Blsum's 2017/2018 season

[Blsum]

Well here we go. I wasn't even really planning on doing much trapping this year. Well I guess things have a way of changing. Back in December I got a call from a guy for a nuisance job. I have tryed trapping for him before but couldn't make it happen. I just couldn't get a beaver to go into a cage for the life of me. Well this time I also had permission to trap by the dam. The dam is on the neighbors property and he finally had enough of clearing the dam. I will include pictures of the pile of brush he has built up next to the dam to show how much material he has cleared from the dam break. Well after several weeks of not catching anything I decide it's time to get a permit from wdfw.  I did leave some cages in some key locations and while they didn't connect on  any beaver they did connect with a few otter.  So far on the permit I've gotten 6 beaver. 48lbs, 42lbs, 40lbs, 29lbs, 27lbs and a 13lbs.

 I decided to go and check out a spot I trapped a couple years ago to see if I could catch anything out there. I didn't catch anything after the first check but on the next one I caught a nice 44 lbs beaver.

I've also gotten 4 otter so far this year. 11lbs male. 12 lbs female, a 22lbs female, and a 21 lbs male.

I decided to set a couple  traps next to where I'm doing the nuisance job. One for bobcat and one for mink. I didn't think I would actually catch a bobcat at this location but figured why not. So far I've only gotten 6 possum and one of the neighbors cats.

[Blsum]

Brush pile the land owner has built up from clearing the dam. You can see my rake next to the pile for size comparison

[Blsum]

Top pic is the 42 lbs beaver and the 22 lbs female otter. The second one is the 48lbs beaver. Then the two I caught that were in the upper 20's

[Blsum]

Nice 44 lbs beaver we caught

[bear hunter]

Nice to see the kids enjoying them self's trapping

[Triplej]

Nice work!

[redi]

Nice work. Great to see the kids involved

[Machias]

Awesome photos, great job with the kids!!  Nice otters!!

[JakeLand]

Great work  that one beaver got suitcased!!!

[Blsum]

Thanks guys. It sure has been a lot of fun. The kids enjoy when we catch stuff. I'm pulling all the beaver traps on Saturday and focusing on cats.

[huntingfool7]

Nice work! 

[Blsum]

Well I shut down the water trapping and ended up catching a pair of 22 lbs male otter. Once the kids and I finished shutting down the line we went and checked the cat baits I had hanging. Well 2 of the 4 have been hit and we're almost gone. So we set 2 traps at one spot that had cat activity at 1:45 am this morning. We set one trap at the other location. The last time the trail camera was triggered was on the 1st. But the bait has been eaten on since the last picture was taken. Plus there was a backbone and portion of pelvis from a different animal that was laying on the ground next to the tree. So we took the last of the beaver plus the additional backbone and a big chunk of fresh meat and baited the trap. Fingers crossed we have some cats on the board soon. I forgot to take picture of the cat sets but I will take some tomorrow. Hopefully with full traps.

[Blsum]

Here are some of the trail camera pictures I got at the bait sites. Not sure but it looks like there might be 2 at the one site. Possibly 2 at both actually but it's hard to say for sure.

[JakeLand]

Right on !! Your getting it done for sure

[redi]

Nice otters. Cool pics of the cats. Good luck getting them.

[Blsum]

Well we finally connected with the bobcat in the first couple of trail cam pics. Unfortunately the kids were with their mother this week and weren't able to go with me. This is our first cat of the year.  We set the trap on the 3rd and finally caught her on the 15th. She ended up weighing in at 15.6 lbs.

[JakeLand]

Good job !! Nice colored cat

[Trapper John]

Nice    two thumbs up
JC 

[Humptulips]

Spotty!

[Blsum]

Thanks guys. I do have some bad news. I missed on another much bigger cat last night at the same location. I have 3 traps set in there and have trail camera video of the one I caught and video of the one I missed and the second cat was quite a bit larger. The time stamp and pics (this camera was set to photo not video) shows the cat working the other set for 35 min before commiting. Not sure how it got out but it did. Hopefully it comes back. Has anyone ever caught a cat they pinched  once before?

[Humptulips]

I caught the same female and turned it loose twice at one set and I am reasonably sure I caught the same cat and turned it loose a third time at another set nearby.

[Trapper John]

That reminds me of Chuck "Bobcat" Bailey.
He caught a female mountain lion in a MB750 in a cubby set with beaver on day.  He's working with the Tribes and the Wildlife Department.
So they knock the cat down / tranquilized it, weigh it, took blood samples, measure her teeth, put a radio collar get as much data as they need on her and let her go. 

Three days later chuck is driving down the road with snow on it and runs across this cat track heading for his set.  He told me you could see the tracks walking in a straight line stops turns and leaps 20 feet into his set and get caught.    He check it and its the same cat they caught three days ago.

Now you would think that if you had a trap on your foot, radio collar on your neck and it was because you went in for this beaver carcass hanging in a tree you would stay away.    But nooooooooooooooo way!    The department Researcher comes up and records the data and lets her go.
JC   

[Blsum]

Finally caught cat number 2. Decent size cat that had some decent markings. But I'm pretty sure it was a female so I let it go.  Same trap as the last cat only 2 weeks later. At first I thought it might have been the cat I missed the day after catching the first one. However when I looked at the trail camera video it looks like this cat was actually smaller then the one I missed.

[teanawayslayer]

 

[redi]

Congrats. Way to be selective.

[Trapper John]

Finally caught cat number 2. Decent size cat that had some decent markings. But I'm pretty sure it was a female so I let it go.  Same trap as the last cat only 2 weeks later. At first I thought it might have been the cat I missed the day after catching the first one. However when I looked at the trail camera video it looks like this cat was actually smaller then the one I missed.

Nice work 
It looks like your having a good season.     
More and more guys are releasing the females ......... mink, pine marten, bobcats
JC 

[Blsum]

Finally caught cat number 2. Decent size cat that had some decent markings. But I'm pretty sure it was a female so I let it go.  Same trap as the last cat only 2 weeks later. At first I thought it might have been the cat I missed the day after catching the first one. However when I looked at the trail camera video it looks like this cat was actually smaller then the one I missed.

Nice work 
It looks like your having a good season.     
More and more guys are releasing the females ......... mink, pine marten, bobcats
JC

Thanks. I have no problem releasing females. She was even bigger then the one I caught a couple weeks ago, only the third one I've caught but the largest.  The first one I wasn't 100% sure if it was a female or not, but she had some really nice markings. It wasn't until after I had dispatched her that I was really able to tell for sure. Had I been sure the first one was a female I would have released her as well. Got to keep the breeders out there. Especially since I know at least a couple other guys are trapping in the same general area. We all talk regularly and try to stay out of each other's general locations, but I still want to have cats to trap in the future.