# Plains Trapping



## Larry

I am starting this living thread a week or so before I head to Neb, SD, ND, Wy or Montana. Now that I am very mobile I do not know where the season will take me. Of course I am after high dollar yotes and cats. I am sure an occasional plains ridge-runner racoon and badger will get caught but they will not be targeted, I will target a few plains skunks as time allows as I am always in need for late season (5 to -0 weather) skunk essence as along range call lure.

I worked on traps yesterday and have an assorted variety of 135 5.5 inch to 7 inch jaw spread, cleaned up, adjusted and ready to set. Another 40 need attention but I believe they will get in on the line as the trapping cabin now has a 6 inch vice installed :razz: .

Monday I will start building 200 snares C2C style as I found some 1 x 19 1/16 cable at a local Farmtech store in there bargain area. I picked up 725 feet for $56.00. Plus I already had several hundred feet of brand new cable I bought last year.

Tuesday I head to the farm to weld up 90, 16 inch long rebar stakes to add to my collection. I discovered with the Urban coyote sets, if I weld a 3/4 inch nut on top and am careful not to get slag on the nut face, I can attach my battery powered impact wrench and 3/4 inch socket, hit the button it and spins the rod it in the ground. Once its spun for a few seconds it pulls right up with the chain. As that in Iowa heavy soil so it should work in sand and lighter western soil. Maybe even some rocks.

Heres the deal today, modern trappers are dead set on cable disposable stakes as the think they are so much lighter and easier to use. Plus cheaper. I still go the old way and rebar, 20' of 3/8 or 1/2 rebar at Menards is $5.00 average. That means for the 15 stakes and 3/4 nuts I weld on, my cost $0.60/per. Plus they last forever and they come out of the ground fairly easily as long as you twist them. So Ill take the extra weight!

New to the line this year is my trapping cart! :smile: :smile: My daughter gave me one of the carts kids ride in behind bicycles. I added two 5 foot long 3/4 conduit handles, drilled in holes for two snaps to be attached and those snaps attach then to the d-rings in a 2 inch wide lineman's belt. With all the conduit weight on my hips and the load weigh on the bicyle axle and bicycle wheel I can easily pull my 130 lb grandson on mowed grass and still use my aluminum walking poles. I am sure I wont have any issues on trails. And it still should work in a short snow. If livestock wasn't such a pain to feed, water and shelter, I would have a goat to pull it! Or if Winston was just 4 inches taller! haha.

Okay Ill fill you in shortly of the what I pack for 3-4 months on the line.

Larry


----------



## glenway

How do you keep track of all the sets?


----------



## Larry

Handwritten Logs are still my number one method.

Yes I use a GPS, surveyors tape/flags. But bar none I would be lost without my written seasonal logbook. Its not just for finding sets. Its also to keep track of what type of sets are working/not working, what bait is working/not working, and all sorts of other stuff. To save time I make codes and these codes are on the first two pages, For example: my first bait hole, with lots of urine, 5 feet from the top of the hill on a cow trail may be B1/U2/C/TH5. If I use tape, and I use allot, I may mark my feeble map with an arrow and P-137NE on the arrow shaft. That means the set is 137 steps feet north-east of the tape,

For surveyors tape, each year is a new color, two years ago it was pink (P) , this years color will be disclosed after the close of the season. Often I may hang false tape or flags just to throw people off. I also may match tape to construction work or train work in the area.

For new trappers if you use surveyors tape or flags, you must use a logbook and step off from where you place the tape. Always vary your distance on each set to prevent theft. Keep your tape high. Never use nails and stick it to the ground. Kangaroo rats and some voles in the west love to collect things. I always keep my flags high also for that reason.

Be mindful a GPS can lose data, logbooks get wet and pages get ripped out in the wind. Surveyors tape get's blown away or torn off by cattle and mule deer. Thus three backups keep track of my traps. I never trust my memory as when the snow comes and goes, all looks different. Fact is Glen I spend more time in the truck logging than making a set I think. But its all worth it and my catches remain relatively high because of it.


----------



## Larry

Postponed leave. Looking at Wednesday 11-22-2017. With 223,000 miles on the Suburban, I didn't want head on 20-30 MPH breezes from due west. Yeppers, my drive is straight west...270 compass degrees 90% of the 10-11 hour first trip.

On my test drive to the farm pulling the Cabin I tackled a similar wind a week ago or so. Mileage dropped to 6.8-7.2 heading straight into the wind. Without wind on another test run the tired old girl provided me with ~10-12 MPG pulling the Cabin.


----------



## azpredatorhunter

I don't blame you Larry. Watch the weather... It's dryer than a fart out here, no rain is expected for the rest of this month. 89℉ Wednesday


----------



## Larry

Mrs. S and I where just talking. I may even hold off until Thanksgiving Day. Less idiots on the road that day. I am not in a huge early early season trapper anyway, especially with a chance to double price after Dec 10 usually.

My fist line will be about anywhere from 8 to 12 miles long as the crow fly. Because of the twisting and steep hills the terrain makes the passage more like 25-30. There are no truck trails just well established cow tails. Facts are Mrs S drove cattle from one meadow to another once, I doubt she'll ever do it again. Since I can not drive much faster than a horse, without worry about sever truck damage, it will take 4-5 hours to exit one ranch road on the west and arrive at a west ranch road.

Important Note: Speaking of trucks, if you ever do what I do and and do not have a Designated off road vehicle. ( I trust them much less then I do a horse. ) I take my truck in each year put it on a rack and look it over. I have found if mechanics know what do this is cheap $50.00 bill! For me its free after all these years

. Its also a good time to make sure everything is greased. Grease keeps road dirt out as much as it lubricates. I did my grease last week and because the grease didn't flow in easily I ended up replacing the half shafts and lower ball joints on the Suburban. Ask you mechanic why I did this. So far I have had to walk or use my reins and lasso! I am not in a place like Mark Steinman, no way I could jack the vehicle and make repairs easily to get the truck out. At least without allot of effort and in snow and -0. 

Second, I always run in 4WD low off road. It keeps the RPM ups and moves the oil better on slanted hills. I also feel the low gears keep the RPMs moving the torque converter and makes sure my transmission stays lubricated on those nasty slanted hillsides also. 

My oil gets changed every 30 days also. Oil is cheap, and it takes just one half hour of your time. As long as I don't have any transmission leaks my transmission needs no attention.

Dec 1, Bobcat season opens. I will add another 15 miles to the line then but it also demands allot of walking. I will usually put in a full a day on the line as a result. Often I end up having to turn on my headlamp because of lack of snow, and it is a walk to preset skinning stations.

With very high expected Bobcat prices, I am hopeful my expected catch of 2- 4 mature cats in two weeks will come about. Its so hard this early part regarding Cats. I say this as new trappers should be reminded so many kittens (young yearlings) are present and you should be prepared to release all if possible.

Because of the kittens I down size my traps to ~ 5.5 inches from my normal 6-7 inch size. I do this so I can catch and release all kittens with minimal foot damage. So far this has worked for me. However, as you can imagine it is a a hurt and help situation. It helps keep kittens in the area for next year and educates them from getting caught from anxious trappers. But if a big Tom comes along often the closer jaw spread throws a paw and it becomes educated also. These are not yotes that can be caught again in the same season once a toe is pinched. At least it appears I am not good at it.

Theres the plan folks. Ill let you know the day I leave.


----------



## Larry

11/22/2017

The rocking chair has been replaced with :

...220 traps in my big heavy lockable plastic job box. 6 Gallons of urine, various baits and Lures are with them. Some #3 Bridger dog-less cat traps rest in a carboard barrel. Electric drills batteries, augers, 100 normal 84 inch snares, trowels shovels, sod hammers, pan covers, surveyors tape, 200 zip lock bags for green hides and lots of other stuff like knives. Heck I even through in 6 raccoon stretchers just in case I catch a few big boar prairie raccoon. With prices low I thought I would tan the hides myself and hang them in the cabin.

...As for living a 1000 watt generator, deep cycle battery with 500 watt inverter, 80 lbs of LP, my -30 sleeping bag for on the trail break downs. Enough clothes I wont need to wash them for 3 weeks. As for food, various canned soups, 20lbs of rice, cooking oils, oat meal and other easy food until I do some shopping there. I have my CPAP machine and other Dr ordered things. And yes there a months supply of TP!

...Inside the suburban, So the rancher and his son can learn to hunt geese together, I threw in 20 big foot goose decoys, two layout blinds and a pop up dog blind. My high lift jack, 200 feet of 1 inch polyester rope for getting unstuck. Shovels for snow and a spade for dirty. I also have 2 -4 foot 2 x 12''s and 6 - 2 foot 2 x 8's for help if I do bury a wheel.

All total I am sure the Cabin empty weight climbed from 3700 lbs to 4200 easy. But that is why one reason it was built on a heavy car trailer (7,000) with 4 wheel brakes.

My travel speed will be 55 mph. Since I am taking non primary highways Ill be fine.

Ill post a photo in few days pf the Cabins firts resting spot!


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Good luck trapping Larry... Be safe and have fun.

azpredatorhunter


----------



## C2C

You Sir are indeed a man with a purpose . Well prepared and ready for anything the season throws at you . Good luck Larry , we are all watching with anticipation of your upcoming season . Take care and drive safe .. Prayers and thoughts follow you ..


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Good luck bud hope you need to rent a moving truck to get all your fur back


----------



## Larry

I am old, My mind says no your not you can still put in 30 good sets per day. Now 15 is is it and that's with no knap and a power auger. Man am I sore.

The 65-75 degree days are a big help! Been setting traps like the AZ boys in my T-Shirt! First time in 28 years or so thats happened. Its also nice not having to break frozen soil! I can auger in my bait holes like they are butter.

1/2 mile from the Cabin I spotted a road killed Muley along the highway. I was concerned as it was bloated and at least two days old, where are the yotes??? To test the population I used the ranchers hay truck and picked it up and moved it to a hill. Last night in in bed I heard yotes to the east tell yotes to the south (along the river) they smelled something. Anxious this morning to see a 150 pound deer consumed I was dismayed to only see 3/4 of it gone. If that is any sign of what is going on with the population I am concerned greatly !

Ill get some pictures up soon..

.BTW the Cabin is perfect. We had winds yesterday in the 50 mph hour range. Fine sand was blowing everywhere. I packed the vented soffits with my socks and towels. When I opened it up after making a few sets yesterday, I was very please that no fine sand had entered! If no fine sand can get in..blizzards will be no issue!

From somewhere between the Missouri River and the Colorado foothills....I wish you all the best!


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Good luck Larry hope you got a few to skin tomorrow


----------



## 220swift

keep drive'n those stakes Larry, if you bed them, they will come...............


----------



## Larry

thought I would post a few photos this morning before my checks winds are blowing up to 40 so I am in no hurry. My catch is okay so far. I don't talk numbers just as I don't ask you what your annual salary is.

Here is a typical T bone set made from a calf hip bone. Trail Y's like outside corner post are always killer sets. Just a matter of time. Bait them with a good horse or deer bait ( or any protein ) this time of the year and you'll do well. Place a "tad" of a good loud lure on the bone and pour on the urine. You want the place to smell like yote. This set is especially good as a cow died here two years ago, there are still bones here and yotes will continue to visit the area through out their life if they fed here.

















Every one wonders about how crazy I am drinking water from a stock tank fed by a windmill. They including the Mrs. S says Ill get sick one of theses days. Well it hasn't happened yet. How could it, my water is better than any water in the world.....water is so clear and clean its blue and the water plants seem to grow in air.

















Where does one trap on the plains where all of it looks like this.









Well you do allot of scouting and looking. You know that the hills hold the yotes in early evening and the side hills hold them in the day. But for any trapper or caller you need to ambush them when they travel the path of least resistance as they will "always" take it. If they don't they will get a paw of sand-burs or cactus spines. Thus all migrate to the toughs and basins eventually as flat walking means less ednergy burn for long travels. Thus you look for sign at these areas on the trails and ignore the occasional signs at the top of the hills. The sand is fine and the next day after the wind stops its like a fresh snow, thus their story as I just posted reveals itself well.


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Well Larry I am glad you made a post you had me worried there, you were awall for awhile. 
So you don't post numbers or pictures of your catch so how are we supposed to follow along? I get not telling your total numbers. I don't know maybe I am a little disappointed...three days go by and all we get is a picture of a cow bone, cattle tank and barron nothingness.

Where Is The Coyotes Larry


----------



## Larry

Sorry for being rude nope I don't post numbers. Never have sorry! But you are correct I owe you a few pictures from the last few days. Ill post what I think are the interesting one.

Eric you once asked if I think coyotes can smell steel my reply was yep, but they are so used to it who cares, I for one don't. I don't worry about human scent or cleaning brand new traps before use . Fact is in the photos I went to extremes to prove my point. Mind you I don not lie when I say I am far away from people. Most of these photos were 4 miles from the nearest highway and 15 miles from the nearest house.

My line right now is short, at just 35 miles long. The reason for this is bobcat season opens Friday and I want to concentrate on $300 hides before the snow flies as I don't walk well especially in deep snow.

Okay here's a typical catch. Its a little poor because mind you I still run my line early.

I can post these all day but they would get boring.









Heres one a mile down the same trail. By the time I harvested that yote and reset it was getting light







.

Heres a another one 1/2 mile from that one.









I wanted to show all how rigid I am about my thoughts on foreign scent and how much I don't care! . Case in point, That's a steel tank, brand new trap without being cleaned, brand new cable stakes, I did not wear gloves except to pack the dirt on the jaws after sifting as sand burs are thick this year. That set was less than 24 hours old. Again the key to modern trapping is good clean urine, choosing the right lure and bait for the time of the year. If you do those two things you could spit on the trap pan and still catch a yote, In fact Ill do it this year.









here's a close up so you can see the trap! Again brand new! The pan was manipulated by my bare hands on the bumper, the cable stake was attached with my bare hands by pounding the rivet shut on the trailer hitch. By all means it was contaminted to the 10th degree with my bear paws,,,,yet it still caught this male.


----------



## Larry

Big Badger at a tank!! Biggest one of my life.

I was on the north line today doing checks. First check was a three set quick check off a windmill and tank. Remind again I do most my checks fro a far with glasses. While scent doesn't put fear into critters, one truck door slam, one spin of the tires or even a loud radio clears the area for a few days. So I check most of my line from hills with glasses. Today was no different. But I was sure drill auger s did not pile dirt 2 feet high! I drove towards the set I thought did I get a double on a badger as two sets were within 8 feet of each other. Getting out of the truck I could see a monster badger on top a huge pile of dirt on the south side, so I quickly went to the west side to see if maybe I had one in that set. Nope it was left undisturbed. But then I could see this badger a full 45 inches long and as wide as a basketball. I went to the truck grabbed the .17 hmr and put one into his upper nose just below the eyes as I wanted to perhaps mount this one or at least skin it for taxidermy.

I texted the rancher and apologized for the dirt mound and in the same breath practically begged to leave it as what a perfect visual attractor for yotes walking by. I mean what yote could not investigate such a huge mound smelling with the musk of a monster badger? he said go for it , with my promise I was I will level it before the freeze.

For any doubters this is my 367th badger in my life. Every time I get a front paw catch I am still in awe at how much dirt they move.

This badger was caught with a loud lure with lots of skunk in it. But this time of the year with the weather warm I use just a tad...maybe a thumb tack head size drop. That's it other than I put plain sheeps wool in the hole and smothered the set with yote urine.


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Good to see your getting some fur congrats on the badger


----------



## Larry

pokeyjeeper said:


> Good to see your getting some fur congrats on the badgere


Thank- you!! and goodnight...morning comes too soon!


----------



## prairiewolf

Thanks for the pics Larry ! Some nice looking coyotes also.


----------



## C2C

Glad to see you are still alive Larry , getting worried that you gone M.I.A. .. that is a great badger for sure and nice coyotes .. Any snares set yet ? We put out 40 yesterday and my back feels like it today . Gonna be harder here this year , not much cover and every Tom , Dick and Harry is a coyote hunter with the prices we got last year .. Keep us informed , looks like you are doing well .


----------



## 220swift

Nice work Larry, good looking coyotes. That badger brought back some memories......you haven't lived until you've got a badger like that on 6 foot of chain and he decides to go almost straight down for 4 foot of that change.........

How's the rolling cabin working out?


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Now that's what I'm talking about... Nice Larry


----------



## Larry

Cam- no snares yet. Ground is to perfect for bait holes. I can punch one in fast with that new auger and drill. I feel your pain...I put in set #63 today. Between that and skinning I am very sore and hurting!

SUMMARY OF WEEK ONE which ended today Nov 30th. 63 sets in. Bridger #2 dog-less, offsets are my favorite trap. Pan takes 15 seconds to tweek and thats it even after some huge yotes tumbling and gnawing they are holding up very well with no further adjustments. The factory night-latch leaves a powerful click and you know your ready to start sifting. Andy Weiser lures and urines are working tremendously well. I have no check outs, the yotes just seem to keep working the set till caught! The warm weather (two days in the 80's) is messing with my baits and the yotes are just looking for small tidbits. I placed 6 sets with deer liver in them with good blood and they remain untouched. Deer Kidney and heart sets are the same. Ill pull them all for Cat bait used trash sets.

Unusual photos from today...

Second time in my life this happened. I got a double front paw catch on this yote. I have been having some issues with the dry sand grains running into my bait holes. On the ones where I am not using dry grass wads to plug the hole I am using wool. The wool is kept high in the hole maybe 1-2 inches down. I suspect this was a daytime catch and the yote saw the wool and did a pounce, Men...this is why you set your pan 9-10 from the hole! Because that is how far the average is from the yotes nose to its foot. In this case the yote figured it would shuv its nose into the hole with a single pounce and catch a mouse! Problem , that fake mouse was wool and the trap pan was exactly where its two front paws needed to be! Talk about the luck!!!















!

Okay plan B...lets see what Sir Harry Winston does with a "safe" yote. Well he walks over and literally licks its nose! I snapped this a little to early! Then Winston looks at me and yawns...then pees on a weed. Meanwhile the yote also turns and looks at me and after a pitiful howl kept looking. I immediately put it out of its misery! This one may haunt me for a while...to early in the season too...darn it!


----------



## 220swift

Very nice Larry, I've only see a double front catch one other time and that was back in the late 70's ...............


----------



## Larry

Its been an unusual seasonal start, for sure.


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Nice pictures keep it up bud


----------



## Larry

Quick post..

Fur is good, most are 3XL Clear Heavies in my opinion. Been skinning most of of the day it seems. I took an hour to dress the badger nice with claws so he could have a badger rug for his wall. It will go to the taxidermist Monday. I only had time to check the north line myself I am waiting to here from the rancher that checked the east line while he was haying some cows over there. It was a fare catch as shown in the photo. In fact it was a great catch considering the north line only had 18 sets in it.

View attachment 28802


Here's some pelts for reference. BTW if the fur and fat on these yotes is any indication.....January and Feb are going to be brutal winters. The yotes literally have as much fat as a raccoon! No kidding either. Ill be scraping allot of grease in March!

View attachment 28810


----------



## Larry

Quick post..

Fur is good, most are 3XL Clear Heavies in my opinion. Been skinning most of of the day it seems. I took an hour to dress the badger nice with claws so he could have a badger rug for his wall. It will go to the taxidermist Monday. I only had time to check the north line myself I am waiting to here from the rancher that checked the east line while he was haying some cows over there. It was a fare catch as shown in the photo. In fact it was a great catch considering the north line only had 18 sets in but its over 12 miles long!









Here's one so you you can see pelt size. ~4 pelts will touch on when placed on the side of a 1800lb round bale.


----------



## youngdon

Very nice ! It's good to hear you are having success.


----------



## akiceman25

Enjoying your thread! Thanks for the pics!!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## 220swift

Thanks Larry!


----------



## hassell

Well done, no pic's of your camp set up.


----------



## prairiewolf

Your giving me an itch to start trapping, but all we can use is cages, unless its on private ground !


----------



## glenway

Great work, Larry! And, I mean work. Does it seem like a "job?"


----------



## Mark Steinmann

Very cool and what a sweet Badger! Congrats on all the success and thank you for sharing.

- Mark

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Thanks to all.

Glen-- I am losing weight fast. Every muscle is super sore and my back is nothing but a bundle of fire. This afternoon my body said no more after a week and I took a knapp for an hour before skinning!

Hassel--Ill get a pretty picture of my camp next week when I head to the forest after cats. I just pulled it in to the ranch yard behind a wind break. Not a pretty area but should slow down the sand. The wind is going top 50 mph on Monday. Its dry and even at 20 mph the fine sand of the dry plains kicks up enough. I hate cleaning and the cabin despite its sealed very well. You just seem to track it all over. I sweep 3-4 times per day.

Okay no interesting photos on the line just yotes caught and tugging, except one that said something is fishy here and turned my set down! :frusty: When they do that I might as well throw a $100 bill into the wind. I had run out of urine and forget to refill this AM so I'll fix it in the morning and catch him. This ol' trapper hasn't been outwitted yet!









I thought I would show you how I take care of my skins. Also I always talk about white bellies on yotes and how much they are in demand so Ill took a photo of the last one I skinned today after salting and just before bagging.

As Cam knows this is where the money is....white bellies!









These yotes are fat like raccoons and badgers. For assurance against spoilage all are getting salted and then froze, Until I can flesh, wash machine and stretch a bunch in at home. After salting good including lettling the table salt flow freely like the sands- of -time into the tail bone hole I fold not roll. I learned along time ago if you roll when you thaw the thaw is uneven. Folding allows you to open the hide quickly during thawing so there is no chance of spoilage. Fold it like a T-Shirt, bottom (tail) first. Then bring the head and ears over the top, And finally lay the tail on top. For safety the nose/ears always gets a tad of salt poured on before bagging.









Okay now take a 2 gallon zip lock bag and pack the bag tail end first so the head and ears are towards the zip lock. You can do it the other way as it has nothing to do with spoilage. Its just the hair on the tail and rump is so long you'll fight the lock. This is what one looks like bagged. On the side is my skinning knives and trust me I use every one when I skin. Those guard hairs for the initial cut on the legs/anus are like horse hair and will dull your blade fast. So I grab a knew one when working the hide down and its then used to start the next skin. The salt I use as you can see is table salt, non-iodized because its cheaper. About $0.89 box and one box should do 3-4 3xl hides. That black thing is my tail skinner. For less than a $5 bill it does a great job. Remember on tails its okay to slit them until the bone is about the size of a womans little finger.









Goodnight all....thanks for keeping this old man sane on a very open Plains! BTW that's the moon looking as bright tonight as the sun!


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Good stuff thanks for sharing


----------



## catcapper

Glad your bring'in in some fur.

Sounds like your fold'in and freeze'in your furs with salt on them.

awprint:


----------



## C2C

Doing a great job Larry , that would be a big job for 2 guys let alone one !!!. Yup white bellies are where it's at , just ask the eagle that opened up our first snared dog of the year , think it can be patched .

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Cat...I was concerned as the weather is very warm so I am salting them heavy. My rancher friend said I could use his freezerI accepted with a handshake and a big grin. Just so much fat this year, I mean up to 1/2" inch on the rear flanks and 3/8 on the backs. Very unusual IMHO.

Cam...I am just very mad I am old that's all I should be running more sets but 65 seems enough for now. Everything this trip seems to be going in slow motion, but I am settled in. Thanks for the compliment, may your fur be full and white as yours eyes.

Days recap...full moon last night and things slowed as I figured. This afternoon I went out looking for bleached bones and luckily found a whole cow. I love rib bones better then shanks for trail sets. I say this as eye appeal isn't really needed in the amount required for for valley sets where I want the yote to see the bone 1/4 mile away or more.

I was skunked today folks, but I did see lots of sign this afternoon so they started moving ahead of this front. My first live yote was spotted at full speed heading out of a bowl. I sure wish I could run that fast up hills.

Found this Christmas Present for our friend at home. He's 100% urban but says he knows horses because his kids had to take care of them on a week long Boy Scout camp excursion in New Mexico. Hes a great guy and I taught him how to catch beavers in his pond. So far he has almost mastered urban beaver trapping! (can I say that??)









Goodnight PT...maybe Ill get this one in the AM?


----------



## catcapper

Heres a tip for you and others.

Don't put salt on a hide and then into the freezer--- it can cause freezer burn and cause fur to slip. Think about a salted hide in a freezer this way-------------> Down in the city when there is frozen ice and snow on their sidewalks and streets, they scatter salt to melt it. Its kinda bass akwards to salt a hide and then try to freeze it. A rolled salted hide in a freezer can take up to 4-6 hours to freeze in the middle--- all that time the salt is extracting moisture (puddling) from the skin and that's what can cause it to burn or slip.

awprint:


----------



## Larry

Good advise and I think you summed up the issue....

Never roll your hides and freeze. :naughty: Salted or not.

Do what the Indians taught us, fold your hides. Then you can salt and freeze. And thaw without any issue with freezer burn. But when the temps hit 75 and above have the salt ready as the bacteria that causes slippage is already there.

In the spring of 1975 a light came on when I started thawing my green raccoon hides for sale. The hair was slipping and then I never salted. That caused a summer of reading and thought. I soon came upon a old book on hides. In that book it always said fold green skins for the spring fleshing...aha...Larry had no more hair slippage.

I still have that book. it was published in 1916. entitled Home Manufacture of Fur and Skins. Its been my bible since then and is here with me this season in the Cabin as always. I'd scan that page but I am limited on space and left my printer at home... :roflmao:


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Keep at it Larry


----------



## 22magnum

Love this thread and wish you continued success.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Salt ????


----------



## glenway

The man's been there. Just sayin'.


----------



## Larry

Been salting for decades. Especially in hot weather. Nothing causes the hair to slip faster than bacteria. So I kill it as soon as the hide gets off the carcass. Our forefathers were not wrong and neither am I! Case closed!

Okay I am in the forest and shy on bandwidth. I have one bar on the phone so Ill hurry up.

Here's some pictures of the Cabin in its element. I squeezed it in tight to stop the wind and yet I can open the front window and call from my bed. That's no BS there :really: , in fact where the Cabin is right now I called in a Cat two years ago.


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Looks like a great camping site bud


----------



## Larry

Catching badgers is trying my patience. The badgers are no big deal in fact the carcass makes a fine bait for cat cache set's. But that dirt mound and hole...talk about a time consuming remake!

















Lots of new records this trip. My best time for a remake and catch is 5. I topped it by two with this bait hole check late this evening. That set must smell like a yote den by now!

BTW readers blood at the set makes no difference is you spread it around with your boot and the whole set has some blood on it. As for the trap if its a high catch and the yote is a tugger. Just flip it over rub it into the dirt and then spread out with your boot. Again a good lure and urine says more to a yote than other odors.

Usually the reason why blood at the set is an issue is because the yote wants to roll in it at times. So spread it out, wipe of the jaws, frame and pan with set dirt. Just spread it out evenly with your boot and move on.

I will remake this set in the AM. For some reason my thumbs got cold enough to hurt. So I will let the trap circle and spring trap lay till I can get some gloves on in the AM. Guess my circulation is not what it used to be and I may start needing mittens or gloves along with my silk neck wild rag.


----------



## Larry

pokeyjeeper said:


> Looks like a great camping site bud


The great interior decorator named MOTHER NATURE nature turned it white today after I shot the photo.


----------



## C2C

Looking good bud, I wish I had some snow

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## glenway

Looks like a productive trip so far, Larry. Why don't you turn the phone/camera 90 degrees, or does it not let you?


----------



## Larry

Glen , Not sure if my phone does that. Its a I-phone 5. if it does how do I do it??

Here yah go...

Bone flat set...always deadly! has eye appeal plus scent. On a full moon like tonight they can see it 1/4 mile away. Like I always say, yotes use their eyes more then their nose and neither is on at the same time! So I try to appeal to all the eyes and the nose. A white bone or object that suddenly appears on all that brown gets as much attention to the 25 foot line as a loud skunk lure in Jan at -20 at 150 yards that hits their nose.









Then there's the remake...very simple dirt hole with a good food base lure and the bone put on top for eye appeal again. You don't need to on a remake because the area is scented up well. But I like a smelly set so I added more urine. I took this before I did the final finish on the whole area but the trap/lure/hole and bait are ready to go. Time spent....3-4 minutes as I was looking for scat. I always add scat to a set like this for foot guidance unlike a flt set that would have a pile of scat and more urine added to the scat. Note the approach the yote will take is from the left. I will catch the yote in the left front paw under the big part of the bone knuckle. I always try for a left foot catch as over the years it seems yotes almost always plant the left foot for a sniff. Guide tht foot at the set instead of letting the yote decide where to step. Clods and scat make great guides that if caught in the jaws won't interfere.









Here is a big view. I have an agreement with the rancher that if I set the middle of the trail I will guide his travels to go off trail. Thus two flags 20 yards up from the set and 20 yards after he can return to the trail. There is always complaints about setting the middle of the trail by trappers and the uneducated say its a no-no. This old trapper has never had an issue because I set where I can catch yotes and the rancher can run off trail on good ground. Good ground is required especially when he has an 1800lb round bail and a hopper full of feed weighing 600lbs all on a 3/4 ton truck!









Just for a tad bit of fun...I went back and made a re-set from one of yesterdays catches. I call this the hip-joint set...any bets on whether it works??









Goodnight goodnight PT, still have knives to sharpen for tomorrow......


----------



## 220swift

I used to use a lot of bones in my sets back in the day Larry. My preference was an old cow skull at a flat set with a ball of bait rolled up in a piece of rabbit fur stuffed inside the skull so hair was sticking out in as many places as possible. A dose of urine and a good gland call lure, and yes the skull was staked down to keep the critters from just grabbing the skull and taking off.

Great to see you having good success, here's hoping your chains stay tight !


----------



## Larry

Weekly wrap up...

Still very busy and my body hurts all over. Hides remain exceptional. Not one mangy yote. All should be graded clear (very white bellies) and XL (over 40 inches)

This week I started leap frog with some of the unproductive sets. I wait a full three weeks on every set as the lure and bait is still working on those new yotes that wonder through.

You can do the math if your curious on my take. I am averaging 2.765 yotes per day.

Bridger #2 and #3 offset Jaw Dogless are performing very well.

I have yet to have a refusal. Thus my friend Andy Weiser got an email for an order of 1 gallon of Horse Meet Bait. One Gallon of Bad Company Lure ( rattle-snake based) and 32 oz of Tainted Love a gland lure. His urine is dedly IMHO!

Badgers continue to be a pain in my back! the only good thing with badgers hides and their low prices is their carcass! Cats and yotes love badger steaks and you can take that to the bank! So I may get $12.00 for a hide but that badger will net me on average 4 yotes and one cat. Cats are $200-500 and yotes are $75-125. Lets just say I should not complain as that badger could make me $500 or more.

Goodnight from the Plains.......


----------



## youngdon

On your IPhone open your pics and tap the one you want to turn. At the bottom you'll see three lines with circles in them, tap on it to open the edit area. You'll see the square with arrows at the bottom, tap it, then just above the blue cancel you'll see the square with an arrow touch it and the pic will rotate........touch it again and it will rotate again until you get it where you want it to be, then touch DONE. it will then save the pic in that direction. It's simpler than the directions make it out to be.

Nice catches and write up Larry.


----------



## glenway

Thanks, YD. I'd have helped Larry with that but my ignorance is only surpassed by my dumb phone.


----------



## prairiewolf

I am worse than that Glen, I just lean over and snap a pic, if I want the pic horizontal, lol


----------



## Larry

Seems if I crop them they are fine....could it be the PT conversion software?


----------



## C2C

lookin good Larry . Im gonna set a couple legholds and prove to you that I cant catch em that way ..lol .


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Keep the post coming Larry and $12 for a badger hide is better than $2 for a raccoon


----------



## youngdon

I've never found the PT software to cause that.


----------



## Larry

Just playing with you D



youngdon said:


> I've never found the PT software to cause that.


Just playing with you Don...


----------



## Larry

Ill try to get these posted and then reply to C2C Pokey and others... I am using my 1 bar I-phone for a hotspot and it seems if Winston snores I lose the signal..Takes me about 2-3 min per photo upload

Beautiful day 65 and 30% humidity. Skinning hillbilly style with my bib overalls on and a T shirt. The difference is mine were old cammo ones just to keep the yote dirt off my jeans.

Hear is a before and after of this mornings catches.
BEFORE>>>>







After>>>>








This is one nice hide...could rival an Alberta hide. Its a solid $125 hide or more! BTW my knives aent stuck in the tree, just being held in a knot by some loose bark. 








I added this for the new skinner. Brush your hides before skinning. This is an old $1.99 dog brush. For one ; its easy and most of the time you can brush out dried urine, dried fecal matter and of course burs and dirt. Second...when you reach your hand up in there while working the front legs. Trust me I have skinned thousands and its oh such a nice feeling having a clean hide on your hands and arms especially if it warm like today and your in a t-shirt. This hide was brushed before I took the shot...look how nice and clean that fur looks. Look at the biceps on that thumb...hahaha









I spoke of fat and I took this to prove my point. These yotes are fat as raccoons and it makes skinning a pain especially that dip between the front legs. Like I said they are as fat as a raccoon! That cord is from my skinning rope.









Last for the begginers....here is my setup for skinning while the weather is good. Make sure you have two heights. One a tad above head for working the hind legs to the front legs. Then one as high as you can reach to work the kneck and head. If you follow this info you'll be skinning a cold yote in 10 to 20 mins. My method allows you to use your weight to pull down and to use the yotes weight when trimming the ears and eyes. Make yourself a notched spreader board your elbow to wrist wide. Insert as shown, then once to the front legs pull it off and hang the yote from the single nail. Put 3-4 of these along your line and skin as you check. They work on wooden fence post you'll just have to kneel more.









Note as the weather gets colder Ill switch to my mechanical skinner...photos perhaps after Christmas

Goodnight PT members...be safe and may God Bless you as much as he has me!! I am re-living my childhood each day.


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> lookin good Larry . Im gonna set a couple legholds and prove to you that I cant catch em that way ..lol .


No need to prove anything to me Cam. I just wish I had your snaring skills. That's the truth! :smile:


----------



## Larry

pokeyjeeper said:


> Keep the post coming Larry and $12 for a badger hide is better than $2 for a raccoon


My dear friend Pokey...

One 1/2 of that $12 badger ($6.00 haha) is going into a bait set for a few $100 yotes. I am going to do it the cowboy way with three fence post in a triangle. I will post a photo. This is only legal if the bait cannot be readily seen from above in Nebraska or Ill have to set off the carcass over 10 yards,,,no way!

This means Ill have to hide it in a cedar windbreak. But its a deadly, deadly, set: as the yotes will circle the fence post and seldom will jump over the post to get the bait.

The other half ($6.00) is going to be saved for a false cat cache set when I return after my Christmas Break.


----------



## C2C

I wish I could trap like you Larry ..lol. Snaring is a numbers game, get enough out there and something is bound to run into one of them . You are doing fantastic and yes , that coyote will likely beat the ones I've taken this year.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> I wish I could trap like you Larry ..lol. Snaring is a numbers game, get enough out there and something is bound to run into one of them . You are doing fantastic and yes , that coyote will likely beat the ones I've taken this year.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


Thankyou for the kind words. But anyone can trap or call like me. You are already doing it Cam. Read your post again on setting the side hills. You got it man! I do the same with my sets.

You read the land...that is all it takes. Whether snaring or trapping its an odds game. The first way to reduce an odd is to learn to read the land and think about what you as a yote will do.

Making the set is then easy once you determine the prevailing wind.

The second thing a steel man and a caller must do is believe in himself. If you make a set whether calling or trapping believe the yote will come.

I am not bragging here but want to use what occured today as an example of self confidence. There is a difference between being cocky and knowing what a person or you as that person is confident about. I set a ravine (sand blow out actually) 3 weeks ago along a fence line. I did not re-bait or touch up with urine as it was one deadly spot. All I needed was a yote to pass through from either north or south. This morning I got a text from the rancher and he said I had a yote. He was there fixing a solar powered fence. My set in that ravine was just 45 yards SE of that small solar panel.

Think three weeks it took for a yote to come through but it did and I had confidence one would. I believe in my lure and I believe in the set location. Yhay is not being cocky that is being confident in my abilities.

No different then you believing in your hillside sets to and from the bait pile. In your own words..Your said this was a natural approach and escape route...Yote Number 4 is had because you believed in your ability to read the land and make the set. Its BS when you say you played the numbers, you did not you read the land and made a perfect set.

When I call its no different. Of all of the yotes I have called, I believe my calling is no longer a fluke,,,I know how to call and where to set up. If I don't get one at the stand they either don't hear me, or have just ate and are resting. Thier all have hundreds of dead predecessor's from my rifle and that proves to me my calling is not at fault.

Every-time I read QuickStands I know Mark is doing it no different then you and me, Mark blows a sound that resonates and stimulates the yotes and cats ears, (Ring) . His post prove it. Its just a matter of setting up where they can hear him and have not eaten. Yes its that simple once you start repeating what you have learned.

These are not super creatures that can reason. In fact coyotes and cats are not smart period! Ill tell anyone that and prove it. Only a person that does not spend time to go after them will say they are smart. Callers and trappers just play on whether the cat or yote is lonely, horney, hungry and in pre-breeding and post whelping territorial mode. (they play the seasons)

Lastly and to prove my point, ask the ADC men that occasionally run across what I call a Pavlovs Dog (one that has been educated to the trap/snare). What is the first thing they do to catch it. (besides read the land) The first they do is add maybe a trap or snare more to the location. Or add a M44 cyanide gun. Why because they know they can catch it if they do something the yote has not been taught to cause pain or fear from previous attempts.


----------



## C2C

Good points Larry , I'll get at it tomorrow .I guess it all comes down to what you are comfortable and familiar with . sleep well .


----------



## glenway

These trapping threads are better than I thought they'd be. Fun to follow along.


----------



## Larry

Glen my feelings are hurt and I imagine Cams are too. After all of this time you thought we would post smack like some adolescent! Just for that no pictures but east end of a west bound Poky! :roflmao:

(Gee do you think he was stuck in a big enough trap? )









Only fooling with yah Glen! It was a slow day. Wind was gusting to 50 plus. Traps were MT, so I went to 100 miles or so to North Platte and got me a hair cut. Then I stopped for a Tequila and a Burrito. Thought I would fatten up and also get cleaned up for Ms S who Ill see this Saturday afternoon in the land of Corn.

From the land of trees and Bobcats...Goodnight


----------



## glenway

No porkies in my neighborhood but plenty up North. Some tough critters.

I was hunting in Northern Michigan and was wakened up by a porkie eating the tent! Chased it away. Next day walking a trail with my friend, Frank, when we spotted it/one up a tree about 40 feet. We were taught not to kill them and that it was best to leave them for some hungry, unfortunate souls. Well, we didn't exactly leave it alone.

Frank made a few feeble attempts at knocking it out of the tree by throwing rocks at it. He just didn't have the arm. So this ex-baseball pitcher scoured the ground for the perfect throwing rock. I wrapped my index finger around the perfect stone and let it rip. Pop! Right on the noggin and down it came. Hit the ground and lay motionless at our feet. (Kiddingly, Frank said he was gonna take my gun away.)

Finally, it gained its senses and started to head away from us but Frank made it pick up the pace, as he chased it farther from camp with a stick yelling at it all the way. Yes, the tent and porkie were spared.


----------



## Larry

Great story Glen. They are considered a nuisance out here. That porky was flipped over and with a swift swipe of my razor sharp Old Timer the gut was ripped open. Its my hope he will be a tempting meal for some coyote pup.

Okay men they were running last night. Right past 4 sets at no more than 1 foot away. My excuse is the wind blew almost every bait hole shut and on 2 sets exposed the entire trap.

Oh well I was mending a gate post that broke yesterday. My rancher friend taught me how to rebuild a gate western style. I used the old post hole digger and dug two holes 5 feet down and he dug one three feet long and 5 feet down for the anchor post that was laid horizontally in the ground. Oklahoma Osage orange vertical post filled my holes and were tomped to near perfection by yours truly.

Up from that horizontal hole came the barb wire and with some wire stretchers we snugged and wrapped that double anchor wire taught. The we twisted it even more. Ta da...with my sore muscles and 2 hours work we had one solid gate setup that will last for 25 years. And old Larry learned a new way to anchor post in sand. No way I could of dug post holes in the land of corn....I am just to beat up to dig in that clay and lome.


----------



## azpredatorhunter

You catch any dumb bobcats yet...


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> You catch any dumb bobcats yet...


1) Ill be honest no.

2)The reason is I have not set for any.

3)The reasons I have not set for any is the unusually hot weather

4) The reason for the hot weather is all Gods doing, nothing to do with any global warming.

5) Thats the reason for the reason I have not caught any... :smile2:

Perhaps when I return we'll get a couple weeks of below freezing. I for one cannot take such a perfect creature before its prime. Unless its a AZ cat, as they are thick as weeds. At least they were some 9 years ago now.

Cam the weather is giving me fits. Wind is making my job tough. Drought conditions continue to loosen the fine sand and my sets continue to fill in. Worse than any snow, as I can potassium chloride the heck out of snow sets and they will stay open. Not sand though.

Then there is the issue if the sets don't fill in; they become exposed! . I started burying the jaws some 2-3 inches down and the pan a full inch. By mid afternoon they are bare as the baboons bottom.

I gave up reworking till we get some moisture, no 30-50 mph winds and temps 20 degrees below the midday temps of 50-60. I showed you all how these yotes keep packing on the fat. Well they have also started rubbing their hackles on wire, I guarantee you they are getting hot necks and the skin is drying out. If we don't get a weather change hides won't be worth anything. I've seen it before and in fact it happens about every 13 years.

The good news, no mange at all. I see no fleas also! At least I have not see any in my fumigating bag. Or them leaving the fur as when I fog the bag.

50 MPH winds again today, so I went fer a drive. Wasted a day but that's okay. My muscles feel good tonight after a few hours on those electric seat heaters in the old suburban.

Quick story...I took off on a road trip to check for sign along the shallow lakes to see if the yotes were working them. I stopped to put the Suburban into 4WD low as it makes hopping over fields of gopher mounds a smoother ride than pushing the front wheels over each one. Could not of been more than 1/2 mile from my stop and I heard noises from the drive line. It was a "clack-ity" sound . The kind you get when a you put a playing card in bicycle spokes. I rode it out of the ruff stuff and parked on a trail then crawled underneath. There, I found a weed stem 'bought a 1/4 inch in diameter rubbing against the front drive shaft balance weight, Amazing!, how the hollowness of the metal front drive shaft magnified such a slight noise to boom box proportions. Gotta love physics PT members, just have too!

Oh I found Mrs S this old house. I figure once the raccoons and skunks got evacuated, it would make a nice retirement home. I mean what a nice ancient Spanish Hacienda on the plains! She said no way immediatley, My error, :frusty: :frusty: I should of built her up into looking. I am positive, once I got her there I am sure the neighbors across the trail would of moo-tivated her! :roflmao:

View attachment 29090


View attachment 29098


With that I leave you with this AZ,,,my bobcat area ! Goodnight.

View attachment 29122


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> You catch any dumb bobcats yet...


1) Ill be honest no.

2)The reason is I have not set for any.

3)The reasons I have not set for any is the unusually hot weather

4) The reason for the hot weather is all Gods doing, nothing to do with any global warming.

5) Thats the reason for the reason I have not caught any... :smile2:

Perhaps when I return we'll get a couple weeks of below freezing. I for one cannot take such a perfect creature before its prime. Unless its a AZ cat, as they are thick as weeds. At least they were some 9 years ago now.

Cam the weather is giving me fits. Wind is making my job tough. Drought conditions continue to loosen the fine sand and my sets continue to fill in. Worse than any snow, as I can potassium chloride the heck out of snow sets and they will stay open. Not sand though.

Then there is the issue if the sets don't fill in; they become exposed! . I started burying the jaws some 2-3 inches down and the pan a full inch. By mid afternoon they are bare as the baboons bottom.

I gave up reworking till we get some moisture, no 30-50 mph winds and temps 20 degrees below the midday temps of 50-60. I showed you all how these yotes keep packing on the fat. Well they have also started rubbing their hackles on wire, I guarantee you they are getting hot necks and the skin is drying out. If we don't get a weather change hides won't be worth anything. I've seen it before and in fact it happens about every 13 years.

The good news, no mange at all. I see no fleas also! At least I have not see any in my fumigating bag. Or them leaving the fur as when I fog the bag.

50 MPH winds again today, so I went fer a drive. Wasted a day but that's okay. My muscles feel good tonight after a few hours on those electric seat heaters in the old suburban.

Quick story...I took off on a road trip to check for sign along the shallow lakes to see if the yotes were working them. I stopped to put the Suburban into 4WD low as it makes hopping over fields of gopher mounds a smoother ride than pushing the front wheels over each one. Could not of been more than 1/2 mile from my stop and I heard noises from the drive line. It was a "clack-ity" sound . The kind you get when a you put a playing card in bicycle spokes. I rode it out of the ruff stuff and parked on a trail then crawled underneath. There, I found a weed stem 'bought a 1/4 inch in diameter rubbing against the front drive shaft balance weight, Amazing!, how the hollowness of the metal front drive shaft magnified such a slight noise to boom box proportions. Gotta love physics PT members, just have too!

Oh I found Mrs S this old house. I figure once the raccoons and skunks got evacuated, it would make a nice retirement home. I mean what a nice ancient Spanish Hacienda on the plains! She said no way immediatley, My error, :frusty: :frusty: I should of built her up into looking. I am positive, once I got her there I am sure the neighbors across the trail would of moo-tivated her! :roflmao:

View attachment 29090


View attachment 29098


With that I leave you with this AZ,,,my bobcat area ! Goodnight.

View attachment 29122


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> You catch any dumb bobcats yet...


1) Ill be honest no.

2)The reason is I have not set for any.

3)The reasons I have not set for any is the unusually hot weather

4) The reason for the hot weather is all Gods doing, nothing to do with any global warming.

5) Thats the reason for the reason I have not caught any... :smile2:

Perhaps when I return we'll get a couple weeks of below freezing. I for one cannot take such a perfect creature before its prime. Unless its a AZ cat, as they are thick as weeds. At least they were some 9 years ago now.

Cam the weather is giving me fits. Wind is making my job tough. Drought conditions continue to loosen the fine sand and my sets continue to fill in. Worse than any snow, as I can potassium chloride the heck out of snow sets and they will stay open. Not sand though.

Then there is the issue if the sets don't fill in; they become exposed! . I started burying the jaws some 2-3 inches down and the pan a full inch. By mid afternoon they are bare as the baboons bottom.

I gave up reworking till we get some moisture, no 30-50 mph winds and temps 20 degrees below the midday temps of 50-60. I showed you all how these yotes keep packing on the fat. Well they have also started rubbing their hackles on wire, I guarantee you they are getting hot necks and the skin is drying out. If we don't get a weather change hides won't be worth anything. I've seen it before and in fact it happens about every 13 years.

The good news, no mange at all. I see no fleas also! At least I have not see any in my fumigating bag. Or them leaving the fur as when I fog the bag.

50 MPH winds again today, so I went fer a drive. Wasted a day but that's okay. My muscles feel good tonight after a few hours on those electric seat heaters in the old suburban.

Quick story...I took off on a road trip to check for sign along the shallow lakes to see if the yotes were working them. I stopped to put the Suburban into 4WD low as it makes hopping over fields of gopher mounds a smoother ride than pushing the front wheels over each one. Could not of been more than 1/2 mile from my stop and I heard noises from the drive line. It was a "clack-ity" sound . The kind you get when a you put a playing card in bicycle spokes. I rode it out of the ruff stuff and parked on a trail then crawled underneath. There, I found a weed stem 'bought a 1/4 inch in diameter rubbing against the front drive shaft balance weight, Amazing!, how the hollowness of the metal front drive shaft magnified such a slight noise to boom box proportions. Gotta love physics PT members, just have too!

Oh I found Mrs S this old house. I figure once the raccoons and skunks got evacuated, it would make a nice retirement home. I mean what a nice ancient Spanish Hacienda on the plains! She said no way immediatley, My error, :frusty: :frusty: I should of built her up into looking. I am positive, once I got her there I am sure the neighbors across the trail would of moo-tivated her! :roflmao:

















With that I leave you with this AZ,,,my bobcat area ! Goodnight.


----------



## C2C

Youre right Larry , the weather really needs to take a turn . We are all praying that the fires stay away , cant believe how dry it is . My buddy has had 3 coyotes pulll up stakes and get away , and he knows how to snare , ground is so dry and sandy where he is that it just wont hold . Quite the mansion you found there Larry , any room service ? As for fleas , if you dont have any on those dogs then my skinner would gladly send you a batch


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Yep... I hear you Larry. It's been warm and dry here, something like 110+ days without measurable rain. Nights are getting cooler...and I am getting cabin fever ????. Rest up over Christmas Larry... We know trapping isn't easy... or everyone would be a trapper.

I still don't like the salt idea, it may work for you but I wouldn't recommend putting salt on any furbearers
That's just my opinion


----------



## Larry

Wait for it,,,,,wait for it....there the weather changed. Been raining, sleeting and spitting snow all day. But tomorrow it will be 55 again. The only critters moving are porky's! Just checked the patience meter and it still has time on it so I am good with that! Older age is wonderful thing!

Do you know how hard it is to get a porky to pose like this when its snowing?


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Great porky picture Larry keep up the good work


----------



## 220swift

:thumbsup:


----------



## Larry

In the land of corn as of 1AM this morning.

I pulled all but 23 traps located along a two 1500 acre pastures where the rancher had bulls and cows he caked and rolled out hay too twice per week. He'll run those for me. So after giving him direction, and my Henry .17HMR shooting 17 grainers we shook hands and I was off.

Trappers (especially Wolfers)...I was wrong for being so dedicated to my old ways. This season using my Milwaukee M18 and a 2 inch auger I have speed up my set and pull time 15 fold. After two sets of learning I can now auger down 1-2 inch off the Berkshire standard cable stakes , yank them to the auger hole and they are out! Takes me less than a minute from being planted in the ground to throwing my traps and stakes into the trap barrel. And after all these years of jacking and using ranch trucks equipped with hay arms to do it. Sometimes never getting the rebars out. Its amazing what a guy discovers if he just socializes a tad and listens! I owe most of this to the guys at the National Trappers Convention that listened intently to me and I to them. Yes the electric drill and auger is just as important as the traps, lures/baits and my Suburban now-a-days!

As for the catch of the day...just another porkie. Thus when I return my traps will be moved south to brand new E-W 15 mile line along the river. ( I say new as I picked up an additional 15,000 acres 3 days ago) This line has all the things a wolfer could want. River front, plumb thickets and *cattle actively grazing*. Plus an added bonus...I glassed a kitten in there also a week or so ago. Where there are kittens there are Toms chasing them! 

This thread will remain alive while I am back...Monday I think Ill get in a few Iowa cannine sets! What the heck with western coyotes being bought by Petska Furs at $70-80 on the carcass by the route buyers..Iowa yotes may just bring in $30-50?

Cam, Pokey and all others that have steel or cable in....may your trails remain as prosperous as mine. You continue to have my admiration!

I don't talk total numbers, but records and good set locations need a mention, if nothing more than to keep the new wolfers interested and let them know with patience and a little knowledge good sets can be had. Thus I leave you all with my best 3 week set location..I took a record of 5 yotes in 5 traps at the set location one day just before this snow.

There were two sets north and south of the trail 1/2 way to the tank from the photo, (within that gopher mound area), and three SW of the tank some 25 feet. This location paid off because the bowl has a constant NW wind, thus the yotes on the trail get a nose full no matter if they travel it east or west and its deadly! Simply deadly when you find such a bowl with a Windmill/tank as a back stop.

To further add and to show you how my mind works and perhaps yours. Crossing off my trapping log for the pull....this location provided 17 total yotes in just 3 weeks, that's simply fantastic trapping with steel. Simplyn fantastic results! Whilst my game my steel jaw trap game is one of patience/travel knowledge. Cams (C2C) method incop0rates patience/hunger knowledge.

The key is both need patience and yote knowledge! More patience is better than knowledge IMHO. Another way to look at is, while I look for the "path of least resistance" for travel , Cam uses the birds, and hunger scent for his catches.

This set location is now idle and ready for next season! Don't be a hog, a wolfer has to leave to leave a few for seed always! Time of travel to the set location via Suburban is 17 minutes and its 7.6 due north from the highway. Its a rugged drive and I am glad I don't have a buggy but I have real truck that is far more dependable than any OHV period.


----------



## C2C

Great write up Larry, you continue to amaze me with your knowledge of the game .You set 5 traps and catch 5 coyotes , wish my snare rate was that high . Good luck with the cats when you return , we have a few here too but very few .

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## C2C

I should have added that my one bait site has same idea as yours with the wind . We have a predominant west wind here in my country so my best sit is on the river valley that runs straight east into a 125 square Mile ranch that has no one snaring it. Wind blows east and the dogs come out . There is a quarter section between my spot and this ranches west boundary so I tied up the trapping permission on it as well , haven't been in there yet but I will.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Yep its deadly when you have a wind you can rely on, Just set on the downwind side of the trail and snap...you got em. Cam you compliments are received, but deserved is another thing.

Why do totes survive so easily...they are loners thats all. Its not magical or because they are smart, in fact they are fairly stupid. The western wolfs demise and yes the beaver near extinction in the 1890's - early 1900's was because both like company. Those wolf men and beaver trappers had the odds with them and they all took advantage of it. f you think about it , Wolf and beavers live in family groups unlike the yote who disperse each year, thus their demise. But yotes are just like ISIS, are singular entities, and the world will never wipe them out because of their singularity and dispersal. Just like man cannot control the yote.

So what a wolfer does is he plays the odds, he pay attention to the wind, he knows yotes like the past of least resistance to travel (to keep sandburs and cactus out o their paws mostly) , and they have three seasons. Dispersal, Singularity and Breeding. If a wolfer understands these his odds increase. But by nature yotes are skitish and afraid of their own shadow, thus the wolfer has to also keep this in mind and make sets that make them only think about food and smell like a yote. So you use good urine to make the set smell like the den where they grew up and you go heavy on the urine even on resets. Yes like Pavlov's dog that scent in imprinted and its fowl to us but its safety to all yotes.

Then there is selection of lure and bait for the season. Another odds reducer. When yote pups and parents disperse they have but a short time to pack on the fat. Unless they are in certain midwest states. So then you use protein baits, fresh beaver badger, deer, gophers, prairrie dogs and only tainted horse meat. For some reason a yote will wait on a horse a few days to eat it, unlike a dead steer or lamb.

Then comes a transition time and both gland lure and bait lure work together. Thats about now. Its also a time when a loud call lure starts on the menu. The reason you go to a loud skunk base is the bacteria in the other lures starts shutting down in the cold, No gas is released as the bacteria eats so little scent, But skunk is a chemical reaction and it stays working below -30. Ever really smelt a skunk its scent gets strong and then fades, strong and fades...thats the chemical action and its a very similar action to what causes fire flies to light and fade.

Mating time is a time of calling and reading sign. Its a time to know that females dominate the scene and you set for the males to keep the females working. Yes you can selectively catch almost all males if you study the lure formulas and look for ovarian based lures. Its still a time for loud lures but they usually are not put at the set. Instead they are used to just call the yote to the set area. This is when steel jawed wolfers have the advantage over snare men. Wise ones will keep a female in the trap for a few days. Or if you didn't round your jaws or laminate, tie her up with a simple dog collar and chain. Then release a few days later. Again you target the males on the line and their are usually plenty of your male suitors around to fill in as mate. Release a yote? Yes because I want a healthy line for years. If their is no mange...females will get a break unless the rancher has issues also.

That;s my summary Cam, Its a small bit of knowledge and allot of odds increasing. Trapping and calling yotes is easy, patience and a tad bit of knowledge, thats it. Its a clean activity and almost any man or women that can hobble crawl to make a set, can do it,


----------



## Larry

I have talked to the rancher and he thinks I am getting refusals on my 28 sets I had left. Lots of tracks to the trap but no committals. I explained to him I understand that as used a loud skunk base lure and in warm weather they are looking for a place to roll, more than eat.

I am happy however as they are still there and when I return with my horse meat bait they should commit. Nice thing about a loud call lure for you new trappers is the fact it really doesn't educate the yote, it just a curiosity thing and like I said they are looking for a place to roll.

Now if you combine it with a food lure the results are different. Normally they will commit right away. Unfortunately in my case I ran out of food lure when I was refreshing the set.

When I return I will be setting some snares and setting alot more trail sets. The reason being as I have said is denning will start soon that means the more activity on the trail routes.

I will also be using bait like Cam as in the new ranch I picked up there is some nice plumb thickets along the river.

I am chopping at the bit to get back...I think I have gold rush fever especially with these high prices and the great fur I am picking up.


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Get rested up and your skinning knives sharpened sounds like your going to need both when you get back on the line


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> I have talked to the rancher and he thinks I am getting refusals on my 28 sets I had left. Lots of tracks to the trap but no committals. I explained to him I understand that as used a loud skunk base lure and in warm weather they are looking for a place to roll, more than eat.
> 
> I am happy however as they are still there and when I return with my horse meat bait they should commit. Nice thing about a loud call lure for you new trappers is the fact it really doesn't educate the yote, it just a curiosity thing and like I said they are looking for a place to roll.
> 
> Now if you combine it with a food lure the results are different. Normally they will commit right away. Unfortunately in my case I ran out of food lure when I was refreshing the set.
> 
> When I return I will be setting some snares and setting alot more trail sets. The reason being as I have said is denning will start soon that means the more activity on the trail routes.
> 
> I will also be using bait like Cam as in the new ranch I picked up there is some nice plumb thickets along the river.
> 
> I am chopping at the bit to get back...I think I have gold rush fever especially with these high prices and the great fur I am picking up.


Dont know how you can leave a good spot and go home for Christmas ...lol..celebrate it in July when coyotes aren't ready ..youre gonna kill em when you get back bud.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Its called having a family Cam. Those yotes are not going anywhere. And with just a tad bit of snow on the ground and temped weather, I doubt the hides will be rubbed to bad for quite awhile. But thanks for throwing the guilt trip on me! Haha

Yesterday I received a gallon of tainted horse meat. 1/2 gallon of rattle snake food lure, 1/2 gallon of breeding lure called "Tainted Love", a pint of new lure that is hot right now in Montana, and a very loud 16 oz of skunk based lure for when the temps dip below zero come Feb 1. I think Ill be ready for those refusal yotes...all with what I hope to the right bait and lure. Just hope they are ready for this wolfer!

Meanwhile....Ill just sit in my chair till the 3rd or 4th and read about all the PT members success!


----------



## C2C

Was just a joke Larry , we all know that family has to come first ..we are nothing without them . Im hoping for overcast skies the next week or so at night to dull the snares a little more .. Take care and get ready to go back to fur harvesting . :hunter4:


----------



## Larry

Cam didn't mean to come off so strong. Bad Larry :naughty:

My only complaint about trapping is fuel cost! Its like trying to out weight on steers when the temp is below 0


----------



## C2C

Oh I know you meant nothing by it bud ..however here's my first legholds set of the year..coyote obviously didn't read the memo about stepping on pan ..ive adjusted set a bit ..he should be back as I added a pheasant wing to attract









Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Maybe you did not know ...but yotes are left footed. I try to set my pans 1-2 inches to the left of the hole because of it. When I say left footed they place the left foot forward 90% of the time before they drop their head for a sniff. Its nothing but a balancing thing for them.

AKA: unless you are using steel wire for a pan cover and to make the pan area huge, place the pan to the left of the hole always. 9-12" back and 1-2 inches left.


----------



## glenway

Guess that's where the term South "paw" originated.


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> Maybe you did not know ...but yotes are left footed. I try to set my pans 1-2 inches to the left of the hole because of it. When I say left footed they place the left foot forward 90% of the time before they drop their head for a sniff. Its nothing but a balancing thing for them.
> 
> AKA: unless you are using steel wire for a pan cover and to make the pan area huge, place the pan to the left of the hole always. 9-12" back and 1-2 inches left.


To be honest I didnt know that until you told us a loong way back in another post .. soooo thats where I put it , exactly 10 inches back and slightly to the left . Thats the only place he didnt step . Maybe I got a right footed one here ..lol.


----------



## Larry

Perhaps the backing is also playing an issue. When I have a large backing like at a tank or as you show Hay bails. Often a gang set is in order. Yotes never like to be crowded as they are scared of their own shadow! Maybe its the bait lure also...its apparent he didn't work the set. Don't change a thing though, I have seen them check things out not like it but return in a few days when they are a little hungrier or bolder.

Better to make a new set then to disturb a set thats been checked out IMHP

Cam here's some $$$$....I cropped it as I don't still don't like any total numbers (mine or others so please don't tell me your total till after the season is over) I ask as it puts a jinx on my line and catches always fall off...ALWAYS...in fact posting this is a risk! :naughty:


----------



## Larry

Trapline is alive and well needing a wolfers TLC. You see the rancher is running a few of the traps I left for him to check while I am home. Good news is they got snow! Bad news is tracks tell the story. You see I put a loud call lure on 1/2 the sets expecting cold weather. Which it is finally single digits to -0's. But I think in my thoughts of getting home and hurrying my remakes/re-baits along I added a tad to much.

Lemoyne the rancher said he could see the yotes come right up to the hole. Get a nose full and back off. So this old man's thoughts of a warm bed with his wife (who me?) lost the rancher a few hundred dollars as I will give him all the traps catch.

However not all is lost and Ill make it up to him. He did make $100 caking the bulls and feeding the bred heifers!

Ill post a picture of the walk through and his catch so you can see my madness when I am thinking only about catching prairie wolves. BTW, New guys again, be patient about remakes and pulling...this walk through was in the ground for 15 days with the only addition was just before I left for home was a splash of urine on the scat located on dried manure. Also a walk-through doesn't have to have manure, you can use rocks, piles of hay/grass fence post pieces, almost anything so the yote has to move through a channel. Also walk- through sets are deadly, deadly sets for remakes especially if the catch circle gets really torn up after a catch. This one had 2 previous catches in it, so I went to a walk through as it was really torn up and smelt like a yote den! .

Before...









After...


----------



## C2C

Funny you should say use a gang set ..thats exactly what I did ..i added another trap abiut a ft to the right 
.see what happens

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> Funny you should say use a gang set ..thats exactly what I did ..i added another trap abiut a ft to the right
> .see what happens
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


Great men think alike!!

I keep studying your photos over and over...I mean you have 5 sets of tracks in one. Not deer but yotes!

I have some identical plumb thickets on a new ranch I picked up. Its unusual for where I am but they are there. Don't know if Ill get a chance to make any snares like yours...maybe just some old chokers I have, But darn it Cam this trip home has revitalized Coyote Fever and I need 5 per day to get the Mrs on her super 2018 two week vacation! Going to be hard to get 5 per day and still get sleep with steel especially with denning and breeding fast approaching.

I have a question...Ill send you a message.


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> Great men think alike!!
> 
> I keep studying your photos over and over...I mean you have 5 sets of tracks in one. Not deer but yotes!
> 
> I have some identical plumb thickets on a new ranch I picked up. Its unusual for where I am but they are there. Don't know if Ill get a chance to make any snares like yours...maybe just some old chokers I have, But darn it Cam this trip home has revitalized Coyote Fever and I need 5 per day to get the Mrs on her super 2018 two week vacation! Going to be hard to get 5 per day and still get sleep with steel especially with denning and breeding fast approaching.
> 
> I have a question...Ill send you a message.


Send away ..if I can't answer a question I'll just lie and make up and answer ..lol.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## C2C

I don't think it's that many different coyotes ...looks like.maybe one did a tap dance

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

It was -26 actual temps on my line yesterday. Coldest its been in the 30 years I have been on it. Would of been a true test of the trapping cabin ability to keep me warm if I was in it. I am a tad concerned as I left three cans of soup on the shelf...hope they did't make a mess. :frown2:

I can't say enough about how fat and fluffy my yotes were. Mom nature had them ready no doubt. I am hoping this cold pushes the mice voles and gophers much deeper underground. Makes my job easier.

I will use Cams advise and set some scrub with bait/snares the time has arrived. Ill head back on the 2nd...may not be home until the Feb 28th as that is when bobcat season closes,

The only cog in the wheel is some cedars have purple berries still and the yotes will go to them.


----------



## akiceman25

-26! Now we're talkin'!

That, with even a hint of a breeze, is enough to make a guy question his own sanity.

Not that we're questioning yours Larry... 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

akiceman25 said:


> -26! Now we're talkin'!
> 
> That, with even a hint of a breeze, is enough to make a guy question his own sanity.
> 
> Not that we're questioning yours Larry...
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


LMAO...you are not the first to say that. I am used to it...I was just born 100 years too late or I would be a common man.

Here's a good one...our animal shelter is telling folks their dogs should not spend more than 15 minutes outside in these frigid temps. "And don't make them play to hard or they might freeze a lung" ....I better get to the trap-line,,,their will be thousands of fresh yote pelts laying around for the taking. I may even find a wolf or two!


----------



## Larry

The Mrs. is sending me off in style...just the right sized cookies for coffee dunking...and a quick breakfast. If only I can make them last! It will be a long 6-8 weeks for sure!


----------



## glenway

You're off to a good start, Larry.


----------



## murphyranch

Larry said:


> The Mrs. is sending me off in style...just the right sized cookies for coffee dunking...and a quick breakfast. If only I can make them last! It will be a long 6-8 weeks for sure!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_2629.JPG


those would be gone in the first 2 hours of the drive if they were in my ride.


----------



## C2C

Good luck Larry , drive safe ..our snares are about dine , too much snow and wind . Time to start calling

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## 220swift

Larry said:


> The Mrs. is sending me off in style...just the right sized cookies for coffee dunking...and a quick breakfast. If only I can make them last! It will be a long 6-8 weeks for sure!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_2629.JPG





murphyranch said:


> those would be gone in the first 2 hours of the drive if they were in my ride.


hell Murphy, I wouldn't get out of the driveway...........


----------



## Larry

-22 when I took Mrs. S to work this AM. High Temps are supposed to be -10. The trap-line 500 miles west is -10 right now.

I must be getting old as I am holding off for a day before drive to the Cabin 600 miles west. I can handle the cold with the clothes I have but what a hassle if I incur a issue with the suburban or the goose bus. Oh'''' the goose bus is a trailer that holds decoys and ground blinds. It just sits here so the ranchers son who is 14 might as well use it as he and the Dunning boys all like to hunt geese when they aren't playing basketball games for the high school. Yeah they all drive at age 14....and most have their own trucks. Is it legal? only to go to school, but the river and cornfields are just 4-5 miles away so what the heck...go for it boys!

It will be a balmy 7 tomorrow with the upper 20's on the line. After that it dips to below zero again so Ill leave in the AM.

I have a question for you expert propane guys.....at what temp below zero does vapor pressure in propane stop its flow? The internet says its freezes @ -44...will it still flow at -25 to -30? I am thinking of taking an extra electric heater just in case!


----------



## hassell

They would put electric blanket heaters on the tanks at the job sites when I worked up N., I would just wrap some blankets or insulation around them for the time being.


----------



## Larry

hassell said:


> They would put electric blanket heaters on the tanks at the job sites when I worked up N., I would just wrap some blankets or insulation around them for the time being.


I hear that if the blankets are not electric, they are worse as the liquid gets cold and the blankets act more like a cooler trapping the cold in. But you dd give me an idea...I do have a electric heating pad and I could put it close to the tank and then wrap a blanket around that!


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Good luck Larry. I am going to start trapping again today... I hope they are prime by now.


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> Good luck Larry. I am going to start trapping again today... I hope they are prime by now.


Good luck to you!


----------



## Larry

I am writing this down for two reasons. One is to help the new guys, two is to collect my thoughts.

This post starts with a text this morning from the rancher that said the yotes are avoiding my sets in trails. He can see clearly how the coyote will be walking along and then arching away from a hole or bone and come back on to the trail. Mind you he was insistent there is something wrong with my set, either the lure, eye appeal (bones) or hole are causing them to move away.

He thoughts are these are travel paths and my slight disturbance to the trail is the issue. Yet as I showed him via photo's I was catching in the trails prior to me coming home.

Doing a little change analysis in my head and confirmed with my trappers notebook about the only change was a loud skunk based lure was applied to 1/2 the holes and I refreshed others with urine from the same gallon I had before.

Still perplexed for the firts time inn 51 seasons I called to chat with another trapper. One that supplies me lures, urines and traps western yotes. One that I trust has good connection's with another well known trapper and trap maker. I am referring to Andy Weiser and Glen Sterling.

Andy is having the same issue. In fact a week ago he and Glen chatted and they are thinking two things one I agree with and one I am up in the air about and require more thought.

One is yotes like deer are spreading out and the population is increasing much more than before. Thus like deer the breeding seasons are changing. You are having some super early yotes, like perhaps I have an issue with. Now listen up, I say an issue with as I know it only takes one dog is season to ruin a field trial. One early bitch young yote un-paired would have the same effect on area of yotes. Because yotes like deer (and teenage boys) only have one thing on there mind when they fall in love or some hot female shows herself. So could I have this in my area, and perhaps the male yotes are saying no to the food at the set.

But why avoid the set's altogether, can't say I am not a yote with a nose full for female yote if that's the issue.

These two belive if an area is trapped a heavy like I have been, coyotes learn from seeing others caught in traps. I consider this a long shot theory and one I need to ponder much more. Ha;f of me says its plausible because yotes can and do verbally communicate. But the other half of me says no as mature yotes really don't care about what happens to another. Just watch them at a bait pile.

Before I hung up we got on the subject of yotes being under attack mire these days. You see more and more bait / urine is being sold to ADC men then ever before. If that is true that is a bad thing. Just because a mans has title of ADC man does not mean he is any good. And he may not be discovered he isn't worth a darn and fired until after he's educated two to three seasons of summer time yote parents and theses educate their pups. Now when a parent educates a pup that becomes a long term memory instead of a short termed one like getting a toe pinched by a trap. Its long term because vocal. pain and domination are forced on the pup. Where the other is a single stimulus. Also what disturbs me is the amount of bait/lures and urine being sold. This tells me new be's ADC men and trappers are on the rise as normally older ADC men stick with a single supplier or they make their own.

Anyway I may or may not have a real issue when I get back. But I posted this so you all can see the thoughts that go through a wolfer's mind.

Also to let the new guys know, when you get stuck ask for help...just make sure its from a trusted source.

Larry


----------



## C2C

All you have said about avoidance of sets or.refusals.as.I like to refer to.them is not new to me on the snare end of trapping . I see it enough to know that coyotes , like dogs can be trained to avoid danger. How else do you explain the way they go around over or under a snare that has hung out in the wind for weeks on end..scent is gone , it doesn't shine or move.. My thoughts are that this coyote has seen his buddy get caught in such a spot and not get out .. I prefer to snare when there is snow because it reveals so much..a true story book . Many times at a catch sight I have seen where the coyote was accompanied by one or more and they circle and look and watch... and learn and remember .. and now they are harder than ever to catch.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

from CAM..."My thoughts are that this coyote has seen his buddy get caught in such a spot and not get out .." funny you say that. On the phone with my lure/urine supplier Andy Weiser yesterday he said the same thing. All these years on the line I still refuse to believe that yotes are intelligent enough to "see" a yote caught and avoid it. Glen Sterling talking to Andy the 4 days ago mentioned the same thing when they were talking about "new-be" ADC men.

Still set in my ways...(I am listening allot just not changing much) I believe they communicate vocally much more than we realize. When a yote gets caught or shot it screams like a rabbit. sort of. I have heard this a 10's of thousand of times over the years. But the sound I cannot mimick as its short and it always occurs immediately before death. To describe it would be ....mmmmmyahmmmmm. Almsot like a pup wine but softer and more pitiful. I am not talking about the cry they go into when injured...that cry is a cry for help and its no different really then what they learned as pups when the got stuck and needed mom to pull them out of a situation. I tried to record this sound but its hard because its fast and so soft you almost need to have the speaker wrapped around the muzzle.

Cam I believe for you this occurring as its not unusual prior to breeding for yotes to meet on a trail heading for bait. For me I am not sure as 99.99999% of the time my yotes are alive unless a hunter kills one in the trap. In that case the sound others would here would be the injured coyote cry perhaps. But I have never heard that when a yotes held by a foot. Usually they challenge, let out a lone female/male howl or growl allot.

But again I still am up in the air that if unless traveling together they would associate a steel trap with danger just by seeing another in a trap. I say this as its well documented yotes torment canines in kennels and on leashes. Even when the dog is removed tracks reveal the yote returned.

No my mind is saying its vocal communications that are alerting others to traps and snares and not sight.

None the less along the north trail that the rancher is checking...there have been 7 catches prior to me leaving and 1 while I have been at home. The last catch was a yearling pup female...still ignorant regarding life. So maybe these prior catches have educated the current travelers on this particular trail.

The question is how are they getting educated? Sight, vocal, both? Or are they smelling the fresh blood left by nicks on the feet where the traps clamp on.

Maybe its all three...but still I say cannot reason and they are not smart


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Larry you should try " Not Getting Human Sent On Your Traps " ????...

Maybe your lure is to loud... I found someone's cage trap the other day at a water tank I was going to trap, I found it by following my nose. The whole place reeked of skunk. The way I look at lure is you gotta use enough but not to much. You want the animal to look for it...not smell it from five miles.


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> Larry you should try " Not Getting Human Sent On Your Traps " ...
> 
> Maybe your lure is to loud... I found someone's cage trap the other day at a water tank I was going to trap, I found it by following my nose. The whole place reeked of skunk. The way I look at lure is you gotta use enough but not to much. You want the animal to look for it...not smell it from five miles.


Yeah and all that machine oil on brand new raps hurts also! NOT! :frusty:

As for loud lure...there is a time and a place. When you have -10 to -20 temps...loud lure is king. The reason being is skunk essence is a chemical reaction and it will broadcast despite cold temps. Where tainted baits broadcast by bacterial action...hard to have bacteria work in -10.

My big time wolfing friends and myself all agree their is something unusual going on with these yotes now-a-days. Something is training them to avoid certain circumstances, sort of reminds of the tails of old when M44 cyanide cannons were used allot, somehow certain yotes started avoiding them. But how? The dead can't train live animals and few if any avoided a quick death from that 1 gram of sodium cyanide in their nose. So how did live yotes learn to avoid them??? Again I say vocal communications and that death wimper. .


----------



## Larry

This post is dedicated to every catman, longliner and steel trap wolfer that's out there. I cannot say enough I have been at this 5 decades and of all I learned one I have never mastered two things and one inparticular continues to surprise me.

PATIENCE and BELIEF - IN- YOURSELF I cannot say enough if you don't have these two you will fail at catching any critters with steel traps, except maybe a rat in a slide or a possum/skunk in a roadside bank.

MY story is of today. I received a text from the rancher that I caught another yote. 2 days after we discussed in detail why I should abandon my trail sets and start targeting yotes on more of a curiosity basis/ hunting basis. I disagreed with him, but by the time the text was done I agreed. None -the-less I called Weiser to collect my sanity again as how could I be so wrong?

Today he texted and said I had another yote on a trail set where two truck trails meet in a Y. Y trails are a long time favorite of mine especially when set with a good white bleached bone for eye appeal.

Here is the kicker...I knew it was a good location, yet nothing was happening! I doubted myself. In fact its been so long maybe I needed to pull it. You see, I checked my log book and that set was made Nov 29th and my log book said I was setting in a t-shirt of all things as the temp was 74 out. THAT was 6 weeks ago the set kept working. despite fluctionting temps from a low of -24 to a high of 55.

Even when I left for Iowa it was one of three I never refreshed, according to my log book. Initially the calf shank bone was doused with bottle No 1 of yote urine and had Bad Company as a lure placed on folded sheeps wool which was placed 3/4 of 1 inch into the hole made with a 2 inch auger. (Bad Company is warm weather Rattle Snake based food lure with a tad of horse meat. )

Note: I am still in Iowa right now as I thought I had front end issues in the Suburban. Turned out it was just 2 big chunks of solid ice frozen to the rim. Ill leave hear Sunday and that set will be a remake. Why...again I believe in myself to pick a location. Patience prevailed as it usually does.

Mid Mo and every other canine and cat trapper...never doubt your self. Never let anyone tell you things just are not working when experience and that developed trappers 6th sense says it will. I have found over the years as I said before...yotes and cats are not as smart as we humans because they cannot reason like us. That reasoning causes us to look at the not only the micro picture containg tracks and scat but the macro picture and make a decision, I have found through my seasonal trapping log books that 79% times me as a human being is right when I make a set. surely others are the same. But our problem is we think ourselves out of what we initially believe.

Thus you must develop enduring PATIENCE and never let time beat us!

Larry


----------



## C2C

Patience .. thats the key word Larry . if only it was that easy .


----------



## Larry

I am in bed at the Cabin. Walked up the hill to fetch a pale of water and I never fell because the snow is gone...53 here today.

I heard coyote lovemaking howls whilst I was operating the spigot. Soft whippers and yet a little growling. Early one are at it. And Ill be after them tomorrow as they are just a few hundred yard off the cabin's port bow.

But first is breakfast at the ranchouse while I listen to the terrible stories how my traps were being walked around at -27.

Second is a 2 mile catline...I have placenta and baby pig for bait. They will be hung from tree branches and two traps put under them. Then for the cubby's out comes Larrys secret weapon. An old mink coat that will be cut to size for the cubbys. The fur pieces will cover some horsemeat and dog, then the entire coat will be sprayed with fox. urine. One #3 bridger doglass offset will gaurd the entrance.


----------



## azpredatorhunter

Good luck Larry, I mean that.


----------



## Larry

azpredatorhunter said:


> Good luck Larry, I mean that.


Well you wishes helped I mean that,,, :smile: thank- you kind sir!

Knocked off these two the second day here in a whopping 61 degree temps. Yep,,that trailer will be needed when I head home. Glad the cabin has a rear receiver so I can tow both.

Right one had the mange...first one in many I caught this season so no worries. Both are pups and the left one was sold Wednesday for a whopping $45.00 to the local buyer. I tried to get money for the mangy one, guess I am losing my touch! That check went to the rancher. Hey he paid taxes on that coyote!









I am using my phone for a hot spot while I am now on the fringe of the Forrest. I have just one bar...so Ill upload a couple of short updates as these uploads are very very slow if they get to large...sorry if the pictures are a goofy orientation also...its the best I can do.


----------



## Larry

moving on....the temp last night went from 58 at 5:30PM to 38 at 6:30PM. if you rolled down the window in the truck it literally felt like you opend a walk in freezer door the wind had that much chill in it. Then it rained and then 4 inches of snow fell and temps settled at 5 above when I awoke at 3:30AM

Here is what I hate about trapping. Yes I feel bad for the critters at times especially when things go wrong like the weather. This guy must of got caught just as the rain fell those are ice balls on his butt! Then it sat there in 40 mph blizzard for 10 hours and 3 hours of daylight 50mph at 10 deg F.

That fur is amazing! I doubt the yote was actually cold, as his under fur was dry as a bone. None the less it is just something I do not like about what I do as I respect all animals ALLOT!

















A little about this set and PATIENCE, This was number 5 in the sets I made ~Nov 29th. The original set had half a deer lliver in it and I missed the yote that stole my liver. I would say around Dex 3 rd or so I remade he entire set using a good food lure/sheeps wool. Thus the reason for two traps, I made two trenches to the hole and both traps were made in a step down. I did refresh with urine before I left for Christmas break. Bottom line this set worked even after being in the ground for 7 weeks.

Cant say it enough times to my fellow readers readers like Mid Mo and other trappers, relax. be patient, and believe in your lure and urine. It works better than you can ever imagine. Also note this trap has been trough many thaws and freezes...yet it still worked. Why? Two things, I loosen my pans so loose a small bird or kangaroo rat can trip the trap, Last, I am trapping in sand conditions and because of sands porosity and smoothness of the sand pebbles, it freezes but the ice between the granuals fractures very easily. If I am in Iowa I bed with sand,,,if that helps anyone.


----------



## Larry

last blab for tonight. I can't say enough things about the misnomers regarding steel traps and scent. I have done my best to prove to the readers to start thinking like a yote and stop agreeing with everything you read or hear. Example, I am using brand new out of the box traps in most of my photos. I mean I took off the plastic reiforcing bands, cut the tape and pulled out brand new #2 Bridger single coils, offset jaw, with dogless pans. I pulled them out with my bare hands, I adjusted and leveled the pans, attached a brand new 18 inch cable stake and,,,,,,,set them and caught coyotes. Very very wild coyotes. How can i do this, because times have changed and steel, oil and human smell is everywhere in the air currents. The human smell on my traps comes from my dry skin cells flaking off and a minor amount of salt and oil. ALL WHICH GETS SCRUBBED BY SOIL WHEN YOU MAKE THE SET! PLUS A GOOD BAIT< LURE and URINE mask the small amount left over.

To prove my point again look at this photo. The rancher ran my lines for me while I was home. Look what happened today. A brand new trap was on top the ground in plain view and down wind of a yote crapping.

For new and young trappers, a traveling yote visited the site, crapped on the old bait hole while ignoring the steel brand new trap 1 foot away. Then it found a small amount of sheeps wool tainted with lure, and it took that old sheeps wool and pushed it around in the fresh snow. (tracks and disturbed snow on the right, those grooves are the yotes nose. )









Thanks for reading all. I don't mean to step on any toes or start an argument. I am just trying to back up with photos what I know and have seen probably 100's of time over the decades. For those that are true- to -form trappers of the early day, what you say is true and works fine,,,I just prefer to save time that is all, and thus avoid unnecessary work. AS time is money on my line.


----------



## Larry

Okay guys one more. I often speak about yotes eyes being similar to a dogs. They are color blind, dont see well in the dark etc. Well on pickup trials I had a agreement with the rancher as long as I flagged my sets he would avoid them. I was careful to put them on flats where he could easily drive around them and in turn he did just that.

But the lesson here is about eyes, and the tracks tell the whole story (again coyotes can't fly) Now when I had no snow I was catching yotes no problem with flags often right on top the set. I could do this as the orange flags blended well into the pasture brown, black and some green background. No different then a test for color blind folks where they hold a card with orange against green and ask what letter is there. Normal people can see the contrast color blind folks cannot.

However change the background and look what happens especially when the background is snow white. That bright orange means stop to a color blind yote and pictures don' t lie about it. Look at the tracks they read like a good novel. In fact to me knowing where the set is, his mind is saying one more step to the bait hole as my yote nose is locked on. But his eyes say no there is a unfamiliar object, I better back away. The eyes usually win, as in most mammals. These tracks are less than 5 hours old.

Look to the top you'll see the flag on the right a little.


----------



## C2C

And that is exactly why I use blue flagging tape and not much of it ..never too much either or directly over a snare . I tie it short so I can see it but it doesnt flap in the wind . Luckily I have a branch or brush to tie to and dont need the wire stake .

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

I heard it was rainbow colored with little horses on it :roflmao:

Okay Cam.. I now have a 950lber cow shot yesterday. Plus I have a 135lb whole road killed mule deer, a chicken, 2 1/2 - 5 gallons bucket of still born pigs with cleanings, two red squirrels and one gallon of horse meat. I have found property with plumb thickets and a side hill....do you want to come and show me your majic?


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> I heard it was rainbow colored with little horses on it :roflmao:
> 
> Okay Cam.. I now have a 950lber cow shot yesterday. Plus I have a 135lb whole road killed mule deer, a chicken, 2 1/2 - 5 gallons bucket of still born pigs with cleanings, two red squirrels and one gallon of horse meat. I have found property with plumb thickets and a side hill....do you want to come and show me your majic?


You forgot "And a partridge in a pair tree " ..lol . Gosh I wish it could happen , but you will have so much fun and success that you will sell all the traps and go straight snare . Well maybe not , but heres a couple tips from things I have learned .

First dont put your bait into a spot where the brush is super thick , coyotes dont like to be in such close quarters . Set most of your snares out away from bait , closest maybe 30 ft but dont be afraid to set out to 300 yds away on incoming trails . Caught my last 2 coyotes on parallel trails 300 yds from the bait . If you have lots of brush in more spots than you want to set , then prebait a couple and when you get a chance set trails where you see the most activity . Would have been great to pile on the bait in these spots before you left for Christmas , you would now be set up and know which trails to snare . Suggest to your rancher that he establish a dead pit in some brush for the fitire .. it would work year after year . I know guys up here that catch 50+ coyotes from a single feedlot deadpile .

Look for a ring road .. meaning a trail that circles the bait sight , a good many coyotes will travel it with their eyes on the prize , its a good place to put snares every 20 yds or so . I have around 20-25 snares at any one site .

Hillsides , my favorite .. Set every trail coming down off it towards the bait , and I mean EVERY ONE . anchor on bottom downhill side , If it is a long main trail , dont hesitate to gang set it with 2 or more every 30 yds or more along its length . .

Set your baits no closer than a couple miles apart , catch members of different areas . One thing I would like to try and havent found the perfect spot for yet is to set 2 small baits about 400 yds apart in a brush and then set normal trails around them AND add a bunch of snares on travel routes BETWEEN them . I think this could be a killer set . Check for the half way trail , you know , the one half way up a hillside parallel to the top , they all have em and they are great travel routes .

Wish I could come and trade some snare learning for some trap learning , I think we would both enjoy it .

I have a 3 day trip coming next week back 5 hrs north of where I live to the area where I guided for moose and deer . Its the wolf hunt I look forward to each year with a good buddy , hope this is the year he gets one . I have a couple new ideas we are gonna test out ..let you know how it goes .


----------



## Larry

Great advise Cam....Ill take it. Thats what successful trappers do is they always look for advise.

My only issue is cattle in my favorite place...but I may be able to work around it.

Your are right about the circling. However we steel men don't need a round trail like snareman. So, being a steel man and with he fresh fluffy snow...their will be some post/flat sets about 30-50 yards out for the carcasses. As you said they like to circle or "often wait their turn" and a 360 degree circle with steel often leads to multiple flat set catches.

I place these like so...two at the but''' end (which always gets eaten first). These will be 30 yards out and maybe 15 feet in between. Ill use some fur off the tail and put that on a tick with just urine. On the back and gut will be a shallow bait hole with perhaps some meat or maybe lure on a wool. At the nose end Ill put one maybe 50 yards out and downwind it will be a "either" a post with urine or gland lure (gland this time of the year) and a triple gang sets on either side.

Thanks Cam ,,,,time to get my gear ready and place that cow just right! Ill post photos when I do.

Larry


----------



## Larry

NOTE....I came off strong in my post on what I do regarding gear and the eye-sight of yote's. I am sorry if I stepped on toes and if I did forgive me please. I am just showing people my thoughts and ways.

But I am no knocking anyone, as afte all these years I have learned one thing, Unlike other fur bearers including wolves, Yotes are forever changing and they will never be figured out by anyone. "Not now not ever" Why its simple...they are loners and each one gets a different conditioning to their surroundings each time they wake up. Unlike beavers, wolves, muskrats and many others that learn from doing with others of the family.

So please understand again...Larry has his ideas and others have theirs. None of us are 100% right and none of us are 100% wrong. I respect all because of that

Larry


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Good luck bud I’ll be following your baiting set up as I have an old dog here that seems to beat me at everything I try


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> NOTE....I came off strong in my post on what I do regarding gear and the eye-sight of yote's. I am sorry if I stepped on toes and if I did forgive me please. I am just showing people my thoughts and ways.
> 
> But I am no knocking anyone, as afte all these years I have learned one thing, Unlike other fur bearers including wolves, Yotes are forever changing and they will never be figured out by anyone. "Not now not ever" Why its simple...they are loners and each one gets a different conditioning to their surroundings each time they wake up. Unlike beavers, wolves, muskrats and many others that learn from doing with others of the family.
> 
> So please understand again...Larry has his ideas and others have theirs. None of us are 100% right and none of us are 100% wrong. I respect all because of that
> 
> Larry


Dont think any one least of all me that you were too strong ..what makes us different is what keeps things interesting. Traps certainly work in spots snares don't. Like in close to a bait , coyotes heads will be up and down like a yo yo when they get in close..try and set a snare at the right height in those conditions..lol. but farther out they tend to carry their heads up high looking for the bait and a good entrance, I've seen this on trail cams . Good luck, look forward to seeing some pics of your setups.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Will be a day or two. I need the tractor to carry the cow shes a 12 year old 900-11000 pounder and my back is already sore :roflmao:

. But the tractor is like AZ folks... hates cold weather! Hahah.... Besides the longer the carcass can freeze at 0, the longer the bait will take to be gone when the birds find it. Also last I checked even badger jaws have issues with frozen steaks and loins. The guts not so much LOL.

Also tomorrow will be an arduous day of setting my cat line. You see those dumb felines don't stick to raods up here, instead they like the deep forest where the mushrooms grow in summer. Or they'll sneak their pray in parks (small opening;s) in the forest . Doesn't matter as my Cay lines are usually walked. The 1/2 mile wide valley I want to trap is two miles long to start. With my duckwalk towing my plastic sled it will take most of the day to make perhaps 10-15 sets. What will help is snow and like yotes "cats can;t fly either" so todays fresh snow will reveal one nice novel.

Well, 12:47 AM...was 60 miles SE watching a the local ranch high school men and women go at it on the courts in 5 hours of play, Sure is a long drive anywhere our here....Goodnight PT...love all of yah like brothers and sisters...be safe! ...........................-4F now! :errrr: But a warm 65 in the Trap'n-Cab'n.

OH BTW Glen....before I nod off you should know...the nicest thing about the cabin is not the mobility...its the door. I sure don't miss unzipping the tent door to take pee outside because I left the pee bucket there when I MT'd it. . Now I can merely open the door,,,take two steps on the covered porch, bare feet and all, and the giant urinal of the forest awaits my liquid human fertilizer! It's the little things....isn't it!


----------



## glenway

Heck, Larry, mine has a door, too, but I don't have to open it for the purpose you mentioned. Just a funnel with a garden hose attached running through the floor through a hole in the lid of a 5-gallon bucket.

When the bucket's full, I repurpose the golden liquid into 8-ounce bottles and sell it to hunters and trappers under the appropriate badge of the day.

If you need some, let me know. Stock is a bit low but I should be able to manufacture another 5 gallons after all the football games today.


----------



## Larry

Now there is a thought Glen as I noticed the snow off the porch is looking line an orange slush, Then it occurred to me , what if I had visitors or the Mormons would come knocking! :frown2:

Playing lazy this AM and I am off to a late start!


----------



## Larry

A couple of years ago this time I was skunked for a three week period while trapping the prairie with 800lb of meat. The time of the year was about now. Then I said I learned my mistake as it was denning time and the females were getting ready to come in season and I am thinking they headed to the forest. A trip for them from 5-30 miles. In summary my theory for my mistake of no catches was in my area the yotes migrate to the forest to den and breed.

This morning while looking for fresh cat sign in the snow I looked up and saw a yote standing on hill. B'out 100 feet to the left there was a huge pile of sand at the base of a fallen pine.

Now one photo and one den does not mean anything. However, when I compare that den to the the huge coyote track increase I saw this morning deep within the forest proper, compared to before Christmas, it does make me wonder if I am thinking straight. Then I compare that to last few days catches on the prairie which have been pups. All makes this wolfer wonder if yotes in some areas do migrate.

Here's the den... a minute or so early you would of seen the yote standing on the hill. But ever try to get your cell phone out of a jeans pocket wearing bib coveralls?

If I did not spook the female and the den is to her liking, she'll start Proestrus a pre-estrous to attract a male. Once she finds him it could take 14-21 more days for her to be ready to receive him. This season I have not seen any pink droppings yet, but in the next week I am sure Ill come across a few as I heard a female and male courting two nights ago and I am sure she was in Proestrus as they usually are when her mating howls ring ou note these were howls and not an estrus chirp or whine as I call it. But if she didn't like the male and didn't pair her Proestrus could stop for awhile especially if she is young.


----------



## C2C

Looks like you got it figured Larry.. I've got a huge increase in tracks today and all but 2 of my catch were mature adults . Wish you could have been here it was a blast although lots of work getting them out.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Cam...one of these days we should meet up. You bring the snares, Ill bring the steel. We'll both call for each other in the free time...yah right like that happens on a long-line! :frown2:


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> Cam...one of these days we should meet up. You bring the snares, Ill bring the steel. We'll both call for each other in the free time...yah right like that happens on a long-line! :frown2:


That would be a treat for sure .


----------



## pokeyjeeper

Sounds like you got a plan Larry now get after them


----------



## Larry

pokeyjeeper said:


> Sounds like you got a plan Larry now get after them


Pokey...I am trying but we are having a run of up and down weather and that makes for work. Hard to get 120 sets in without fear of freezeng rain icing them in. Yes it rained today and yesterday it snowed 4 inches,,,temps today 43, temps two previous days -4 to -8.

Okay folks there is never enough time on the line it seems. When the weather throws you a curve ball you attend to camp chores. Today was spent organizing the trapping bag for cats and yotes . It also meant straightening out bait and tuning a few finicky traps,

*HEY Glen* another good thing bout the cabin over the tent...I have a porch to fix stuff, like any good shop its complete with a solid 6 inch bench vice bolted to the trailer floor,,,the trappers best friend.

Not much going on due to the weather, so I took a photo of my camp work area/storage area, Its complete with a recently snagged a yote and a badger. The bait buckets hung of the ground are full of dead newborn pigs. The black thing is my sled for hauling gear when I hit the cats in the deep stuff. The squirrel and chicken are for cat bait. The smallest live trap is for kangroo rats for bait. The other is for prairie dogs. Ill probably wont need tthem unless my gallon of horse meat stops working.

Of course the trailer is the gooses bus...named for hauling goose decoys around . But its great for storing my mechanical skinner, my coyote rickshaw for days of no snow. It also makes a great workbench to sit and tweak traps. Or make bait.


----------



## Larry

I was going to post this on Cams thread knowing he is a tad shy on bait. I wanted to say " HEY CAM EAT YOUR HEART OUT"

But I just could not do that to such a great guy......whoops I just did :roflmao: SORRY Friend....could not help a little laughter, I needed it today!

Fact is Cam after years of studying your sets I think I a ready to snare over bait. First time for me as you know. Tell me if I am wrong but I believe the only thing missing is thickets on the hillsides. I just don't have that :no: all I have is river bottom thickets and they are few and far between.

Fact is it took me days to decide where to put the old girl. After intently listening to you, I settled on this place. Cover enough to set snares 2-300 yards away and trails with enough cover right next to the river I can some mafia sets with snow cover up to a mile away. Tonight we'll let the yotes make the trails!

I let her freeze as solid as I could the last few days. I want the yotes to get to the stomach cleaned it out tonight! Let them have their appetizers, while they set that aroma free for the neigbor yotes. Then they all can return to chew on frozen steaks and my snares will be waiting!

For you new people that have never used a whole cow. With current temp's hovering at 0 and temps tonight to -15 the meat will turn rock hard. So instead of having here gone in 3-5 days I am hoping to get 7-10 days off her. HOPING...yotes are tough and can eat allot! I have seen them eat a 600 lb calf overnight that was froze solid! This old girl is big mature old cow and right at 1100-1200.

An added plus...where I took the picture from allows me to shoot a few off her also!

Bad day except for the cow. All traps are froze in. 36 degree temps melted a a little snow, then we then got rain, then snow, and winds to 50 mph last night dropped the temps fast. Its not a disaster as they were still anchored--- PHEW!!---- Its just allot of work, chipping around them carefully not to hit jaws and pans so you can reset.

Trust me I am not 30 anymore. Winds gusting to 40 mph since 4 AM today and then temps at 10AM hit negative 8 F. I literally got headaches at times before busting frozen ground, freeing the trap and remaking a set. Finally I wrapped my silk cowboy rag over my forehead like a hippie chic, and that kept the heat in and the headaches went away. Who's living a dream today? Not I, said the dumb wolferman, not I said he, as it was brutal!

Still I managed to get 15 sets for yotes working in 8 hours and with all the tracks I saw I am thinking tomorrow or the next day they "should" want my horse meat bait. Or get a little closer to the Tainted Love lure...

Okay enough blabbing here's my bait and the terrain I chose for the snares.


----------



## Larry

BTW...I could not get it all in the photo...but this scrub patch ends just outside the photo on the left and right. It also ends just to the right of the bend in the just past that tall single cedar tree. river. On the left on the background where the clump of tall cedars are is river!


----------



## C2C

Larry you will notice I hit the like button cause I like the spot you have got the bait .Ive got ots of bait but thats a different story ..lol.. Nope Im not jealous about about the size , I got another roadkill deer today to liven one of mine up .. AND the only way I could get a cow down into my spot would be to walk her in there and shoot her !! LOL ..That cover is perfect , it's not easy to find a good spot for it is it . I would be hesitant about shooting at dogs on my bait , I know you will get the one you are lined up on but it may make others in the vicinity nervous about coming back . Ive lots of chances to juice coyotes that were within 300 yds of my spots as I go to check but restrain myself and count on them returning for a necktie . Should be some good spots where the coyotes leave the river heading for the bait , they use the ice like a highway .Had a good day myself today but I'll post it up on the other thread with some pics .


----------



## Larry

This river never freezes Cam. So unlike the rest of the world the yotes have to use cow trails and pickup trails! Buts it shallow enough they can cross it easily. I was watching swans and it seems like they never got their knees wet.

Thank-you for the approval. So hard in this country to find anywhere to snare. Especially this year with the drought most of the summer.

Yes the forest has snare places but the yotes tend to be allot darker, nearly Iowa dark colored. Biologist who is a good friend says he thinks its the lack of sun they don't heat up like the plains yotes so they tend to be a wolf color.

Noted on the shooting...Ill stay off for awhile...at least till I have another 100! Haha


----------



## C2C

Lol..that second hundred probably isn't far away .Here's where u caught 6 the other day , not real thick. I'm gonna set in those patches behind next year .









Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Here we go again...love is stronger than an empty stomach...I have not had a yote in 5 days. The cow was not touched last night...could we see a repeat of 2 years ago?

BTW....there are tracks everywhere


----------



## hassell

The river never freezes over - I would have thought it would have with the temps you mentioned, ours do here and it's a lot warmer than your temps. Is it a big river ?


----------



## Larry

Mmmmmm how to explain this without giving away my trapping area. Sorry Hassel, I have a piece of heaven and places like mine are hard to come by these days. But Ill, let you look up the North Loup, Middle Loup and South Loup rivers in Nebraska. Now the reason why none of these freeze is because of the shallow ground water which feeds this large river basin generally 48 F all year.

In fact that is how ranchers and homesteaders came to settle the area, most could dig a good well as shallow as 25 feet in some places and have water for ever. Now new wells for human consumption; and because of the water restriction by the US EPA, go a tad more than 100' for crystal clear water.

But the surface dries very fast. Mostly do to the sand (hense the Name Nebraska Sandhills) and there is not enough humos or a clay base to stop the drainage, Thus the sand at the top 6-12 inches drains water after a rain like when the ocean tide goes out.

But through the years of ranching the top soil humos in places is beginning to collect and some areas even grow soybeans and corn with irrigation. Note, Cedar trees love it here in fact they are considered weeds and now there is a war going on to cut them across the sandhills.

I took this photo this morning as the bright sun made the area where I have bait look absolutely beautiful. But I-phones do not come close to how I see it! None-the-less I am a blessed man :smile: !!!! Trust me high yote prices help,,,but even more is I am in a spot where I can see as far as the eyes can see...and for the most part I seldom see another human. Some men like the mountains...I like it here because of all I can see so much and their is nothing hindering my veiw outside the frest. A man can see a yote 2 miles away walking up a sandhill. BTW,, the river has a good gathering of trumpeter swans right now. When then wind is calm and they fly the river a man can count the wing beats several hundred yards away they are so large. I have heard their they weigh some 30lbs and wings of 10 feet...amazingly large birds.


----------



## C2C

Nice Larry .. I'm watching wild horses today on my wolf hunt ..
















Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## hassell

You're saying the water stays at 48 F throughout the winter and you have had lows of -15 F , I would think that you would have so much fog around there a person wouldn't see anything !! Should be steaming above the water somewhere. Strange place.


----------



## Larry

Todays update...my bait still remained untouched. Thus I performed a partial tummy tuck cosmetic surgery to let that wonderful smelling (gag, gag) ruminant stomach gas out. Talk about a 2.5 minute gaseous excretion...sounded like a shot truck tire!!! PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS..... But oh the smell, a smell that traveled the valley for five miles I am sure. I then removed some skin on the back to encourage the crows and eagles to start in.

I did have two circling yotes picked up by fresh tracks. Snares were put on trails pf the same. Just as a start only. I hung 7 today because I did not want to disturb the area if activity picks up tonight.

Look real close youll see the tracks....snow was crusty so for the most part they were on top the snow. NO I did not steel a photo from Cam...but darn the ground looks the same,,,except no hills.









Not having bait I did not make any Marty Senecker style snares. (dumb Larry) so I am using the old style with a sliding bent washer lock system. Just like the real old days.... :frusty:

To help tangle and make sure the snare went tight, when I could each got a 7 foot extension, meaning they can run 12 feet. wrap and hopefully be dispatched. Big gamble because of laziness on my part. Bottom-line I need to have them run and tangle. I need this as without the cam locks and springs of the Senecker snares Cam uses its how we used to do it.


----------



## Larry

Second part of the day...calling. I am letting my trap line go until this weather settles down on Monday. 63 tomorrow, traps will be exposed because some were covered with snow on the remakes. 55 Friday....blah blah ....3-4 inches of wet snow Sunday but it could be as much as 9 if it snows all day.

So the only thing a guy could do was call today. 43-F no wind and hot sun. I called in a green flannel short and insulated Carheart pants.

First stand, using just young female howls here comes a female barreling on to chase me away.She stops on the side f the hill at 120 yards. I pull the trigger on the 660 Remington 6mm and the trigger is hard,,,I mean its bottomed out. I throw the bolt back same thing. Yote still there, she doesnt see me as I am in a sand blow out. ,,,I let out a challenge and she took off,,,no point in educating them.

Okay whats going on. I get to the truck throw the safety to off........ca boom...the rifle fires. Understand this is a first. I was using the 6MM as I never replaced my really really accurate .22-250 Savage Varmintor/ Sightron 4-16 side focus combination that was stolen last summer. That answers my question...this rifle never went through the Remington recall in 1979...for this exact issue!

Stand two...I grab my Henry .17HMR Lever action after I sight some fresh tracks about 2 miles down the trail from the last mishap.

This is a huge bowl area....3/4 mile wide and 1 mile long. Huge vertical sandhills across from me. To my back a narrow butte I walked in on. Again I find my favorite hide a sand blowout. I start off with modest voles squeels. Nothing after 5 minutes...so I let out pileated woodpecker distress. Often works well in areas of Prairie Dogs and there was a pie of them some 3 miles away. Well look at that here comes another female heading straight down that vertical sandhill towards me. All is silent. then I see here perspective male....then another male smaller. The I here the Dreaded challenge howl and see her lifting her head with every fricking noise out of her mouth. What the heck I hear one coming from my back over my head. So here I am in the middle of a real life coyote challenge. All I cam do is liste and learn, Ho Hum but when will they shut up its been 10 minutes. The only movement was the males left out of sight. I can't shoot either. I cant see the one above me and its 180 yards to the female. Probably a tad to long for the little 17. Finnaly the one behind me left as I could not hear her anymore. I challenged to the female across the valley, she didn't like that one bit and started to leave. But not without chewing me out one last time with a bark bark whaooooooobark bark bark......

Not bad...called in 5 in two stands, shot 0. I say that was a good day. It would of been great if I would of had two! I am thankful I was alone with the Model 660, So yes it was a great day because all is safe and I know that rifle needs some recall work done. And just googling the issue it will be repaired under a recall issued in 1979,,,


----------



## Larry

hassell said:


> You're saying the water stays at 48 F throughout the winter and you have had lows of -15 F , I would think that you would have so much fog around there a person wouldn't see anything !! Should be steaming above the water somewhere. Strange place.


Not much fog as the wind blows so much. It was unusual today to have 5-10 mph but the temps were 43 today. The normal wind is 20MPH all the time it seems. But you are right...when its -15 and the wind blows you can see steam blowing around much like at Yellowstone. Ill try to get a video next time we hit -0 which I would not doubt will happen in February.

The warm water is one of the reasons Nebraska has allot of wintering waterfowl, not to mention the fairly warm average winter temps. In the forest right now there are 10 of thousands of Red Robbins that winter here. Just like the coyotes that thrive on the Red Cedar blue berries when the Kangroo Rats head underground at 5=f. BTW everyone calls them Cedars,,,,but they are actually a type Juniper. And Larry used to drink the tea made from the Blue Berries of these "Juniper" Red Cedars. But I graduated to coffee more now days, to lazy to pick them I guess.


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> Nice Larry .. I'm watching wild horses today on my wolf hunt ..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


Mmmmmmmmmm since I use horse meat for yote bait....wolves would eat horse meat too! and I bet there is no season one them! HINT HINT


----------



## Larry

Another day of nothing, close but no cigar as they say in Cuba!

Still awaiting for a hit on the cow. So far not a bird, badger, yote or cat has touched it. This cow was not medicated at all either! She is sure putting off some good smell in the river valley.

Getting closer on the traps. 4 sprung today because of the overnight freeze causing delays. I hate to go to 4 coils as I am just not that strong anymore. But its an future option. Its not supposed to freeze hard tonight. 34,,but the ground will be freezing. None-the-less I am optimistic on a a catch or two all sets look good.

Tomorrow I will start using calcium chloride, waxed traps or not, Ill just clean the rust this summer. Prices are just to high this season not too.

In closing here's a crappy story...The rancher and I had a good discussion over using bones where yotes are not use to them. He said its just not natural and its spooking the yotes. He was referring to snow during my Christmas break when he saw they were swinging wide of bone sets. My gut said no way its too loud a lure! However, I have been wrong before and I was almost in agreement had I not had so many previous catches this season on my bone trail sets. Well just when a fella needs proof that bones don't cause yotes to spook patience on the trap line weighs in again!









Ill teach em to crap on my bones. I remade the whole set using what the female scat for a pan guide and that bone got good soaking of urine on the scoured scat. Just in case the mad crapper returns and he will. I want him to know I ain't fooling around.

Newbies...study this set. The prevailing wind is from the hole to the bone. When I use eye appeal no matter what, I never apply urine to the whole set. My reasoning is this. The eye appeal brings them in from a far. When they circle I want them to smell urine and ease their shyness and go into marking mode. If I chose the prevailing wind right, just before they go to mark, they will get a wiff or the lure or bait in the hole. Now they circle again but this time the urine is off their minds, and the bait takes over and so does hunting mode.

Also note their is two holes in the photo. The reason for this at this time of the tear is two fold. One is to go after yearling not ready to breed but hungry. That hole the bottom one, has sheeps wool wrapping with horse meat bait in it. The top hole is to get the honeymooners. To do this I have a good female gland lure in the top hole.

Also note the step down. In between those turds, is a pan in the depression, covered with just 1/4 inch of dirt. I find step downs in pickup trails a must!

This set works anywhere and is also good on side hills with no snow if you have white bones. But here it works well smack dab in the middle of a pickup trail to stop travelers. Don't; have bones or have allot of snow...use a piece of burnt log that you've soaked in a bucket of water for a couple days. This is not a new trick...but I don't think its used enough by trappers in this day and age.


----------



## akiceman25

Loving this thread Larry! Very happy to see you out there living the dream.

I hope to add to my thread with today's check.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Thanks Todd, I wish we could all get together on a line for a few weeks and share what we know. The wolves, cats and yotes would be in grave danger if we did.

10 inches of snow and two days of 40mph winds on the way starting Sunday. Ill have been busy today flagging my sets and adding calcium chloride. If the traps rust so be it. I have a friend and great yote trapper from Iowa with a modified cement mixer. He adds course sand a tad of water and they come out g great! He called yesterday and he maybe be coming out this way and running his line 150 miles west of me. Be nice on the weekends to meet up and have dinner and share experiences.

I have a cowboy friend out here that he and his brother take cats every year along the Dismal. Great country their I used to call it and it was not uncommon to call 5- yotes per day. He is having trouble catching cats in live traps and asked me to give it a shot in the forest, I have just the place too! So I will have a first in Nebraska again, trying to catch a live cat!

Well I better eat lunch and get at it...only 40 more sets to mark!

Larry


----------



## akiceman25

When you say 'flagging' do you mean adding orange tape to improve it's visibility?

Up here we only flag if we want the dog to go a different direction. They see the tape and veer away.

Would be very interesting to me if the dogs in your neck of the woods react differently to the tape.

Lynx, however, are attracted to it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Yes I am putting out surveyors tape and flags. Your are correct Todd, orange tape against white snow is a no-no usually. I say usually because I found one way to stop the "dog" avoidance. I soak my flags with urine and a smear on some gland lure. That seems to help but not always. Like I said in the past you can away with orange on green or a light colored brown "dead grass look" backgrounds as canines are color blind. Example you can put an orange flag in a pine tree or juniper and you will be okay, I guarantee it. But orange against white or the skyline is a non-no.

Black is the color to have but in order to get it I think you have to order it online as the bigger stores like Menards don't carry it. At least not in my area.


----------



## Larry

Larry Leghold here Mad Wolfer of the Great Plains with today/s report.

Blizzard going on now...here the photo going home from the line!









They are saying 11-16 " by morning. I believe them this time as just before I had a good day on the line and saw some cool stuff.

Caught 5 today. Its a bought time things picked up!! I took two photos as if you've seen one in a trap they are all the same. Especially since the terrain never changes. Seldom do I get a standing photo as I am so ugly they alway's lay down and try to hide! Well I did get a big tough old male to stand. Wish I had it on video as his voice wasso deep it sounded like a blood hound when I got out of the truck. Whaooo!!

One of these days Ill remember to set the timer and get me in the photo if another male decides to stand. Second is a nice yote, its somewhat like the other three and should bring some fairly good money although the hides are starting to singe a little. *****Singe means guard hairs wearing down *****

















Ill make a new post with the other unusual stuff today.......as I am waning on bandwidth with the blizzard.


----------



## Larry

Okay how many have seen a camel in the beginning of a snow storm in the USA and in the middle of the country! Well now you have! I literally LOL and had to get a picture to send home right away! It always the little things that make life worth living and makes guys like me very rich indeed! Not sure who owns this one but I took a back trail out of my SE line and here it stood!









Then another ten miles and trying to get you all a decent swan photo...but I was busted by the crunchy snow as temps were dropping and off went these paired up adults.









I came to a narrow area where the river meets a fence and I find these two...who knows where they came from as they are ~200 miles from where they are normally found in Nebraska. Ill have to ask around.









The doe went to run from me but said nope the river is to cold!

















Goodnight!


----------



## glenway

Winston tastes good like a cigarette should, but I'd walk a mile for a camel, if I knew how they tasted.


----------



## 220swift

Hope Larry's doing alright, pretty good blizzard up there this weekend............


----------



## glenway

No doubt, Mike. The ol' boy's been quiet and that's not like him.


----------



## 220swift

I know Glen, that part of Nebraska last weekend had very heavy snow and winds upwards of 50mph...........Denver area had it's first measurable snow last weekend, officially 3.5", we had around 6" and the winds made some 14" to 18" drifts. Fresh snow, breeding season and I still can't get away for a hunt...... :frusty:


----------



## Larry

Thanks for the thoughts men! I am fine, Just frustrated. Yotes are paired and are all over the place digging on my line. But the traps are under under snow. Enough snow they can stand on the pan dig down and get my lure and wool, without being caught. I was only in this predicament once many, many years ago! But I can't remember id I salted the hell out of the sets after digging down for a remake. Or just lefy them and started with new new hay sets?

BTW Cam- The Wireman, the snow is so deep among the plumb thickets from the wind even mt snares are covered.

I have been stuck Twice in places I could of swore were not drifts! Guess my memory isn't what it used to be or the grass grew 6 inches overnight! Just goes to show you give a crippled man a coal shovel and in 4 -5 hours he can shovel out a stuck Suburban... :hot:

Melted yesterday a tad...that left the snow hard enough for yotes and cats to walk on top. Time for me to put on the thinking cap for the new sets I plan on tomorrow for cats. See below I lost a dandy brush pile today!









Right after the fresh snow I found where a single cat was catching rabbits in this brush pile then retreating to the forest. Yes closet trail is where it was plowing snow to go there! The other two were porcupine trails. I went back today to set it and this is what I found. Just bad luck that's all with all of this snow the Forest service is burning what it can to stop prairie and forest fires next summer.









This the trail I broke when the blizzard let up and I had a rare opportunity in day light to catch some very very fresh sign! So far I am the only one using this trail! However to left and two miles I know of a man running cahe traps.









I pulled this cat line just before the heavy weather. I drive past it each day to my west line. Still bothers me after 2 weeks and 16 good sets I never got one cat! Worse yet never even cut a track after all that walking!









Good night!

A very frustrated Larry Leg-Hold!


----------



## 220swift

Good to hear from you, a bit concerned after some absence from you, hang in there, your in the toughest part right now. Hopefully the tide will change for you very soon.


----------



## glenway

You're one tough ol' bird, Larry.


----------



## C2C

glenway said:


> You're one tough ol' bird, Larry.


Tough is an understatement..i couldn't do what he is ...i don't mind the catching and setting part but am not than willing to.let someone else do the put up ..as for covered snares my dear friend I have also learned something about that my friend Larry..some support wires are stuck in the ground and are a set length. Pretty hard to lift those as snow deepens ..those that are wire tied to brush will be longer next year so all I have to do us slide it up when they need adjusting. Keep at it leghold Larry , cats are waiting .

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Weather is warming and its making it tough to keep lines working. We got rain before the snow so you understand whats going on now. Puddles in the day time and ice rinks over night. I think I may be pulling most of my yote line tomorrow and start solely on cats. Fur will be singing soon anyway if not severe hackle rubs as the sun is intense.

Was a decent day with these two despite tough, tough conditions. It was a double catch and I picked them out about a 3 miles away checking the line with binoculars. I have been stuck enough so I drove as close as I dare and I had to walk to them 3/4 mile dragging my sled. I had forgot the phone in the truck getting the sled ready.

Look at the size of the chest on that male! I have not got a big old grandpa male in a long time. I am guessing this was an old mated pair probably have had pups together for 5-6 years now. BTW she had a few litters in here life as her rear four teets were as loose as a Guernsey that just got milked. Guess the female was looking for a muscle yote when she got married.

Checked my log book, two simple post sets drenched in red fox took these.









Yes ....I got stuck again today UGH!! Of all things going down hill,,,the snow went from 5 lbs per shovelful to 35 today it was melting that fast. So after 1.5 hours of shoveling and the Suburban belly still high center, I walked 3 miles to the my ranch friend Mike for a pull. One little nudge was all it took!


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> Tough is an understatement..i couldn't do what he is ...i don't mind the catching and setting part but am not than willing to.let someone else do the put up ..as for covered snares my dear friend I have also learned something about that my friend Larry..some support wires are stuck in the ground and are a set length. Pretty hard to lift those as snow deepens ..those that are wire tied to brush will be longer next year so all I have to do us slide it up when they need adjusting. Keep at it leghold Larry , cats are waiting .
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


Great minds think alike....I do not use support wire or support poles unless its a grassy trail. of which I have one by a tank. I did just what you said and I used bush stems for my pole. And like you said next season Ill just bend them down a tad.

You know Cam that old cow has not been touched yet! she was not medicated, just in for a preg check when she broke her leg in the corral Sge was put down with a single shot to the head with my little .17HMR 17 grainers. I spoke to a cowboy that put down a lame mare at the same time and she was cleaned up in 5 days. The difference I held this cow back and froze her. I wonder if that made the difference.


----------



## Larry

I am a well known trapper now. The game warden slowed me down when I was looking for cat tracks. He said you must be the trapper, I said am I that famous because I am getting called that allot. He said any man that sleeps in a wall tent at -6 with 50 mph winds has got to be crazy or a tough trapper. He said it all is a compliment as not to many do what I do anymore. He asked if I could ever help with kids, I said let me know your ideas and I will consider.

Before he found me 7 miles down a forrest trail he had stopped at the cabin. He asked if it was okay if he used the photo in his report and maybe on a state Game and Fish magazine, I said sure . He asked what I was doing. I said I am hanging yellow survey tape on the trees so I can find the cat tracks tomorrow and make sets, He said that a pretty good idea will anyone steel from you. This time of the year, I dont think so, I drove the outer roads and in 100 miles of trails today I saw no one. So basically I have 95,000 acres of Cat country to share with the Federal biologist and one cage trapper.

We must of chatted for an hour and what a super guy, I told him he should get a bonus for finding a non-resident fur havestor permit holder as he thinks their are no more the 4 issued each year. We went over equipment and all was okay. He was happy I was using steel as that is all his Dad used.

He gave me his card and when I get a Cat he;ll be the one to issue the Cites tag to me. Then Ill buy him coffee!

Another new friend came into my life today....just cant beat it!


----------



## C2C

And now who is the rock star..lol.. I dont know why coyotes sometimes take days or weeks to touch a carcass and other times it has literally cleaned up.over night , makes no sense ro me . I cant wait to see some cat pictures.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Tough my butt! I am taking an afternoon off today after pulling my sled through the tall pines setting cat traps.

But before that stupid story here is a nice one....As I was leaving a deer path from the tall pines to the trail I look up. There the ranch boy stood with Winston in the trail. He tracked me down some 11 miles in driving his own Suburban. He asked if he could use my Ithaca 10 gauge mag to hunt some geese. He's 14 and how could I miss an opportunity to tag along. With his youthful arms and back the sled went into my Suburban and we headed to the Dismal River.

I asked how he found me, he said it wasn't to hard as he could see my sled tracks in the trail snow being pulled by the suburban. I suppose my three feet of yellow surveyors tape tied to the trees helped also. I said I am losing my memory the tape helps me find my own trapping trail head. Hahaha

Then it was memories of along time ago as I watched him and his dog do a sneak on maybe 300 geese and 50 mallards. Too many waterfowl eyeballs for a good sneak but he has to learn so I said nothing. 100 yards later and they all took off. Still it was worth it and I saw allot of me at his age back then.

Now back to the dumb stuff and why I am so sore today.

The reason I am taking break is my hit and run's just before the boy showed up. You see sleds pulled downhill (with gravity and all) isn't good idea. Then tend to go faster then you can walk downhill. Never fails they either catch you off balance and you fall' as they go past while tugging your arms off by the tow rope. Or they hit you right in the calf! Doesn't seem to matter if the hill is 5 feet long or 500, you find out quickly that gravity is not just a good idea... its the law! :frown2:

Sure am glad the snow was crusty and just scrapes the facial skin instead of it being soft and going down the collar of my shirt. I hate wet cold melting snow!


----------



## glenway

Dang, Larry. Too bad you're the only one who can replay that "video."

That goose episode brought back memories for me, too. Years ago, and friend and I set up a bunch of decoys in the field where geese have been seen. I called well enough to get geese to within a scant mile and after quite a spell, we put the hunt on hold and went to town for breakfast.

Returned only to find the field littered with geese - right where we were. No way to sneak up on these eyes, either. I took a wide berth behind some tall pines between the geese and me. My pal intentionally scared the geese from the other side and they flew right above me. Got one just like that.


----------



## Larry

Its bragging time....me and the old ithaca ten slaughtered ducks and geese in the 88, 89,90' -99 and early 2000. I mean hundreds of mallards and 1,000 of dark geese went into out boat. That ten never stopped' often shooting a case of shells a month ,,,500shells in a case, to continue shooting we gave many many away and made many into jerky to keep possession limits low. We could time it so could we could have are daily limit and still be in the office juts 1/2 hour late. Often I wore a tie to the blind as so I didnt have to stop on the way to work.

Twas our forte....In fact I brought one of five lanyards loaded with goose bands and duck bands so the ranch kid could were it. We figured it took about 467 geese to get one band and over one thousand ducks. I also brought him my tuned goose flute and Wendell Carlson Volo Choke call. The good old days when I was THE DUCKMASTER

Hey a guy can brag once in a while cant he?


----------



## C2C

Return of " The Duckmaster " !!!!.. great fun shooting ducks Larry , I used to love that til.i got into bowhunting and them couldn't serve 2 masters..

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## 220swift

not bragging Larry, just the way you rolled...........

hell Larry, that's the way all us Iowa outdoorsmen rolled back then.........


----------



## Larry

Okay back to the line. I am on a mission to get at least two cats before I leave the weekend of Feb 24th. I have abandoned the yotes except maybe for a couple of sets I am helping the rancher with. To be honest its been a good season, I still have 3 to skin.... Ah heck I may offer them to the Petska fur truck guy tomorrow and if he offers above $65 or so...they are his.

Weather warmed to 57 today, and even without the sun allot of snow was leaving.

As for cats, This country is not for old men. I am hurting all over. Up and down small hills at steep angles and over logs. I wore Winston out today. Doesn't take much, but I am not complaining he is still good company and in many ways helped me catch yotes because he pee'd at every set I made.









Here's one for you track experts what is it? . Its in melting snow, the tracks are 3.5 inches long by 3.5 inches wide and they are very fresh. I know I saw the critter that made them some 400 yards heading over a steep hill.

Hint 1- It was not a rare sighting, but rare for midday.

Hint 2..its not Winston!


----------



## Larry

Yote season is done for me officially. I pulled all but one trap that was froze in as the rancher agrees its late and the fur is poor. That one that was frozen in I salted and it should come out Friday when I ride along to cake the bulls and hay the cows.

Since everyone likes photos Ill take you for a ride on some of the highlights of my trapping trail. The old suburban is one heck of a machine to do this everyday plus carry my butt 2,000 miles home and back each season.

This is one of many plunges into trail water up to 2 feet deep after a snow melt.









The trail goes over this sandhill top and is rounded just enough to keep from bottoming out. Its just what you see the sky until the truck is over the top. Angle is steep around 30-35 degrees.









I pass through this 1500 acre pasture everyday and its always the same. Sometimes one, sometimes fifty blocking the trail. These calves want cake and hay...the problem is unlike their Moms, they haven't figured out I am the wrong truck. I don't like to drive fast past them as they will run after me. Running calves is bad news when the rancher is trying to sell them as lightweight feeder calves.









Back at camp after 21 miles of off road and some 18 miles of highway. This is the end of 2017-2018 yote season...3 yotes and badger loaded to sell for some steak dinner money.









Hopefully Cat pictures soon!


----------



## C2C

All good things come to an end Im afraid my friend ..youve had a great season and I've enjoyed following you and learning as well .My snares will be pulled either Saturday or Monday and I'm in mourning already .

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## akiceman25

Congrats on your successful season Larry. I enjoyed the thread as well.

You could probably find a cheaper version of this (or fabricate one yourself?) but here's an idea to aid in those downhill pulls.

https://store.kifaru.net/mobile/backcountry-sleds-p208.aspx

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

But when you think its over its not. You see on beginning of the week I pulled into a pasture driveway to get good cell phone service as I had some internet business to do. I took a pause for a drink of coffee in the Suburban and looked up at some geese flying over the river. Then I picked up some movement about 700 yards away on the ridge. I grabbed my binoculars off the dash and it was a dark yote. Out here that means just one thing. Sarcoptic mange mite infection!

Okay I made three sets Wednesday all in a cattle mineral area. A place where the cattle have erased all but dirt. Mangy yotes are easy to call in with alot of urine and a tad bit of bait. They want company and they are hungry. Easiest of all yotes to trap...a sick one.

Now all three had good backing against a gopher mound. Winston even marked two of them for me. I had a mission to get this yote as I have waited for years for the population to rebound as Mange snuffed out more yotes than 100 good trappers could over the last decade.

Yesterday morning my planning worked and the mangy coyote from the ridge and those nasty mites are out of the system.

PETA if you read this beware as nothing man can ever do is more inhumane then mother nature infecting a creature with Mange when temps are sub-zero. You see the skin freezes then it turns black. Just like a leather boot it becomes stiff as hell and shrinks. So the yote can barely move plus its internal temp is down by 10 degrees every time the sun doesn't shine to warm it up due to lack of fur insulation. Yet the yote still has the drive to meander around and try to survive. Despite 5/8 of its body not functional and getting worse every day. This last for months also.

PETA get off your ass and come with me on my line and see the good myself and all trappers are doing each and every day to help all animals by snuffing out over population highly contagious diseases like Sarcoptic mange and canine distemper in raccoons, foxes, coyotes, skunks, otters, and bobcats.

If you will not come with me...then put this attached photo in your mind and let it haunt you each and every night you go to bed. This yote was suffering so bad it didn't even have enough strength to snarl! It tried to lift its head but the leathery skin would not allow it, not to mention how weak it was.

I dispatched it quickly with a bullet to the head while in the trap. I left it in the trap as Temps were in the teens. When its body temp cooled down the mange mites did die in the freezing temps also! Now I controlled the mange and I ended a horrific episode in a yotes life.

But the kicker is this, by targeting and removing this single yote, hundreds or even thousands of other yotes will survive through next winter and future winters on the Plains. Imagine that thousands of yotes by taking out just one.

PETA join me and don't fight me if you really do care about the welfare of wildlife as much as I do.


----------



## C2C

Great write up and clean up Larry..as for mange this one has to be my all time favorite . It makes my skin crawl each time I look at it . I was after this guy for a week before I finally shot him and ended his suffering









Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Larry

Thanks Cam...I had a pissy moment when I started thinking about how we are made to be the bad guys yet in reality Mother Nature Herself causes more suffering then any trapper has done. We as trappers really do a great deed and you and I illustrate that Cam!

Moving on...

I am the worst and dumbest steel jaw cat trapper in the world. Cats seem easy to some but they are my thorn. I just can't read them and when I do get it right , I set for yotes and miss them. You see cats don't really require the pan or jaws to be covered. But Larry forgets this and covers with pine needles and they slowed the jaws down. DUMB Larry!!

I had two traps set off two days ago . It was clear one was a cat and the other perhaps a yote or a cat. I can't tell on the last miss. I id catch a pad I am sure as I had blood on the trap. However, I left my my DNA Spectrum Analyzer at home so I really can't confirm.

I do have photos of tracks left after the first miss. That cat must of leaped 8 feet high and flipped after the jaws snapped late and scared it. How else does a 25-35lb animal break through crusted snow? How do I know this? Winston is in the photo sniffing the tracks (yes bulldogs really do hate cats). Winston weighs 67lbs and look at his front paw not breaking the snow.

Next season I will have a couple of trail camera's on my sets. What a video it would of been seeing that cat flying over backwards! Would of been better though if I had the cat! UGH!!!


----------



## Larry

Snowed yesterday and I am seeing very little sign. Snow stopped yesterday about 6:30AM. I drove the forest for about 5 hours looking for sign then spent 4 hours digging myself out of a soft sand bed where I got stuck high center...the worse kind of stuck!

I picked up two cat tracks. all where I have my traps set. Other then that I picked up maybe 4 fresh sets of yote tracks.

Days are growing long now. :frown2: I may not last till cat season is over the 28th. I say this as now I am losing money in gas and food. May head home around the 15th.

I drove 80 miles north Saturday to my old old calling area. My old friend Dan C. met me at his ranch door and we drank coffee and caught up on the last 15 years since I saw him last. I am always welcome on his place and the surrounding ranches plus he said "Yotes are still plentiful up here". Thus I may trap it early next fall and return to the Forrest for just Cats.

I made this trip as this as the area I am in now may have a serious yote depletion issue. This area has been hit hard by me, callers and dog hunters. After the lack of sign I am seeing post snowfalls and 2 cows left untouched along with one deer. We may have really hurt the local population. I know, do you really ever hurt the yote population? .......well when your used to a high than most average season catch and it drops by to all time lows as in this year ...I think you do.

Prices will fall again and the yotes will prevail again.


----------



## Larry

It always happens. I checked this morning and I missed two more cats. Traps froze in from the 2 hour rain yesterday morning, This morning I was ready to go home but gosh darn it I have to get a cat.

Okay Ill talk numbers......out of 20,000 acres of dense trees I have 6 traps set. In the last two weeks I missed 4 cats in 6 sets. Yep that's it 6 sets. The last two cats got fed a 1/4 chicken and a 1/4 squirrel. They'll be back as all they had to do was study the set and grab the bait. Which tracks revealed that's exactly what they did.

After remakes this morning all sets got chciken for bait....plus horse-meat bait, cat bait and lure. I cant wait for morning and Ill be here one more week or until I get a cat!

sincerely...*the worlds worst cat trapper! :frown2:*


----------



## C2C

Larry said:


> It always happens. I checked this morning and I missed two more cats. Traps froze in from the 2 hour rain yesterday morning, This morning I was ready to go home but gosh darn it I have to get a cat.
> 
> Okay Ill talk numbers......out of 20,000 acres of dense trees I have 6 traps set. In the last two weeks I missed 4 cats in 6 sets. Yep that's it 6 sets. The last two cats got fed a 1/4 chicken and a 1/4 squirrel. They'll be back as all they had to do was study the set and grab the bait. Which tracks revealed that's exactly what they did.
> 
> After remakes this morning all sets got chciken for bait....plus horse-meat bait, cat bait and lure. I cant wait for morning and Ill be here one more week or until I get a cat!
> 
> sincerely...*the worlds worst cat trapper! :frown2:*


To echo the words and advice of an old trapper friend that I made on this site .. Patience , patience .. It'll happen " old friend ".


----------



## Larry

C2C said:


> To echo the words and advice of an old trapper friend that I made on this site .. Patience , patience .. It'll happen " old friend ".


Just to show you I am not giving up I made myself a cubby so big if I get caught in a blizzard it could be a shelter. They always say cubby's should be big enough a large Tom can turn around in one. Well Winston tested it and he had no problems so its Winston certified. After Winston certified it whith a leg lift and a douse of orange liquid, I hung a half a chicken on the backside against the tree. The opening was a tad big so it got two #3 Bridger offsets.

But mine is nothing...one of the ranch kids traps the forest and just concentrates on brush piles. From the road and through my binoculars he made a cubby for his cage trap so big in that brush pile you could stack four cage traps in it. I am not knocking him in fact I am learning as he catches 7-10/ year. For Neb, that is outstanding!

Speaking of large Toms I found a track today that must be the grandpa Tom of the area. Without hesitation that track was set also.

This should be a good time for cats. Several fronts coming in this weekend. My fingers are crossed.


----------



## hassell

No pic's of the cubby set.


----------



## C2C

So did the suburban make it home ? Now comes the long withdrawal period going cold turkey and waiting til next fall .


----------



## Larry

Cam...the Suburban made it home. But not without front end issues. Oh well its to be expected as the old girl really was put through heck this trip with all the bad weather! :smile2:

I managed to bag one last yote that chased Winston. Poor guy hes an urban dog, could not start a fight if he tried. But the yote did nip his hind end a couple times before he made the porch on the cabin. Ill email you the story some day it involves wild trukeys too!

Sorry for late reply...I caught the flu some two weeks ago comming out of the forest. Yes it hit me just like that, weirdest illness I ever had. It seemed like one step I was fine, but the next step I had a fever and my muscles burned deep inside my body. Even the staples in my chest and my back and leg prostetics were on fire. Guess thats what I get for going to the local high school basketball games 2 times per week.

I had the flu when I traveled home and its been with me since last Monday. I finnally went to the Dr. a week ago and they put me on an antibiotic. Took a week for the antiobiotics to clear me up.

I pray all of you do not get this flu.

You said "Now comes the long withdrawal period going cold turkey and waiting til next fall ." you forgot I still have fur to put up and then ship. That will take a couple weeks.


----------



## 220swift

Good to hear you're home in one piece, that flu is no fun, got something similar last September elk hunting. Got to the mountains, setup camper, relaxed for the evening. Woke up at 3am and had to make a mad dash to the privy. Ended laying in the camper for the next two and a half days and finally gave up. Packed up and went home. Sick for another week when I got home.

Hope you're staying on the mend, damn stuff likes to come back.


----------



## Larry

220swift said:


> Good to hear you're home in one piece, that flu is no fun, got something similar last September elk hunting. Got to the mountains, setup camper, relaxed for the evening. Woke up at 3am and had to make a mad dash to the privy. Ended laying in the camper for the next two and a half days and finally gave up. Packed up and went home. Sick for another week when I got home.
> 
> Hope you're staying on the mend, damn stuff likes to come back.


Sounds familiar. I really feel bad for the elderly and the babies. I can see how this one would be a killer abd it seems to really attack the imune system.


----------

