A moose, a marten, a beaver and a mouse

To get to the trapline, from my door, takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours depending on road conditions. About 1 1/2 hours of this time is highway travel, the rest is gravel road. Early on, the gravel road meanders through some mixed farmland. In this area, Dakota and I spotted a calf moose cross the road in front of us about 100 yards up. The calf jumped the fence on our side and now mother was about to cross the road and do the same. I managed to get stopped while Dakota got my camera ready. Our timing was perfect, as I managed to get a photo of the cow moose going over the fence.

The big cow made short work of the fence.

On the way to her calf.

The weather has been good for the last little while and this weekend would be no different. With highs of 24 Celsius, the roads had dried out considerably. However, I decided to avoid Smiley Rock Road again as it could still use some drying out. Once we were on Grizzly Road near Unnamed Trail, we noticed something lying on the road ahead of us. As we got closer, it became apparent what it was - a young marten, dead in the middle of the road. Upon closer inspection, we realized it hadn't been run over by a vehicle but had met its demise in some other fashion. Its front shoulder had been ripped open and a bone was protruding from the wound. Had a coyote or some other type of carnivore caught and killed the young marten? If so, why was it left in the middle of the road? Could an owl have captured the marten and then perhaps dropped it to its death after a battle in the sky? A marten would be a handful methinks. At any rate, it was a shame to see this young marten wasted.

A shame and a wasted resource.

It doesn't appear as though the young marten was run over, even though there is a tire track right there.
The marten doesn't seem to have injuries that fit being run over, plus this road sees very little traffic.

Once we arrived at the parking spot, we unloaded the quads and then loaded them up for the trip to the cabin. We'd hauled up all the wood for a new deck. The old one is in poor shape and needs replacing. At the cabin, we unloaded and then hooked up the quad trailer and headed back to the truck to get the deck wood. The deck is only 14' x 8', so not a lot of wood.

From the truck to the quad trailer.

And stacked beside the cabin.

Saturday was a trail maintenance day. We started off by heading east on Grizzly Road to a place I know of with lots of small lodgepole pine. There's a section on Cabin Trail that's just too soft and has been for too long now. It's been causing issues getting in and out of the cabin, like needing to winch. Instead of just throwing logs down in the obvious places, I wanted to thatch the trail for the required distance, about 30 feet. It took two trailer loads of 3- to 4-inch lodgepole pine, each about 7-feet long, to thatch the trail. I'm happy with the result. It took longer than I figured it would but given the heat - about 26 Celsius - I wasn't surprised.
 

A load of lodgepole pine headed to Cabin Trail.

The first part isn't too bad and will be okay; it's where the thatching starts that the trail gets bad.

I'm guessing about 30 feet of thatching, but I never measured it.

On Friday night, we had discovered a mouse hanging around the yard; much like the squirrel last time in. However, this mouse didn't look healthy and didn't appear to be too concerned about our presence. He'd run away, but always just a short distance and then you could walk right up to him again. Dakota wanted me to take a picture but for one reason or another I didn't. I should have, because then I'd have a before and after. Yep, after. One of us accidentally stepped on him on Saturday. Dakota figures it was me, but I don't remember feeling him under my foot.
 

The sickly mouse. Probably better off this way.

That night after a supper of grilled ribs over an open fire, Dakota wandered down to the beaver dam and broke it open. Later, just before dark, the kit came back to investigate; I managed to get a photo.

The kit, getting bigger and primer.

Sunday we worked around the cabin a bit, lazed around and then loaded up to head out. A productive trip, as we'd managed some trail maintenance, put up some firewood for the outside fire, hauled in wood for a new deck, and managed to GPS some new waypoints on the east side of the trapline. All in the beauty of the boreal foothills.

All three pieces of equipment saw duty this weekend.

 Until next time!

Two trips in one

Dakota and I hit the trapline a few weeks ago but I never got the chance to update the blog, so I'm going to combine that trip with the trip I just took by myself this weekend.

When Dakota and I arrived at the turn to Smiley Rock Road, I wasn't sure if we should take it or not, based on the trouble we'd had last time. Never to be a coward, I decided to take it anyway. As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have because we nearly got stuck and really struggled in what is still a very soft road. We were lucky we didn't get stuck because there is no tree close enough to pull yourself out with. You'd have to dig a hole and bury a log to give yourself something to anchor to. Too much work for my liking.

Once we were at the cabin, we unloaded and got a fire going. It had rained a little bit and then the sun came out and gave us a really nice rainbow.

Just over the trees straight south of the cabin.

Our plan was to work around the cabin, cut the grass, split some wood and generally just hang out before supper. It was overcast and cool when we arrived and it felt damp in the cabin so I started a fire to take the chill off. Cutting the grass was next up.

The grass needs cutting again.

Dakota found the stilts left behind by a previous trapper and decided he was going to master them. Walking on stilts is fun, especially when you can walk with them for a distance. With the uneven ground around the yardsite, stilts can be challenging.

Tall grass doesn't help matters much either.

Saturday morning we fired up the quads and headed to Broken Bridge Trail. I wanted to make sure the bridge was still in one piece. The bridge at South Trail also needed checking and I wanted to check as many marten boxes as I could. If the porcupines were busy chewing on the boxes, I wanted to know which ones and how bad. Near the turn off to South Trail, we came across a young whitetail buck who had an incredibly long tail.
 

His tail has got to be two-feet long!

The bridge at South Trail was still standing, although I still need to come up with a better system there. If the water gets too high and too fast, the bridge will be washed away again. This particular bridge is just logs placed side by side the width of the creek, nothing fancy. The bridge at Broken Bridge Trail was also still standing. This is the bridge we'd built by milling our own planks with the Alaskan Sawmill. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had a better plan for those planks and she floated them downstream about thirty yards. This bridge is still in the same shape it was when Dad and I put it back in place, albeit in a makeshift manner, at the start of last trapping season.

Broken Bridge - still in working order.

We checked several marten boxes and discovered only one had faced the wrath of a porcupine. The boxes can take a certain amount of chewing but when the porcupine starts chewing on the slots that hold the Conibear springs too much, the box needs repairing. The porcupines like the glue in the plywood. About a third of the way back, we came across several ruffed grouse chicks that flew into the trees around us.

Young of the year ruffed grouse.

Last winter, late January I think, Dakota took the orange pail and scooping pot and headed to the creek to get some water for dishes. He returned with about an inch of water in the pail and no scooping pot. Dakota had slipped on the ice and lost the pot through the ice-hole and into the current of the creek. The pot was gone. On this trip, when we returned to camp from checking Broken Bridge Trail and South Trail, we were relaxing around the firepit when Dakota suddenly exclaimed, "The Pot!" Not quite sure what the heck he was talking about, he pointed out the scooping pot across the creek but still under water. We have our pot back, well, not quite yet. As soon as the water in the creek goes down a bit, we'll be able to get it back.

The lost pot found again.

Good friend Ken, who has been to the trapline twice now but has yet too see it without four feet of snow on it, gave me a bunch of steel grating that I hauled up to patch a few sinkholes on Cabin Trail with. It had obviously been raining a lot prior to this trip by myself because Boulder and Grizzly roads were both in poor shape and the creek is running high and fast, much more so than when Dakota and I were here last. The road down to Cabin Trail is a mess in places and Cabin Trail is starting to show some wear as well. Hauling in my stuff required the winch to get me out of a sinkhole but I arrived to the cabin just as we'd left it. My plan was to build a shelf for the living room window Friday night, while Saturday would be dedicated to sinkhole repairs and cleaning out the shed. I had the shelf cut to measurement and in place in about an hour. Plenty of time before supper.

The new window shelf.

 There must be something about rainbows this year because I don't think I've ever seen so many. After supper, a rainstorm came in for a couple of minutes and then it left, leaving behind this rainbow.

Just like living in paradise.

Saturday morning, I hooked on the quad trailer and made the trek back to the truck to get two grates. I would leave two at the truck for future use and install two on Cabin Trail. In both places, I still have a bunch of thatching to do but the grates have offered some relief for now.

Still some work to be done but the grate removes a deep hole that was real hard to get out of.

Once I was finished with the grates, I went to work sorting out the shed. Amazing how stuff gets out of order during trapline operations. Once traps are set, it's full-go time and keeping a clean shed doesn't seem possible. I hauled everything out, added a bunch of nails for hooks on the walls and then put everything back in. Maybe I can keep it this way throughout the winter trapping season... I doubt it though. I had a young squirrel take a big interest in what I was doing. He watched me while he ate cones in the grass.

This squirrel kept an eye on me the entire time I cleaned out the shed.

Lots of room in the shed now.

Nice big t-bone for supper.

Sunday morning, I took a run up Clear Trail expecting to have some fallen trees or grown-up willows to take care of. Short of a couple soggy spots, Clear Trail is in great shape and sporting some good raspberries as well. I think I'll leave it alone now until it's time to set some traps. On the way out, I stopped at a spot on Boulder Road where Dad and I trapped a mink and a ermine last winter. I wanted to check on the marten box that was there and make sure it was still okay, it was. On the way back up to the truck, I stopped and took a photo of the creek. Now, wouldn't you just think there would have to be some grayling in there? One of these days I'm going to find the time to try fishing here.

Looks inviting for a fly rod.

Until next time!