My 2014 Trapping journal

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by nube

Thanks Toe. Any added deas are most welcome. Sometimes it is hard to get them higher off the ground. Maybe another plus for Vertical boxes you can hang them higher that way.

can u guys send me some specs for your boxes please.

Remember to Nube, when you get 4-6 feet of snow by Jan those boxes will be almost ground level

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nube

A big thanks to a bunch of you guys on here and on Trapperman forum for helping me out with the pan thing. They are so simple to put on the traps and really are the way to go.

Nube, any chance of getting some pictures and a bit of an explanation of your pans? I want to put out some mink sets and I was going to research making pans for the triggers. I doubt that it's something that I'd have to buy manufactured and homemade should do it. Yours seem to be working great.....lol!

[moose maniac]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Nube, any chance of getting some pictures and a bit of an explanation of your pans? I want to put out some mink sets and I was going to research making pans for the triggers. I doubt that it's something that I'd have to buy manufactured and homemade should do it. Yours seem to be working great.....lol!

Cut pieces of chloroplast bend your trigger wires over and slide it on, halfords sells pan triggers as well that work good. By looking at nubes pics I think he is using chloroplast type material.

[nube]

Hope this helps Dave but Moose is right. It is as easy as can be. I acually think catching weasels this way is better than a rat trap. One thing you have to do is cut slots on the bottom for the trigger to move better though. I use my chainsaw

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

The leaning tree set I'm sure is the most popular. Sorry you didn't like the results on your vertical box. I run vertical boxes almost exclusively now (prob 95%) after catching 40 or so whiskey jacks one year in the horizontal sets.

To deter birds getting into your horizontal or leaning tree/pole boxes cover the entrance with a spruce or fur bough. Birds won"t enter but a marten or fisher will just charge through.

[BoRyZimm]

Nube,

I like the look of your Marten boxes, looks like you can stack a bunch up to haul out to your line, would you put up the dimensions of your boxes please?
They look sort of like a cross of Tomcat's tapered boxes & Bigland boxes?

Tomcat, good idea on brushing the entrance of the box.

Thanks,

Bob

[nube]

Bob , they actually are made from the last trapper and I brought one home to make more. I will try and get the dimensions on them and let you guys know. Tomcat, thanks again for the info on how to deter birds. You and a few others are the ones that has given me a ton of info and I appreciate it a lot. You are one of the main reasons I went to the pans and it works great. I hope I don't have any birds on my next check but will start using branches

[Torkdiesel]

Originally Posted by tomcat

To deter birds getting into your horizontal or leaning tree/pole boxes cover the entrance with a spruce or fur bough. Birds won"t enter but a marten or fisher will just charge through.

I've tried this as well, the birds seemed to climb through and get caught anyway. But it may work for others, thanks for the idea.

[MB1]

Nice bunch of marten there. Great start. Is there any links to the pan design?

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by MB1

Is there any links to the pan design?

My pans for a 120 size trap are 3" wide and 2 3/4" depth. For 3/8 "plywood just staple the trigger wires to the wood and with corrugated plastic just push the wires through the slots.

[bill9044]

Hey nube great pics glad to see you are out. I was wondering how many female you caught out of the 7. Keep up the pics. I hope you have a before auction trapping pic with all your catches. I haven't been on here in about a week. So great thread.

[TRAPPER92]

Awesome job!! Makes me wish I had a line and the time to run it! I guess all good things come in time

[thunderheart]

Originally Posted by lilsundance

nice pics Nube. Go ahead and post more pics. Those who can't critic a pic without burning the poster had better read the rules again. It won't matter who they are or how long they have been on the board.

almost the best post and info on this thread ... thank you sir

[thunderheart]

thanks for sharing your journal ... great pix and info
as many here wish that i had a line ..

least one can live vicariously thru some great posts ... maybe oneday

[Toe823]

Hey Nube.... Have you done another run through your registered line?? I am curious as to how your pans are panning out. For Marten I run my trigger wire up front. I am curious to see the strike zone on all your Marten. I have seen a Marten enter a box, and the one I saw dove through the trap. If you can get a double strike for the most part I would like to try some out. They gave always looked so far back that I was thinking you would get bad strikes. I get quite a few double strikes even with my trigger wire up front... Awesome thread. Great pics!!!

[nube]

Toe my buddy was up there on Tues and checked 9 traps. He had 1 squirrel, 1 weasel and 1 marten. The marten was a perfect catch again. So far I have been happy with the way the reaps are hitting. The good part is no jays when he checked as well so that is a good sign. I am headed up there this week. Will get some fox and lynx snares up if I get enough time. Want to put out another 30+ boxes as well if I can get enough time.
I am not seeing any Lynx sign on my line. Either I don't know what to look at when I am seeing a track or there just are not any around the little loop I am doing. I REALLY want to get a lynx or 2 before the end of the season. I also have plans for some spots for wolves. I found out where they are hanging out last time out but getting it all set up for everything is taking time. This is going to be an on going project setting things up and will take a few years to be running all out I think

[mark-edmonton]

I'm sure you will have lynx on your loop. Circle tracks look snowed over a bit because you can't see pads! Check around heavy rabbit sign!

[nube]

I will check it out better this next week. How wide of a track is it Mark?

I am going to hang some fox and lynx snares on some trails and also just tie up some big chunks of beaver as well and see what happens.
I got 4 coyotes today but I am thinking my coyote snaring is going to slow down here soon. This snow is tougher to catch them in

[mark-edmonton]

About the size of 45mm hose

[nube]

Thanks. I hope to find some sign to set on. One of my issues this year is that I am doing more exploring trying to get a good stretch of trail to set on. I got plans for another 30 boxes this week if I can get a couple days to go. Hopefully get some lynx pens going and might throw out some 330 boxes. My buddy that was up there last week also foud the hole in the ice where the otters were using to go into a beaver lodge. I checked it the week before he was there and did not see anything so hopefully he stuck around. Probably froze over anyways if not.

[mark-edmonton]

Otter will be back around. Maybe in a week or 2 but it will be back

[nube]

Well, I got back last night after being on the line for a day and a half. I learned a ton this time around lol I ended up checking 27 traps and got 7 marten, 1 weasel that got eaten in the trap and one squirrel. I got another 15 boxes set out and 4 lynx pens with 3 snares in each. Here is a list of things I learned and please feel free to tell me how dumb I am and laugh at me a bit

Don't use a 300 citation in deep snow to break trail especially when you feel like you can check traps at midnight.

Hang flagging in the middle of the trail as much as possible because you will miss the odd trap to check if you don't pay attention or the snow covers the flags.

When flagging use long strings on the branches

Buy a toboggan that has a top so the thing doesn't get filled with snow and cover up all your supplies. If anyone knows of a lightweight small one please let me know.

Use lots of lure. I had tracks directly under my sets on a couple and the marten couldn't find the bait. because the bait did not smell and the lure did not smell.

Vertical boxes with the opening upwards suck. Had them filled with snow and marten tracks close by and they just couldn't find the box as it was filled with snow and no scent was getting out.

Lynx tracks are hard to see. I found 3-4 sets of tracks. I now know what they look like but I also found some rabbit trails that sometimes looked like they had some on as well. I think a rabbit foot when wide spread open it looks a lot like a lynx track could. They are very fait at times in powdered snow and hard to see.

I also learned that I need to build some bridges. Getting stuck with a skidoo in a small creek with steep banks sucks especially at 2 am.

I also learned AGAIN that this province is getting raped. Our forests are getting cut down at a rapid rate and the destruction is disgusting. What a sad thing it is.

Will post a couple pics later

[Torkdiesel]

Are you using beaver for bait now Phil ?

Citations suck, there are a couple good used skandics on kijiji

[nube]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

Are you using beaver for bait now Phil ?

Citations suck, there are a couple good used skandics on kijiji

I was using muskrat for bait and it worked great when it was not as cold. I do have beaver I just found it easier to chop a rat in half than a big frozen beaver into little bits. Will start using beaver next round out there.

About the skandic, I got one with the line purchase. It's a 94 so a little older but I figured it would be easier to bomb around in the citation because I could man handle it if I got stuck. I am going to take the skandic out next round and see how much better it is. At least it has a reverse and is a long track. I was fighting that citation the whole trip and my whole body aches right now.

[Torkdiesel]

Beaver makes a huge difference in the cold. Even at -30 it still smells strong and if we can smell it the animals can from a good distance away. They all love beaver

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nube

Buy a toboggan that has a top so the thing doesn't get filled with snow and cover up all your supplies. If anyone knows of a lightweight small one please let me know.

I don't know how big of a toboggan that you have/need but I bought a medium sized otter sled with the cover. I'd check the sizes of covers for Otter and Pelican sleds (Costco) and see if those covers would fit on your sled.

[braggadoe]

i really enjoyed checking traps at night. a few seasons ago, i had made about 5-6 successful runs in the dark and was feeling good about it. then, i got caught in a wild wind storm at about 3am. trees started exploding/falling. was the scariest few hours in my life. lucky to survive. i'll never do it again.

it's hard not to check in the dark with such short daylight hours. but things can go very wrong in the dark, fast! safety glasses are very handi. be careful!!

really enjoying your thread! missing marten trapping.

[waterninja]

Really enjoyed reading this thread and looking at all the great pics. Is the snow as deep on your trapline as it is around sh.pk?

I bought a small garden "tool box" from home depot. It is made of plastic and aprox. 4ft. long, 2 ft. wide and 3ft. high. Has a lid, and I am going to bolt old ski's or even snow boards to bottom and use to haul my ice fishing gear onto lakes. Might be something you could use to transport gear while keeping snow from getting inside.
Good luck on rest of season.

[nube]

Originally Posted by waterninja

Really enjoyed reading this thread and looking at all the great pics. Is the snow as deep on your trapline as it is around sh.pk?

I bought a small garden "tool box" from home depot. It is made of plastic and aprox. 4ft. long, 2 ft. wide and 3ft. high. Has a lid, and I am going to bolt old ski's or even snow boards to bottom and use to haul my ice fishing gear onto lakes. Might be something you could use to transport gear while keeping snow from getting inside.
Good luck on rest of season.

Snow is deep up north. Over my knees.

[crazyfish]

Keep up the good work ! Keep sharing the pics as well !