Humpin some miles Out in the snow.

[mudmarlin70]

Covered some ground today takin advantage of the snowpack. Glad I did. Still a bit too deep out to the east. Most tracks were runnin the deer trails or up on top.

But I walked a section of one farm near home here with only about 8 inches of snow. I stood there amazed at the sign. Caught two on the other section I've been trapping..one on a crawl under that I hadnt caught on yet and one on an open woods trail.

Catch circle


Found four crawl unders on the new section that looked like this...I set two of them for tomorrow.

Inside the deer fencing, they're working the bruhpiles hard. No deer tracks there...only canine.

And came across five different dens on two of the farms. Unbelievable sign. and today's catch...Awesome color on the skinny one and a pink nose...

I'm wooped. Lots of walkin in the deep snow. Tried to cover lots of ground, but never got to the yote spot. When I found that much fox sign, i decided to put a hold on a new spot for now.

Redneck. I know you mentioned getting some pics from up north here. Let me know if you wanna make the trip one morning. I could set a couple of the homerun spots and then play with the caller in the pm if ya want.

[redneck]

yeah lets do that I can not believe the tracks you have I have not seen that down here in 3 years:bow:
I went out tonight to call hour before dark not one fox or yote trak yet the deer was staying on the roads as much as they could eating hs and gb. I walked to a spot 100 yards off the road with snow past my knees but illed me :eek: still powder not good called for 30 mins not even a bird no there was one capped chickadee came for a look see LOL

let me know when.

[redneck]

is that a den or are they going in after the hogs?

[mudmarlin70]

They take over the hog holes as dens in every spot I know up here.

I went to set this spring for hogs. I ended up not setting quite a few because the reds had taken over and denned up in the holes. turkey wings and bone piles just outside the holes..

we used to have turkeys like you fellas back in the mid nineties....not anymore. You see why...and I'm convinced it's one reason we dont have the muskrats like you guys do. Once hardwater sets in, those dogs are on the ice hounding the few huts we've got. I have no idea how much prey it takes to maintain the dogs like we've got, but Its plenty I'm sure.

You tell me when....you're the one drivin! took me about an hour and fifteen to get to UB's place. you still got my email?? I'll send it to you if you need it.

[ub1243]

i think that bottom red has the best color of your catch this year.

your sign is mind boggling. no wonder you looked confused when i took you on my line. the habitat is there, the fox aren't.
you have some great fox areas up there.

[redneck]

send it again or I can get it over on the pc site

I really like the top fox for color you have some good board fox colors to good for fur coats the bottom is a good one for that. still all look like #1 they say you guys get a few of the cross up there.

[mudmarlin70]

Part 2....

Still a little too deep out to the east. They're movin but in the paths only or up top. This guy took my path right to the farmers quail pen..Unfortunately as we got near my sets, the my tracks had drifted over and he turned off my path.

But the spot near the house here is still active. One of the crawl unders hit and another hit on a trail in some cane. Great Colors TOday on both bucks! Finally some nice clearer colored reds. Too bad I forgot the camera when I was checking today...they looked great in the snow. Both were neck snared. Only had one this year that had one leg throgh the snare..all the rest have been neckshots. Better to be lucky than good....for me! Catching way more fox than i ever thought I would...fewer coons, but I'll take what I can get! Weather's been tough for the coons up north here.

[ub1243]

simply amazing. :bow:

you have the same number of red fox per square mile as deer.

[redneck]

:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:

[mudmarlin70]

Dont give me that :bow::bow: crap! I still dont know squat, but I'm learning. No matter what I catch, It aint goin to my head. I know I got alot to learn.

As long as you got access to good land up here and know where to look for the doggies on that land, you can do ok I bet. You guys would be doing alot better than me. I just cant handle any more than I'm dealin with now.

Happy to say I'm only runnin about 8-10 snares on any of those properties, and i've only got three places set. I figured I would just work my way through the best location I found over the summer rather than muckin everything up by settin a ton of cable. As I get to a certain number, I'm just movin off those properties and movin on. I'm sure I could catch alot more on some of those places, but I dont want to set up any sophomore slump for next year.

These past couple days, Im actually setting in more open woods targeting one target dog at a clip. The real red one from today was like that. That's a blast. I set one today for a dog that has been running ice over a pond. He's mostly in the wide open, but I was able to find one spot just off the pond where he side steps a broken limb right at the elbow of the limb. We'll see if I get him.

[ub1243]

your gona loose that ice real soon. he has to run dry land by the weekend.

[redneck]

You are doing it right learning rather than catchin. I would rather key in on one critter and catch it than catch 5 because I have alot of sets out But as a trapper making money that method don't cut it LOL

Never the less you will be better in the long run learning the way you are doing it because you seeing the little things you may not realize it yet but you are seeing them. test will be when the white leaves the ground. Do not allow yourself to fall in bad habits if the catch goes down just keep doing what you are doing. when I want to trap for critters I would maintain 24 to 30 sets and my goal if the fox are there is 25 to 30 in 2 weeks rats I would set five dozen and goal was 100 rats in a 5 day run.
coon 20 sets better yield me 50 coon in a 10 day check or I was pissed, to do that it is serious trapping on a part time line and you need ground.

[mudmarlin70]

2 a day is more than enough for me Redneck! I wouldnt want those numbers.

Nothin today. Which is fine with me. I can get a little caught up. I knocked everything down for a couple of days too. Start all caught up on Saturday or so. headed out tomorrow but just for location. Didnt want to contend with any skinning tomorrow.

I checked the spot out east and I had only one set cross the hedge I took a buch off of in the past ten days.

But I saw the fox were on the quail pens again so I ran a hedge that runs perpendicular to the ne I've been setting. Yeah...there's a few runnin that hedge too.:eek:

Maybe you fellas can help Id these for me...I'm hoping it's a mink, but I'm not sure. Too big a track for ermine I think.. He's been through the spot a few times since the snow and the tracks lead under some briar to a tiny creek. I spotted the run in the thick stuff and didnt risk backtrailing it too much. The tracks are about the size of a quarter maybe bigger and the four tracks are bunched up on top of each other, and the hole it passes through from under a blowdown and log is only about three or four inches across. Tracks almost seemed big for the size of the hole on the run. Hoping mink. Definitely not tree rat and not rabbit.

Ub..It's gonna tae alot more than a couple 45 degree days and rain to melt ou ice up here. I've got deer walking on the lakes and ponds up here. It's only fifty miles or so from you, but it's a world apart weatherwise. We aint seen 32 degrees in a couple weeks. Think that cedar water you fellas got doesnt hold ice too long. Our water is pretty hard water from the lime and granite we've got. It likes to stay solid!

[redneck]

put a snare there and let us know what it is. baseball inch off the ground. 1/16 good swiv.

[redneck]

Oh man never mind :eek::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow: