Hunting Washington Forum
Other Activities => Trapping => Topic started by: TeacherMan on November 18, 2011, 06:43:03 PM
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Well I bought an out of state trapping license last year and had a great time trapping. I can say the learning curve trapping in deep snow was fun. This year I've got started about a month earlier than last year. It just opened the 10th of Nov. in my area and I've managed to get out and have a couple footholds and a half a dozen snares out. It goes until the end of Febuary in my area, I should have around 35 quality sets out within the next month that I work during that time. I'm really focussing on fox, coyote, marten, and lynx this season. If I happend to run into a wolf kill the games will begin. Mr. Wolverine could happen in any of my sets. I run #3 northwoods on most of my sets. When I start to just get into cat area I jump up to a #4. I use 120's and #1.5 longsprings for marten.
I'll keep you posted on my season. Here are a couple pics from this last week. Like I said I only have a half dozen sets out and have had one check. The fox is a nice male, already skinned, dried, and ready to send off to the tannery, enjoy.
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I love trapping threads!
Please keep us posted with lots of pics :tup:
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Awesome, looking forward to the updates.
Have you found and problems with your dirtholes set up against a tree like that? When I was learning trapping back in the 70s I had an old timer tell me he had much better sucess when the fox or coyote could see over the backing. Just wondering if you have noticed any difference in catch rates between the two?
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awesome hope you and dad fill the fur shed,Im not going to trap this year unless its wco
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Since we get so much snow and high winds I like to use large trees for a snow barricade. Plus all my dirtholes are also scent posts. I don't even have these baited. Just fox urine. When snows not an issue I do prefer flat dirt sets. Your making me think. I think I'll set a flat dirt hole set tomorrow on a drag burried in the snow, big old log or 50 pound steel plate.
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I'm just replying so I can watch this....my sister was supposed to go out and learn how to set snares for rabbits today, she is living with the tribe in Huslia for the winter. I cant wait to hear from her how it went....
that fox is beautiful....hope your season is good to you....
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Crimony! I'd probably get strung up myself just walking through the woods! Nice sets.
-Steve
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Since we get so much snow and high winds I like to use large trees for a snow barricade. Plus all my dirtholes are also scent posts. I don't even have these baited. Just fox urine. When snows not an issue I do prefer flat dirt sets. Your making me think. I think I'll set a flat dirt hole set tomorrow on a drag burried in the snow, big old log or 50 pound steel plate.
Great use of the trees. I used to make my dirthole sets up against a flat rock, limb or a clump of grass, all on a little rise. I also like to pick up any cow or deer bones and use them as a backing. I always used fox urine at all my sets as a fear remover. I hope you get a wolverine or few and would love to see you get some lynx. Do you have to use diverters on your snares?
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No trapping laws are really open. Snare loop any size, no breaking point weight. I can even trap on exposed bait, all that does is get birds. Another strange thing, no trap check time. MOst guys run a few hundred mile line and check once a week.
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I sure appreciate you letting us tag along. :tup:
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Thanks for sharing! Love to see the pics :tup:
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:tup:
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I've been really overloaded with work and my family but have had a little time to get out and make a few more sets. I got a female wolf on Sunday on the back side of Willow but she was COVERED!!! in lice, no camera with me :sry: She stayed in the field. I got her in a 3/32 snare with amberloc slide. 14" loop. The pic was from a couple weeks ago when I set. Then today I checked my local line and got a nice cross fox and lost another. Both today on scent posts. We went from 10 degrees for highs to upper 40's this weekend and down to below freezing again today so ice has been an issue. Hope life is good in Washington!
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That cross is a beauty! :tup:
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lol, the two pics of the juice container are not what I thought I was loading. Those are my new ermine boxes. They work great! I have rat traps inside them. I put my scent in the back cap area. Works great.
I'll repost the other pics.
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pics that I thought I posted above :chuckle:
First is wolf snare/yote snare, second is scent post for fox.
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:tup: :tup:
Beautiful fox!!
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:yeah:
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You are seriously living the dream for alot of us. You are sure to have a following. I hope you have the time to share. Looking forward to whatever you post from sets to success to failures. VERY COOL teacherman.
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Don't have pics yet but I just made two more sets tonight that I know I will get animals in soon. I hiked to the top of a ridge that one side of was deep snow and the other was blown open. There was a fox trail on top that was 6" wide and 2" deep on the moss floor. Made a beautiful snare set on the trail and a really good scent post dead ontop of the ridge.
Sidenote, buddy got a nice wolverine last night, cool thing about it got it all on video gamecam. Got it in a 330 cubby, amazing how much of a fight it still put up. The wolverine the night before ate two marten off his line.
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awesome,Im stoked just sitting here :tup:
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Sweet, just be careful where you post that little clip.
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just posting so I can watch your topic teach, thanks for posting pics off your line.... :tup: :tup: :tup:
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this is awesome! are you selling your pelts?
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I wnat to see that clip really bad, but Machias is right. Be careful where you post it if at all.
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Great thread...keep em coming :tup:
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Got three more fox this morning and a suicidal rabbit that landed in a #2DL. Moose nocked down a bunch of my snares and I had two fox jump traps due to ice. My daughter shot her first fox today as well. Post pics later when I'm not on my Phone. Weathers killing us, 37 and rain.
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just posting so I can watch your topic teach, thanks for posting pics off your line.... :tup: :tup: :tup:
:yeah: :tup:
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Man I miss trapping ..... Keep sharing !!!! :tup:
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A couple pics from today. My daughter had lost my phone in my jeep the last half of the day but I did get a couple pics before that :chuckle:
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Awseome, congrats to your daughter!!!
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You notice her gloves :chuckle:. I forgot her winter gloves in my wifes jeep. She is wearing a set of my trapping gloves (actually my bait gloves :yike:). She made sure I knew they didn't smell very good. I carried her up a ridge on my shoulders and she put them in my face, I about choked :chuckle: She really didn't complain, anything is better than nothing when your hands are cold.
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You know what they say, "Old trappers never die, they just smell like it!" :chuckle:
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Cool thread Teacherman, congrats to your daughter. Love getting my girls outdoors. :tup:
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Awesome thread Teacherman. Congrats to your daughter and I look forward to folowing along on your trapping season.
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A few more snares and a fox cubbies out! We've had three chinooks this winter so its been crazy keeping the sets from not getting a layer of ice on them. I'm heading out tomorrow to make a couple new bait piles and lynx cubbies plus toss up 12 more marten boxes. (I'll add pics) These three sets are going to go into my book some day :chuckle: The cubby has the trap out about 4'-5' out in front of it but the only way into it is throw a pinch point, the traps location, notice the vertical guide sticks. I'm using rabbit, ermine, and moose hide as bait and fox urine up behind the set. The road snare is a spot I blocked the entire rd off with cross logs and actually added a tree to attach my snare to. I put that birch between the two cross logs, it actually slides out and acts as a drag. After that I put some spruce bows covering the rest of the holes in the trail. The last snare is on a hill, I like setting snares on hills, animals tend to push a little harder moving up a hill. I think this takes there gaurd down a little.
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:drool: Please let WOLF get thur snare! :tup:
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Awesome! That will keep you busy
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If your setting your snares for wolves you need to set a MIN of 100 yards, further is better. If you catch a wolf at your set now, it'll be all over for the rest, they will avoid the bait set from now on. If you set 100 yards back they do not associate the bait pile with the wolf/wolves that were caught. You realllllly need to move those sets back.
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Agreed Machi but I also need to go in with a gun a wolf gear. The snares I set only had 9" loops on them. I wasn't expecting wolves. I usually dont set a bait for a couple weeks and let it get active. But with that said the amount of fox sign was hard to resist. I'll most likely end up with half eaten fox but that's trapping. I'm making 1/8" Amber loc snares in my shop today and getting them boiling. I like about a 14" loop on my wolf sets. I left the main ridge trail alone with my snares as well. I have a lot more steel to lay in that area. Growing up in WA it amazes me how large these wolves are up here. They are the size of an average WA black bear except they run in packs. Another issue with the wolves in my area is they havexa bad louse problem. Like really bad mange. It makes them a little crazy, two bow hunters in this area had problems with them this season. Not worth anything besides the fact your helping the moose population. Off to. Check my sets.
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Ok, sorry, I thought you were setting up for wolves.
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Agreed Machi but I also need to go in with a gun a wolf gear. The snares I set only had 9" loops on them. I wasn't expecting wolves. I usually dont set a bait for a couple weeks and let it get active. But with that said the amount of fox sign was hard to resist. I'll most likely end up with half eaten fox but that's trapping. I'm making 1/8" Amber loc snares in my shop today and getting them boiling. I like about a 14" loop on my wolf sets. I left the main ridge trail alone with my snares as well. I have a lot more steel to lay in that area. Growing up in WA it amazes me how large these wolves are up here. They are the size of an average WA black bear except they run in packs. Another issue with the wolves in my area is they havexa bad louse problem. Like really bad mange. It makes them a little crazy, two bow hunters in this area had problems with them this season. Not worth anything besides the fact your helping the moose population. Off to. Check my sets.
Read about the lice before. A real bummer. I understand to an extent it has spread over a third of AK.
Animal rights people and a timid AKDFG are to blame. I remember when the lice first showed and they had a chance to kill the only pack they were in but they held back because of protests long enough to let the lice spread.
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I thought we were about to have a break in the snow so I went out to break my traps free from the ice and reset them. First sets I stopped at I had this pair waiting for me, got to love the cross fox! One in a snare, one on a scent post. The male is an XXL! I almost had to put him on a coyote board. his feet go past the bottom of the fox stretcher. With that said the only thing I have to say about trapping that kills me is the time it takes to prep the fur correctly. I completely do the feet taxidermy quality. My fox are taking me about 90 min each :dunno: With that said they look really nice when they are done. Good luck on your lines guys!
A few pics, I'm trying a new set, hay set. Looked great when I left it but the 6" of fresh last night I'm sure killed most of my sets. Good thing for snares!
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Swwwwweeeet, man those things are beautiful!
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Teacher...I need your life. What am I doing behind a desk :bash: Great thread :tup:
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Teacher...I need your life. What am I doing behind a desk :bash: Great thread :tup:
I really only get out a couple hours a week. I spend my share of time behind a desk or in front of a classroom. I'm sure I spend more money on gas than I'll make on my furs (I've yet to ever sell one :chuckle:). It's just fun and it makes my classroom look like a back country cabin. ;) I can't wait to get back up and check my lynx/marten line. That should be the day after Christmas, it will be a good fur check I'm hoping!
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Love it :IBCOOL:
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:yeah:
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Really cool!
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What a great thread TeacherMan; thanks for sharing... you got me curious about trapping now...
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Heck if you know someone that is good with a sewing machine you could make one of these....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CROSS-FOX-Couch-Throw-FUR-BLANKET-Made-w-A-Pelt-RARE-/160628204684?pt=US_CSA_MWA_Gloves_Mittens&hash=item25662fe48c
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Teacher...I need your life. What am I doing behind a desk :bash: Great thread :tup:
I really only get out a couple hours a week. I spend my share of time behind a desk or in front of a classroom. I'm sure I spend more money on gas than I'll make on my furs (I've yet to ever sell one :chuckle:). It's just fun and it makes my classroom look like a back country cabin. ;) I can't wait to get back up and check my lynx/marten line. That should be the day after Christmas, it will be a good fur check I'm hoping!
Ever take any of your kids out? Read about a few classes going out trapping as a project I think around Fairbanks.
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Teacher...I need your life. What am I doing behind a desk :bash: Great thread :tup:
I really only get out a couple hours a week. I spend my share of time behind a desk or in front of a classroom. I'm sure I spend more money on gas than I'll make on my furs (I've yet to ever sell one :chuckle:). It's just fun and it makes my classroom look like a back country cabin. ;) I can't wait to get back up and check my lynx/marten line. That should be the day after Christmas, it will be a good fur check I'm hoping!
Ever take any of your kids out? Read about a few classes going out trapping as a project I think around Fairbanks.
My school doesn't have anything with trapping but there are some schools in the area that do. One of the schools even gets permits from AK fish and game for what would normally be closed area, they have a class/club. One of these days when I have an open block in my schedule I'm going to talk my school into it. Mean while I teach anatomy and physiology and write my own curriculum. I can say a few animals hit the table in my classroom every year, plus I talk to the kids about trapping all the time.
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Sounds like you are having a good time. Love those foxes.
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Checked my marten/lynx sets yesterday for the first time. I had 15 sets out in this area and had two sets snapped (a 120, and a 160). But on a positive point I got a nice marten in a #3 OS. Got him by his front foot :chuckle: The trap didn't break him up to bad. When I first checked the set I thought I had a squirrel. It was all balled up and looked like a large snow ball with 1/2" of ice covering him. I just unhooked the trap and replaced it, actually put in a second set in the back door of the cubby. Glad I didn't get him with a #4 LS no gap! ;)
Merry Christmas everyone!
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Found a nice dark set of moose sheds today!!! I'll post pics in a bit ;)
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A pic of the set of moose sheds I found today plus some otter tracks. 330 going into that spot tomorrow.
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AWESOME sheds I am goin this weekend to look for his cousins sheds down here
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Well it was a sad day, I pulled my marten sets in 14A since it closes tomorrow. Killed me to do it, I had a bunch of fresh sign along with several lynx that checked out 3 of my marten boxes and a yote that that looked like he almost put his nose in a box. I broke my own rule in this area. I always set for lynx and marten in a dual set. This area I didn't and it caused me three or four animals today. With that said I got more bait on my bait pile and put a couple more blind sets on it (#4 and #3).
After I pulled my high sets I went down and got my otter gear and went and put in a few 330's and a 220 bucket set with a block of hooligan scraps in the back of it. After that I checked some fox sets with no new sign. Then I went and put in two more fox sets in new area tonight on fresh sign. Thinking it will be my new area I develop for K9's.
Hope everyone is doing good on there line, I'm in a little bit of a dry spell but I think thats going to be broken tonight!
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Holly water trapping :( I went down today and broke my traps free. Nothing like trapping in -19 weather. I also added a 330 on a blind set in case the others freeze in again before an otter passes through! The 330 isn't actually on the ice of the river its up about an inch to keep in working for a while. After that was done I put in a fox set under a bridge so no matter how much snow we get it should work!
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That 330 blind set was on several sets of otter tracks :tup:
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When will you stop trapping fox and lynx?
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I'll stop the end of Febuary ish. It's open till end of March but hides start to get split ends bad. The fox will almost start looking rubbed.
:bdid:When will you stop trapping fox and lynx?
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In the middle of a cold snap, finally started to warm up a little today, -16 felt good. There has been a few animals moving but I think most are hunkered down. My water trapping has been interesting due to overflow. There was 4" of running water over the top of the ice today. Just keeping my sets unfrozen and functional.
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Looks awesome man, Reminds me of back home in ND. Hopefully I'll be up in your neck of the woods in the fall!
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Well the person that got me into the outdoors as a kid, my dad had been visiting and running my line with me for the last 4 weeks but he had to fly back to WA tonight. So I pulled more than half my line today, it was a little bittersweet, its just not the same without him. At times this season with snares I've had over 100 sets out. With marten closed back on the 31st and another 10" of fresh snow today I was starting to feel the time crunch, plus its only going to be a matter of time before I really get stuck in my jeep. I had two sections of line that I had to bust out a couple miles every check with the bumper of my jeep pushing snow, I had to use my winch several times. A person can only take so much :chuckle:
I've still got out my otter sets and about a dozen good foothold sets for fox, about a that many good snares. I start training for my second job the 14th of Febuary, I want to spend a little more time with my wife and girls between now and then. So my free times about to come to an end for a while. I'll keep everyone posted still on how I do for the next month on my one last stretch of line, maybe I'll even put some cool jeeping pics up :tup:
thanks for all the support this season.
Chris
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Thanks for taking us along, I really enjoyed it!!!
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:yeah: It has been fun being a (frozen) fly on your wall watching this from afar.
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I still have a few good sets out that will hopefully produce a couple more animals. I would like to pick another lynx up but fox and otter are my target animals. I think I will leave some of my 330's out until the end of March, end of otter season. The sets have evolved over the season that is for sure! This 330 set is the same as one I've posted before but now we have a couple more feet of snow. Little more info on it, its in a 20' wide river bed that is literally narrowed down to the width of that 330, talk about a funnel point!
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Where I learned and grew up trapping, 330s always had to be underwater or 6 feet up, but we had to worry about pets and hunting dogs, obviously that's not an issue where you trap. Have you thought about sliding your trigger over a little more to one side? I have much better luck when my triggers are not centered. Just a thought.
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Machia that is a good idea! I've done that before. With them centered I still catch smaller animals like marten and mink. You should see what a 330 does to a mink :chuckle:
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Oh I bet, I've seen what they do to muskrats!! :)
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crows 2
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No camera on me today but put another red in the shed. Nothing unusual about that except, I got him in a 330 bucket baited with fish :IBCOOL: Its not normal for the fox up here to put there head in a bucket.
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Very nice teacherman! I appreciate the posts! Love these trapping threads. My grandpa used to trap over in South Dakota years ago, it was always great to hear his stories. This reminds me of him.
Be safe out there! Good luck on a wolf! Those reds are knarly!
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One of my budddies checked a chunk of my line for me today since I wasn't able to head up north. I got my first wolverine and I wasn't there to see it :bash: :bash: :bash:
With that said I at leat got the beast! I've yet to pick it up from him. Its a male about 48" tip nose to tip of tale.
Keep you posted.
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Can't wait to see it! I hope he got you pics of it in the set.
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That stinks, but congrats!!!
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I got a few pic of my gulo but my new puppy (English springer) ate my power cord on my laptop :( Not sure how to upload pics from iPhone. I can text someone a pic if they can put it on. Thanks
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If you log into the site with your phone. You should be able to post from the site on your phone and not have to upload it to your computer. I do it all the time.
Cant wait to see the pic's! They are one cool animal :tup: Is 48" big for one of them? It sounds like a good sized one but I don't know much about there size.
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It's a nice size male. Remeasured him at 52". It won't let me choose a file :bash:
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Dont' have much time but this is a pic just after I got done skinning and fleshing. He ends up between a XL and an XXL! :IBCOOL:
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couple more :chuckle:
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Beautiful animal. Great job!
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your killing me good job. that had to be a great day walking up on him.
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Very cool. Thanks for sharing :tup:
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Thats a Hell of a Wolverine.
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That is so cool. That's like a 350" bull in my book!
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330 bucket set burried in the snow. Moose leg dangling above the bucket with hooligan and muskrat for bait in the back of the bucket. Tripped the first 330 at the first bucket that was on a leaning log. Didn't have the bucket high enough I'm thinking. Second bucket I guess he circle for a long time and even tried digging on the hill above it before he committed.
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Trapping season has been very hard the last couple weeks. Its been in the 40s during the day and freezing at night. We still have a couple feet of snow/ice so its been fun :rolleyes:
Anyway a couple more sets I got out this week, only a couple more weeks left of the season. Hopefully I can put a few more furs in the shed.
Open baits are legal in AK.