Ouch's 2016 trapping season

[bear hunter]

Moyle's Tannery is fine if you are going to hang your civet on the wall, but not if you plan on making a garment out of the skin. Moyle's has to 'mark' each skin during the tanning process and they do it by stamping a series of holes in the hide. On mine they marked each one in the center of the pelt. When they were put together to make my vest, it looked like swiss cheese! I don't know if the other tanneries do the same thing, but it's something to consider. Maybe you can request ahead of time that they 'mark' the pelts on the head where it won't matter.

hmmmm i called them and they said they use color zip tyes to make the hides.

[ouchfoss]

He didn't seem to smell all to me. Maybe I am immune.
Is that why I'm a bachelor.

I'm thinking that burning sensation you get in your sinus after being close to ground zero permanently ruins your sense of smell. I didn't think I smelled that bad when I got home but my wife freaked out on me about two steps into the living room last night. "OH MY GOD" 

[Blsum]

He didn't seem to smell all to me. Maybe I am immune.
Is that why I'm a bachelor.

I'm thinking that burning sensation you get in your sinus after being close to ground zero permanently ruins your sense of smell. I didn't think I smelled that bad when I got home but my wife freaked out on me about two steps into the living room last night. "OH MY GOD" 

When I got sprayed it was the same for me. I didn't think it was that bad but once I stepped foot in the house I got an earful quicker then $#!+

[ouchfoss]

He didn't seem to smell all to me. Maybe I am immune.
Is that why I'm a bachelor.

I'm thinking that burning sensation you get in your sinus after being close to ground zero permanently ruins your sense of smell. I didn't think I smelled that bad when I got home but my wife freaked out on me about two steps into the living room last night. "OH MY GOD" 

When I got sprayed it was the same for me. I didn't think it was that bad but once I stepped foot in the house I got an earful quicker then $#!+

[ouchfoss]

Threw out a few swim thru traps yesterday so I can start replenishing my bobcat bait and today ended up with a 15 lb beaver and a nice size muskrat. I only put six traps out and everyone of them was tripped today. Got the two animals, had one trap that had an otter or beaver push it aside about a foot and tripped it. Had another just push some the sticks beside the trap out of the way and tripped that door and then two more that were tripped with nothing inside. Never had a day where every trap was triggered. They are all reset and I added some caster sent to them all to see if I can coax some those animals back to to the cages.
Weird weather that was going on today made for a really cool triple rainbow. Never saw that before.

[Norman89]

How are you adding castor to a swim thru? Is part of the cage above water where you can use the castor?

[ouchfoss]

How are you adding castor to a swim thru? Is part of the cage above water where you can use the castor?

I would just put a little bit of it on a stick or rock that was close to the trap like on the bank nearby or on a dive stick by the cage. Just somewhere close by to make them curious.

[ouchfoss]

Got one more 15 pound beaver in the same spot as yesterday. All the other traps were open today.

[ouchfoss]

This is where I had the trap. It's a narrow spot about 20" wide but is about 48" deep. It's the main channel of the creek so its got some current through it which makes it tough to put a bunch of sticks and stuff around it without forcing all the water through the trap. All I did for this spot was toss the trap in there and put one dive stick upstream and downstream. There is like three feet of clear water above the trap for animals to swim above it and completely miss it but when they dive they always go right to the bottom. Makes it far easier to set traps when you don't have to spend so much time building a path for the animals to follow. This spot produced a beaver and an otter last year and two beavers so far this year.

[big wood]

This is where I had the trap. It's a narrow spot about 20" wide but is about 48" deep. It's the main channel of the creek so its got some current through it which makes it tough to put a bunch of sticks and stuff around it without forcing all the water through the trap. All I did for this spot was toss the trap in there and put one dive stick upstream and downstream. There is like three feet of clear water above the trap for animals to swim above it and completely miss it but when they dive they always go right to the bottom. Makes it far easier to set traps when you don't have to spend so much time building a path for the animals to follow. This spot produced a beaver and an otter last year and two beavers so far this year.

I love spots like that. I have a couple that produce every year

[ouchfoss]

This is where I had the trap. It's a narrow spot about 20" wide but is about 48" deep. It's the main channel of the creek so its got some current through it which makes it tough to put a bunch of sticks and stuff around it without forcing all the water through the trap. All I did for this spot was toss the trap in there and put one dive stick upstream and downstream. There is like three feet of clear water above the trap for animals to swim above it and completely miss it but when they dive they always go right to the bottom. Makes it far easier to set traps when you don't have to spend so much time building a path for the animals to follow. This spot produced a beaver and an otter last year and two beavers so far this year.

I love spots like that. I have a couple that produce every year

Just downstream about 100 yards is another spot just like that. Its where I got my 56 lb beaver last year and a muskrat yesterday.

[bear hunter]

  sweat

[ouchfoss]

Started my somewhat long line today for cats. Have 15 traps over about 25 miles. A few are in spots I got cats last year. Also got a few drown sets out for beaver with my new swim thru design. The ones I've built over the last couple years were 48" long and I think that is overkill. New ones are 36" which makes packing them around plus setting them much easier.
Found an actual beaver den entrance today that is pretty active and set one right in front. Hopefully it will produce.

[JakeLand]

Good luck! Waiting to see how the shorter swim throughs work

[Kit Carson]

Nice Jesse! Looking forward to seeing you get some more Cats!