Shutting down

Trapping season 2012-2013 is officially over for RFMA 1804. I hit the trail on Saturday and pulled down all my snares, which were empty. A coyote found the wolf bait station but with warm weather and settling snow, the snares were now too high to make a catch. Which, again, I'm grateful for. The warm weather would have meant green belly I'm sure.

When I arrived on the 15th, Boulder Road was still untouched and in disastrous conditions - no way was I going to attempt it. I parked at the gas plant, unloaded my Ski-doo and sled, and made the 5-mile trek to the cabin. Again, lynx tracks abound here and I fear a wasted resource. Our hare cycle, by the science, is on the downside, meaning lynx are at the top and soon to crash with the hares. Now is when trappers should be managing the resource, not adhering to a quota that has no bearing on the realities of the lynx / hare cycle.

That night, I shoveled away all the snow from around the cabin. No point in letting it melt against the logs of the cabin. I couldn't get right down, as the lower foot or so of snow had turned to ice, but it will definitely help some.

The snow has been shoveled away from the cabin and it's now shut down for the trapping season.

While I was touring around taking down snares, I noticed the snow on my trails had actually melted down turning my trail a dark grey, making it easy to follow. Even the hills were easy to come down as the hard surface gave the track something to grab on to.

My Ski-doo was an absolute mess when I arrived, even worse on the return trip home, as the highway was wet and dirty. But the gravel roads were mud and it stuck to the Ski-doo like glue.

Covered in gravel road mud.

I bought this Ski-doo used, although it only had 42 kilometres on it. It's a 2010 Ski-doo Tundra 550F and apparently a guy had bought two, one for him and one for his wife. His wife managed 42 kilometres before deciding she didn't like riding a snowmobile. I bought it for a good price and haven't had a single complaint.

Before this trapping season began, I had 332 kilometres racked up on the odometer. Today, at the end of trapping season, it sits at 1891.8 kilometres. Which means it successfully carried me through many different conditions and snow types for 1560 kilometres over the course of the season. And always while pulling a sled with weight in or on it. No complaints here.

1560 kilometres are from this trapping season.

North American Fur Auctions is currently conducting the biggest auction of the year as I type this. I have 33 furs in this auction, including two mink that will be sold tomorrow the 20th. The rest of my furs will be sold on the 21st and 22nd. I will let you know how I do. I never got a top lot grade this year but managed to get both mink, 1 lynx and 4 marten listed as "labelled" furs, which means they are of high quality and the buyer of the lot can label his finished product with the famous NAFA label. Still at home, I have 3 lynx, 1 fisher and 2 marten hanging on the wall. They will be sold at the June auction. If you want to learn more about North American Fur Auctions, you can visit their website here: http://www.nafa.ca

Until next time!