pure white like that other one I got haha

Also my first blonde color phase coon just a small one but I'll be tanning it

Be making some money on those white possums thanks to the taxidermy market!

That's just way too many possums. LOL. Keep up the good work on the coon and best of luck on the rats.

CableAble- still nice catch rates, I bet you can't wait for the weekend so you can finally relax lol.

Well that's it for dryland coon 18 more today and 2 realeased 163 total in 5 days good enough for me now its rat time!

Good luck with the rat fest!

Chris

that's great thanks for sharing

Well I had the craziest open water rat trapping experience today at least for me in the past I've gone back past sets I set at midnight and the occasional one would have a catch but never more than 6 for me well today was a whole different level I set about 100 traps during the night from midnight till 8am in that span of time I had 17 make catches took a break till 10 for the duck hunters to leave so I could finish setting set another 100 and had 19 catches out of all 200 then I went back out in the rain and set another 50 till about 830pm the ones I drove back past had 8 rats so a total of 44 rats for opening day and no trap ever sat for more than 2 hours without me going past it I guess we will see what tomorrow brings!

You are a maniac! Way to go!

NICE CA!!

Nice job! You are going to catch the bulk of them before the cold weather!

Nice going!!

Some hard work right there! It also bodes well for those that practice 1 day checks, 17.6% of your traps were plugged in less that 24hrs.

Hmmm. There must be some sort of explanation?

They were active when I got out to the marsh at 10 pm and shut off by 12 to around 330 4 and started seeing them everywhere agian I guess there are just alot out here and active as (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) because they know frezze is coming haha

Get 'em!

Chris

Oh to be young again.

Got a few sets out for a guy who has muskrats digging in the dykes between ponds. What great weather to be out trapping. Oh did I mention I love mink?

Nice catches Ca and trap setter! Cable I was setting at 12 too and found the rats very active. I had a father and son join on the check today. Their first time muskrat trapping. The boy was 10 yrs old and now hooked. I had skim ice in places while setting and some this morning while checking. With the weather forcasted this week it will be a short open water season for me. Good luck to those who are at it and those soon to be !

Cable Able- Do you see your fall coon in the grease or finish them off when you get time after your open water rat camping...?

Non PC feed I finish them

Great catching guys!

Finally had a check like a man haha 145 out of 250 traps good enough for me! Haha

Up and running now!!

I finally got on here this morning and must say CA is a beast !! Picked up 11 rats from 36 traps yesterday, about what I expected. I will be pulled up by Thursday in that spot the way it looks. See you have a different truck this year CA, the red Toyota give up the ghost?

Mark

we're busting through ice up here

Fishdog I dont know about any red toyota haha it's the same truck I had last year this is a new one I rebuilt an engine for this summer 83 might run it a little and get my 10 mpg haha already earned its keep hauling all the coon carcasses to my guy who takes them in Portage was about 2000 pounds





Yeah it's not looking good for weather maybe the highs will be enough to keep it open? But I doubt it

Keets - I'll be about 1hr NW of you tomorrow, I guess I should take Open Water Otter off my agenda

I got about 20 sets in yesterday, a little challenging with the wind blowing the canoe around, but not too bad checking today. Managed 5 rats, all pretty good sized. Going to have a couple for dinner and save the others for fisher bait.



Also saw this behemoth frog yesterday while I was setting. It was sitting up on dry land, seemed like he was full of water or something. I tossed him into some shallow water and he was still there today. Still alive. That's a 20 ounce soda bottle for reference.

Hey tiguy, you by a power plant????????? That thing is HUGE!!

That frog has lived its entire life on the pristine waters of the bay of Green Bay!

Very good catch CA! Just got back from our 2 check trapping expedition. We scouted south John where you were the past seasons and found zippo for rat sign. We traveled north and yes we had ice while setting and checking.

Did okay in one place and poorly in another. Wound up with 146 rats in two checks with about 200 sets. Early season rats so they are falls and smaller but it is a nice trip with a trapping partner. We have a small house to use to warm up and shower so that makes it cleaner and nicer. Want to set my flat water here but with 20 degrees I don't think that will thaw much and that would mean a 1 night check!! Life is what is happening while we make other plans!!

Bryce

Nice catches everyone, made about 20 sets after duck hunting yesterday- ended up with 11 rats

Eagleye, some wet coons and a dry one. The larger one looks well furred. I see your rats look similar to ours. We had several medium to smaller rats. I don't know if there was later breeding and litters this year or there is just less calories for the rats to eat but the average size is smaller. I know if one waits they will grow some but one traps when the opportunities come.

Bryce

Day 2 good day again got 120 up to 309 now got to keep it going !


Glad you got out and got some Bryce at least you had some success it sounds like you guys have fun at least

This guy is a machine!!!

EAGLEYE...just the water in my little ponds around here get the shell ice....anything with movement should be ok

Day 3 another good day at 123 puts me at 432 but now the weather's gonna get me so tomorrow I'm gonna pull to the dike and hole it opens back up!


T

Cold is going to ice us up quick by the looks of the forecast!
Nice work, though!

Chris

Bucks are on the move and so am I, traps are pulled and packed- heading north to bow hunt and see if I can fill my otter tags & Fisher tag - keep after them guys!
Bryce- I hoping that dry coon was the one taking a Yo Man dump in our duck blind (worried about the feces with the dog)- we set the DP in the blind when we left on Sunday, the Blake & Lambs held the other small coon fine on houses - thanks to your bamboo stake idea.
Ended up with 6-1/2 rats yesterday- well on the way to surpass CA's first day catch numbers for my season lol.
Pales in comparison to tlguy's massive frog - but I found a 4 legged octopus.

Wouldn't that be a "quadopus" then being it only has four legs?

Glad to hear the stakes are working for you. I am sold on mine. The new ones I bought from Home Depot that are listed as 5/8 inch are fantastic. They are bigger on the butt end then the 3/4 inch and about like the 1/2 inch on the top so they taper and are strong. My 1/2 inch I originally bought for marking rat sets and setting through the ice I have used for rats for 3 years. I have held 3 small beaver with them but these stakes break a lot easier and I am losing about 5% per year. I like them as they are light but I will get more of the larger diameter and if I have to go back and get another 25 or so I will.

Set up a local slough yesterday. This is a very difficult place to get into and it is just plain hard work but close to my house. 45 sets in and 18 rats and one coon all in the 1 stoploss traps. That is the best I have done percentage wise there in 5-7 years. Will pull early Thursday as we are looking at 20-21 Thursday night! I only set half of the place and none in my two smaller sloughs. It looks like soft water trapping is about over here too and I will wait now until I can walk on the ice. Good luck up north. I see less and less fisher sign every year grouse hunting. I actually found an area with a fair amount of snowshoe hare droppings and other activity. We go up for 2 days to deer hunt. This year with the hip replacement I did no scouting at all so this will be a blind hunt this year.

Bryce

You guys are getting it done - good job. Finally set a few drowing sets after work yesterday.

Good job!

Chris

Way to go Brian!

I added 3 more rats to my haul today and 2 yesterday bringing me up to 100 on the season. I wish! Season total is actually 10. After seeing how little sign there is, I'm surprised I've even gotten that many.

Nice coon catch Green bay! Nice rats Eagleye, Tlguy and Cable. Cable your a machine! Nice catches, lots of work. I pulled my last 40 traps tonight in anticipation of ice and leaving town for the weekend. Ice was forming in the marsh as I was wading out. Ill see what form the water is in when I return tuesday and go from there. The way forcasts are looking open water will be done. Cant wait to get back at it.

Nice catch deerfly! I trap out on the bay of Green Bay, with a forecasted low tomorrow night of 25, but with 20 mph winds. I think I'll roll the dice and hope the wind keeps things open at least until Friday if not Saturday. It's a north wind so it should bring the water levels up some as well. Just what I need haha!

Nice catches men getting stuff killed I like it!


Day 4 for me another 117 and 2 mink total is 549 and I pulled everything to the dike for the snowstorm and cold I hope it dont frezze hard and can get back out right away Saturday it sure hurt to be pulling traps catching like these have been man!

wtg guys ,stay safe

Picked up this fatty today - 28 pounds. The rain, snow, and cold is really something this October.

We got several inches of very wet snow and some snow showers now. I pulled a slough yesterday and even though it was snow and not rain the slough which is about 40 acres with 2/3rds open water rose over an inche! Nev er saw it where even wet snow rose that much. I went to 3-4 spots on feeder streams and they were out of their banks also where they were not two days ago. Lot of current too, so setting some body grippers is tricky at best.
Coon trails are all covered and saw no knew tracks today either. Next week looks cold enough to keep the snow around and getting ice on the moving water as well.

Bryce

I agree Bryce, the weather sucks, looks like we will have 3 days of open water here.

Yeah this is a nightmare come true for me haha I think I'm gonna go set the stuff back out right now was gonna do it tomorrow but screw it no time for waiting around looks like Wednesday night is the end here

At least you had a beginning.Does'nt start till tomorrow here,and we are already iced over.
Tom

Yes Tom I guess there are many that feel that open water trapping for rats is something that should be abandoned. With most rats going into the liners for really valuable fur I just don't see the reason why offering more opportunity for open water rats should not looked into. Yes the winter rats grade better and are bigger but I lose less money trapping lower quality rats from a canoe than trapping better rats through the ice.

Bryce

.

Mainly because so many trappers believe that their activities are the number one contributing factor in the influence of muskrat populations. We feel obliged to protect these easily caught rodents.

Look at the bright side a short catch may help this market. Cant hardly create seasons around weather extremes, Its a long season with many opportunities to come. Hope you stick with it. May be a good year to extend the season. LOL

The latter season would sure be nice run it with beaver

Got my trapping partner his first beaver. Start to finish, he located the spot near a culvert made the set and collected the catch. He has been tagging along with me for a few years and just started setting last year any I wasn't targeting beaver then. Best part his boys were with today to see the catch!!!

I don't have many sets out, but she was waiting at the door for me to get home.

Always nice to be welcomed home Cody!!!

Got the partner in the skinning room and he took his meat home to try with the boys and his wife I kept the fur and castors.

Neat pixs!! Looks like you all are having fun, although CableAble's pixs just look like all work to me

That's great for him eh trapsetter!

Nonpcfed yeah it's as much work as it seems and then some no fun at all just a job for me oh well! Haha

Well I'm finally back at it got 150 back out yesterday and the rest out today caught 93 more today total is 642 looking like Wednesday will be the pull for good day oh well sure with it wasnt winter in freaking October haha

do you trap thru the ice later

Yeah I'm gonna be all winter long

Couple more today. Pulled all but a few traps set for a beaver damage job so probably end of it for me till December; maybe.

I only have 4 DPs out right now. With this last wet snow water levels rose a lot again and we have 1-3 inches of slush coming Tuesday and Wednesday. I need to not lift and drag too much, or climb steep banks with a load as my hip replacement done in July is doing well but I can feel it is not ready for a lot of that so I am going to wait until hard water for the most part. One of my small sloughs that for the last 10 years I catch from 10-20 rats each year had one active feed bed while scouting Sunday. Field ruts are deep and all over this year. Standing water in most of them also.

Lot of typically dry spots have a house or two this year. Rats we have seem very scattered which works in their favor. It will be interesting where they go if the ice gets deep.

Bryce

It's been a tough early season for sure this weather hasn't been good for anybody

I usually trap farm ponds for rats. The two ponds I have set have no rats in them. Last year I took 18 rats one night from one pond. I speculate they drowned out sometime this fall as there were rats there this summer.

Strange weather indeed.

I set coon traps out last Thursday and have 38 so far. I've caught some real big ones but the young of the year seem smaller than normal. Maybe breeding season was delayed because of all the snow last winter. I've also caught more skunks than I normally ever catch. LOL. Must be a great year for them. I've been injecting them and saved the essence from 3 today. Close to 2 ounces. I did have one spray yesterday while I was putting the needle in. I've never had that happen before. Didn't bother saving the hide.

I noticed that too Green Bay got three 'rats and a mink on one farm I caught 23 on last year all man made ponds. Not much sign on them either. But the swamp I trap on another has a bunch of new huts this year so should even out hopefully.

101 rats today up to 743 only 2 checks left stupid weather

wtg guys keep on going

Pulled my remaining rat traps today in the wind. Paddling the canoe in 10-15 mph winds wasn't fun, but it sure beats paddling through ice. Season total is a measly 11 after running 15 or so traps for 9 nights. There just was t the sign there was a couple years ago.

I sure wish we would go back to a 3 zone season framework. The majority have voted for it the last couple years in the Conservation Congress spring hearings, but I've heard it wasn't a priority and the earliest it might change would be the 2022 season. So for you folks up north, that means 3 more years of an open water rat trapping season that could last less than a week. That's a great way to get new trappers involved in the sport.

Set some DPs 160s and foot holds and some colony traps for rats yesterday. Today we had warden school and took 20 rats 1 super huge coon and a grinner In the DPs. Tomorrow we pull do to our early freeze up. Actually we pulled some today.

The 20 rats brought me $10.00 each

They can change it back but what I do t want to happen is for the opening date to get pushed back down here there is no need for that

Pushed back as in a later start date?

Yes that's the problem with this stuff it's like there is no need to change the start date down here but they still would if it changes up north I dont understand that why cant one thing stay the same and the other thing change just stupid

I sure wish we would go back to a 3 zone season framework. The majority have voted for it the last couple years in the Conservation Congress spring hearings, but I've heard it wasn't a priority and the earliest it might change would be the 2022 season. So for you folks up north, that means 3 more years of an open water rat trapping season that could last less than a week. That's a great way to get new trappers involved in the sport.

Thank you for the update. Tlguy. Being one of the originators that wrote a resolution, put together my evidence and case and drove to several meetings to be heard, the above is very disappointing to say the very least. One year to put stuff together another to get it on the hearing and then 2 years of 70% votes and now we look to be another 3 years out if at all. I always believed that we should support and use the WCC and the democratic process to make changes, but I can see that Washington is not the only place with a swamp to drain. One could rant some more but it does little good to do so. What I have learned is for me why in the future spend time, energy, resources to try to accomplish a goal and get positive results and then find out that we supported something that is not a high enough priority to be of interest to those that make the rules. No wonder individuals find legislators that will go to bat for them on issues.

Bryce

Like with the spring season if we are gonna try to get time on the back end we have to lose time on the front? Why dose that make sense

What were the start date Bryce? I'm pretty sure south here was latter than it is now right?

Yes I do believe that the current single start date would be the start date for the central of the 3 zones with the north a weekend earlier and the south a weekend later. Maybe that is one of the hangups we have internally now. When this was put together it was all about the north not wanting trappers coming to their region and many south trappers were advocating a later start date as was in the past, but there may be concerned trappers on all fronts.
What one never knows is what issues arise when one enters into these types of season political issues. It appears there was far more disdain for the system we had for nearly 40 years then one would have imagined.

I can see that there are no dates that are liked by some, many or all, but what I find most disappointing is that when one follows the outlined process and get a large majority support the issue gets tossed aside due to being not important enough to be followed through with. Some like me are slow learners I guess at nearly 72 I have finally learned that democracies only work if the powerful allow them to do so.

Bryce

CableAble, here are the mink/muskrat season openers dating back to 2011. For time's sake, I didn't include any of the Mississippi or Winnebago zone dates.

2019 - 10/26
2018 - 10/27
2017 - 10/28
2016 - 10/22
2015 - 10/24
2014 - 10/25 (this was the first year of the single statewide zone)
2013 - North 10/19, South 10/26
2012 - North 10/20, South 10/27
2011 - North 10/15, South 10/29

Now if I remember right, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but rats and mink were worth a lot more in 2011 than they have been the last few years. In that same breath, I could see why guys in the northern zone would fear line jumpers crossing Hwy 64 to get 2 extra weeks of rat trapping before the season opened in the southern zone. I'm not exactly sure what triggers the start date, though I bet it's listed in statute somewhere. But it sure seems like the seasons have trended towards a later start date since the "simplification" of the season structure, effectively chipping away at the beginning of the season for guys in the north.

Makes me wonder if the northern guys that pushed for a single season so they wouldn't get line jumpers are happy now that they lost 2 weeks of open water trapping in the fall.

Who were these N.WI. trappers that were pushing for it? I'd like to know. Seems like it's guys from S.WI that want to keep jacking w/ the season dates.

And, from what I see, there's not much trapping happening this year...it's foolish with the market the way it is. I wasn't happy about the later season start, but I learned to adapt and now I'm glad it's the way it is.

I honestly don't know who pushed for the change to a single zone, I guess I am assuming it was guys in the northern zone that didn't want southern guys long lining on "their turf" when the northern zone opened a week (or sometimes 2) before the southern zone opened. But if you know guys in the southern part of the state that were pushing for a single season that started later, maybe I'm wrong. Wouldn't be the first time and won't be the last.

And you're right, someone looking to go out and make a bunch of money trapping probably isn't doing too much this year. But what about the older guys getting their feet wet getting back into it now that they're retired? Or the kids that took my trapper ed course this summer so they could trap for the first time this year? I'd wager this sport is predominately what I would consider hobby trappers, guys that enjoy setting traps and making a few bucks, knowing full well that by the time they factor in the cost of equipment, gas and wear and tear on their vehicles and their own time, they're losing money. In a time when trapper numbers are dwindling, whether it's due to political pressure, depressed fur market, or whatever, shouldn't we be fighting for more opportunity, not shrugging our shoulders at the status quo which has turned into a loss of opportunity?

It's great that you've found a way to adapt to the current season framework and are still stacking up the rats. But the guy with 3 little kids that like to tag along and help make sets and check traps is SOL when the open water is gone just a few days after season opens. I'll tell him he just needs to adapt.

Here is the original resolution submitted in Portage County with the help of the old Fur Biologist, John Olson. Mike trapped just north of 64 and thus his interest.

https://dnr.wi.gov/About/WCC/Documents/spring_hearing/2011/Resolutions/500111.pdf

One thing became clear. Folks in the north and south have different priorities. What is opportunity for one is a liability for the other. Folks in the north saw it as a way to limit competition and folks in the south didn't want to start that early. Compromise is what we ended up with and will likely be left with for the foreseeable future. I am with Kre now, best to just learn to adapt and deal with it. Some years you get a later common opener and some years you get earlier common opener. Some years we get ice and some years we open water trap into December. Glad to see some folks out there enjoying their time in the field regardless of dates or weather patterns.

Haven't set a trap yet, but my little guy can't wait to be back out there pounding away....

The history of the WTA is lost on you.

Apparently, this history is privileged information or it would be shared so this could be clear. Portage county nor Olson are in the Northern part of the state.

What I do know is some of you guys will be crying about season dates regardless of what they are.

Apparently, this history is privileged information or it would be shared so this could be clear. Portage county nor Olson are in the Northern part of the state.

What I do know is some of you guys will be crying about season dates regardless of what they are.

The person that introduced the resolution lives in Portage Co, but owns property on a large flowage north of 64 and John Olson resides in Ashland Co so there is a northern connection to this issue.

Yes there will be no satisfactory starting date, it is just a matter of who's ox is being gored the most and or who has the most political influence seeing we are working hard to abandon and pretense of basing things on climate or biological merit.

If I would have been smarter I would have paid more attention regarding the history of the in an out of the WTA. Simplification as it turns out in my opinion was the disguise utilized to not talk about long term issues and resentments and thus the real political issues regarding who traps where and when were never discussed openly. Had I known more about those long term issues I may have just stayed out of the fray as it now just polarizes us in a more public manner and works to lower our unified efforts to promote trapping and maintain our heritage.
I will admit I learned an lot in the year I put together my case for going back to our historical staggered openings. Unfortunately I learned more about the politics of trappers and trapping then I cared to know.
In all honesty it matters little to me how this plays out as some above have stated I have learned how to deal with what we have. I learned I have 10-16 more freeze free days where I live then northern WI on average over the last 40 years of weather data. All my local rat water is private with the exception of the public marshes that don't open until December so I can trap away from home north or south for a week or more and still get a week of open water and I have all winter to chop ice.
I wanted to learn how to use the system everyone told us to use if you wanted to make changes and I found out that is not a true system to accomplish those goals.
What I did learn is that much of what I believe and how I perceive what is the best way to achieve results does not mesh well with how things actually work, so it may well be time to just trap and let others that have the better ideas move forward.

Bryce

Former "zone jumpers" are not fond of the current season structure.

I'm NOT fond of the current season structure.

If the weather was “normal” we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

Opener (late October)to deer season (mid/late November)is the rule of thumb for central WI. On open water. More then enough time by most standards. These are extreme conditions, Mother Nature is putting her foot down.

I trap the Refuge, our season starts Dec 1. 3 years ago we had about 2 weeks open water in December. 2 years ago 4 days, last year none. What goes around comes around.

Filled my bobcat tag today! I might never get another tag so I am pretty happy with this one.

Something good to view. Where are you at with the no snow look?
We got 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow this AM.

Bryce

I am in Douglas County Bryce. We had a couple of inches a few days ago but its gone now.

Way to go Steve!

I'm sorry to all who come here to see CableAble's truckload pics and other success pics from fellow cheesehead trappers. I did not intend to get the thread so off topic talking about seasons.

Ah ya this weather sucks. Hopefully she straightens out.
Congrats on the cat. Steve. Cats are a rush!

Well that's it for me for a while to bad stupid weather oh well! Be under the ice soon enough probably next week
Got another 63 pulling putting my total at 806 only got to check traps 7 times is what it is I guess

Nice cat to!

My warden crew caught 11 rats 2 coon and I grinner today. We pulled do to the up coming freeze up.

Finished the day with the warden class and they skinned 14 otter and about the same number of beaver.

excellent Steve!!

Wow they even skin stuff eh? Haha that's pretty funny

Nice cat Steve R!!! What's the story... set location ect

Yes a story would be great. There is always a story. The smile on your face tells me there is a story waiting to be told.

Bryce

Nice bobcat!!

I wish we had those around here, maybe an occasional pass through but that's about it.

So CableAble, you going to sleep one of these days!! I know you're far younger than me but even when I was that age, I couldn't manage your hours and your management strategy-- do you have all your rat traps gps'd...?

I didn't read through the dteails on your Wisconsin north vs south water opener but it sure seems there is a lot of regulation and details in your state's trapping situation. Perhaps that comes from a much larger number of sportsmen in WIsconsin (don't you guys field like a million deer hunters each year?) or maybe its the DNR type of agency mentality that loves all the bureaucratic rules-- our DNR here only deals with water quality, not wildlife or fisheries, I don't really know. Our trappings regs are about 3 pages and that's all. No real micro management of this or that. I feel for you all in such details but given that half of Wisconsin is radical leftist tree huggers, having to deal with the WI DNR's lengthy rule book is probably the price to pay for being able to trap fairly openly in your state. There's a lot of other states where the Neo-fastist left has won and trappers are basically neutered. Good luck on staying in the lane and keeping your trapping tradition pretty much intact!!

Am I wrong or is that one big cat?

Congrats!

Moosetrot

The bobcat was caught in a MB 550 2 coil offset jaw. It was in a dirt hole baited with bait I made this spring with aged beaver chunks in Locklear mix. I had just re-baited that set yesterday. Last year I caught and released 5 cats, 3 of them in beaver/Dobbins mix so I wanted to give them something different this year. I also made some more beaver/Dobbins bait this year because it worked so well last year.

Thanks Steve for the story. I bet it is really a rush to have your planning from that far in advance to work out for you when the tag arrived.

Bryce

Cool catching one with your own bait and a tag in your pocket!!!

Nonpcfed yeah sleep is nice Haha I dont have to have any GPS or anything all the sets are in 1 marsh and I use very long stakes so I dont losse to much

I must have missed November and December with all the single digit temps. No open water, 3rd coyote in pipe dream set(first time I tried it), forecast has wintery mix so I thought I’d see how it would perform. Picking up coons by the barns and machine sheds... I usually target these areas when temps dip. Caught a big skunk in a yote set so now I have Fisher lure and plan to set some cubbies today. Tight chains and stay warm.

Like everyone else the weather has been tough this year. I also have a fresh new trapping partner that has been helping me this year. We went 4 for 4 on a few coon sets the other night. Maybe with a slight warm up this weekend for a day we can pick up a few more.

Looks like the catch of a lifetime in your hands!

Chris

No fisher tag!

Went for a walk with my wife and daughters yesterday, looking for more muskrat area and just to be out in general. We found a few beaver spots and more good muskrat area. I set a few 330s as the other 3 were not going to wait around for me to chip a couple dozen holes for rats. We found some bobcat sign as well. My daughters and wife enjoyed being out as we dont usually get to go as a family. The few sets we set yielded a few catches today! Ice really firmed up over night. Cant wait to get back at it soon!
Nice catches to all!

great pic. thanks for sharing

That fisher is dug in.

Told the wife I was going to set a couple of bridges around the subdivision, and yes it is road trapping, but since I own land next to one of them and have permission next to the other two it is legit. When I was a youngster a mink trapper from town had them all set the first day, and if the season opened too early for prime mink, he placed a half inch nut under the pans to keep them from springing. His biggest complaint to me always was fluctuating water levels, a pile of rocks, flat thinner ones on top to change his depths as needed. So I have a colony trap at one, still using his rocks at the other two, I learned how to trap mink looking at his sets, but do not know if like the idea of trapping $5 mink. But I do know you can't stockpile game, and I have to get out a little, even if it is 5 degrees this morning. A little more history, Beav would remember Roland Schmeling, on the Furbearer Committee, back in the 70's, he was on 94 by Johnson Creek with a sign saying he was a trapper and proud of it. Never had to compete with him, even when living in Watertown, because back then the limit was 75 traps at a time. I remember him telling me once a Warden asked him about all the two trap sets he ran at pocket sets, and he went out and turned them into single trap sets to get back to legal limit. He also told me every year we had weather like this he would get calls from a northern WI mink trapper telling him open water trapping lasted less than a week. Back then Mink opened second week in November down here, two weeks sooner in northern zone, and he liked that because he was a trap prime mink guy in Jefferson county, the north guys wanted open water. I don't know if the big time cable restraint trapper from Lodi is his son or not. In either case the season dates were a debate longer than the last couple years, and back then it was all over Dec.31, was that because mink lost prime after that, or started into breeding season, it sure was not because of rats.

Rolly Schmeling was indeed a very unique trapper. He had passion for the game and was not afraid to let his opinions be known. Wish I had taken a picture of his sign years ago.

Blasted in a few beaver/otter and muskrat sets yesterday afternoon. Felt great to be out and back ontop good ice. Seems many think its alot of work for little return but the adventure and time out pays the way for me. Picked up the first mink of the year in bottom edge sets. A double as the traps were 4' apart. Had help skinning too.

Pulled the colony trap line yesterday. Did very poorly in my learning process. This year I had 14 colonies for 2 checks and got 3 rats. Last year I set 7 in similar bottom edge places and got 7 in 4 checks. I am thinking the rat numbers due to flooding are down. There was a lot of ice on the moving water yesterday so I was glad to be pulling. I found 3 houses in a pond created by high water. There was enough ice for me to walk out, but all there was is 6 inches of water there. Those rats will be froze out by this morning Wednesday if they are even there yet.
I went to one of my smaller sloughs before the snow. I can walk most of it but not where most of the rat sign was. Lot of structures so the rats are there but need to wait. I saw water coming up behind me as I walked so I got off and will wait. We got about 3 inches or more of snow which will push the thin ice down on the water and that will soften up some more and insulate and that will mean ice making will slow down. All this is easier to take at lower prices and still working on getting my hip up to speed. I sure notice a lot when bending, twisting and getting up and down. It takes some time but it will go.

Bryce

Still waters have been froze up here since Nov 2. There were guys ice fishing by the 6th of November. We didn't have a week of open water this year.

We had 3 days of open water, a week would have been great.

A few pics from thursday and this morning. Lots of cat sign everywhere too. Looking forward to trying to catch one some year soon.

One trap in one feeder and one rat today. Ice is softening a lot the last two days. I break through about an additional 1-3 feet each check as I go to that one trap. I have 4 others marked and am glad I did not set them as I would not get to them. Warmer tomorrow, with slush and then rain on next Thursday!! I actually hope it rains enough to melt the ice or the snow off the ice so one can see again. It is a crap shoot finding set sites now.
Took a break yesterday and helped a youth group that makes 120 dozen packages of lefse to raise money. I rolled out 8 dozen myself and my legs and shoulders feel that today.
Bryce

Sold my big catch today of 62 rats to Guy for $199 just now, at least he did not scare me away from the truck with his prices. Saw the president at the stop as well, do not know what he did, he was behind me.

Not sure where this photo belongs. Took my daughter deer hunting this evening and ended up checking some sets as we moved through the woods. No deer, but she was excited to fill this tag. 17 days of checking this set and it connected. Filled my otter tag as well on Thursday. Ice is back to unsafe conditions. Setting weasel boxes this week and waiting for good ice to come back around. Hope folks are still getting our to enjoy time outdoors! Weather has been weird this fall but that keeps it exciting!
TTT

Took a buddy's 14 year old son out to see if the coon would move with the warm up this weekend. He has been wanting to learn to trap for a while but lived too far away till last month when they moved back to my area. Got 17 sets out for coon and 6 for mink. Got one coon and no mink but had a good time and he is very excited about taking trappers ed and hunters safety this coming year.

I want to finish the coons I am fleshing for a friend today and early tomorrow if the call for jury duty does not come. I flesh in my unheated garage and after Tuesday AM I don't want to be in there. Looks like Wednesday one can walk on the ice, but doing so in about 15 below windchill or more makes the start of the hard water season quite miserable. Will find out how the hip does walking ice and moving through cattails.

Bryce

Any one know where Cable Able is, he usually kept this thread up pretty good all by himself. Good luck on the ice Bryce, I pulled everything Sunday on the river, promised single digits will do that to you, did get a coon and two rats Sunday.

I believe Rollys sign was featured in a Wis Trapper Mag.... start snooping if you find it before me let me know

Went to a large marsh Monday that was partially drained this summer. A few rats are concentrated in a small section so that will be a short and small outing. Just got back from staking and marking a new marsh I picked up this year. First year and marked 50 places, almost all feeders as with the snow no bubble trails. I have more to cover but 4.5 hours fighting cattails with a recovering hip was enough for one day. Need to call in for jury duty tonight. I have about 40% of the marsh yet to explore. If we get 3 inches of snow even push ups get harder to find.

Bryce

We finished marking the new permissions yesterday and marked another permission. We have about have about 70 sites marked in the one marsh. We got two sets in yesterday and 1 rat today. While setting today we found a dozen other places to set, so more traps for tomorrow. We set the other permission too, so we have about 100 sets out with another 10-15 to set tomorrow.

Just a great day to be on the marsh, no wind and warm. We had to do some different things as many of our 6-7 foot stakes could not reach solid enough bottoms with the water levels so high. we also had to put snare loops on our traps so they would not slide down the stake. We would not be able to reach them. Had to do that with the body grippers too. Some of our 8 foot stakes are about 6 inches above the ice.
Hoping for a nice check tomorrow.

Bryce

Finaly got back out got 78 out and first check is 44

Jeez Bryce you guys should have a darn nice catch! What are the sets mostly baited or what? You dont do any sleeveing do ya?

Good catch CableAble, no we don't use any baits. About 50 of the sets on the better marsh are in pushups with stoploss, no bait. The 25 body grippers we set right below the ice and we put colored duct tape on the triggers as most bubble trails are not visible due to cloudy ice or snow. We found two places where the run into the house was open so those are hot sites. Cant' go out further to set 3 in the run as the ice is too thin. I need to lose a few more lbs and the water is over 6 foot deep out there.
The one marsh is actually a lake and the water has risen so much it lifted the cattails out of the bottom and they are now floating. They can't move due to the ice but you shove a stake in and it goes down 3 feet, hits some bottom and then through for another 2-4 feet.
Good luck tomorrow.
Bryce

Yeah that's crazy the water is high here to my 4 foot stakes are mostly barely out of the water looking forward to your guys catch!

Poor first check. We had about 70 sets in the one marsh and caught 16 rats. I have never had so many plugged and snapped traps as we did today. Must have had 35-40 plugged or snapped! They are there we just did not have a good outing. Also we caught 3 kit sized rats, so repro is good but Catching $1.00 rats the middle of December is not what we were planning for.
The other place we got 11 out of 24 so that was better.
It was icy the AM. Had to scrape freezing drizzle off the windshields and side mirrors. Roads were not too bad but side walks were not good at all.

Bryce

Bummer! Yeah I dont know it's just me or what but I went along with a guy last year who had 30 sleeves set all stoploss like your and I dont know I blame the trap but he caught 10 rats and if it didnt have a rat it was sprung I think the coils do alot better in them I dont have hardly any sprung with no catch

Are you sleeving everything? Are you finding the entrance or just pushing through to the cavity? When we did It we just pushed through under water to the cavity but It was important to fill that void or every trap was clogged with debris.
Do a little research for me and let me know if there Is a pattern to where the entrance Is like maybe the Sw side of the push up.

Sleeve in, I would recommend to enter with the rat through the plunge hole. Stake and chain off to one side and not in run. Remove feed if bed is to tall so trap sets in water. Throw away the stoploss, especially if the swamp has starchy rough chews.

I tried a few coils last year and had about the same percentages as I did with the stoploss. What I did not like about the coils is I did not have a longer spring to help direct the trap where I wanted it to go. We are trying to find the 2nd plunge hole or opening when we can. We have had better percentages that way, but today it did not seem to make much difference. Nimzy you may be right about the starchy material. Lot of bigger chunks in the piles.
I will do some research but I believe we are about 90% or better putting the trap through the hole or entrances the rats use. That is what we spud to find.

Bryce

Try palming the coil over the top by the jaws, reach in and wiggle and twist to bed trap. I like weakened coils.

Clean the cavity after a catch too.

I sleeve most stuff if I can yeah I do it just like nimzy said always try to find the hole every time you come in from a random side they plug it I've seen

What do you guys mean by sleeve? I'm not familiar with that term. Is that using gauntlets to feel up from the bottom?

You can enter the push up If you enter below the ice or water level with out damaging the push up.

Yes tlguy reaching in with a gantlet and setting a foothold inside

I mentioned weakened coils. Not because they are easier to set but more that they go off easy. You don’t want a stiff pan under ice

Today was busy. One Granddaughter was in the Sunday School Christmas Program in the AM and one 7th grader playing center on a girls hockey team. She just started so is not as able as most her age but she enjoys the game. Out to the marsh. Better today. We got 26, with 1st check yesterday at 16 with tons of plugged traps. Today there were also fewer plugged or sprung. We pulled 10 traps as it seems that many feeders are one rat feeders and were freezing up. There won't be as many rats as it first appeared but still a lot for the size of the place. Also catching mostly smaller rats with even a half dozen kit sized rats the two days and not fat either. There are cattails all over the place so that is strange to us. Would be better to catch 40-50 nice rats then 60-75 smaller rats. Hip is holding up very well but my back has been bad the last few weeks. Today has been a bugger.

Bryce

are you talking like a 3rd litter of rats this year?

So back to my question about plunge hole location. Is there a pattern?

Beav are you asking do we find and use the plunge hole the vast majority of the time or are you asking that do we get more plugged traps when we use the plunge hole when we sleeve the push up?

Yesterday on the roughly 40 sets I checked I don't remember any push up sets where I was not using the plunge hole as the entrance for setting. I am not finding a 2nd entrance in many of the push ups. The ones that I do find I catch percentage is higher. Don't know for sure if I came through the main or the secondary opening. Also two sets that appear to be big push ups but are just breather type huts with no clippings have yielded a rat both days.

Bryce

Bryce, he is just wanting to know if there is a pattern to the entrance to the feeders. What tells you were the entrance is located?

That's what I was asking.

I think we had a late litter in NW WI. I caught a very small rat a few days ago.

Yes from what I can see these are the patterns or signs I look for. If there is a slight indentation on the feeder that is a good sign. If that is on the higher side or the straighter or taller side even better. The next best is the south east corner or the side away from the wind which is usually that side and there the ice is thinner almost always, especially early in the hard water season. If one is lucky enough to get out before the snow or cloudy ice then bubble trails will give you the best place and from experience it is those two more than not.
We are pulling several that are froze up. We got 14 today with about that many plugged. 16. 27. 14 which is consistent but not high. Our other spot has 22 rats with about a 40% catch rate instead of 30%
Caught one rat today that probably will be an extra small!!
Bryce

On the same subject. Setting a pond with a bunch of huts on it this weekend. 6" of snow, so really setting blind. Thinking 160's baited parsnips and carrots. Any hints/tips? How far away from houses? 1st time so looking for anything that might help.
Thanks

Look for any smaller huts or push ups as you walk the marsh. They won't show up much but should be good. As to setting baited body grippers around houses??. Many times entrances can be out in deeper water with a run up to the house and not easily found. You could spud some holes around the house to see if you can have clippings etc. come up. I would set near those. Also if you can scrape the snow away to see if you can find any bubbles. If active there should be action around the huts. Also if there are cattails around the houses, look for anything that might be a trail through the cattails.

We checked today and pulled at least 25 traps that were not active. We will pull Thursday. We will skip Wednesday as we both have other things and it will be very cold also. We got 10 rats today on our 4th check. We have 88 so far. We estimated 100-110 so we won't be too far off on our count. Just more smaller rats then we anticipated and more 1 rat feeders then we have seen in other areas in the past.

Bryce

Checked my stuff for a second time yesterday got 43 and had 1 froze in the ice that got destroyed in the process of chopping it out so would have been another 44 haha this warm up should be fun I'm also gonna skip tomorrow might even set some coon traps out

cableable,,,glad to see youre back out after the rats again. keep us updated.

We pulled our two marshes that we set together. We did not check yesterday. We estimated that we would catch about 115 rats in the two places and wound up with 107 so our estimates were not outrageous.

Couple of questions for the posters
1. We had one push up where two smaller rats were eaten on. the first one was just one front leg. Today both hind legs were stripped clean to the hips with no other holes or bite marks. Any thoughts as to what may be doing that damage?

On the bigger marsh with roughly 75 rats we caught mostly smaller rats the first couple checks and more typical xl rats later, but none of the rats had much fat on them and the marsh is just loaded with cattails. We have never seen rats with that little fat in December in a good cattail marsh before. Any insights from othe posters?

Bryce

Are the cattails the native broadleaf variety, the invasive narrow leaf variety, or a hybrid?

That I do not know for sure. I can get a sample and have a native plant specialist take a look. This place has up to 4 feet of water in places now and in dry years is not very wet at all. With two wet years in a row it developed a rat population but the cattails have been there for as long as I can remember.
Also when I talked with the DNR specialist at Horicon a few years ago the native and the foreign or invasive both are good sources of tubular roots as they are multi year plants. It is the hybrid of the two that is the annual plant that does not develop a major root system. We don't know if the rats in there came from a larger river about 3/4 of mile away. Most rivers around here with any size have not been good for rats this year at all.
Bryce

I bet narrow leaf, useless for rats or skinny

Bryce,,alot of times we find the smaller/younger rats along the shoreline, and the older rats further out in the deeper water. were the "eaten on" rats drug up into the hut and fed upon? that would more than likely be a mink, and there wouldn't be any other wounds on the rat, as the mink found it already dead, and just fed on it. according to our biologists, either cattail species is good rat forage, but the hybrid that takes over after time is not.

Thank you for the comments. I will try to find out if those cattails are native, narrow or hybrid. As to the mink eating the rat, that makes sense as it was the same feeder the catch before that had the damaged rat. Probably camping out there, but it is a long ways from any other feeder, shore etc. I caught two big males last year in runs between rat houses so they can go a long ways if they know the routes.

I added this link that gives a short discussion regarding the hybrid cattail. I note in this paper that the hybrid can and does reproduce via the rhizomes and shoots. It does not reproduce using the seeds. I was mistakenly thinking that they were always a product of the two other varieties forming the hybrid. This better helps me understand how they can take over a marsh once there. They don't need the other cattails to expand.
http://www.library.nd.gov/statedocs/AgDept/Hybridcattail20070703.pdf
Bryce

Anyone else going after coon again with the warm weather predicted for next week or so?


I realize Northern areas are limited with the snow depth but here in Eastern Wisconsin zero to a trace of snow, some standing corn and great access in fields has me excited!

Dave

I have thought about it, but like you said, lots of snow here and I don't have corn fields.

Most exciting forecast this season. Hopefully a fella can get some traction

Will be nice to have hip boots not all frozen from getting in and out of creeks on frozen days checking rat traps.

Dave

Yep, I'll be getting after them as soon as I am out of work this afternoon. Have off through next Thursday, hopefully I'll be busy skinning. No snow here, the farmers just pulled off most of the remaining corn, so the coons should be moving more.

Yup got 10 of the next 12 days off so gonna give it a go.

Spent 4 hours setting up two small sloughs and one 3-4 acre marsh. I got 41 sets out and need to take abut 10 more traps out tomorrow. It will be a lot better tomorrow as to chopping. There is 4-5 inches of ice all over the marsh and there won't be much ice made tomorrow so only need to chop out a dozen new spots. With all the extra water the rats have changed some locations and I need to use longer stakes for the rats. the 4 footers are not long enough in most sets.
I am going to look at a couple coon trails close by to see if I can see some movement. Lot of coon traffic on the ice.

Bryce

I see groenwald has made a few stops throughout the state these last few days. Curious if anyone has sold any Muskrats or other animals? And the size/price breakdowns. Thanks much

A $3.50 average seems the norm for put up rats. I expect It to drop sometime In Jan.

I know a trapper who took several hundred rats to Wiebke last week. He averaged $4.10. He took out his poorest 40 rats and stated that would have dropped his average about 10 cents on the 477 he sold. I know that nearlly 80 of the rats were the first 3 days in northern WI so if most of those were in there that average looks pretty good to me.

Bryce

I sold 100 muskrats to Gfw today for a $3.29 ave. Price breakdown was 5.00, 3.75, 2.50, 1. Rats were fall rats all put up.

One little slough has gone stale and will pull those 6 traps tomorrow. The other small slough and the partial setting of the smaller marsh yielded 10 rats. Most were nice size which I expect at this time of year and way more fat on them then the other marsh we trapped. Got 9 more sets out in the marsh. Push ups did pretty good and had more misses with the body grippers. My B-Day today so am vegging out a bit. Lot of church activities tomorrow so the checking time will be short. My jury duty for the month of December is over. I was called twice and served on a jury once.

Bryce

Yeah I set some coon traps up yesterday got 7 today hope they move a little better tonight

Bryce,,whats with the misses with body grippers? are they baited? how are they staked?

I don't know for sure. I am thinking that there was 5 inches of ice or a tad more and I did not get the trap below the ice enough. I will be moving them a tad lower. Fools you when it is warm. I don't bait but I use colored duct tape on the triggers with the trigger upside down. I have used pink, orange and green and it seems orange is the better color. Also I have put about a half dozen in really busy places near houses but not directly in runs. The ones in the runs are doing better.

Bryce

we set the top jaws about 4 inches below the underside of the ice. the duct tape would be considered bait, as its an attractant.

we're getting some snapped and empty traps, using hagz clips and glass poles. we're thinking the glass pole isn't solid enough, and doesn't keep the trap "bedded" or as stable as it should be. we never had misses with a 1x2 through the spring arms. that's why I asked how yours were staked.

Mine are 1 by 2s with a long bamboo cross stake inside the jaw to keep the trap more solid. I have always been about about 1-2 inches below the ice. You are running a bit deeper. I caught 2 by the head which means to me they were working the bait or duct tape. All the others were suit cased and in the runs which means they were traveling through. I am attaching a short cable to the spring and looped around the stake as with all the rain this year the marsh is over a foot deeper than the last 4 years.

Bryce

Quick check between our church's Christmas program and an afternoon of caroling. Not a good check. Six rats out of 30 sets and not many snapped or plugged. Warm temps probably move coon but not rats. The rats are really nice, big and fat compared to the other larger marsh with the smaller thinner rats.

Bryce

That is cool looking!

Chris

10-4 on cool

No doubt on that run location!

Chris

You need to put some stop and go lights on that avenue!

Bryce

You sure say a lot in your posts nimzy! Keep them coming.

The family and I have been stacking up the incidentals of late. Coons in the fisher sets and rats in the otter sets. I guess it's better than the other way around

7 agian
That ice sure looks familiar nimzy hope you good as always

Wow John there sure is a huge size difference in those coon you caught. I am sure that the 6 of the larger ones are well furred but the there are just more smaller ones then one would expect. I noticed too that most of the tracks on the ice of coons were smaller sets of tracks. I am wondering if that is later litter coon that are in need of food to make it trough the winter. There are some larger sets but mostly smaller ones. I have one marsh I am on that has 4 springs with open water spots. I have some traps in runs going into these but no catches or snaps in two checks yet, but all the other creatures are attracted to the open water also.

Bryce

Yeah isnt that crazy the size difference and yeah most of the tracks I see are from small ones I dont get why they would want to run when it's cold never understood that my take is the big ones dont really start to run good until the breeding season so it's a little early yet I think

yep tad early, pretty soon you will see coon trails heavy on frozen creeks or next to them. Now coon are hitting standing corn fields in warm nites

Set some traps in a small marsh last week and the rat had hardly any fat on them and the fat was grainy/yellow. It looks like they were eating watercress because I had 2-160 set going to the spring with the watercress and had a rat in each for 3 days.The rats were all good size.

Today I got 8 rats and all were really good rats, but the rest of the story goes South in a hurry. I picked up another marsh this year that due to all the rain had a lot of water in it. The rat sign this fall was OK to good but with other issues etc. I decided to wait and trap this marsh through the ice. There are a lot of structures on the marsh but very few feed beds and to me it seems they have moved out or the most have. I will trap that with the canoe next fall. Some places 6 inches or more of ice! Off to the next place we put 14 stakes in by feeders on December 10th, so I went out today to open those and set. We had the real cold snap but it seems the water level dropped a few inches and we have about 1-1.5 inches of ice above the water now and hardly any ice below in the cattails. Can't get out to those stakes right now. Will have to figure out how to pull them this winter.

Bryce

Took my granddaughter with me today. If anyone thinks the styrofoam is the hot ticket I had 6 traps under the ice with it for a week and this is the one rat I caught, I just do not have it yet when it comes to under the ice. I will say not one pushup could I find, but I know there were rats earlier, maybe someone else got in here first. The colony trap had a rat till a coon must have been running down the ditch and saw a meal somehow, the trap was submerged but not deep, all that was left was a bit of backbone. Why it was not in the baited cage trap on the bank I don't know. Did have one coon and and two rats in the field ditch. Three possums also, I see John is saving them, I don't see myself skinning and stretching them for maybe two bucks at auction? If I could sell them in the grease I would skin them for two bucks, remember getting 4 or 5 dollars like that in the early 80's

I guess 7 is my number jeez haha the 2 skunks were cool at least

That's to bad Bryce yeah this ice isnt a joke that's for sure I've got the saw going now spud ain't enough haha

Fishdog yeah I've been keeping them usually I let them go or just kill em and toss em but I have a buddy who want them so I've been saving them for him

Yup just another coyote track .........

Concerned?

Snare him! That's weird eh

Depends?

Merry Christmas from my walking trap line. This year I thought I would just do a little walking line over the holidays to relive the memories of my childhood. Nothing has been moving the last couple of days but last night was the night. Nice big boar in the bunch. Merry Christmas fellow Wisco Trappers (and anyone else who is checking out our page).

Brian

Early prognosis is terminal. More testing is required.

Could this be the final chapter?

Nice pics to all! Checked some traps today. Merry Christmas!

Small catch today of 5 rats. Will probably pull sets some on Thursday and the remainder on Saturday. Looks like the end of the line for this season for me.

Bryce

Only 5 ah well makes 191 for the year merry Christmas all

Took a shower today! Wanted to get out b4 our family Christmas gathering and got 4 rats and was pulling a set due to thinner ice and the whole area gave way! went in about shoulder high with the mud. With the fright hormone in full swing did like a seal and got out. Lost my spud. Got home and things are drying out well. Went to Christmas and yes my stupidity was the major topic during brunch. Got a silage fork and after 15 minutes of fishing in the mud got my spud back! Got two more rats. One section where I have to park on a busy road with a narrow shoulder I left as the fog in the low spots was thick. All is well, for now. I will pull on Saturday. Ice is getting rotten. Two pushups had live rats as they have thawed out and the rats chewed them all to pieces. Most rats in the push ups today. Merry Christmas to all.

Bryce

Occupational hazard!

As well as conversation piece

Be careful out there

I've been wading into horicon haha but the ice out in the marsh is still plenty good nice and rotten enough to make it easy to chop

Just got back from pulling. I was planning to pull Saturday but with nearly 40 last night and 50 today and another two warm days the ice was getting soft and around the rat areas thin and open. I got 8 rats on this last check so that was encouraging. One marsh with good rat numbers has 6 springs I know including the one I found yesterday for the first time. My goal was to catch 50 rats in these 3 locations and I wound up with 46 so I felt I was on target.

Bryce

Just got back from pulling. I was planning to pull Saturday but with nearly 40 last night and 50 today and another two warm days the ice was getting soft and around the rat areas thin and open. I got 8 rats on this last check so that was encouraging. One marsh with good rat numbers has 6 springs I know including the one I found yesterday for the first time. My goal was to catch 50 rats in these 3 locations and I wound up with 46 so I felt I was on target.

Bryce

Pulled traps today also.1 rat in a spring run and a good coon in a mink set.

Hazel with the mink and an otter this morning.

5 yesterday and 7 today bring me up to 203

Good critters marshrat!

Yeah the ice is pretty soft in some areas out there Bryce at least you didnt have to swim today haha

Hazel is getting big.

That is an armful for sure. Nice catches.

some thoughts for others to note and or discuss. As I pulled today with 8 rats I had mostly large rats. The first two checks I had mostly larger rats and a few smaller rats. Today I had one that is a medium or a small large.
I this was the 6th check for two of the marshes with only about 15% of the traps or sets changed during that time. Do most of you note that your catch is usually of larger rats early and smaller rats later? This was the case on these areas.

The larger marsh I trapped with a partner we had 75 rats and they average smaller all the way through but we caught more smaller rats early and larger ones the last couple checks.
This marsh was trapped from 12-12-12-18. There could be some reproduction issues going on as well.

Bryce

I have caught more small winter rats this year then the last 10 years combined. A lot of boney, lean rats as well. Terrible winter run. Too many rats. High water.

We were surprised by the one marsh our first year trapping it how small, thin and thin skinned the average rat out of the roughly 75 we caught were for mid December. The place would not be trappable in open water and I guess that is a good thing as they would have been poorer then for sure. We trapped another combination lake/marsh about 4 miles from this marsh and the rats were small there too. There is a road culvert going into the one marsh I trap and I can judge the depth from that spot. Most years by late fall the area around that culvert is dry, this year the water level in the marsh is up about 18 inches over say 2-3 years ago.

Bryce

I believe that rising water and the pressure it creates stimulates the muskrat mating ritual.

High water increases and disperses habitat.

The rodents instinctively want to fill every void. It’s nature.

That makes sense Nimzy regarding the frequent flooding events and the overall increase in the areas with water and deep enough water for rats. We do however see a huge drop off in rat numbers in our rivers near me as many run through areas with flatter flood plains and not much chance for rats to den up. I feel most that could migrated to these smaller sloughs all over and with the several 2-4 inch rains they may have kept reproducing later in the season.

Bryce

Nimzy, they grow up way too fast, but I am guessing you already knew that. Just glad she has a fascination for wetlands as I love experiencing the marsh through their eyes and questions. When we pulled up the otter a swarm of activity was in the hole-- tadpoles, minnows, hellgrammites, etc. I hope they never get tired of searching for a better understanding of the world around them.

I have yet to set any rat traps this year, but all this talk is making me think I should. I was noticing more skinny rats as incidentals in the otter traps but wasn't sure I could conclude anything from the smaller sample.

We are also thinking about setting a few fisher sets but this warm weather will likely just make them coon cubbies. My need for fisher bait will give me a reason to go catch a few more rats, but I am running out of time.

Keep the pictures coming and good luck to those still out chasing the critters.

Beylon said forecast looks more like March




The muskrats concur

Any ideas what 1-2 inches of rain will do to the integrity of the ice? I found open areas and 3 feet away over 6 inches but the top 3 inches in many places was milky and softer. If we get that much around here it will be a mess.

Bryce

Not good, not good. I'll be interested to hear the prognosis next year.

Is that a feed pile?

5 on Friday zero on Saturday and 6 today tomorrow they are getting pulled need to get serious with these rats

do any of you guys use baited 160 size traps with the hagz clips on glass poles? if so, do you have many problems with snapped traps? just curious. thanks.

ttt

When I use the baited 160 I use it on a lath stake so I cant say about how the hagz bracket would affect the deal I have some snapped but usually not many

How’s the ice?

better than yours I hope....going out shortly

Took advantage of nice weather on Saturday to get some steel out and picked up these three today: 2 targeted and 1 incidental in a yote set. That is a 20” setter for reference.

Dave

When does our coon rut start in central WI?

Feb.

Thanks Rat.

Well this won't be special for many but I set 3 CR's for the first time on Sat 1/4/20 and caught my first coyote this morning!

The location before hanging and after picture:


How it looked this morning!


Forecast is for 13" of snow here in Manitowoc County so will be hanging more CR's in the future!

Dave

Good catch Alex. A land owner called and has an otter issue. I was going to prospect Thursday but with the forecast as it is I will wait. It may be better also with snow the fresh sign will be helpful. Some sizable toilets so they are cycling through, now one has to find the best method(s) to catch one.

Bryce

Good job Dave. CRs are addicting!

Brian

snowshoed back in a private marsh yesterday...got in 11 160's and 3 330' for the little beaver sign … swamp ice is very sketchy....zero rat houses this year....must've been disease wiped em out last year, 2 years ago there were around 100

Finally got around to a little beaver trapping this week. It was a nice close pond so my 6 month old trapping partner was able to join me. I let him pick out the sets from the comfort of his seat but i had to make the sets. We set on Sunday and checked last night after work.

Track ID?

Otter

Fred Salczenko in the swamp. You fellas that shipped fur to Nafa in the eighties probably remember Fred.

Any theories on how this happened?

Swimming past kicked the trigger wires?

U experimenting again or did it have bite marks?

So trapsetter thinks I’m off the mark and Marshrat figures I got something up my sleeve. Lol.

Just another swim through set.

I knew I should of said depends .

Looks like he wanted to climb up and slipped, but I can't imagine you were that shallow.

Thanks for the feedback!

Thought I would bring this thread back to the top with my 2nd and 3rd CR caught coyotes

#2 - 1/17/2020, male



And #3 from this morning in a CR that I had a refusal on 1/19, another male




This is very addictive and has me looking at properties a whole new way!

Dave

Getting rough out there. Age and markets are affecting my attitude. Haven’t come close to harvest potential or harvest necessary to maintain healthy and steady (if there is such a thing) populations. Seems like Mother Nature always catches up about this time of year. What a year it’s been so far! The swamps are testing me.

Looks like fun to me.

Beautiful picture

Thanks 330



Picked up yesterday. Snow and slush causing a struggle. Break time.
Goes by so fast we forget how we’ve suffered
Continued learning and even gave some instructions, which to my surprise was quite rewarding.
Hopefully the weather breaks before the end so as I can get another shot at them. (Heavens know they need it, here)
Hard to describe time spent on the Marsh.

Good luck guys!

Good luck to you too nimzy

Chris, you have always been great at helping others see the marsh through your lens. I am impressed the most by your focus!

I hope the weather cooperates and good luck when you get back out there. Although, i'll admit it is probably the rats that will need it.

Looks like rough conditions for sure! Please school me on your 4 wheeler tires?

I caught lots of rats like that but I had a special BG holder where I could set the trap flat. And that BG had a pan on It. The rats would climb up to get the bait and were caught. It worked under the ice but worked a lot better In open water.

Good tip from mike Kelly
http://www.j-wheelz.com/

Four otter sets for 7 days now with 3 checks and no sprung traps. Son came over and we took an afternoon break and 3 other guys and 4 beagles and we got 8 cottontails. I had not shot many the last years and I was in the right place 3 different times and got 3 myself. We will have some good rabbit stew in a few days. Our son's pub has a lot to learn. One of the guys had two really good dogs and that helped him learn a lot today.
We got 3 coyotes on the boards now. I am very skeptical of their value but we will ship and find out how good, bad or ugly they really are. The first one was the biggest and had a whole bunch of what seemed like big sores on him and we left him in the woods.

Bryce

What's your review on the Jwheelz? obviously like them since your running them but what's the downside to them? The affect steering a lot?

Got 5 traps out yet for yotes they are getting pulled in the next few days, thought I would chime in and show a few catch pictures from this season .

Sask
Yes like them. The surface area and float option they provide are advantageous in unstable ice conditions. They are not a magic bullet tho.
The unit itself is conical and on flat surfaces rides above the surface so it won’t effect the steering. They do however make your path wider so obstacles protruding alongside a normal ATV path may be struck and that’s no fun. In snow or mud the help hold you up and if a wheel goes through the ice you usually can continue on IMO 4wd is required.

Good to see Coyote Addict was getting some furs, anxious to hear how Bryce makes out on the otter. Have 10 coon to sell from January and one laying whole in the garage, not looking forward to the offer from GFW this Saturday. I haven't been scraping coon with shoulders that hurt, a bit of bursitis in both, Greg S used to do it for a few dollars each down at FHA, but they are way too busy in there now for that as an option.

Great pics Addict. Some very nice fur.

Fishdog, let us know how you do on the prices.

Finally got to the GFW truck and no one will get happy about the price of fur. Dozen rats from late Jan. and Feb. a $3 average, the ten coon $2.50 average in the grease, best one was top dollar at 6 bucks.

That's brutal. Hopefully the FHA auction goes better than that.