Snow and lynx tracks

October 5 - 8:

Headed back up to the trapline hoping to get a few more things done before the trapping season hits full swing. That will be the third week of November when we start running the marten line. On this trip, I wanted to check on a couple of other unnamed trails, mainly one to the northwest that I haven't visited lately. It's a long dead-end trail but it accesses some nice ridges including a big one at the end. Fisher and marten like these high ridges, so I have a few sets down the trail. I also marked some lynx tracks there last year as well. Also on the agenda was to finish work on the Gulo Pen and to put up some more firewood.

One thing I didn't expect (but maybe should have) was snow already. There must have been quite a dump of it because it was still beside the road driving in and on the forest floor below the canopy. Good for tracks! Open areas and south-facing slopes were free of the white stuff but they were wet... just when I thought everything was starting to dry up nicely.

The main road into my trapline. From this point it's probably 10 minutes to Boulder Road.
And that's the end of the good roads. 

It takes me about 2 1/2 hours from my home in Edmonton to get to my trapline. It wouldn't take nearly as long but about an hour of this time is spent on gravel roads, maybe a little less. And the higher up you get, the worse the roads get. Boulder Road is named Boulder Road for a reason. And Smiley Rock Road and Grizzly Road are gumbo roads when they're wet and can be an adventure themselves. These are roads I have named that have to be used to get to my parking spot before I can unload the quad or skidoo and hit the Cabin Trail.

Everything is still nice and green at the cabin, 46 miles from the nearest town.

Saturday morning I was greeted by a bull moose calling for a cow. At first I wasn't sure of what I heard, but then the next sound was the unmistakable grunt of a love-sick bull. And then he stepped out about 50-yards in front of the cabin, looked my way (I was standing in the cabin doorway), and then he slowly walked into the bush. Not a little bull either, but a rather impressive bull, probably stretching the tape to 40-inches and better. This is the third time now I've had a moose standing, what would probably be 15-yards back from where this photo was taken. Of course, my camera was in the cabin.

After checking and again clearing parts of the unnamed trails, I headed back towards the Gulo Pen. I figured I'd finish it off and get it ready for a trap. I had a 220 conibear with me for sizing purposes. The trail into the Gulo Pen is a muskeg trail right up until it ridges, so navigating the muskeg clumps on a quad is a bit of a pain, but the trail is easily traveled by skidoo. 

A nice lynx track on the Cabin Trail.

And here is a photo of the just completed Gulo Pen. I should have run my poles vertical but what the heck, added character. This is the Taj Mahal of cubbies after all.

The Gulo Pen with a positioned 220 conibear. Some bait in the back, a lure on top and we're ready.
This will be set in late November when fisher are prime.

Sunday was a cooler day, so my timing was perfect for getting some wood. I drove out on Cabin Trail by quad and then took my truck up to the mouth of South Trail where Pierre had previously got a load of wood. And then went to work.

It took me three trips by quad to get all of the wood in to the cabin.

After I got the wood to the cabin, it was time to fire up the chainsaw and stack a pile. I feel a little bit better about my inside woodpile now, but could still use some for around the outside firepit. For the inside, I have two piles at the entrance to the cabin, and the pile in the photo below. The long row has another stacked and split row behind it.

From truck to quad to cabin. All in a day's work.

I was hoping I could get a little deer hunting in but I just never had the chance. Next trip in will be to trap out the beaver beside the cabin and break their dam. I want to take them out before the water freezes and it was getting a skim of ice on it each morning on this trip. I had to put on a small fire each night in the cabin just to take the chill off - the temps were dropping below zero.

On an unnamed trail a couple of miles from the cabin, I came across another lynx track in the mud. This must be one heck of a big lynx, as his track measures a full 5" x 5". Not too far away, maybe 100 yards, is a lynx cubby I had built after marking lynx tracks in this area last winter. Good to see he's back.

A large lynx track.

Until next time.