Bait thieves on the trapline

Dakota and I arrived in the dark on Friday, December 6 to a balmy -15 Celsius. This would be the first run of the marten line since Dad had left the previous Sunday. I was hoping for a better catch rate than what we'd been having but again, learning the area is going to take some time. Marten tracks have been hard to find but in this part of Alberta, it snows nearly every day, covering up tracks quickly.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the cabin was mink tracks everywhere. We have a mink set you can practically see from the window of the cabin, and sure enough, his tracks headed right to our set. With flashlights on, we followed his trail. Unfortunately for us, he only peered into the box, as his tracks stopped dead at the entrance. On further inspection, we discovered our bait, small rainbow trout heads, were completely gone, most likely stolen by an ermine and reason enough for the mink not to enter.

The next morning we awoke to -26 Celsius with light snow falling. After loading up the sled, we hit the trail. Early on we knew our luck wasn't going to be too good. In one location near Unnamed Trail, we have a marten set, a mink set, and an ermine set. The marten set is above the main creek, while the mink set is near the creek bed and the ermine set is slightly elevated from the creek. Each trap had been sprung and each set was now without bait. We encountered this in three more locations before we finally caught a marten on the high side of the Pipeline Trail. It was the same set we'd previously caught a small female in before. This one was a big male that would stretch the board to its limits.

Dakota with a big male marten displaying some impressive orange markings.

There had been about 3-inches of new snow since the last time we were here and in many places on the Pipeline Trail, snowdrifts had built up and our trail was tough to follow. I have a pretty good idea of where it is though and you can feel it as you drive the Ski-doo. Now and then, when you lose the trail, the deep snow tries to suck you into it and you have to fight your way back. It must have been windy while we were gone because the Pipeline Trail was a battle its entire distance.

Dakota poses with a bait thief that lost the roulette game.

After picking up a small ermine, we continued our run to West Trail, picking up just a flying squirrel. These guys aren't worth anything and basically go into the bait rotation. They are a remarkable creature though, with webbing that runs their body length from foot to foot and a cupped tail that helps them glide through the sky great distances. They are highly carnivorous and practically nocturnal. If you get into an area with a high number of them, you can be pulling them from your traps quite regularly. So far, we'd only caught one, but today we'd removed three from our traps. Flying squirrels exist in great numbers in Alberta.

Taking a break at the "Picnic Spot" on Broken Bridge Trail.

Our marten success rate hasn't been as good as hoped and next weekend we'll start focusing on shutting down parts of the marten line, most likely West Trail to begin with. We'll give South Trail a little more time yet, as this is where we'd seen the most marten sign but haven't met any success. Lynx season is now open and they will be prime so it is time to get some cubbies up. The numbers of lynx here appear to be ridiculously high, but then again, so is the snowshoe hare population; their connection cannot be dismissed.

On Sunday morning we hit the trail early. I had three locations I wanted to put a cubby up at before we left. We set our first cubby up on the Cabin Trail, another on Gulo Trail and one on Clear Trail. It takes a little time to construct a cubby, especially when you snare the surrounding trails. Of the three cubbies we built, two were walk-through cubbies, or snare pens as some like to call them, while the one on Cabin Trail is merely an enclosed space with trails leading to it.

The cubby on Cabin Trail. If you look closely, you can see the snare and the bait.

On Clear Trail. Our cubby is just a few yards behind us.

Smiley Rock Road is a road we use that cuts off several miles to get to and from our parking spot on the trapline. However, Smiley Rock Road isn't maintained in any way. Meaning, whatever snow falls on it, stays on it, and you have to follow the ruts closely or you can get sucked into the ditch. And, with nothing around to hook on to, if you get stuck, you're walking. Last winter, when I first bought this line (February), I was able to use Smiley Rock for a few trips before it became impassable, or at least, risky to use.

When we were packing up to leave on this trip, it began to snow pretty heavy and considering Smiley Rock was an adventure getting in, I was concerned about using it to leave. But, realizing the only thing keeping the road open is me, I decided to take the road as opposed to the long distance route, about 20 minutes longer on crappy roads. To put it mildly, Dakota said, "That was some sketchy road," when we finally made it to the end. Not sure if Smiley Rock is now out of commission for the year or what. I hope not.

Dakota looking a little frosted around the edges, but not too bad considering the weather.

Until next time!