A snow-filled successful trip!

When we hit the "Y" in the road that begins our climb up to the unmanned gas plant (compressor station), and the top of the trapline, I knew we would be battling a tough, rough road. A lot of snow had fallen and more than 30-inches lay on the un-plowed road. I managed to stay in the ruts of a previous driver and reached the unmanned compressor station and the beginning of Boulder Road without problem. At first, I started down Boulder Road but the previous driver had stopped at the compressor station and I was now the first one trying to get through the deep snow on the road. With Boulder Hill in mind, I decided we would back up, unload at the compressor station, then I would make the five-mile trek to the cabin where I would get the sled and come back for Dakota and our gear. My plans were waylaid when, not being able to see where we were on the road and backing up with the trailer on, I got sucked into the shallow ditch. We were stuck! I wished I had taken a photo but for some reason I didn't. After a trip to the cabin for the sled and shovels, we began the process of trying to get unstuck. In less than an hour, we were out of trouble, loaded, and ready to get to the cabin. We were running a little bit late now but would still be able to run the Pipeline Trail just as we had planned.

After getting a fire started in the cabin's woodstove and all of our stuff unloaded, we reloaded the sled with three bags of bait for the bait station - containing a deer carcass, a moose hide and legs - and the rest of the stuff we carry, off we went. The Ski-doo was working hard in the deep snow but we were managing to make ground on the lower side of Pipeline Trail. At an off-shoot down a wellsite road near the top of Pipeline trail, we picked up our first marten.

Our first marten. The amount of snow that had fallen buried many of our sets.

Our next stop was at the bait station, but a sharp hill lay before us. I told Dakota to run behind the sled and push as best he could. We made it about two-thirds of the way up the hill before we bogged down. After unhooking the sled and getting the Ski-doo turned around and now hooked back up to the sled, we unloaded the heaviest bait bag and without Dakota on the musher, I got to the top of the hill. Dakota now had to carry the heavy bait bag up to where I was.

The hill is much steeper than it looks.

Almost there!

That's it! He's had enough.

We replenished the bait station and carried on down the backside of Pipeline Trail. Most of our traps were either sabotaged by ermine (we had managed to catch two so far), empty, or completely buried in snow. In fact, almost every trap was buried. When we reached the bottom of the big hill at the end of Pipeline Trail near Grizzly Road, we picked up our second marten. So far, our success rate had been very good, despite the knee-deep snow.

Marten #2 at the bottom of Pipeline Trail near Grizzly Road.

We were laying down our first snowmobile Trails of the year as we traveled Pipeline Trail. Wherever we doubled back, I would ride far enough over to make the trail 1 1/2 Ski-doo widths wide. After learning last year that a single trail isn't wide enough, making it too easy to get sucked off and stuck in the soft snow beside the trail, I was determined to make a proper trail and was doing so. The deep snow was making it tough though. I worried about how deep the snow would be on South Trail that always seems to have more snow than anywhere else. We would find out the next day.

Here you can see the snow we were pushing throughout Pipeline Trail.

The next morning we headed straight to South Trail. Our plan was to get the farthest parts of the trapline away from the cabin done first. We'd run the center of the trapline later in the day, including Clear Trail, Unnamed Trail and what we now call Center Trail.

Pushing our way down South Trail we were finding much of the same, buried or ermine-sabotaged traps, but so far we were making decent time while laying down our trail. And then the hill on Crossover Trail  loomed before us. I tried to hit the hill as fast as I could but the deep snow wouldn't allow me enough speed. We were once again unhooking the sled, pushing and pulling it up the hill. At the top, we were both exhausted. For two weekends in a row, the Crossover Trail Hill had given me a tough time. The weather was also warming up dramatically and we were starting to get wet. The snow was changing too and starting to stick to the Ski-doo and sled, adding unwanted weight. We knocked it off as best we could and carried on.

Soon we were looking down Broken Bridge Hill, wondering how the Ski-doo and sled would handle the journey down it for the first time. The snow was deeper than Pipeline Trail, like I suspected. Pushing the snow ahead of us, the Ski-doo and sled slowly crept down the big hill and we were soon easily at Broken Bridge where we caught our first ermine. Unfortunately, something had dined on this ermine (#10) and it was now bush feed. Our next set was empty but the next one after that held another nice marten, our third of the trip. Things were looking good with many more traps yet to check. Making trail though was getting tougher.

Our first marten of the day on Broken Bridge Trail.

Things were going well again until we hit another sharp incline and once again we were unhooking the sled, pushing and pulling it as best as we could to get to the top. Our hard work was paying off though, as we caught our fourth marten of the trip and second on Broken Bridge Trail. We had caught two marten from this same spot the previous year, so it was proving to be an excellent set.

A new box, but an older set. This is marten number three from this location over the past two years.

Next up was the new Extension Route south. It has several smaller hills on it and a few boggy spots, so I knew we would be working our butts off again at some point. And I was correct. I'm not sure how many times we had to unhook but it was several. When we reached the end of the Extension Route, exhausted, we stopped for a small well-deserved lunch. We had been working hard but we were doing well. We'd caught another marten, giving us five for the trip and three on the year from the Extension Route. Exploring this area earlier in the summer had proven to be fruitful and had been a good decision on my part.

Marten #5 of the trip and #7 on the season.

We made our way back down the Extension Route and headed towards Old Forest Trail where we would take Muskeg Trail out towards the center of the trapline. Once again, Old Forest Trail wasn't proving to be any easier on us and we had to unhook a few times again to get up a couple of hills. Old Forest Trail wasn't producing either, as all of our sets were again buried or sabotaged, mostly buried. This trail has proven to be our lynx trail though, having taken three from here last season. It has never produced anything else other than ermine though, but keeping the trail open is a worthy investment.

This cow and calf on the Extension Route watched us for the longest time.

We finished up our day without making another catch but we were happy with what we had accomplished. All of our trails were now down, some 1 1/2 Ski-doo widths wide, which will make the rest of the season much easier for travel. As well, we'd had a great catch of marten. Our ermine catch had been four but two had to be discarded, the second one because of trap damage. Marten traps are a little too big for the eager bait thief.

Dakota with our catch.

 Until next time!

Never trust a meteorologist

November 15-17, 2013: Undecided about the weather, I made the choice to take the quad instead of the Ski-doo. When we last left the trapline, there was about 2-inches of snow on the ground, far too little for a snowmobile. The meteorologists, or rather, those who can be wrong 100% of the time and still keep their jobs, were calling for 10-15 centimetres (4-6 inches) of snow on Saturday. A quad can go pretty good in 10-inches or less, so I figured I was safe.

I arrived Friday afternoon, planning on checking the north end of the trapline after I was unloaded and ready to go. I would do the south end on Saturday. The weather was good and I looked forward to checking about 30 traps. On our last check, we noticed that several of our marten boxes had been robbed with the trap hanging, snapped, out of the box. Two ermine, however, had been caught. After checking my first six boxes this time and finding three of them robbed of their bait, two empty and one with another ermine, I confirmed that our ermine population was very high; in fact, their telltale tracks were everywhere. Not so good when you're trying to catch marten and the ermine are putting boxes out of commission.

ThIs ermine met his demise on Unnamed Trail.

My Friday check didn't go very well, as all I caught was two ermine and a squirrel that decided it needed some meat in its diet. The squirrel entered a vertical plastic box at our big squirrel midden that we'll set some snares on in December. I'd never caught a squirrel in a vertical box before but he was big, skinned out well, and should fetch a couple of bucks.

I checked our bait station and discovered that two trails were now established into it. I couldn't tell by the tracks what they were because of the melted down snow, but the trails were definite. I didn't have room on the quad to bring any bait (moose and deer hides), so I hoped I'd have time on Sunday morning to drop some off.

The big squirrel that thought he was an ermine.

I awoke Saturday morning to a big surprise. It had snowed just as predicted, only it had snowed twice as much as predicted. I was now concerned about traveling by quad and cursed my decision to take it instead of the Ski-doo. This snow was heavy too, not light and powdery. It would be tough to push with the quad. I filled the quad with gas, loaded it up with bait and supplies, and was soon pushing snow down Cabin Trail. I could tell the quad was working a lot harder than normal but I seemed to be going okay.

Surprise! You can't see it in the photo, but it was snowing, and it snowed all day.

At my first box on South Trail, I had another ermine. This guy was greedy, as many of them are. The smart ones will just bypass the trap trigger and sit in the box and eat, going back and forth until there's nothing left. Others, like this one, like to eat at home and try to take the bait out of the box. Quite often we'll find an ermine and some bait caught together in the trap, other times it's just the bait and sometimes just the ermine, and sometimes it's nothing at all. This greedy fellow had the duck's head through the trigger wires before the trap went off. I had to pry the duck carcass out of his mouth.

Notice the duck's head is almost perfectly encircled by the trigger wires.

I managed to check another six or seven sets before I hit the Crossover Trail. Of those sets, at least five were foiled by ermine. I should have put pans on my triggers, which would have meant a much higher success rate on the ermine. Not catching them means they'll just be back for another meal, taking a box out of use in the process.

It took me a long time to get to the Crossover Trail and twice I had to shovel and push my way up a couple of inclines that weren't really that bad. I knew the hill on the Crossover Trail would be the deciding factor. If I could get up that hill, I should be able to get up any other hill the rest of the way. The snow, however, was getting deeper all the time, making it tough going.

I finally reached the hill on the Crossover Trail about three hours into the day. Time was becoming a concern, but so was the hill I was now looking at. And so it began, I'd take a run at the hill as fast as I could and once I spun out and couldn't get any higher, I'd get off the quad and start kicking the snow out of the way for another 10-feet or so ahead of my high point. Then, I'd back down the hill to where I could get a good run at it again, and then repeat the process. Bound and determined to reach the top, an hour and a half later, I succeeded.

I took these two photos on the way back. You can see here where I really chewed up my trail.

It's a long, fairly steep hill. Nothing for a snowmobile, but a challenge for a quad going up it.

Once I was on South Trail again, my problems began anew where the trail gets a little boggy. Unable to tell where the proper ruts were to follow because of the snow, I kept getting sucked into the wrong spots, getting stuck in the muck and snow each time.

When I finally reached the top of Broken Bridge Hill, I had a decision to make. It had taken me more than four hours to get to this point, more than three hours longer than normal. If I committed down the hill, there was no getting back up it. The hill has a four-hundred foot drop in elevation from top to bottom. If I got stuck on the other side somewhere and unable to get out, it would be a long, long walk home.  Twice I nearly went for it, but something held me back. I turned myself around and headed back to the cabin.

Still on South Trail but getting closer to home.

The next morning I was concerned about getting out with my truck. Boulder Hill isn't plowed so it would be a challenge to say the least. I soon discovered that Grizzly Road hadn't seen a plow yet either. I took a chance and never put on the chains. Three tries up the hill and I made it. Somebody had come down the hill so I tried to stay in his tracks as best I could. Twice I got pulled out of them and then had to back down the hill, but I knew I would make it without the chains on.

Highway 16 until just outside of Stony Plain was a disaster, glare ice most of the way and I only saw one sand truck but several vehicles in the ditch... go figure.

Highway 16, I'm in the fast lane. Eighty to 90 Kilometres an hour most of the way.

 Until next time!

Running the line by quad

November 7 - 11, 2013: When Dakota and I arrived home from the trapline on our last trip, we stepped out of the truck to discover the bearings on one side of the trailer were gone; in fact, the wheel was smoking! Call it a maintenance issue (I never greased the bearings in the year and a half I owned the trailer); and the trailer ended up needing a new axle that had to come from the US and for this trip to the trapline, it wouldn't be ready. Needing to get our marten traps up, I rented a trailer from Budget that would carry a quad and a bunch of our bait and gear, with the other quad in the box of my truck.

In a email to a guy I know who works in the area of the trapline, I was advised there was only about 2-inches of snow on the ground and weather reports weren't calling for much more; thus, the Skidoo was out. Problem was, one of the quads was in Athabasca where we had been hunting the previous weekend. I left it there because at that time, weather reports were calling for a pile of snow at the trapline. Only job I know of where you can be wrong just about 100% of the time and still keep your job... At any rate, Dakota and I arrived at the trapline late Thursday afternoon after making the trek from Edmonton to Athabasca and then to Whitecourt, a full 5 1/2 hour journey to our parking spot where about 4-inches of snow was on the ground. Not quite enough for the Skidoo, so I'd made the right call regarding our trapline transportation... at least for now.

This lynx walked down Cabin Trail almost to our doorstep.

Prospects for lynx season are looking pretty good. We'd filled our quota of five lynx last year quite easily and this year we'd been seeing plenty of sign, so maybe the soon-looming lynx crash hasn't quite made an impact yet. Strange cycle these cats, hares and willows. Yes, when it becomes over-browsed, the willow releases a toxic substance that the snowshoe hares can't stomach and thus the hares crash. And because the lynx depends heavily on the snowshoe hare, without it, the lynx crashes as well. What was once considered a 10-year cycle is now better understood and biologists agree the cycle is closer to 7 years. We are currently on the downside of that 7-year cycle. But for Dakota and I, the amount of sign hasn't changed much. In the photo above, this cat's tracks greeted us as we made our way to the cabin.

Once we were settled in and the woodstove was fired up, Dakota headed down to the beaver dam to see if it was still open or whether the beaver had closed it back up. He returned declaring victory, the beaver hadn't repaired the dam, indicating we'd caught them all.

The next morning we loaded up, jumped on the quads and made our way to South Trail where we'd begin setting traps. A quad is quite slow compared to a snowmobile, so we'd need two full days to get our 50 miles of trapline set. The weather was overcast and snow threatened. I took the photo below on Smiley Rock Road. A short distance later, at the entrance to Clear Trail off Smiley Rock Road, a cow and two bull moose ran across the road in front of us. Without my big camera lens I could only take a distant photo, even though they were quite close. The cow quickly disappeared but the bulls lingered long enough for a shot. The big bull was quite impressive.

Smiley Rock Road and threatening weather. No, that isn't beer I'm hauling; rather, the box is full of traps.

The big bull was pretty impressive, pushing about 45-inches of antler. He dwarfed the other bull.

We returned to the cabin just at dark after setting 30 traps, mostly on our southern route. It had been a good day and we were excited to see how our new traps would perform on what has now become known as the Extension Route.

That night, the snow started and we awoke to four more inches, and it was still snowing hard. We wanted to get the lower bowl set - Clear Trail, Unnamed Trail, lower pipelines etc. - and then we wanted to hit the main Pipeline Trail. I was concerned that the quads wouldn't go very well with all the new snow but it was a light snow and the quads managed just fine.

Heading up Unnamed Trail.

At the well site at the end of Unnamed Trail. The snow is really coming down hard.

Here you can really see how hard it was snowing.

I like to use a mixture of 1 ounce of skunk essence to 8 ounces of glycerine for a marten lure. I just dab some on a stick and place it near our set. The glycerine keeps the skunk essence from freezing while allowing it to release its pungent odor into the air, hopefully bringing in a marten for a closer look. Inside the box, I'll place a piece of duck carcass that I get from a good friend who is a bird outfitter. Once the lure brings the marten in, the duck carcass seals the deal, or at least that's the plan.

A smelly mixture to say the least.

The skunk essence also works well at attracting ermine, our bait thieves. However, as I've said before, if you're a ermine trying to steal some bait, you're playing a game of Russian roulette. After setting the rest of our traps and refreshing our bait station at the top of Pipeline Trail, we returned back to the cabin just before dark. The one trap we pass on Cabin Trail held our first ermine of the year. We'd only set the trap that morning and already a bait thief had lost the Russian roulette game.

Dakota with our first ermine of the year.

Sunday morning was crisp and cold but at least the snow had stopped. We would be able to do a check of South Trail and the new Extension Route by quad. When you're trapping you always check a lot more empty traps than you do full ones, and so it went until we hit Broken Bridge where we picked up our second bait thief of the year. It was quiet again until we hit the Extension Route, where we picked up two marten, a big male that dove hard at the duck carcass giving us a perfect suitcase catch. We also had a young-of-the-year marten two traps later and we were both extremely happy with our success on the new route.

Our second bait thief of the year.

The big male marten on the Extension Route, trap # M55.

He dove through the Conibear and managed to get a grip on the duck carcass as the trap went off.

A cutblock on the Extension Route.

We awoke Monday morning to a brisk -20 Celsius. We loaded our gear and got ready for the return trip home. We'd be back in four days to check our traps again, hopefully with the Skidoo. The weather forecast (take it for what it's worth) is calling for highs of plus 7 and 8 Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm not sure what I'll be bringing for transportation. If it's the quads, we'll be doing a two-day check. If it's the Skidoo, we can be done in a day. I'm hoping for more snow.

Dakota with two marten and two ermine.

We decided we'd take the longer route home by truck, bypassing Smiley Rock Road so we could check four traps that are only a short distance from the road, two marten sets and two mink sets. The second trap Dakota checked held our third bait thief. So far it's been a good start to the season and we haven't even run the entire line yet, so we're pretty happy with our success.

Dakota on Grizzly Road with our third ermine.

At the double culvert on Boulder Road where Dad and I caught a mink and a ermine last year, I noticed the rear tire on my truck was extremely low. Worried it was leaking as I stood there, we took off quickly, hoping to get to the top of Boulder Hill before the tire went flat. Luckily for us, the tire wasn't actually leaking but had just lost a lot of air for some reason and was reading just 15 pounds; perhaps the temperature change? I pulled out a small air pump, hooked it up to an outlet in the tuck and began the long process of filling the tire back up with air. Thirty minutes later, we were back on the road.

Pumping up the tire so we can get home.

Oh, and on our deer hunting trip to Baptiste Lake the previous weekend, Dakota took a nice dry doe. This is the eighth deer he's taken in his first seven years of hunting. Considering our hunting has been limited the past couple of years, that's pretty good.

Dakota with the eighth deer of his young hunting career.

Until next time!