Northern Kansas part FIVE! Y’all Ready?

Big Joe and I are gonna make another run in January and we fell it will be another epic adventure.

I spent the fall making waxed dirt for the trip. We will haul 120 gallons of it with us to use over our 14 day run. Traps are dyed and waxed. The War Chest of bait & lure is stocked and ready.

I plan to take you all on the trip with us again right here on this post.
We will start with some highlights from the past 4 trips!

I'm green with envy..............looks like you are ready. Will follow this in January.

You gonna be in north central Kansas ?

I am looking forward to your posts. Hope you enjoy yourselves as much as you have previous years

Yea we will be North Central. Base camp is in Republic County.

Have fun and holler if you need anything, Mark!

Will do!

I am counting down the days!

Cool and good luck. Great pics!

Great pictures. I was stationed at Ft Riley from 80-87. Trapped in my spare time and lived in the tiny village of Milford. I loved it there. Caught my first bobcats there. Learned to snare beaver and yotes. I wish you the best of luck.

Looking forward to following along with you on here and them talk about it in Lima. Hope you get good weather and lay into the predators!

After two wet years I am hoping for some dry conditions!

I will definitely see you in Lima!

Thanks!

My dad was at Fort Riley in 1966 before he went to Vietnam.

All 4 of my bobcats have came from Kansas including the first. Cats are my number one target.

Following your post Mark,looking forward to your harvest and landscape pics.

I am as excited as a kid at Christmas time. I also will be focusing on bobcats. Along with Coyotes and some of those prime Kansas Raccoon. What a great trip it was this past January. My traps are ready, bait and lure stocked. Now we wait and hope for good weather. It won't be long now!

Can’t wait to see the pictures and happy you are able to go again. Don’t be surprised if you find me hiding in one of your buckets of wax dirt when you get out there !😁. Safe travels and hope you get great weather. Good luck !!

Mark and Joe, I'm glad this is happening again for you guys! Looking forward to the stories and pics.

There is one more bedroom at the lodge but none of us have ever been upstairs! Kind of a thing that we don’t go up there! Lol!

Thanks KZoo! We plan tn make this trip more memorable than the last!

always look forward to your post

I hope we don’t disappoint this year!

Karl K, this is where you can follow allong!

We will start on January 1st!

Boogie man on the 2nd floor..............buba yega!

Good luck to the both of ya! Great pics Mark and Joe!

Butch

I am praying for dry weather for the next 36 days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got 120 gallons of waxed dirt packaged i. Individual gallon bags yesterday. Today i assembled the skinning rig to make sure it will be functional. I took it back apart into manageable sections for the trip.

I am counting down the days!

The weather has been great for a while now. But I'm a bit nervous about what will happen when you guys show up.

I remember the weather got pretty rough last year while you were here!

Glad you guys are coming, hope you do really well.

Yeah the past 4 trips have all been different. The first year we found most of the nights at or below zero and the days at or below freezing.
Last year we had a ton of wet conditions and were shut down once the sun took the frost off each day.

Final preparations are under way as we are in the last week before departure. I am studying my logs from previous trips and already planning some of my first sets! It’s starting to get real again!

We hit the road about 6:00 AM Yesterday. The 14 hour drive went very well. We were able to get unpacked and got the skinning rig all set up.. We got camp set up in the lodge and had a little time to relax before bed.
It is now 5:30 AM and I can hear the wind roaring outside . I haven’t peeked outside yet but I know the winter storm is dumping on us. We will brave the single digit temps, 30mph winds and snow today. We will get as many sets in as we can. I cant wait until the weather breaks and we can make some real pregress.

Oh yeah Happy New Year!

A little part of me wishes u guys would stay home.... lol . It seems you guy's traveling partner here recently has always been a winder storm of some kind. Lol Definitely look for the deepest most cedar choked draws if your going to be setting today. It's a bit cool out there. At least you made it here before the weather. Looks like another strong front later in the week also. Good luck.

Five degrees now, headed for a high of seven, Mark. Prolly can’t move the trip back a couple days!

Edit….I see now that your already here. Good luck to you fellas!

hope you pile em up

Thanks!

The snow total was probably 2-3 inches here. The 30+ mph winds and the single digit temps were the only struggle. We managed to get in 20 sets each. This was at 11 different locations on 8 different properties. Without any visible sign we had to set locations. Many are areas we have history with so we are on likely travel paths. Starting tomorrow morning we will get a good idea how many target critters are around and where they are traveling.

This morning we had a nice breakfast before it got light enough to see. We really had no idea at that poit how bad it was going to be. .



It was cold but not near as much snow as we expected
We were prepared for some difficult weather.

I grew up in Minnesota and let me tell ya Kansas cold ain’t no joke. It’s been 6 degrees all day with 14 mph winds at 85% humidity it does bite at ya.

Good luck out there and have a safe trip !

Y'all have fun and hope y'all catch a bunch.

January 2nd was the first check day and we continued to spread our net. Joe put is on the board with a nice male coyote on a great first night catch. We found a ton of sign finally so we set where we added a few to property we were already set on. We added traps to some other properties on our list. We explored a new piece that shows a ton of potential and eill likely set some more new property today. My set total is at 34 traps with 3 snares. Joe is about the same. Temps are still cold and this check will be the first full night after the wind stopped. We are excited to see what check #2 will bring.

Camp life has been good with many great meals and some much needed sleep.

Atta boy Joe!

Good job

I used to hunt west central Kansas and never saw many coyotes. The few we did see went from 0 to mach 4 if you slowed down in the truck. Apparently shooting from county roads (no paved) was allowed.

I enjoy being along for this ride Mark and Joe!
You guys stack 'em up now. That absolutely lovely skinning rig needs to be exhausted after two weeks.

Blessings!
Mark

Good luck guys hope you can get 20 to 40 yotes,wish MN would allow non resident trapping,it would be fun to go some where for a few weeks,have fun hope the weather breaks for you guys.

Keep the pics coming. Good luck guys!

Good luck ! Safe travels ! Enjoy the pictures ! Hope the weather improves !

I look forward to the daily reports. Keep them coming

looks like a great time ,

X2!!

Nice catches.

Check day 2 found us looking at empty traps. With the cold we aren’t even catching coons or possums. Yesterday while setting we had to bundle up due to the cold temps. Today we were much more comfortable and the snow is going away fast. We will have one more warm (36 degrees) day tomorrow before it gets cold again. We set today on some more great sign and are very optimistic about tomorrow morning.

Setting in below zero temps


Sunset after a warm sunny day. Snow is going away fast

I rebedded all my stuff yesterday. Added in a couple where tracks told me too. Pulled a couple that hadn’t done anything and no tracks. So I will likely not have mich skinning today

My money's on the Michigan dudes!
WTG guys. Cold? Psst. What cold.

Blessings,
Mark

We had a full day today! The setting is now sporadic as we check sets and find new locations to set on the same property. We acquired some new ground to set on and it has real promise. We found some good bobcat sign and made some sets that target cats but most will be coyote friendly as well.

Looks like the weather is getting better,good luck on the bobcats as well.

The weathe has definitely improved. i would like it if it stayed below freezing but at least is will be cold each night. We could get another inch of snow Wednesday night but it won’t last as the tenps next week are in the 40’s

How much frost are you dealing with 3" how long are you guys down there 2 weeks?I bet you guys are still having fun going some where with a decent amount of coyotes.Too bad MN has STUPID laws about no non residents.Be fun to go down to NE,KS or OK to trap one of these years.

Rick, the frost is typically only a couple of inches. Some places actually have no frost but frost or not this area of the state has some of the hardest clay i have ever seen.

We will be here a total of 14 days. It is more about the adventure that the catch numbers for us. It is just so much fun to be vacation longliners!

WTG guys , keep at it

I am pulling my traps today. Putting them in new spots friday. Time to start calving for a friend. That afterbirth brings them in from miles

We will have to see if there is any calving around here!

So far this trip has not disappointed. For me catching a few critters is a bonus. The scenery is spectacular and the local people are the salt of the earth. Conditions are a little different than back home but nothing we can't overcome. Seeing the amount of sign and the amount of traps we have out make me realize how lucky I am to be here enjoying this counrty.

I sure like living here

Some of the nicest people I have ever met...... I want to go back to KS sometime..

Come see us…..but don’t stay if your a progressive. They get shot on site! lol. Gettum Mark and Joe!

Had a fun day on the line today but it was frigid! 3 degrees and the wind chill make it difficult. We had to get many warm-ups in the truck.

Made a couple of Coyote catches and set some more fire hot sign today.

Cayote #1 was caught at the entrance of a badger hole. I made a stepdown set in frontnof the hole and added bait though the coyotes were already visiting the site.

Coyote #2 came in a blind trail set with a sprinklenof coyote urine on a log they had been stepping over.

We found another active badger hole at a differnt farm and set it with a step down for coyotes. The badger is likely to get caught if he is still in the neighborhood.

Nice,did the one get caught in a cat set hollow log flat set thats in the burn circle?

That’s a great observation and question. It was actually a blind trail set. The coyotes had been running the dry creek bed and all stepped over a rotten log with their prints in the same spot. I bedded a trap there and blended it in. I put a few drops of bobcat urine on the log.

I did use the newly exposed hollow log as a backing. It is now perpendicular to the new walk thru set I made there. i added some coyote frenzy in the log along with some sheep's wool. (The property is a sheep farm)

Love the ride along guys!

Blessings,
Mark

I would love to trap kansas looks amazing.

keep going guy the weather well gets better by spring

Stay there if you can, it has done nothing but snow here since you left. -6 here this morning, Great pictures and beautiful country !

Does Kansas have unlimited coyotes? A breeding ground for all the other states? We ALWAYS saw and called up coyotes turkey hunting out there….using turkey calls to call in turkeys, lol.
Just about every landowner we’d stop and ask permission would always throw in shoot every coyote you see and you can hunt.
Even went to one landowners house that gave us permission except for one field you could see from his back deck. He would throw whatever died in that field and sit out at night and shoot coyotes with thermal. It was May and said he was already over 300 coyotes killed.
Just seems with all the trapping and shooting there wouldn’t be any left by now, lol. At least not in the numbers everyone seems to take every year out there.

Had a good run today even though the movement was down last night. Joe picked up a nice coyote and I got a badger.

At one location I had to walk in to do a remake with an Angus Bull 40 yards away! 😮

I reworked a set after the trail camera showed the coyote working from the back side! 🤷‍♂️

I was able to get some great barn shots today which was the icingnon the cake!

We set a lot more good sign today and are ready to hit the skinning barn.

How many sets do you guys have out

Great barn pictures the sky is very detailed,nice looking coyote was that badger from that set you posted two days ago,it also looks like a well furred badger with decent color.Keep hammering away 6 more checks?

I have 77 footholds set and 3 snares. i believe Joe has 73 footholds set.

The area we are trapping is getting a lot of hunting pressure. There is a coyote calling competition in this area this weekend and there are people calling all night with many on thr same properties we are trapping.

The badger was caught in the set I posted earlier this week. I will post below the initial set and the remake.

We have 5 more full checks. Thursday we will check everything but will be starting to pull sets that day. We will leave the farms that wr have the most confidence in and pull marginal locations. Friday will be a check day too but only half of the sets will be checked. Once we pull sets on Friday we will pack up camp, say our good byes and head for home.

that night calling is getting to be popular

Here is the initial setup on the active badger den. I was hoping to catch a coyote here but knew therenwas a chance to catch the badger.






Here is the remake. I remade the walk through style set at the opening and I added a second trap at the bottom of the dirt mound

Yesterday saw things picking up with the warmer temps the night before. The 13 degrees when wen started made it chilly but the coons are starting to move. It is now only a 6 hour run in the truck and over 7 hours if I include the for local coffee time and such. We are mostly checking and resetting now which has sped us up. We did set a line of DP’s yesterday in likely spots in a attempt to intercept coons and possums before they get to our K9 sets.

Of the three coyotes we caught yesterday, 2 had mange and the other was rubbed terribly. We are hoping to get some nicer ones today.

Did y’all know the coyote hunting would be going on before you got there?

We did not know. We have been planning the trip for half a year. We are still picking up coyotes and there seem to be plenty.

Great pics furminator.

How did you get started out there? Looks like a great time and since I am retiring this year I would like to set up a trip there next year. What’s the best way to get started on getting permissions and finding places to trap? Any help is appreciated!!

Good job man, looks like you are doing well there

I was invited along by a friend the first year. I have since made a lot of friends in the area which has added tonthe success of the trip.

You may contact outfitters in the area you want to be i to see if they will let you trap to help with predator control.

The checking today started off cold again but we were much more comfortable as the day progressed. We had less activity than we planned but managed to get some fur to skin. We should start to see more coon, possum and skunk activity soon.




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I'm glad to see you having fun. I spent 40 years in Kansas and found lots of landowners that would have me around to put a thin on the coyotes. All in all a great bunch!

Where's the cats?

keep on keeping on the cats will come

Thanks for the info!!

Tuesday was one of our more challenging days. The warmer temps brought out the coons and we spent a lot of time remaking sets. Half way through the check we started losing air in the right front tire. It ended up being a hole in the sidewall so a new tire had to be purchased. The delay had us checking late and we were back just in time for dinner.

How do these coons compare to Michigan coon?

The Kansas coons are much nicer than the Michigan ones. Most we are catching are small so far.

Thought the last pic was a beauty. Like a movie star. Most our coons look like and smell like hobos who peed their pants.

So today we were finally able to see spots! Big Joe connected on a beautifully spotted bobcat!
It was so exciting when he realized it was a bobcat and not a raccoon.

I got a couple of stinkers today and we both got our share of coons.

We have one more full check tomorrow and we will pull most of the line in the process. We will leave a few properties set until Friday morning. Once we get everything pulled on Friday we will pack up and make the 13 hour drive back to my house.

Nice trapping work. Great pics!

Another one in the memory banks! I can't thank all the people who made it possible for Mark and I to have such a great adventure. The local folks, the land owners, friends, they all made the trip a success. For us it wasn't about high numbers, it was more about experience. We were fortunate to catch a variety of animals. I will be getting my bobcat mounted. It may not be the biggest cat, or have the best spots, but I am proud to have it and want to look at it each day and remember our trip to Kansas.

Thanks for letting us ride along,I sure wish MN would change to one of these years I could go on a trapping adventure some where out of state like NE,KS or OK.Thank's again looking forward to your trip next winter.

Always enjoy following your thread and your experience on the road. Safe travels and I look forward to seeing you at the NTA in Lima this summer!

another great year guys thanks for sharing

thanks for taking us along