2007 trapline plans

[fishermann222]

I posted this in the Alaska forum but thought I would post it here also because I know some of you do not look over there.

Well the rivers and lakes are slowly freezing up and we have some good snow. I have been making snares for lynx, wolverine, fox, and wolves, been dyeing and waxing fox and lynx traps. Put chain on my wolf and wolverine traps and got them tuned and ready to go. Been working many hours to get things in order for this years trapline adventures. As promised here is a post to show what my plans are, my hopes, and my goals.

I will be running a small fox line near Bethel this year, I hope to get 30 or 40 fox right around bethel and the nearby fishcamps(photos to come as I am able to get to the fishcamps). I am also going to run a small lynx line real close to bethel as well, hope to nab 2 or 3 lynx near town.

For my real adventure this year I am going to be heading north to the Yukon River. I am pretty familiar iwth the area as it is where we go to cut wood for burning in our steam house stoves and wood stoves in the house. There is LOTS of game up at the Yukon Tree line(treeline as i will refer to it from now on). Recently one of the two packs of wolves in the area we will be trapping has gotten themselves into some trouble. THey went into the village of Marshal (not far from my trapping grounds) and killed a bunch of sled dogs. THe villagers did manage to kill one of the wolves as they were retreating and it was found to have rabies. So We will be targeting this pack as well as one other wolf pack in the area. These are wolves that have not been trapped in years and the pack size rangers from 20-30 animals per pack.

THere is a photo showing bethel and my line up to the treeline is drawn in. It is a 70 mile trip one way, but there are good trails most of the way. It will be about a 3.5-4 hour trip up and back every weekend depending on the weather, there are no trees the whole way up or back so it leads to some pretty white out conditions when it starts to snow, gotta love the GPS, and the partners GPS, and the backup GPS can never have too many when traveling up here.

THis is a pic of the line we will be running. there is a cabin (4 walls and a roof with a woodstove) where the line starts and ends and it will be where we are basing our operations out of, it is a native friend of mines cabin.

On the line we hope to snag a wolverine or two, 50 marten, 50 fox, 5 lynx, and a wolf or two.

Wish us luck, this is going to be quit an adventure and a costly one with gas at 4.75 a gallon if we don't catch the fur we hope we do.

Ask any questions you wish.

[tip-up king]

Good luck FM222.

[don62]

I enjoyed your posts last season and am looking forward to this seasons updates,, thanks a lot.

[leechmann]

Hey Fish222, looks like your settling in pretty good up there. Good for you, hope you reach your goals. I've been getting the pheasant hunting and rifle deer season behind me. I've been trapping lots of minnows for the up coming ice fishing season. The bait dealers are getting nervous. I've been chomping at the bit to get some traps out. Maybe next week. I got a friend of mine started in the trapping world this year. He's done pretty good. He caught 2 coyotes, a grey fox and several coons. Oh yeah, and a few stinkers. Good luck, keep us posted.

[poutpro]

The stinkers can't stay away from me. I've gotten 6 of them so far, and the wife is starting to get irritated.

[leechmann]

Those darn stinkers. I caught 6 of them last January when we had the open winter. I skun them out and had them tanned. They turned out really nice. Now my buddy has decided to keep the ones he's caught. Except he put them all in his wife' freezer, and now he wants me to teach him how to skin them out. At the end of the day, you have to ask how good of a friend is he?

[fishermann222]

yep tanned stinkers are really nice. Got another 2 dozen #4's in the mail today for lynx, and got another 8 dozen thompson snare locks for wolves also in the mail Got more prepping to do. Getting a short fox line out tomorrow and saturday, hope to put out about 30 snares and a dozen footholds or so.

[leechmann]

Fish, are you hooking up with a partner? Are you finding it easy to find an area to trap? One of these tanned stinkers is yours. You want me to mail it to you? You're kind of getting me going again, I think I'm going to get started today. Good luck, well have to compare notes tomorrow.

[leechmann]

Well I just got in. Set 19 dirt holes. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. Got that lure smell on my fingers and am thinking about cutting my hands off.

[leechmann]

Hey Fish, things are really slow down here. I can't explain why. Caught one coyote today. Nothing else. How are you doing?

[fishermann222]

leechman I talked to a guy in town who traps with the inhalent center boys, and he has 20some fox so far and not one was prime yet. I am gong to Fairbanks for turkeyday to go moose hunting so I am going to hold off on setting until I get back. I really like to spend time on prime animals if i can at all help it.

[leechmann]

Hey Fish, 4th day of no activity on my line. I pulled the traps. I'm going to start over in another area. I guess I got caught up in the look of the land. I didn't see much sign, but the locations looked great. Oh well, live and learn. I did have a bear step in the circle today.