Nebraska Line 2019-2020

Hello, to the trapperman crowd. I've been plenty busy this year and haven't had a whole lot of time to post. School full-time and working full time. Graduate in May of this year with my graduate degree. I have managed to get out some traps here and there testing the waters. Man everything is looking amazing this year here in Nebraska. Work shipped me out of town for five days and deer season starts this weekend so I'm running a modest line at best. I do have 10 days off in December and trapperman's Cathryn's Jerry is hopefully going to join me on the line for some fun. Anyways I have shot a few pics on the animals I've caught in the daylight not so much when I have to run at 2-3 A.M. before clinical. I'll try to jump on here and update as the season progresses. The goal is to have at least six traps in the ground for the next 60 days. I'll see how long I can keep the grind up.

I started out the year with a call from a guy with a coyote problem and his dogs getting chased. I did end up with four coyotes pretty close to his place. There's definitely more there and I intend to be back there in December.






This pasture had some of the prettiest boars I've seen in my part of the country. They were all big. Black and silver. Sure was good to get away from the typical school bus town coon. That's a railroad tie below him full size.

I had a sheep farmer call in regards to lost sheep. I set the place up heavy. He reported his two dogs (Great Pyrenees) usually kept the coyotes at bay, but something had been killing sheep alive which was new to them. Interestingly, I have only caught a number of fox on the farm I believe I am up to four, there have been no coyote tracks in the snow, and there's been no dead sheep since the "guard dogs" have been locked up. I'm pulling tomorrow as I finally told him today that I didn't think he had a coyote problem. I don't think he was interested in my answer but I don't plan to waste anymore resources trying to catch something that isn't the problem... We don't have a lot of fox in our area due to the coyotes so when I started catching them daily I should have known the gig was up.



It was a balmy five degrees when I got to this one. I was ready for the snow/rain/cold this year. Everything is popping perfectly.

I've been plugging away at the coyotes. I don't have much set up. 2-4 sets at four locations. Just enough to keep me satisfied until I get done with this semester which should be within the next two weeks. Just in time for the end of deer season.

I've already ran into a couple of the greatest dirt movers known to man. These guys sure are fun to watch work. They just are way too early here. The farmers like to see them disappear however.

Man what a post! Congrats for so many things!! Sounds like you can balance life and trapping quite well. Hope you have an awesome productive December!

I've settled on Marty Smith's (Keg Creek Products) baits/lures this season to give it a run. So far they have not disappointed. 90% of everything I have caught has been on simple dirthole with Showtime down the hole. I have made the occasional flat set with Magnum Force which has also produced. I'm boring and like to just keep things simple. Here's a typical remake.

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Good job man!

Good to see you post again this year wade. Good country, good game, and good hard work on display. Stay safe.

Osky

Nice! Always enjoy your posts wade

Thanks guys. The nice thing about working nights is for the last two seasons I've got to check traps in the daylight which has made me want to take more pictures on the every day line. Sure is different then when I ran mainly in the middle of the night or very early mornings for the years before that.

Yotes out west are haired up pretty nice for this time of year, I have had a great start and fur quality.

The last pup I caught two days ago was the first pup I've caught that wasn't blue/slate. The coons are ahead as well. I've taken some very nice coon this week.

Nice work wade!
Jim

Been running traps pretty early in the morning during our deer season here. It's amazing the amount of people just driving fields daily. I've had pickups coming in from another direction into fields following me through and then speeding off. Got out to check one set and had them fly across an entire field to make sure I wasn't shooting one of "their" deer you know that kind of guy. Ask them if I can help them and they just drive off. So far I haven't had any traps disappear. No one's taken off with the skunks I've caught this week? Who would have thought.

These pictures aren't near as fun but sometimes you have to check them before the crowd finds them.




Unfortunately I do still have to work which means I am working 7p7a. So sometimes the checks have to wait till right at first light.

It's been a fun start to the season here with my short line. We are getting rain this afternoon so I will likely pull the traps at first light this morning. I don't have time to walk into these places and the majority are a 1/4 to a 1/2 off the road. Even only a few farms that would take too much time for me to walk. I'm looking at a week break. Then if the roads don't get too bad I am going to start laying down the longer line. At least try to get half of them out and working.

Jerry will be here on the 2nd of December and I'll have four more 12's working before he arrives. I should be able to run a pretty descent line with minimal sleep for four days before he gets here. I'm down to two days of clinical and one exam to finish out this semester. I'll have around 60 predator sets, a few dozen coon traps, and about two dozen conibears going for 10 days then rain or shine. As far as I know Jerry plans to run 60 predator traps and some coon traps. Should make for some fun.

Here's the difference between a fur trapper and an ADC trapper in my mind. I've got one farm I've caught two coyotes on a hill (the last coyote pictured was one of them). I think a problem coyote I have there now is probably the older female of the pair. I have three traps there now total. Two remakes and one fresh. This coyote's worked both remakes from the back of the dirthole. The fresh dirthole she took one step in the pattern and called it a day. I could sure spend some time blending in the perfect flat set, urine post, or add a second trap behind one of the dirtholes. I think I'll just give this farm a rest and move on. Kill the easy ones. That is unless she got brave last night. Either way I'm not too worried about whether she lives or dies. I've got the first deep freeze near full of fur and still plenty of time to fill the other three.

The fresh set that she took one step into


One of the remakes you can see the scratch marks there to the back of the hole. I didn't blend either of these in they were just wide open but the wind has been blowing the duff around and I've just left it.

Good job wade. That scratcher might be back...obviously it didn't get hurt by first visit there so should be back if back through same area.
I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving to start my line here. I gave up fighting things during rifle deer season. Crazy where they will drive and I had a few coyotes shot to (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) with high powers and decided that was enough for me. Even sets on supposedly only permission spots and set well back off the road and out of sight...still found some nut job driving back there and messing it all up. Had coyotes shot and taken, coyotes shot and left, traps taken, traps ran over repeatedly (I guess they couldn't pull the earth anchor so they kept driving back and forth over the trap to destroy it??) Some folks never had their daddy teach them.good swordsmanship and respect for others enjoyment of the outdoors I guess.
Good luck wade and keep us posted.
Jim

Looks like your having fun and making some good catches thanks for sharing

There is a lot of hard work behind those catches. Nice pics

Some good looking male coyote there, mine are mixed some white skin some grey yet

It's that time of year. I got off of work at 7 a.m. today and went out to get started. I got about 20 coyote sets in and a handful of cat/coon sets. Our cats opened up today. I had to drive about 30 miles to get started and began to work back this direction or I'd probably got more in. I stopped at noon because I work all night tonight. Took a little nap. I get off again at 7 a.m. and vacation begins. I plan to set from 8-3 tomorrow as many as I can. I'd go till dark but Jerry should be here from West Virginia about three o'clock and I'll probably be spent anyways. Keep telling myself sleep is for the birds but every year it gets a little harder to go with minimal. I don't want to jynx myself but from years past I am not complaining one bit about the weather I've got coming. So far so good and no blizzards this year. I'll try to remember to take some pictures and hope to pile up some fur. 18 degrees tonight and no moon I wish I could have set traps all day....those coyotes are going to run. Good news is I finished my graduate schooling a week ahead of time and still have my 4.0. Now it's time to do nothing but trap for 10 days.

Wade: great photos! What kind of traps and staking system do you run?

Thanks I run 50/50 MB550/Extreme juniors. I do have some odds and ends in there as well but the vast majority are those two traps. I use 12 inch Wolffangs on everything. Single J-hook to the factory chain and go.

Go get them Wade. I admire your get up and go. You remind me of a kid I knew years ago that could work an 8 hr job, run over 100 head of cows, farrow to finish a few hundred head of hogs in a year.... and still made time to run coon dogs, trap every winter, bow hunt and predator hunt as much as he could. Weld and work out in the shop every chance he got. Even had a family, although that was only till rough times hit. Now-a-days that "kid" has a bald head, weathered face, perhaps is a few more pounds heavier, weakened by time and situations out of his control. But still a kid , at least in his thoughts. Yes as I glance in the mirror, I still see him everyday. Have fun. Hope I can find a bit of energy like you have and get some iron out and call in a few critters. Good luck !!

That 9th picture from the top- mthe one with the outrageous sky- may be the best coyote pic of all time

Jerry got in yesterday around 3. I set till he got here. My truck is full of traps and now I’m just waiting for the sun to come up. Took him for a drive yesterday showed him some ground. He was excited about the trails. Wait till he sees them up closer. Weather is holding and he’s like me. We’re going to set till we run out of daylight. Pulled a coyote and a coon yesterday as I set. All my other sets sat untouched. We’ll see what today brings. First night catches make a guy happy.

You are showing great results from learning the land, having good relationships with landowners, preparation, hard work, persistence, knowledge, and good weather.

That Coon is a beauty. A pile of those would be nice.

Isn’t it amazing what we can determine is happening when we get involved, try to work with the landowner, scout for sign, and set some traps. He will never believe you and will doubt your word now. I do a lot of nuisance trapping so I hear unrealistic stories from many customers.

Best wishes for continued good weather.

Congratulations on finishing your studies and graduating very soon.

im glad y'all are doing good and having a good time while you're you're at it.

Jerry aint missing nothin here. we've had some snow in some areas and the rains. coming in again tomorrow.

hey wade.. make sure he gets plenty to eat. he eats like he works...

full speed ahead and wide open.

Well done Wade.. Congrats all the way around..

Jerry

That he does... I’m still trying to sleep at night so I’m not so groggy. We’ve been setting a lot of fields. I think I’m down to 2-3 traps. Seen coyote sign on every place we’ve set. We’ve had some weird weather. Low 60 highs have the coons running hard. They’ve made a lot of work on coyote sets. Coyotes are pretty sluggish right now with the warm and the gun season just ending. Jerry and I seem to be the same type set traps till you can’t anymore. We’re also making sets about the exact same speed which means I can barely snap a picture of him. We jump out two sets on one location and down the road. I did sneak one of him this morning.



Here’s the set I had just got done before I caught him. Every single set I have looks like this. Simple. Fast. Killing them.

I’ll take the slow movement any day with the weather we have. Ground is drying out. Getting on every place I want. No snow, ice, or rain like the last three years. Here soon I’ll be able to run straight dirt. Hoping some cats show up we’ve found some nice tracks just waiting them out. Have talked a few coyotes in the truck the last two days as well.

Few more that took the plunge.

Go get em Wade!

I don’t think he’s went to sleep hungry yet. I’m sure he’s burning the calories. I’ve averaged 9 miles a day on foot according to the watch even though we’re covering a number of miles in the truck. We’re a lot alike. You should ask him about the grass clump he thought he wanted to set, but dilly dallied a little too long getting going!

Great post Wade!!

Question for you, are you catching many Possum this year? So far for me they are pretty much non existent over here 45 miles east of you.

Corey

Good job wade.
Corey I didnt want to say anything out loud before knocking on wood but I haven't caught a possum yet either this year and there ain't many plastered to the road around here either. It's weird. I should have a dozen by now and of course not from trying the famn things just show up fast to sets in most years.
Well...now that I said it out loud I can surely count on a bunch this weekend, right???

The weather's been awesome here in the great state of Nebraska. It seemed like last year it got soggy and frozen right away, but never got cold enough to make really good ice, and stayed that way all winter. It's been beautiful this year, I've still been making sets in just a t-shirt most evenings. Those are some good looking coyotes, I like the pictures where they have their hackles up. Makes em look vicious.

Jab,

I haven't seen many on the roads either. It is really strange, I set the same farms and locations pretty much every year and always can count on cleaning out possums for 3-4 days. I haven't caught any this year at all either.

Corey

Corey, it’s been hit or miss. Not near like usual. We killed four today. This warm weather nothing is hungry. Even slow on the coons today. We’re in place to make some crazy catches if they decide to run. I’ve seen cats on places I’ve never seen cats before this year. We’re on top of cat tracks on a couple locations since the last rain a week ago. Waiting on them to come through again they have a gauntlet of snares and footholds to clear.

Cats and Coyotes have been moving pretty good over here. Coons too, I have to spend quite a bit of time re bedding traps that they are messing with.

Best of luck!!

Corey

Still no cats as of yet. Finally got the cold I’ve been begging for. We’ve had some challenges for sure. Cows dropped out on top of us (I’ve never seen a cow step square on an mb550 for the record it was crushed worse than I’ve seen tractors do). Jerry lost a trap to the disc of a tractor buried him in pretty deep. Then with the cold came the greyhound hunters. They’ve been running most sections out daily. We’ve run into two out of the three groups around here. Love hearing about how they ran four coyotes out of sections you’re heading towards (sarcasm). There were a couple rough days in there for sure...at least the cold slowed the coons down.

Here’s a picture I took as we headed into a field. Shortly after this pic I got to remake a set in 40 mph winds with ice pellets. Jerry was grinning ear to ear.


Few more coyotes. I’ve caught three and Jerry has caught one off this 40 acres. It’s the same 40 acres I caught 7 cats off in 10 days a couple years back. Never seen the coyotes like there are there this year. No pressure here. The second one laying down is the one Jerry caught. Didn’t get a very good picture but was a very pale coyote. Probably the best one I’ve seen this year.



Also not a good picture we check this place every day in the light but this is the 6th coyote I’ve taken out of this pasture. This is the place that had the dog getting harassed. Every coyote that goes down makes this landowner happy.


Sometimes they don’t ride in the truck. This was only the second case of mange I’ve had this year.

Good Job! im in Nebraska too, so this is helping me by seeing what you do! Thanks!

Two day’s before Jerry left I made a cat specific set. Knew there were cats. I funneled down a trail between two cedars. Left the trap exposed and made the pan the only spot to step. Still the funnest thing for me to catch.




Set this location along a meadow between two draws. Had to wait till the last day but finally the coyote ran where it was supposed to.


Back at work 60 hours this week. Got the truck in the shop for a new u-joint now. Haven’t decided if I want to chase the cats yet but I’m thinking I might. Set a few snares for coyotes along the way. Next season when I’m all done with school I’m hoping to travel some and get after some creatures out of my norm. We ran 100 head of cattle a couple miles yesterday. Watched the greyhound hunters chase two coyotes. One ran into the cows and the other made a run the other direction. I think you know which one died. We’ve got some snow here this morning. If I can get my truck back I might go chase some tracks in the morning.

Hope it goes good, what you taking in school?

Wade, were you using bait and lure? You keep it simple if I remember correctly

Yes, I usually just pick one bait and one lure a year. I ran Keg Creeks Showtime and urine on every set. I didn’t even make much for flat sets but the ones I did I ran his Magnum Force. Every dirt hole I’ve returned to has been blown out. They’ll dig it to China.

On the cat set I just made a walk through with Lenon’s Bobcat all call and exposed set. It’s the only cat specific set I made. It’s been a one night wonder on me with cats in the past. Took two nights this time but I was tired of not seeing spots. The Showtime is more geared towards fox/coyotes.

I don’t get hung up much on what bait or lure. They all work. John Graham’s cat creek and Travis Chilson’s Texas Bob Roberts together is a crazy combination though. I gave those two a rest this season. There wasn’t a fur bearer in Nebraska that could walk by that combo.

We got some snow. I set a dozen traps exposed on cat locations today. Truck got fixed at noon. Going to wait till fresh tracks in the morning and set on them and hunker down. Couldn’t stay away long. Might snare some coyotes for good measure.

Good lord. You guys make me want to move out of this state.

Great job.

I stretched some of those nebraska coons earlier today.

Only bad thing about them? There wasn't more of them to stretch.

Ive stretched alot of soon from several different states over the last 15 years and by far thw Nebraska coons are the biggest and best colores coon ive ever stretched.

They make our coon look like yella scrubs.

Great post Wade....keep hammering them and have a good time doing it. Tom

Glad your schoolin is done, you’ll enjoy making your own schedule. I missed being there after seeing the pictures, but I was able to take a local guy with me for a couple weeks and he caught his first coyote & bobcat (released)..
I’ll hit them again after Xmas...

Speaking of Marty’s Showtime. This dirt hole hadn’t been baited for 15 days. We’ve caught four off here already. Every dirt hole I pulled into this morning looking for cats looked like this. I couldn’t help myself there’s a few more coyotes that need killing. When I said they’d dig to China that includes through the snow.

Got the snow I see

Sure did it will be gone in two days. Just enough time to show me the trails they're running. Should be enough to hang a few. Cat tracks were non-existent today. I did find one place where two met up and hung a snare. Otherwise it was like a barren ground for cats. I know they're there. I have them on camera. Deer hunters have told me of seeing more than they've ever seen. It's just weird. I must have finally hammered the cats well enough on the one location. After 10 cats in two years it was all coyotes as far as the eye could see. That's where that picture was taken where I drove up to the first blown out dirthole. Dropped some wax sand in and I'll fight the freeze thaw a little bit. I'm on location for where I've caught cats in the past and where they've been seen or on camera. Now the waiting begins....our cycle seems to be 7-10 days but I'll be there.

looking good waderyan! what area of the state are you trapping? I am getting a super late start this year on putting out the steel and wire,lol. after x-mas i will be setting.

You can take over for me then. I’ll be pulling sometime around there. I’m in the southeast part of the state. Beatrice area.

Great stories from the line and great pictures, Thanks for sharing

Wade,, good thread thank you
I would have agree with you ,,, Marty's baits & lures are impressive .

i'll try and do justice, and remember to take some pics, i'll be out in the sandhills.

Around same area for me. Ill take over a little for you too!! im comin for ya racoons! lol!

You can have all the coons you want. They’ve been hot and heavy this year. Don’t even have to try to catch them! I’m playing the waiting game. Found two sets of cat tracks while the snow was on. I have some lovely neck ties hanging for some coyotes when they return.



Here’s the remake from the cat. Almost identical just block down the travel between the two cedars. Added grass clippings the first cat was completely exposed. Just made her step where I wanted her to.