Wood frogs, rats, and another beast

May 4, 2013:

"Look at all the frogs," Dakota said, motioning towards the pond we were about to check. Sure enough, the frogs were out in full force, and not just in body but in voice as well. The pond was alive with the croaking of frogs. We were at the first pond on the ranch where we had two funnel traps set, as well as three Conibear sticks and one beaver trap, which I knew would be empty. But first things first; I had to get some frog photos.

The wood frog is found throughout the aspen parkland and the boreal forest.

In the spring, adults congregate at breeding ponds and begin calling.

Next up was trap checking time. Of our three Conibear sticks, two were empty but one held a nice male muskrat. The first funnel trap we pulled revealed two more muskrats, the second was empty, so I had obviously mistaken what I thought was a run. We replaced all three Conibear sticks and put the funnel trap that was working back into place. The second funnel trap now needed to be set in another location. In short order, we found another run and had it set up again. We then worked our way around the dam and took down the last beaver trap on this pond.

Dakota with our catch from the first pond.

We rolled up to where the trap-shy beaver resides and were happy to see that two of our three Conibear sticks had connected. The trap we left hoping for a vagrant beaver was empty, as I suspected it would be. I carefully examined each of the muskrats, looking for signs of battle. When muskrats start breeding they fight like savages, ripping holes in each other like you couldn't imagine. When the fighting gets too intense, it's time to pull your traps because the rats will be too chewed up and not worth anything. These rats still looked fine though. We reset each of our Conibear sticks, refreshed the beaver set and then found a spot that looked like the muskrats might use to travel through the culvert. We set another funnel trap there, hoping for the best.

At our next location, we stopped the truck, grabbed our gear and began the long walk down to the pond. The weather was warm, too warm for trapping, especially when it's a long walk back to the truck. I was hoping that if we had a beaver in one of the two traps we had set there that it would be a small one. Lugging a beaver back to the truck in this heat wouldn't be fun, especially a big one. As luck would have it, we had a beaver in the first trap, unfortunately, it was another beast of a 50-pound beaver. The walk to the truck suddenly got a little longer.

Dakota with the monster beaver to his right.

The other beaver trap was empty but we caught another muskrat in one of the two Conibear sticks we had set. We reset both Conibear sticks and then reset the two beaver traps. It had been a successful check - six rats and a monster beaver. We now had 6 beaver and 14 muskrats for our shortened spring season. A few more spring rats wouldn't hurt though, as they're still in good condition. The beaver are still in good shape too but we have enough beaver meat for the winter trapping season now so if the traps are empty next check, we'll be fine. We set out to reduce the beaver population on this property and we did. With temperatures starting to reach the mid to high 20's, we will probably pull everything down tomorrow night.

Dakota with our catch for the day - 1 beaver and 6 rats.

Until next time!