Journal 2017-18

My name is Sissy and I am from a small northwest village on the Norton Sound in Alaska. I have a bachelors in mathematics and grew up on an old reindeer herding farm 13 miles north of the village I currently live in. My dad used to trap out of there when I was a little human. I started trapping with my trapping partner, Gregg, in 2011 when I moved back to the village after graduating from college. We have a line up the Little North, the North River, the main river, and have set traps up the Egavik River.

Welcome Sissy. Look forward to your Journal What animal are you trapping?

My trapping partner, Gregg, and I were finally able to get out on Monday to break trail and get some sets in. The weather out here hasn't been cooperative for rivers and creeks to freeze and the snow was late in coming.

I left town as the sky was starting to get light. As soon as I started to leave my headlights went out. I patted my pocket to make sure my head lamp was there, turned off my hand and thumb warmers, and took off. The light was flat and it was windy. I kept putting my goggles on and off, trying not to hit drifts and jar my insides.

As the morning grew lighter, my drive got easier. The mouth and lower part of the river were open less than a week ago, so I went overland. There was bunny sign everywhere along my drive up to my trapping partner's cabin. He was still cooking breakfast, so I took most of my gear off and curled up with dogs vying for my attention.

After he finished breakfast, we geared up and headed down a river bend and up across the tundra towards our line. The wind was blowing the snow sideways. We got to the first creek and stopped to hike through the willows to see what the wall of snow looked like on the other side. It was doable. One after another, we both slammed into the wall and flopped down on top of the drift. The next creek was easier and then we picked our way through the trees finding our trail from previous years. We crossed a lynx track, a marten track, and a lot of bunny track.

In the flat light my trapping partner hit a drift sideways and almost tipped over, but recovered enough to make it through a line of trees, gunning it into the snow. I followed and slipped into the soft snow he had created and dug right down and settled in. I leaned and wiggled and dug down a bit more before stopping. I hopped off, gave a little throttle, and pushed. I moved two inches forward and then my track started digging in.

My trapping partner walked back, grabbed a ski and pulled while I dug my feet down and pushed. A little throttle, a lot of effort and the handlebars were out of my hands and I was crawling out of powder. We repeated the process once more and I was able to scramble onto the running board and flop onto my machine and out of the powder.

We gulped a little air and then sought out our trail once more. We saw the first pole set and fell into the rhythm of setting. He knocked snow off the pole, I baited the newspaper carrier. He hammered the carrier in place, I wired the trap to the pole. He set the trap, while I smudged the stink. We packed up and left. Drive, repeat, drive, repeat.



We catch up as we go. Talking about daily lives, goals for the season, yummy things we’ve eaten, stories we’re not quite sure we haven’t shared. There are moments of silence. We work together in a way that we don’t need to say what we’re doing.

I paused at a troublesome creek to watch my trapping partner cross. He hit a wall and started skidding. Off went my gun and I started walking towards him as he’s still wiggling in the snow. He climbed off and unhooked the sled. I grabbed it from the rope loops and pulled it out of the creek, back up the little hill on the other side of the creek. My trapping partner had been stomping and clearing snow. I got down on my knees and got ready to push, he looked at me and then started giving it a little throttle. His machine chugged up the other side and I kept pushing crawling forward, right onto a small broken off tree, shooting sharp pain onto my right knee.

The machine made it onto the bank and Gregg started digging out rope. I flopped onto my butt and gave my knee a rub. I crawled back up the other side of the creek and pulled the sled down. Gregg tossed me the other end of the rope and I looped it through and tossed it back to him. I grabbed the saw and cut down a little tree on the side of trail that his ski almost got tangled up in, while Gregg pulled the sled up and rehooked it to his machine.



After I tossed the little tree aside, I hiked back up to my machine and fired it up. I looked down at the mess we’d made and shook my head. This was gonna be a crapshoot. I started down the bank, slid off the trail a bit slammed into the other side too far to the right and hooked a tree on my ski. The back of my machine dug in. Gregg started walking back down and we grabbed the saw and cut down the tree I was hooked on. We lifted my track out of the hole it had dug itself in. Gregg pulled a ski, I pushed and gave it a little throttle. We rocked it out and up the other side of the creek.

We paused to put ourselves back together. The wind wasn’t so bad back in the trees and the sun was trying to peek out from the grey skies. A couple sips of water, and we were back on track, twisting and winding through the trees. We fell back into our rhythm and rocked getting our sets in. The tree had been knocked off the pole on one of our sets. I cut down a new pole and then started building a cubby with the branches while my trapping partner reset the marten pole. I baited the cubby, wired the 330 to a tree, set the conibear, and then filled in the front of the cubby.



Two more sets and we were out of boxes. We were at the last set before the trail drops down onto the part of the creek we travel on. It was the perfect spot to end our day. After bundling up we wound our way back on our trail out to the blustery tundra. After dropping straight down and through the last creek, Gregg pulled over and I pulled up next to him. We looked and felt a little worse for the wear, but had big smiles on our faces. He planned to come to town tomorrow and I said I’d come by the shop so we could pack up more gear for Wednesday.

We parted ways. He picked his way across the tundra towards his cabin, and I followed the creek, where there was a bit more snow, back to the road and then headed back to town, already anxious to be back out on Wednesday.

Wow that sounds like quite the trapline run. I hope your knee is well and you all have a productive season.

Thank you. We trap marten, mink, fox, lynx, wolverine, wolf, beaver, and river otter.

It was a bit of a rough trail breaking day, but so good to be out. My knee is black and blue but working good.

I always admire the colors of my bruises. ;0) Great writing and thanks for sharing such and in depth report. Anxious to see some fur.

Good job on your journal Sissy! Look forward to following your adventures and seeing your catch's!

Enjoyed your trapping adventure.
Keep us posted..

Good Luck on your season Sissy! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the group!

Wednesday morning rolled around and I woke up congested, snotty, and coughing but still had energy. The weather and forecast looked good. So I took some Dayquil and waited for daylight. I geared up, fired up my machine, and headed off for the hills. Today was a day to get more sets in. On the way out of town I drove by a bunny that someone had driven over in town. I'd never seen road kill in the village before. I turned around kicked him off the road and brought him along for bait.

A machine turned onto the trail near town in front of me. I followed them up and over musk ox hill and then turned onto the road towards North River bridge, as they kept on following the musk ox trail. The road had drifted with crooked steep snow banks. I turned off and drove alongside the road until it mellowed out. I made it to my trapping partner’s cabin without incident, stopping to take a picture of the river lodge, which is how I ended up here. My mama came up here 40+ years ago to cook for the crew that was building the lodge and ended up staying and making this her home.



Gregg was ready to go today and tromped down the steps all decked out in his gear, toting his new .17 wsm. We headed out down the river and across the tundra. We stopped where we cross the road to talk about setting fox snares and a set by the road. We both pointed to the tundra on the other side of the road, then took off after a fox that paused to look at us and then take off as fast as his little feet could take him towards the trees. My trapping partner always pulls the sled, his machine is built better for it, so I sped around him and cut the fox off before it could get to the trees. It started running back towards the road, so we both stopped and took sight. Gregg pulled his trigger seconds before I was about to pull mine and mister fox went down. My face burst into a huge smile. Fur. And my favorite to practice the first skin of the season on. He pulled up, excited that it was his first shot at a critter with his new gun.



I emptied out 220’s and buckets out of the fur bag, as Gregg took care of the fox. Since we’d already crossed the tundra, we picked our way along the trees and creek. The creek still had open water in places. Neither of us felt comfortable driving our machines to where we set, so we pulled what we needed and hiked into the beaver house. There was lynx and mink sign. It was a beautiful day. We put our sets in and naturally I almost slipped and fell on the walk out.



We saw more lynx tracks along another creek and put in a cubby and snare set. After we’d taken off towards our trail from Monday, I realized that I no longer had my goggles. I’d take off my hat and one neck warmer at the last set, so I figured we’d stop back by on our way out. I mentioned it to Gregg as we put in new marten sets before the beginning of our line.

The trail had set up beautifully. We cruised through the line, picking up two marten in our traps along the way. There was one corner that we felt needed a marten pole, so we put one in. One small section of the trail had fallen into a creek but we were able to make a trail around it. A fox had been sniffing the bait in two of our marten sets, so we put in a set for him. We reached the part of our line that drops down onto the creek but after seeing all of the open water earlier, we decided to hike through the willows to take a look. And what do you know, there was a big hole right where we drive onto the creek. We checked the time and decided to call it a day. It was the perfect time for us to head back, in order for me to get to town before dark. I really need to get a new voltage regulator.

Thank you.

Very nice.
Also those marten are getting too far in before firing your 120's. That is something that can be fixed. Do you have pictures of your marten sets?

Hi Sissy, I used to live in Unk! Sure miss trapping there, tho weather always seemed to make it difficult. The trail from town to Shak was good for lynx and wolverine. Always wondered about up Egavik. Any marten up there? Also did good on lynx along the base of the hills to the south. Every brushy cr. that came out of the hills had lynx.
I was in Unk for Wades wedding last Aug. Good to see all my old buddies and co workers. Wade said there are too many fox around town. Invited me to come help out, haha. Maybe some opportunity there for you.
Your mom gave me one of the first sled dogs I ever owned a loooooonnnnnnggggg time ago. Was my leader for several years. Don't own sled dogs anymore tho.
Enjoying your posts and pics. Looking forward to more.
mt

I know. I hate it when poop gets smushed out. My trapping partner covered this with me that day. And laughed at me because of my ickiness towards poop.

Hey MT, yes, the weather out here isn't always cooperative for getting out in the country. I guess some people tried to get to Shak yesterday and had a rough go of it. They turned back around Blueberry I think. The creeks haven't froze yet this year. There are marten up the Egavik river, but you can't travel on the river, it's never safe. We typically travel up on the North side. We generally put sets in up rabbit creek and the creek east of it, making a big loop and then heading up to Sauyak (sp?) on the Iditarod trail.
There are a lot of fox around town and right up the road, in the new houses. You can't trap em in town though. Too many dog's running around.
May I ask what you name is? Mama was curious when I mentioned she gave you a sled dog. She ran dogs a long time ago.
Thanks for reading!

Yes, and if using standard wire triggers I would say your traps need tuning. From the pictures I note you are using pan triggers.
In this situation I would suspect you are setting your traps to far away from the bait. When using a horizontal or inclined trap box be it with standard wire or pan trigger, if it is set too far away from the bait the animal sometimes moves through the wire trigger or jumps over the pan and fires the trap with it’s body or hind feet, resulting in a hip catch. With a 120 trap set within 4-6 inches of the bait, you will get a neck or neck and thorax quick kill zone strike virtually every time. This occurs because the animal is stable at the bait, not moving through, and centered towards the trap when it is triggered.





Also, do not place the trap springs against the spring slot ends as when the trap is sprung, with the spring against the slot end, it will jump out over the animal and not always get the best humane catch. The solution is to set your trap spring an inch to 1 1/2 inch before the end of the slot, which greatly reduces the propelling of the trap by the spring. When the trap is fired the springs will still hit the end of the slots, without losing significant striking power or jumping over the animal, yet with enough force to help propel the trap and animal out of the box especially with an inclined box facing downward.

We've picked up three more marten and missed a kitty. I've been bonding with the marten at the shop.

Careful, sometimes those things have fleas!!

Sent you a PM.

This guy's friend only had two. The fox that I did a few days before had wayyyy too many.

Get some raid. Put animal in a plastic bag when you get back from the trapline. Give a good shot of spray and leave for an hour. Problem solved.
Used to have to do all fox and coyotes in Montana. Mostly Fox.

They've usually left the building by the time they're thawed out ready for skinning. The ones that I encounter I just pinch and chuck on the floor of the shop.

Took a break and brought my mama into Anchorage for appointments. Got back to the village yesterday.

Gregg brought two in this morning and I worked on 'em while he fixed my voltage regulator and gave me Christmas lights. I finished skinning minutes after he finished installing my lights.

Nice catches and pictures.

Nice! Sissy are you stretching skin out for a time before turning or going straight to hair out?

I turn em anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. It depends on how warm the shop is. My trapping partner lives upriver, so I get to turn em at night after he goes home.

Nice marten.Congrats

So two pins, and done?

I excessively pin when they're flesh side out. And then, yes, two pins after turning them.
I was told last night that I should pin the ears after turning.

Teaching a buddy how to skin paws and ears. His kitty had a notched ear so I helped him out with that side.

It’s late December and our temperature hasn’t been below zero yet this year. Creeks are open, the river has open holes, and there is a lot of overflow. The river is our highway in the winter. And it’s not safe.

It was still dark at 10:30 when I started getting my gear together, gassing up, and picking up Kathy’s eggs (that Gregg had forgotten at the shop). By the time 11 rolled around it was fairly light and I was on my way to the cabin. The first creek right out of town had opened up. I shook my head as I drove up on and over the culvert.

The trail was surprisingly good. I hadn’t been out for almost two weeks, because I had brought my mama in to Anchorage for appointments. With the warm weather and rain, I had expected it to be icy or mostly melted. The snow we had been getting must have enough to combat the effects of the rain. I was able to move along at a nice clip and made it to my trapping partner’s cabin by noon. He was down on the river, chipping ice off of his machine. I hauled my overnight bag and Kathy’s eggs up the steps and then we were on our way.

It was wonderful having snow. It’s been five years since the tundra was covered with enough snow to drive comfortably around anywhere, without beating yourself and your machine up. We cruised up to our rabbit creek sets and as I pulled up next to my trapping partner, I squeaked. There was fur! A small lynx. We hiked in and bumped butts, getting the kitty and resetting and rebaiting. There’s a “Y” in the creek where we always set and this year it hadn’t frozen yet. The first year, in the 6 years that I’ve been trapping with Gregg, that it’s been open in December.




We circled up the hill and then crossed the creek where it was frozen and headed across the tundra to the next creek. I was still in awe of being able to drive wherever I wanted across the tundra without jiggling all over the place. The bait had been picked out of the box and cubby. The bait hasn’t been staying frozen and the birds, mice, and weasels have been having a field day.



Our next sets were across the Iditarod trail closer to the river. I looked for rabbit and critters as we cruised along, following my trapping partner, wandering wherever I wanted. After my hectic the trip to town, it was heavenly. There was a fair bit of wind (we had a winter weather advisory happening and it was supposed to gust to 50) and snow kicked up by it, but it was about 30 degrees and not too chilly. We rolled through the sets and picked up a marten on the last one.




The wind picked up and settled down as we wound our way in and out of the trees. We tried going on our trails that crossed creeks and went down on sloughs and lagoons. Gregg broke through the ice on a creek. We both splashed through overflow on a slough and had to hightail it back up on the tundra. The sets that we could get to, we put in. We set four marten poles, a kitty cubby, and set out a mink box.




As we headed out to the tundra to circle around another part of our trail wasn’t drivable, the wind kicked up and turned everything around us white. Gregg stopped and I pulled up next to him. After a quick shouting at each other, we figured it was best to call it a day while we still had daylight to get back to his cabin.

We traveled marker to marker along the Iditarod trail, me following Gregg. He didn’t turn off the trail to go around the normal crossing of Rabbit Creek, which hadn’t been crossable for at least three years. I lingered back, waiting to see if we would have to turn around and go to the beaver pond that we’d been using the last three years. But he drove down a little drop and scooted right up the other side. No freaking way! There was enough snow this year to cross. I followed and pulled up next to him parked on the other side. The wind had died down again and the weather was better on this side of the creek. We poked around the area for sign and a good place to set. Unsuccessfully.

I followed Gregg back to the Iditarod trail, down the river and to his cabin. We circled facing upriver, our rigs pointing into the wind and started the long trek up the stairs to the cabin. Visiting and a water and whiskey were in our near future.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing your adventures!

It's been a busy holiday. I haven't been able to get out as much as I have wanted to because of work and family visiting. But I've been doing almost all of the skinning. I love skinning, so it's been working out okay.

The kitty was fun and I think she turned out great.




I took a little break while I was doing the kitty to skin a fox for my buddy, so he could watch me skin it. He punched a hold in the last one he did. I also showed him the way that HFT_AK showed me how to do fox paws.

Then I had some marten to turn.



I learned something new! Pinned ears.




We've got some good sized ones this year. His little tail hairs were longer than the board.

The weather is finally cooling down. So I'm hoping that this will freeze up and that we'll be able to get around better.



Tomorrow I get to work on these three that my trapping partner picked up on his check yesterday, while he works on machines. Thursday I cover for a coworker and then Friday funday. I can't wait!

Very nice!

Nice work on the put ups Sissy.

Sweet. Nice to see you have fur coming in. Crazy weather.

Does Gregg still do a repair biz there? Looks like your doing pretty good on marten.
YDFDA is buying marten in Grayling, maybe some other villages and advertising 100 bucks a skin!! Their buyer is Ivan Diemtoff.
mt

Thank you, AKHowler.

The weather has finally cooled down, so hopefully we'll be seeing some more fur, Family_Trapper.

Yes, martentrapper, Gregg still does a repair business here. He's working on people's machines today and then we're going to play out tomorrow. We heard that! He's supposed to be giving them a call soon.

Nice looking marten.

Ditto what was said above, very nice job putting up the fur, handled well.
Your obviously a very talented young lady, thanks for taking us along I am enjoying it greatly.

Osky

Today wasn't exactly the Friday funday that I was hoping for. It ranged from -14 to -20 with windchill. And nothing had been moving for three days. The river holes closed back over and the overflow froze, so we could safely make it up the river and onto sloughs. And there was no sign to be found, anywhere. We explored new territory and saw only one fresh marten track and very minimal fox sign, after three calm days. It was really frustrating and disappointing. We went way up past Sirosky (sp?) and setting two traps, just wasn't worth the trek.





So we cruised back to check our sets lower on the trail and missed three marten. They just didn't want to climb up the frost covered poles. We had had two days of ice fog (and incidentally no flights). But it was a gorgeous day and any day on the line is better than a day at work. <3

looks like nice country Sissy. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I think you have to get up Chirosky to get marten. I mean more marten. Or farther up Unk. river. Wonder what the marten pop. is like around Old Woman? Far away tho.
I had a decent marten line back when I lived there. Started going over Old army hill I think. Existing trail from there along a ridge and down in to a valley. Cut trail from there up to another hill top. Flew Zane around when I was there in Aug. and we flew that trail. Maybe he remembers.
No trips to Egavik lately?
mt

backroadsarcher You're welcome. I'm particularly fond of it myself, but I'm biased.

martentrapper I didn't feel comfortable traveling on the river until this past week. It finally cooled down and then was forecasted to warm up again. There's been so much overflow and open water for traveling around water ways. Blueberry creek was still open, and people were getting stuck trying to get to and from Shaktoolik. So I haven't ventured over to Egavik. It's changed so much since my family lived there. I took a little break to come into Anchorage for the New Year, I'm hoping the weather stays cold and that North River gets good for traveling by the time I'm back in the village.

I have tiny creeks around my village we have to worry about and no trees, so most of the time we can just find a different route. I hope your highways freeze up soon for you

Today was one of those really lovely days on the line. I've been smiles all day.

My BFF, trapping partner extraordinaire Gregger met me in front of Ayyu's hill timing when I'd get up to his cabin perfectly. We hashed out a little more specific plan of attack for the day and headed off into a ground storm. Before we could blink, we both sped up towards a critter running across the tundra towards us. The fox must not have seen or heard us because he kept right on coming. I pulled up, Gregg pulled up and the fox ran right in front of him. I had my gun off waiting in case it ran either direction. Gregg fussed with his a minute (the bullet didn't load properly initially) and then shot the fox right in front of him. Great start to the day!



We saw a lynx track crossing the road, so we hiked off and make a cubby and put a couple snares in.

Then we checked the few sets we had in, with two marten. One was a greedy little gumdrop trying to steal our bait.




We were able to follow along the North side of the river, poking in and out of the trees, putting in five more marten sets. There was sign and we were really excited to try a couple new lures from a friend! There was no wind in the trees and it was a balmy 9 degrees out. Perfect weather. I'd missed my trapping partner and being out in the country while I was in Anchorage this last week. I love being able to chat with him about life while we're building our sets. We rarely ever have to talk about what we're doing and can just catch up and talk to each other.



Everyone once and a while we'd have to go back out to the main trail to cross a creek. It still hasn't been cold enough for things to freeze. After popping out to the main trail, we headed back towards the river and came across lynx and fox track everywhere on the tundra. We found a clump of trees, hung up a grouse carcass and set some snares.



The next creek we headed out to the main trail and hiked down to the crossing. An inch of ice and 3 foot drops on each side. We followed the creek up to a bluff where we ended up overlooking the trail we wanted to be on and couldn't get to. It was the end of the line for the day. We shut off our rigs and watched the snow blow over the countryside. I plopped down onto the snow and we talked about the rest of the week. I have a meeting tomorrow, but if the weather cooperates we'll be back out Wednesday, playing in the trees and snow.

Nice! You guys got a lot of marten up there!!

Nunamiut, We have willows and small trees around our creeks. It makes looking for another crossing difficult. And because they haven't been frozen yet this year, no snow has built up. There are steep drops on each side. Rough.

HFT_AK, Yes we're lucky to have a lot of marten up here. We're heading out tomorrow to try and get more gear out!

34 degrees. In the middle of January. Yuck. I came home and had to run through three spots of overflow. Yuuuuck.



But it was a beautiful and good day. Got 7 more marten sets out and hung up 5 marten in the shop. (And cleaned one birdie for dinner.)

The new lure drew these pretty fellas in.

Lookit his cute face!


This poor guy hopped into the lynx cubby we had set along this bank and not the box we had set up for him.


I love the orange patch on marten.


We hiked down to where the trail drops down onto North River and decided that it was a bad idea to drive where there were holes and could see running water.


I'm already excited to be hanging at the shop, putting up fur, tomorrow.

Thanks for the pics and updates

RdFx Thank you for reading! :-)

I hate the warm weather in the middle of winter! Looks like you are making the mist of it.

Looks like you have a little bit of work ahead of you! Great job, Thanks for sharing.

That must be Greg's shop in town? I'd say your doing pretty good for the time you and he have invested. Couple more years and you might be able to run traps with a boat! Haha!
Keep the pics coming.
mt

smalltimetrapper Yes, we're definitely trying to. We're doing better than last year for this time so that's a good feeling. But it's still frustrating. I'm kind of a wuss with overflow.

Gator_Jr. I had em skinned in just over an hour. Thank you!

martentrapper ugh, don't joke! We have to seal hunt by boat these days because we don't get good ocean ice anymore. Yes that's Gregg's shop in town. We've got a sweet set up there.

No fur today, but we got out 11 marten sets, a wolverine cubby, a lynx cubby, and snares. We also started breaking trail in a new area and found a fair bit of sign!

Cubby



The area we trap burned two years ago. It was kinda neat and strange to explore the area.




Cute little toe prints. It snowed this morning, so these were pretty fresh!



We ran into and chased birdies on our way home. This guy's crop was stuffed!




Sadly I'll miss the next trip out on the line. I have to cover for my coworker the next two days and then work my two days.

After four days of work, I couldn't wait to get out on the line. Too bad it had to be 16 below, about 25 to 30 below with wind chill. It took a bit longer to get ready, the fuel pump at corporation was out of commission. They ended up having limited hours at the tank farm for people to get gas. There was a line there when I pulled up. But the cold weather also meant no overflow!

We came across a big flock of ptarmigan on the ride up to the line and there was bird sign everywhere we went. There were fox tracks following the trail behind musk ox hill and there was moose activity everywhere. There was no lynx or wolverine sign, and very little marten activity.

We got two marten in the most recent sets we put in. One on a pole set and the other on a vertical set. I was a happy girl to see fur.




We poked around and found our way to some of our old pole sets from a few years ago and got 5 more sets in. It's always gratifying to see tracks under your poles. We also looked around some new areas but didn't find a lot of sign. A few more days of this cold weather and I bet North River freezes over and is safe for travel. Here's hoping!

Everyone likes a good "look at my frosted face" picture, right?


Almost home as the sun is setting.

Where's Gary E.? Is he trapping somewhere?
mt

Thanks for the write up and pics!

martentrapper Mr. Eckenweiler is trapping up North River. He just got some sets in this past weekend. Mostly wolverine.

Overkill375 You're welcome. I'm enjoying sharing and really enjoying creeping on everyone's posts!


Today was discouraging. Not a single fresh track. And we covered a lot of ground. We were finally able to get onto North River. It froze all kinds of crazy and dropped up and down. And there was moose sign everywhere. It was almost unbelievable. I shot one rabbit and one ptarmigan. We went way up past our two huge beaver houses we trap in the spring, and saw minimal sign and it was all old.

We put two marten sets and a lynx cubby in from where we drop onto the river, down to where we get off of the river. Rough day.




I love marks in the snow. We came across fox hunting today and this.

Lower 48 folks like me live vicariously through your great pictures and writing, Sissy. Thank you

Fox preditated by winged preditor? If those are fox tracks and they disappear, those wing marks arent big enough to lift a fox....maybe im reading the evidence wrong?

RdFx they're ptarmigan tracks. He was running and then took off!

Sissy thanks for the ATA article

PAlltheway Thank you for reading and commenting.

drasselt I feel really honored that they asked me for a second article after my beaver trapping one. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.


My trapping partner is headed out to check traps without me today, while I'm stuck at work. Then tomorrow we're going to explore South River or head to Egavik. Impatient girl!

Does Larry Nakarak still trap?
mt

martentrapper I haven't heard about him trapping. But that doesn't mean he isn't. :-) Junie is, he's working up the main river.

My BFF had a great day on the line, while I was dealing with cancelled flights! To be fair he also had to deal with overflow and water eeeeeverywhere.

I think our plans for tomorrow are going to be switching from setting traps to skinning!

There was a marten in a no. 4 meant for a kitty. And a marten in a pole set.

There was a picture I posted a while back with fox and lynx tracks everywhere and we did two snare sets around that area. A fox had a good meal from the bait at the first set. But then his tracks went to the second set and he was there glaring away! He'd somehow got caught in the snare twice and hadn't died.



We have one set up by a beaver house, where we do it up for lynx, wolverine, and mink/marten. It's been a good spot over the years. Up until now this season, two lynx have traveled through ignoring their set up, sniffing the wolverine and mink/marten sets and then wandering off. -_- But this time a wolverine through and knocked the mink/marten box over, open it's lid, and ate the bait. Thankfully he then stomped over to his box and stuck his head in a 300 trying to get my ptarmigan carcass!




He called me when he got to town. Luckily I had just gotten off of work. So I scampered down to the shop and asked all about his day. I can't wait to ask all over again tomorrow, when we're skinning and putting up critters.

That is a real beauty there!! Way to go.

Thanks for sharing Sissy. Looks like you guys are getting some fur in shop!!! That wolverine is a beauty!!

Looks like a nice gulo, congrats!

Awesome wolverine! Just got one a couple weeks ago after letting the set sit for a month. Tried going after wolves and animals tracking them but no luck, they reach the trees before I could catch up to them. Hope to see more pics

It's a nice week when it starts and ends with a wolverine.





I was at work when my trapping partner pulled up with this guy on the back of his rig yesterday! We caught him up Rabbit Creek in a snare that he twisted something fierce.



I shot at a fox Monday when I was giving a family member a ride. I thought I missed him because I didn't see any blood, but I saw where he ran to. A culvert right by the tank farm. So I set a snare there Friday night and Saturday night, there he was! Bright red and caught around his middle. I never make my loops small enough or set them high enough.






Turns out I didn't completely miss him. I just nicked the top of his head.

I was in Unk Friday. Fixed a plane and came back. Got to see Lorena for a couple minutes and talked to Wade and Allen. Didn't have time for much more. All the snow around there sure brings back my memories of trapping there.
Someone else told me they hadn't seen sign of anyone trapping up South R. Gotta be some lynx and wolverine up there!
mt

Any day that has a gulo involved is a good one!

martentrapper, We've been trying to get up South River but there's way too much water right now.


A big storm was supposed to hit early this morning at 5 am, but it never came. The winds howled but the promised snow never came this far south. I had work today and everyone thought we wouldn't be flying, but the weather was good south of us. It shut down Nome and Koyuk today, though. We didn't get any flights from them.

On his way to town my trapping partner planned on getting a load of wood. At the last minute he decided to see if he could get up North River to check our sets because it was so warm today. He only made it so far before water and open holes turned him around.

But in the sets he was able to check, we had some fur!



The lynx was in a snare set that we had in a clump of trees surrounded by tracks when we set it. Nothing had been back in the month since it was put in, but today it produced a kitty.



The small marten was caught in a vertical set, nailed to a tree, close to where we drop down onto the North River.



The mink was caught in the same no. 4 that we caught the marten in. I still think it's a great spot for a lynx to walk by, but apparently marten and mink like it better than kitty's.

I'm covering for a coworker tomorrow and then have an awesome night of playing with fur ahead of me. Hopefully it gets colder sooner than what the forecast says, because I bet there are marten up in our traps that we can't get to! We're hoping to try and get to our traps Thursday or Friday.

Thanks for posting pics, always enjoy them and the story with them.... good luck trapping and be safe.

I noticed the water around town when we flew in. Can't you travel the ocean ice at the mouth to get to the south side of the river?
Doing good on wolverine. Keep it up.
Hey...........was that fox snared in town? Better get some more!
mt

Last pic is the best picture ever for promoting trapping

Family Trapper, Kusko, Groa, That Fool, Thank you!! He has such a bright stripe! I just love him.

smalltimetrapper, Amazing days! I adore any day that involves fur though. Even the little ones. We haven't caught an ermine yet this year. I've seen them around town though. One was popping in and out of my mama's porch the other day, while she was cutting cardboard.

RdFox Thanks for the continued reading and comments and encouragement!

martentrapper, someone sunk his rig and destroyed it at the mouth this year. I can't afford to do that. Iron doggers are due in at 1-2 this morning and are on a mandatory 8 hour hold with an update in the morning because of the water and freaking weather. I've been wanting to catch a ride with our 207 pilot at the end of the day, up north, but his plane was on mechanical and then we cancelled because of the weather. The fox was snared right outside of town. I'm going to snare the one by the airport, I've found where he's cross from the graveyard through the fence onto the runway.

PAlltheway, he's such a big beautiful wolverine! I'd never heard them called gulo before trapperman. I LOVE learning new things. And etymology. In Inupiaq we call them qavik. Thanks.

I finally got to go out on the line today! After too much covering at work and way too much warm weather and water, the temps finally dropped and the west wind switched to east wind. It also has been snowing, so all the of the trails were fluffy and perfect for driving.

Gregg and I met on the little pond where we have our first set. It takes us almost the same exact amount of time to get there when he leaves from the cabin and I leave from town. We had to rebait almost every set to where we drop down onto North River. There were definitely some happy birds and mice out there during the warm weather.

The river was creepy but good. The overflow had drained off. A few holes had opened up, one was right next to the trail. Gregg walked ahead to check the ice to get to one of our traps, it looked yucky but ended up being fine. We had decided to pull all the traps on the river and the traps that we can't get to when the creeks and rivers overflow. I was super relieved to drive up off of the ice.



We got to our first set off the river and there were fresh marten tracks running by a pole set. The trap had been set off by a freaking bird. I stepped off the trail and went thigh deep into the snow. Gregg took a step and almost tripped. I started laughing, struggled through the snow, ecstatic to be outside and ready for whatever the day brought.

It had snowed so much that our trail was gone in most places. We picked our way through by memory as best we could, at times driving in circles. The third set in we pulled up on a marten covered in snow. He was froze solid and his tummy didn't smell green!



We worked our way through our sets, pulling as we went. It was fairly quick work, but hot trudging through the snow. The next marten we picked up was on another pole set, back in the trees. One of the new ones that we put in this year.



We missed a set coming from the river to our other trails and had to try and find our trail again from the other direction. I saw the box through the burned trees with no trap in it, and got excited for another marten.



Not quite. Our first ermine of the season.

The next marten I didn't take a picture of, he was caught in a no. 4. Slight overkill. He went for the kitty cubby and not for his box. The snow started up again and the only fresh sign was the first marten track and two ermine tracks. No fox, lynx, or wolverine tracks.

There was a marten in each of our farthest out two sets, in sight of each other. The second that both sets had produced this year.




Our last sets were on the twisty turny trail running next to the river. We crossed our fingers hoping the creek we had to drive on and cross was dried up, Gregg had to turn around two weeks ago because of overflow on it, so we wouldnn't have to back track all the way out to the river. We picked up the last of our traps, finding marten in the the last three. Each one making us smile and bringing our count for the day up to eight! Not a bad day for pulling traps.





The wind picked up and it started snowing pretty good on the drive back to town. Looks like we'll have to put off caribou hunting for a day, while we take care of the marten looking all lovely in the shop.

Enjoying the journey so far. Congrats on the success.

Are you pulling everything for this year? Season open till Apr. 15. I would at least keep after lynx/wolverine. Those willow draws between the coast and south river likely have lynx. Might find the trails I cut across them still!
mt

FullFreezer, thank you. :-)

martentrapper, if you read the entry, we only pulled the ones we can't get to when North river and the creeks overflow. I'm aware of when the season closes.

It's that time of year when the caribou are close by and everyone is heading about 90 miles North to go hunting. So we decided to take a mini trapping break and get some caribou. Our original plan was to go on Tuesday, but we had 8 marten to take care of. So we skinned our critters and got our gear together Tuesday, planning on final prep 9 am Wednesday morning. The forecast was good for Wednesday, with a winter weather advisory starting Thursday early morning. We had our camping gear so we could hunker down wherever we needed to, if we needed to.



Gregg and his wife, Kathy, rolled into town around 9:20 am. I started packing the camping sled while they went and got gas. We were loaded and rolled out around 10:30. Gregg in the lead, Kathy in the middle, and me in my usual caboose spot. It was a beautiful day with bright skies and the sun was at our back. Ideal driving conditions. They'd sighted in their guns the day before. The first place we stopped, I told them I need to sight mine in. Three shots in a tight cluster, right where they were supposed to be.



The trail was great. The most recent snow had made it the best I'd seen in years. Rivers and creeks had different crossings than the normal ones because of all the overflow, but they weren't bad. We paused for a moment at Egavik. It always makes me smile, although as the years pass it's become a sadder smile. The building is wearing down and is eroded out on the beach side. It's become a shell of a building. Hard to believe my family lived there thirty years ago.

Our next stop was the shelter cabin at foothills. It's got the last outhouse on the trail. The trail through the trees in the foothills is always bumpy jerky up and down. As we were coming down the hill towards Shaktoolik, I spotted some dark spots upon top of a mountain that weren't normally there. They were too big and dark to be caribou. I stopped and pulled my rifle off and looked through the scope. Musk ox! A decent sized herd of them. I caught up to Gregg, who had stopped when he didn't see me behind him and pointed them out.






The trail to Shaktoolik was flat and we made great time. The flats had some ice chunks and ridges scattered throughout. We stopped at the bright orange cabin at Iguanaq (sp?) and had burgers that I'd made from 2015 caribou. Norton Bay was flat and smooth and we picked our pace up to 40-45. I couldn't believe how great that trail was. We headed towards shore when we were parallel with the Ungalik River. We found a way up the bank and worked our way over the tundra, crossing creeks and looking for sign. A buddy had said they were spread out from the Ungalik up to around the cell phone tower.



We came across a few small herds but they were super skittish and started running when we were over a mile away. Gregg was the first to connect with one. He shot it right in the hiney and then again in the head to kill him. I'd never hunted out on the flats, I'd only hunted in the trees, where they weren't quite so skittish. I'm rather clumsy and I did not get the hang of speeding up to caribou, quickly braking, and shooting. I pulled up to help Gregg slaughter his, and had one side skinned before he had a quarter on his side skinned. He laughed and cussed at me for being so fast. In no time it was bagged up in the sled and we were on our way again.

We found a decent sized herd up on a little hill that was above a little pond at the end of a creek. We slowly made our way along in the creek and then spread out on the pond. We took off at the same time and popped up on top of the hill. I managed to connect with a small bull. I got his front shoulder and then a head shot to kill him.



I slaughtered him, we packed him up, and headed towards the Iglutalik River. The herds on the flats were so skittish, we decided to go look up in the hills next to the river. The past three hunts we'd had good luck finding them, sneaking through the trees, and connecting. In years past there would be sign of them crossing back and forth along the river, but this year there was only one old spot where they'd crossed and we didn't see any on the hills from the river. We had to stop when we ran into a pair of moose ahead of us on the river, discussed, and decided to head back towards the flats. There was no sign and it was about 10 degrees colder up on the river. It was started to get late and we wanted to set up camp. There was a place with a tent frame that we saw when we dropped down onto the river. We decided to head back there and put our tent on the frame.



It was a perfect spot to camp! There was a little grove of trees as a wind block, if the aforementioned winter weather advisory kicked in. The tent frame was flat we had room around the tent to walk. A bright moon rose up as we were spreading the meat into the snow to freeze and hauling our gear into the tent. A fox popped up from the river and scooted off when he saw us, pausing once to look back at the meat we were now covering with a tarp. We climbed in the tent, Gregger got his little gas stove thing going, and I got mugs, cider, and whiskey ready. We made drinks and warmed our bellies. Then heated up pepper jack caribou burgers all wrapped up in their parchment paper and tin foil. The middle ended up being a little cold because of our eagerness, but they were delicious. We made another round of cocktails, Kathy unrolled her sleeping gear and stretched out while Gregg and I told stories. Gregg and I had mugs of oatmeal and then followed suit, crawling into sleeping bags. I got a really light, small down blanket for Christmas and used it to cover my head to keep it warm and it worked like a charm. I couldn't even tell I was in a tent.

I woke up to Gregg and Kathy asking each other if they were awake. The wind had really picked up in the middle of the night and sounded like it was still howling pretty good. We peeked out and it surprisingly didn't look as bad as it sounded. We had a leisurely morning of coffee and of course a second cup of coffee. Then caribou sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches on english muffins. I had more oatmeal and Gregg had a brownie. The wind died down and it ended up being a beautiful morning. We broke camp, packed up, and headed south back towards Ungalik. We ran into a herd on the second hill. We were able to work our way up a creek behind some trees and then zip up the hill. They must have still been waking up because I got one. It was in the hind quarter and needed a head shot to put it down. While Gregg and I slaughtered, I saw a herd across the Iglutalik, heading North. The wind kicked up again and started covering the meat in the snow just as we were finishing. The wind was the deciding factor in heading back South towards home instead of going further North trying to find the herd we'd just seen.



We weren't sure if the caribou were moving North or still hanging out. Turns out we didn't need to worry. We spotted a herd off in the distance as we worked our way south. They were kinda hanging out on top of a hill with a smoothish valley leading up towards them. We spread out in three directions. Gregg connected with two and I shot a small cow in the head. I was aiming for the bull running in front of her. I drug mine over to Gregg's two after I realized the bungee cords holding my duffle had snapped. The wind had stopped again, so Gregg started butchering right where he was at while I back tracked a few miles to my duffle. I scooted past part of the herd we'd just chased, but was more worried about my duffle than shooting. I found it, tied it on my machine, and then headed back to Gregg. I ran into the same herd and zipped right into em, they split in front of me and I shot three more bulls. Two through the ribs and one in a hind and then a kill shot to the head. I was ecstatic. Goal reached.




I drove back to them with the biggest smile on my face. Everyone was happy. I slaughtered one, Gregg and Kathy finished the first one they'd started on and then moved to the second. I told them where the other three were and went to get started on them, while they finished up. I was skinning the second when they pulled up and cut my pointer finger a little when I looked up to see em. I shook my head, frustrated and laughing at myself. They worked on the third, while I finished up the one I was working on. Nine caribou. More than enough to be able to share. I grew up with a single mama and we relied on the generosity of our neighbors and friends for meat, so I always try to get enough to be able to give to friends and people who don't have hunters in their families.

I was worn out after the last one. We gassed up, I had a quick snack because I'm awful when I'm hungry, we toasted the bou with Gregg's flask, and decided to head towards the bay. We ran into and saw herds on the way to the coast. A little fox ran through a creek in front of us before we crossed it. The bay was a jumbled up mess of ice and looked a little green. So we worked our way down the coast till we found a spot that looked okay. The caboose then became the sacrificial lamb. I wasn't pulling a sled, we'd moved it to Kathy's rig during hunting, so it made sense for me to check for overflow. I picked my way over ridges and cruised out towards good looking ice. Everything was froze over and fine. I lead out heading out in the bay, but keeping Iguanaq in my sights. After the last little ridge (ivuu) I pulled up and moved back to being the caboose. We hit the trail shortly after and it was smooth sailing all the way to Iguanik. We stopped for lunch, cold breakfast sandwiches for the win.




The ride to Shaktoolik was great. I was the sacrificial lamb, once more, crossing the river. And then the wind hit and beat us from Shaktoolik to foothills. They never seemed to get any closer. Gregg's machine was being pushed sideways by the 40 mph gusts. Kathy's sled was being pushed. And I was super thankful for the pink and purple studs in my machine. We stopped in a valley out of the wind to catch our breath. We stopped at the foothills cabin. The wind was mellower in the hills, picked up again when we hit Egavik and then it started snowing halfway between Egavik and Blueberry. Because the wind wasn't enough. Gregg ran out of gas right at the barge landing. We had one more 5 gallon jug that he was able to dump in. We rolled up to the shop right around 9:30 pm. We unhooked the sleds and drug them into the shop and called it a night.

Success.

Way to go!

T’was a sporting day afield for ya. Very nice write up!

Thankyou for all the beautiful photo's and info in your Journel! I look forward to when you post, it is the land of make believe for me!!

Nice write up, really gives a feel for being there. Also honest, most guys have amnesia when they miss.

Are you allowed to harvest musk ox? I assume moose are out of season.

Great narrative and a great hunt.

Wow, Sissy, what a wonderful journal you are keeping and sharing with us. Really well written and fantastic photos. Using Bing maps I was able to follow your trip, and you covered some amazing country and ice. Your hunt is the kind of adventure a lot of us lower 48ers dream of. Thank you
EDIT: Sissy, do you guys use the caribou hides? Is there anyone in your village or vicinity who makes old fashioned parkas from them? They seem like the perfect skin up there. Aside from a grizzly, maybe.

Nice write up and pics do you make it up to koyuk at all if you do would you happen to know Darin

Sounds like lots of work! And a good time.

Very nice write up! Lower 48ers could only dream about something like this. It is amazing when all you eat is game how much meat you can use in a year. Especially when helping out a few others as well. I got 10big game animals this season in Montana and with a little sharing and our family of five we will be out of meat before September.

HFT_AK Thank you! I was kinda proud of myself.

mad_mike Thank you for reading.

Guy_Johnson Thank you for reading. It's still kind of like the land of make believe for me and I grew up here!

Bushman I don't like admitting when I miss. But I'm all about honest and accuracy. Currently we are not able to harvest musk ox in our hunting unit. I know we were able to in the past, before they moved out of the area. My brother got a tag up in his hunting unit last year. He's up further north and west of me and has a boss with an airplane.

Boco, Thank you!

PAlltheway I'm glad you were able to follow along! Hahaha... That's really fun. It's one of my favorite hunts. We used to have to go way up past Koyuk to get caribou, there's a natural hot springs that we would camp at. While it's nice to have it be a shorter trip, I do miss the hot springs! Thank you for reading and commenting. Spring hides aren't usable, the fur just pulls out because they're shedding. Fall hides are usable, but it's harder to get to the caribou, due to the lack of snow and ice. In my family the caribou legs were used to make mukluks and Laplander boots. My grandpa on my dad's side was the last reindeer herder at Egavik. I still have two pairs of them my grandmother made me. I used them for my 8th grade promotion and high school graduation. (I wasn't graceful enough for heels.) Traditionally parkas are made from squirrels, and more recently sheepskin. My mama knows how to make them. One of the reasons that I got into trapping was because of the cost of skins for skin sewing. I make malaqi (trapper hats), beaver mittens, slippers, and other skin sewing crafts.

AK_TRAPR I don't make it to Koyuk very often. I've seen the name Darin from working at the airline and seeing his name when he flies.

smalltimetrapper It was a lot of work, but definitely the good kind of work. It was a great time. I love winter camping.

Overkill375 Thank you! I'm thankful we harvest more than caribou up here, or I'd have to go out again. They're all leg and you don't get a ton of meat off of them. But we harvest from the land all year round according to the season. Congrats on your 10 animals this year!

Keep it up, Sissy! Your thread is awesome! And have a bite of caribou for me. I love it more than moose.

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for the really detailed and informative response, Sissy. I'll be thinking about all of this for a long time.

Very good thread, hope you keep writing. You have 16,000 hits,check out the number on the Great Alaska thread started in November 2015. Your life in the North is very interesting to us in the lower 48. Keep posting, and thanks.

Great pics Sissy! Enjoyed the ride. Brought back memories of my hunts. Looking forward to more.
mt

Good hunt and the tent frame was a nice find. I wanted to ask about caribou hides too. Are there bot flies there and if so when is the best leather (holes healed up best)?

alaska_viking Thank you! Caribou is my favorite.

PAlltheway You're welcome.

caldwellite Thank you. It's nice hearing the encouragement to write.

martentrapper I love pictures!

drassselt The tent frame was a great find! Warmer than sleeping on the river. Yes, there are bot flies here. I haven't seen the hides when they have holes from hatching. I think if you wanted to take the fur off the hides and tan em you could with spring hunts. Otherwise if you want the hide with fur, you'd have to do a fall hunt. (I think.)