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!