Closing up shop

January 24-27, 2014 - Dakota and I hit the trapline for what would be our last trip for the season. With most furbearer seasons closing on January 31 and with no wolves having returned to the trapline, we decided to call the season. With only the bait station up, no wolves or coyotes around and a possible chance at another incidental lynx catch, it was best to end it. So, with a lot of chores that needed to be accomplished over the weekend, we spent the better part of Friday checking the traps that we did have up. With temperatures as high as plus 10 Celsius, I was grateful our catch was minimal with just one more ermine, #42 on the season, being caught.

We spent the better part of Saturday clearing snow away from around the cabin. We also took the remaining snow off the roof of the cabin and chipped away the ice flows that had built up on it, lessening the load on the roof.

The snow is away from the cabin and the roof is almost finished.

With some time left in the afternoon, we returned to the bait station for a quick check. This time we brought back a lynx skull that had been picked over by ravens and gray jays. Dakota wanted to boil it down and then clean off whatever he could with his knife.

The birds can sure pick a carcass clean.

The skull was picked over real well, so we figured it would only need a couple hours of boiling time to loosen up whatever was still left on or in it. I should have taken a photo of the bait station, as it's starting to look like a real boneyard with the skeletal remains of beaver, lynx, deer and moose carcasses, but in our haste to complete our chores, I forgot to. That afternoon we got to work on getting an outside fire going, the skull boiled and cleaned up.

The water in the pot is starting to boil.

A couple hours later, Dakota is cleaning up the skull.

Cutting and carving away whatever didn't get boiled off.

It cleaned up pretty good.

Notice how the teeth interlock. Everything about a lynx is sharp.

Sunday morning we headed back to the bait station to shut it down. We took another lynx skull and planned to boil it down like the other one. Back at the cabin, we began sorting traps, cleaning out the shed, washing bait containers and completing numerous other chores that needed to be finished.

Filling a bait container with water.

Cleaning out the blood and mess from inside.

Each trap was cleaned up and folded away until next year.
There is about 70 - 120 Conibears, 6 - 220 Conibears and 12 - 330 Conibears in total.

Monday morning we cleaned out the cabin and put everything away. We made a final run of the last five mink traps we still had up. Each was empty and all but one box was frozen to the ground. Two would be washed away with high creek water once the weather warmed up enough to melt them free, the rest would be okay.

It was a sad day saying goodbye to the cabin and trapline. We garnered a ton of memories this year and bettered our catch during some tough, trying conditions. We won't be back now until probably some time in May. The big old tree by the firepit is really starting to lean, so I'm concerned it will go over in the high waters during spring runoff. If so, it will most likely plug up the creek, perhaps diverting the water enough to flood the cabin. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays up until after the runoff. A decision will then have to be made: take a chance it stays standing, or cut it down and stack enough firewood for five years.

The tree never looks like it's leaning too bad in photos. But standing there looking at it, you know it isn't going to last too much longer. All the branches grow off on the creek side and some are as big as small trees.

The blog will probably go silent for a little while now, at least until we start spring trapping at the ranch for muskrats and beaver. But you never know, we may get back to the trapline sooner than expected, maybe a trip to check on the big tree. Sounds like a good excuse to me.

Until next time!

Our catch from the trapline this year:
4    Beaver
11  Marten
42  Ermine
3    Squirrels
1    Mink
1    Fisher
6    Lynx

Thought he was a goner but the cat came back!

January 17-19, 2014: High winds had battered most of Alberta over the past few days and I was concerned over how many trees had fallen on the trapline. Surely the big tree at the cabin would be in the creek. I hoped not, the amount of work that tree is going to create when it falls will be a lot. "Firewood for five years," I like to say. There was evidence the high winds had hit the area, as the remains of several trees could be seen on the road up to the compressor station. Somebody had already cut them out of the way.

We reached Cabin Trail Road where we encountered our first downed trees, but it was only in two places and the first one we easily crossed over with the Ski-doo. The second one, however, proved to be a little more challenging. With my chainsaw at the cabin, I had to walk the snowmobile over the berm created by the snowplow. Then we had to pull the sled up and over as well before we could carry on to the cabin. An hour later, on our trip back out to check the lower bowl and with a chainsaw along, we cleared the trees off the road.

Here you can see how we got around the tree on the way to the cabin.

On the way back out to run the line, we cleared the road.

By late afternoon, we had checked several sets, picking up only another ermine, number 39 on the season. The weather was too warm and I was hoping we didn't have a lynx in a snare that was laying in the sun. It wouldn't last too long before going bad. We hit Center Trail, which is a narrow trail that doesn't receive much sunlight. With only a trail snare and a small ground cubby guarded by a 220 Conibear set for fisher on the trail, I didn't expect much. So, when we discovered a tom lynx in the 220, we were quite surprised! Our fifth and final lynx of the season. Now I was beginning to get concerned. We don't have many cubbies left up, but another lynx would put us over the quota.

The small fisher cubby the tom lynx decided to stick his nose into.

After loading the lynx and shutting down the 220 set, we hit Clear Trail and shut it down too. Next was Gulo Trail, where we found another ermine in the Gulo Pen. Unbelievable! Our 40th ermine of the year, another male, and caught in a 220 Conibear! The male to female ratio in our catch is about 90% male, which is incredible in itself. Fearing another lynx in the Gulo Pen, we shut it down for the season. We won't see Gulo Trail now until it freezes again, as this trail is muskeg from one end to the other. Surprisingly, none of the trails in the lower bowl had fallen trees across them, but parts of trees were scattered everywhere.

Ermine number 40, and number 2 from the Gulo Pen.

With it nearing dark, we headed back to the cabin. It was too late to run the south end of the trapline, so our remaining cubbies would have to wait until the next day. Temperatures were well above zero and Saturday's high was supposed to be 8 Celsius, far too hot. I was praying we didn't have another lynx catch and if we did, it could possibly be green-bellied. You know when you have a catch that's gone green by the smell. It happens when the stomach contents start to rot and when you can smell it on the outside of the animal, it's wasted.

The next morning, we decided to bag the lynx and ermine. We buried them deep in the snow behind the cabin in a spot that doesn't get much sunlight.

Making sure our catch stays cold enough.

We hit South Trail and right away we caught another ermine, number 41. This one was in a mink box. We shut it down and carried on, with the trepidation growing as we neared our first of three lynx cubbies. Sure enough, there in front of us on South Trail was another lynx. Now I was concerned. That put us one over quota and we still had two more cubbies to check on Old Forest Trail, and one on the high side of the Pipeline Trail. The number of lynx running around on this trapline is unbelievable and our quota doesn't make much sense. When the hare crash hits its low point, most of these lynx will die of starvation. Seems like a bad system to me.

The young lynx that put us over quota.

Next was the mink box at the bottom of Broken Bridge. When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was the trap was gone. Its cable hung straight down, disappeared under the log and was hidden by the deep snow. I pulled it up and discovered a marten on the other end.

Marten number 11 on the year.

Both Broken Bridge and Old Forest trails were in rough shape with several trees down. After stopping and cutting trees out of the way every quarter mile or so and with another one looming, I decided to try and get around it without the chainsaw. Bad decision! As soon as I went off the trail and hit the throttle, the rear of the Ski-doo broke through and was into the soft snow below, getting us stuck. Not only did we have to use the chainsaw to get out, we also had to get out the shovel.

Get off the trail and this is what happens.

Going around means getting stuck. This is chainsaw work. Here there are three trees in a row down.

We finished off Old Forest Trail without another catch, which was perfect. Next we headed to Pipeline Trail. We would stop at the bait station first, which is on another wide trail that connects the upper and lower Pipeline Trails. We have four snares set here for coyote or wolf and the snares are set quite high. They would be even higher with the heavy snow melt and would have to be readjusted and set to a new lower height. We pulled up to our trail into the site and with utter dismay, I found myself looking at another lynx in the first snare on the trail in. I was cursing under my breath when suddenly the lynx lifted its head and was staring at us. It was alive! And big! Now what!

I walked up as close to the lynx as I could to see how he was caught. The lynx tried to get away from me and I quickly determined it had been caught around the hips. It must have tried to jump through the snare.

The big tom staring at us.

After thinking the situation through, and knowing I had to try and release him, I began searching for a long forked stick, something to hold the big tom down with. Only then would I be able to try and get the snare off. Lynx have incredibly long, sharp claws - one mistake, and I could get clawed bad enough that stitches would be required.

Finding a forked stick in this forest type is no easy task and it took me quite awhile to find something that would work. It would be a little too heavy, but what the heck, bigger might be better. I chopped down the tree that forked near the top and had what I hoped would work.

The lynx is to my left. You can see the fork in the stick I'm trying to get the lynx into.

Trying to get the lynx to cooperate proved to be an experience. He didn't want anything to do with me, especially when I was holding a big forked tree in my hands. The tom was snarling and growling and swatting at the end of the stick, as I tried to maneuver him into the neck of the fork. I was worried about the lynx too. I needed to get him from behind and hopefully pin his neck and shoulders to the ground, a lot easier said than done. After a battle, I finally had the lynx where I wanted him... almost. I was too far back, but it seemed to calm the lynx down a bit. That was until I reached my hand in looking for the lock on the snare.

I finally got him pinned.

Here I'm trying to feel where the lock on the snare is.

Once my hand touched the lynx, all hell broke loose and he tried to swat at me with amazingly fast paws. I kept jumping back while trying to keep the cat pinned to the ground. I wouldn't be able to do it by myself, but I now knew where the lock was and how tight the snare was. Dakota was going to have to keep the cat pinned down while I cut the snare free. In the switchover from Dakota to me, somehow the cat got turned onto his back. "That can't be good," I said to Dakota.

While Dakota kept the cat pinned, I ran to the sled to get my cable cutters, only to discover they weren't there. I could see them now, sitting on the shelf in the shed. Now I was going to have to release the snare by hand and somehow get the cat's ass and back legs through it. Nope, definitely not good, especially with his paws free to inflict damage.

The big tom somehow got turned over.

I grabbed the cat by both back legs without getting clawed and managed to get him into a better position to work on. He was growling, clawing the tree and swatting at me hard but finally I was able to get the lock loose. Now I would have to get his legs through, the ones I was holding. The big tom was now panting hard and growling at the same time. I was concerned he was overheating, perhaps might even die from the stress he must have been feeling. Finally, somehow, the lock was free and off the lynx.

He looks a little scared here.

Now all we had to do was release him from the forked stick. Slowly we backed up, me holding bear spray aimed at the lynx, Dakota holding the stick. As we backed away and released the lynx, he sat up and gave us a nasty look. But he didn't run away, he just sat there looking at us. After about 15 minutes of him just sitting there while we watched from the Ski-doo, we decided we'd have to do something to get him to move. We needed to get into the bait station to see if anything else had been caught and he was in the way. I grabbed the big stick and walked towards the lynx. As soon as he saw the big stick coming, he stood up, and slowly walked away through the forest.

The big tom is now free.

Trying to recover from the ordeal. The lynx had no energy left to run away.

I never thought I'd see the day we would be releasing a lynx, let alone a big tom like this one was. But that's what we did, we had no choice. During the release, Dakota told me that one of the tom's swipes at me barely missed my face. Looking at the forked tree, I'm sure glad he didn't get me.

Claw marks from the lynx.

We finished off what was an amazing day without another catch or incidence. I have one too many lynx now and Fish and Wildlife will be contacted to see how I move forward from here. As a resident trapper, I once caught a fisher in a marten box and after I skinned it and took it to Fish and Wildlife, they confiscated it from me because it's a quota species. I'm told circumstances are different for registered trappers, so we'll see how they respond this time.

A beautiful Sunday morning.

All that remains up on the trapline now is the bait station, a few mink boxes and one fisher set. Next weekend, we will be shutting these down for the season... well, maybe.

Until next time!

Our catch from the trapline so far this year:
4   Beaver
11 Marten
41 Ermine
3   Squirrels
1   Mink
1   Fisher
6   Lynx

Fur is shipped and two more lynx

January 8, 2014: I made my way out to Westlock mid-week to drop my furs off at the Alberta Trappers' Association fur depot. With North American Fur Auctions getting ready for their first auction of the year, it was imperative I get my furs shipped, as this is generally the best auction of the year. However, it is expected prices will come down a bit this year, as the Chinese government imposed a tarif on imported furs on the premise that manufacturers would then buy Chinese farmed fox and mink instead.

AJ getting my furs ready to be shipped.

Here you can see the tags used to register my lynx and fisher. Lynx, fisher, wolverine, and river otter
are quota species so they have to be registered before they can be sold.

Marten don't have to be registered but each one is tagged with a bar code indicating the owner.

January 10-12, 2014: With Dakota unable to accompany this trip because of school commitments, I thought I would be going alone until good friend Ken Colwill decided to join me. Ken recently bought a new snowmobile, so he was eager to try it out in the deep snow on the trapline. Ken wouldn't be able to arrive until later in the evening, so I was on my own to run the lower bowl on Friday. Saturday we would run the south end of the trapline, the bait station and the single lynx cubby I have on the high side of Pipeline Trail.

Of course, my first catch was an ermine, number 37 on the year. What was astonishing about this catch was that it was caught in a 220 Conibear at the Gulo Pen. He was trying to get a piece of bait through the trap when it fired, catching him. Surprisingly, with such a large trap, there was no damage to the ermine's fur.

Never thought I'd see the day an ermine would be caught in a 220 Conibear.

By the end of January, many furbearer populations will be at their population low. This is because of a variety of reasons but one of the main ones is starvation. Food sources are dwindling and will continue to do so until spring replenishes the furbearer population with a new source of food, the newborn of the prey species. Predators and their prey will once again flourish, as they do every year in Mother Nature's give and take world.

And with this comes the winding down of the winter trapping season for most of the furbearers. Lynx season ends on January 31, so with this in mind, and still needing three more lynx for my quota, I turned up Unnamed Trail with high hopes. We have two cubbies on this trail, including one walk-through cubby on the edge of an old wellsite where, for two years in a row, we've witnessed lynx tracks prowling the outside edge of the open area. Upon my arrival, I gave a hoot and a hollar as a big tom lay beside the cubby. Unnamed Trail has now produced a lynx and a fisher, as well as numerous ermine this year.

The big tom at the walk-through cubby.

The reclaimed wellsite at the end of Unnamed Trail.

Our squirrel population doesn't seem to be at a high like it was last year. We've only caught two all season in our marten boxes, which is surprising. Because of this, we only put up snares on one squirrel midden on Clear Trail this year. We set them last weekend and on this day, I picked up a single squirrel, a big male with a gorgeous tail.

Our first snared squirrel of the year.

I returned to the cabin with plenty of time before Ken would arrive at the compressor station. After warming up the cabin and putting away my gear, I jumped on my snowmobile and ran up to the compressor station with the sled behind me. Ken would need the sled to help bring in his gear. Our plan was to meet there at 5:30 and we were almost perfect in our timing. Ken arrived about 10 minutes prior to me getting there, so neither of us had to wait for the other. After a hearty supper, we spent the night telling stories in the warmth of the cabin while enjoying a few cold ones.

Early the next morning, we awoke to the sounds of something in the shed attached to the back of the cabin. This is where I store our bait and part of that bait is a beaver carcass hanging from the rafters. I grabbed my flashlight and went for a look. As soon as I entered the door, I saw a white flash to my right. As I suspected, an ermine was trying to get at the beaver. Ken quickly joined me and we were soon watching the little bait thief dip and dart around the shed in the light of the flashlight. Not wanting him to somehow get into the cabin while we slept, I set a trap for him.  

It had snowed a couple of inches overnight but snow conditions are perfect right now, so my trails have no issues and traveling the trapline is much easier than it has been on numerous occasions. We ran the south end with little success until we hit Old Forest Trail where we picked up another lynx. Last year when Ken came up to run the trapline with me, we caught two lynx. This was lynx number two of this trip with Ken here and ironically, this one was caught in the same cubby where Ken had witnessed one caught last year.

The second lynx Ken has seen caught at this cubby.

Saturday night after supper, we jumped on our snowmobiles and went for a ride east up to the end of Grizzly Road. From there we whipped down to Smiley Rock Road and then did the loop around Boulder Road back up to Grizzly Road and then to the cabin. It was a good ride and I spent some of it on Ken's new machine, a nice one that has a lot of jam. With two-inch paddles, Ken had little problem churning up the snow, even off my trails. I could have used his machine earlier in the year when I was having so many problems with deep snow.

Back at the cabin, I discovered the trap I had set for the ermine had been sprung but no ermine was in the trap. He must have somehow missed being caught and had now vacated the area, at least for awhile. I reset the trap in case he came back.

Ken poses with the two toms, lynx number three and four of the year.

Sunday morning before we left for home, we ran the south end of the trapline again but all of my traps were empty. I'm not a fan of running the line so soon after refreshing the sets, but it was a good way to start the day anyway. When we returned to the cabin, we noticed fresh mink tracks leading right towards Dakota's mink box. But much like the ermine in the shed, this was one lucky mustelid. Somehow he'd managed to set off the trap without being caught. It must have scared him though, because all of Dakota's bait was still in the box. I reset the trap, maybe he'll be back.

After cleaning up in the cabin and loading our gear, we jumped on our snowmobiles and headed towards Boulder Road and home. An excellent trip and an excellent time!

Even after all the melting, there is still a lot of snow.

Until next time!

Our catch from the trapline so far this year:
4   Beaver
10 Marten
37 Ermine
3   Squirrels
1   Mink
1   Fisher
4   Lynx 

Back in action!

January 3-5, 2013: We were back at the trapline after just two days in Edmonton. Our intention was to run the "lower bowl" (Cabin, Unnamed, Clear, Gulo and Center trails, plus the odd other sets we have up for mink and fisher) on Friday, and then break trail down south on Saturday. It had rained while we were gone and the snow had been knocked down a considerable amount. It was now cold once again and a crust had formed on top of the snow.

We finished up the lower bowl with little success. Once again, most of our lynx sets were knocked down with heavy snow and those that were still standing had their snares frozen solid. Our sets on the ground along the creek are constantly buried by snow and digging them out every time you tend them is time consuming. You also have to be careful, quite often you're carefully knocking away the snow not knowing exactly where the trap is. If you put your hand in the wrong place, you could get bit.

We never got stuck once and we were finding our new snow conditions were perfect for travel.

Our ermine population is crazy!

Saturday morning we hit South Trail. The earliest part of South Trail is very wide, so it receives a lot of snow that makes finding your trail difficult. If you fall off your trail when you're pulling the sled, you are stuck. Once you reach the Crossover Trail, the trails get narrower and have less snow on them, making travel much easier. On this day, however, the Trail Gods were in our favour, and we ran the south end only getting stuck twice. Our sets were in the same condition as the others in the lower bowl though, and each had to be unthawed and rebuilt. We caught two more ermine.

Two more ermine. We pulled all the marten sets on the south end of the trapline.

We finished the day at the bait station where we replenished it with another deer hide and a lynx carcass. Suddenly it looks like our coyotes are back. Two trails leading into the bait station could easily be seen where the coyotes had walked in on the snow. The two snares we had up were frozen solid but both were still standing. After thawing them out, we set up two more snares on the new trails. Problem is, getting far enough back from the bait station is difficult. With each step, you sink to your knees in the snow. We knocked down the snow as best we could, trying to keep a higher solid base, but our efforts were probably wasted. Not sure if a coyote will use the new trail or simply just come in much easier, walking on a new trail on top of the snow. We'll find out in a few days.

The furs we are sending to North American Fur Auctions for the first auction of the year.

  Until next time!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

December 26, 2013 to January 2, 2014: We arrived at the trapline to +5 Celsius. All the snow had melted down a considerable amount, so our trails would be in perfect condition. Little did we know, it would start snowing the next morning and not stop until the day we left, five full days later.

Friday morning we left bright and early, checking our sets along the way to South Trail and picking up just a single ermine. At our second check on South Trail, we caught another ermine, only this one was still alive! When he tried to get the bait out of the box, he got one leg caught in the trap with one side against the bait. We examined him as closely as we could in the trap. He had some blood loss and what looked like a broken leg, but he seemed feisty enough. We decided we would take him out of the trap and let him go. After getting the trap off, he tried to dig into the snow and disappear, but the snow was crusty and making it difficult for him. Dakota lifted him up in the shovel and let him go near a fallen tree. We watched him as he disappeared under the tree, hoping for the best.

Dakota releasing the ermine.

We continued on our way to Broken Bridge Trail and then Old Forest Trail, shutting down marten boxes as we went. We left up only those boxes that were near water that had the potential for mink or fisher. All of our lynx cubbies were empty, so we refreshed them as we went. On Muskeg Trail, we checked the only box we have, only to discover the bait had been stolen. I decided we would leave this box up, so I replenished the bait and added new lure. Not sooner than 10 seconds later, Dakota hollared out, "A weasel!" The next thing I knew, the little bait thief was up the tree and into the box, passing right through the trigger wires as he went. In a split second, he was back out of the box and running away with the bait in his mouth. How the trap didn't fire I'll never know, but there he was, stealing bait right in front of our eyes and not more than three feet away from me. Suddenly he was back again and into the box once more. This time, when he tried to get out of the box, the piece of bait hit the trigger wire and the side of the trap at the same time. Lucky for the ermine, the hardest part hit was the spring of the trap and not the trigger. The bait dropped out of his mouth and away he went, running around the area beside us. I quickly pulled the trap out of the box so he wouldn't get caught if he tried to go into it again. Meanwhile, Dakota had retrieved my camera and I managed to get a decent photo of the little thief. We decided then to shut the box down, we had caught enough ermine this year, so this guy would be safe.

The bravest bait thief on the trapline - he'll steal your bait right in front of you!

Gulo Trail was our last stop for the day. We had checked it the previous night, as we always do when we first arrive at the trapline because it's right off Cabin Trail Road. This time, we would be able to refresh the two sets we have there - a lynx cubby and the Gulo Pen, which is set for fisher. The first cubby was empty again, but when we arrived at the Gulo Pen, there was a lynx standing there. Right away I knew what had happened because the lynx wasn't trying to go anywhere. He had reached into the entrance of the Gulo Pen with his paw, trying to get the bait out. The trap went off and caught him by the foot, holding him there until we arrived. I had forgot the .22 at the cabin, so we had to go back and then return to dispatch the lynx. Our trip had started out quite well.

The Gulo Pen lynx.

The next day, we awoke to a lot of new snow and it was still snowing hard. We headed to the bait station with more bait and a plan to snare up the coyote trails. However, I was concerned with all the new snow hiding the trails. Sure enough, a trail couldn't be distinguished. I hung up two snares on the two trails that I knew had existed. From there we hit the high side of the Pipeline Trail and picked up a marten, number 10 on the year. We shut the box down and carried on. The rest of the day we spent shutting down traps and putting up cubbies on Unnamed Trail and Clear Trail. We caught two more ermine, giving us 33 on the season.

Marten number 10.

I woke up at 5:00 am the next morning to stoke the woodstove. A quick look out the window confirmed it was still snowing and really coming down hard. By 8:00 am, several inches of snow had already fallen. By that afternoon, we figured we had at least a foot with no signs of it stopping. We came across a well site guy near the compressor station who was stuck on Boulder Road. Thirty minutes later, we had him out. We weren't the only ones cursing the never-ending snow and hoping it would quit soon.

The snow doesn't want to stop.

December 30 saw temperatures around -10 Celsius when we awoke. Another three inches of snow had fallen overnight and once again, it was still snowing. We spent the day digging out our traps and fixing up cubbies that had been covered in snow. We weren't seeing any animal signs except for our friends the ermine. A lot of this is because of the constant snow, but something seems different somehow; it's almost like the animals have shut down. The snow is getting so deep, driving down Gulo Trail is like driving in a trench.

No chance getting sucked off Gulo Trail. If it was downhill, a bobsled would be perfect!

The sleigh is probably riding on two-feet of packed down snow.

New Year's Eve day saw our temperatures start to drop; it was -20 Celsius that morning. The snow was still coming down hard and I was now concerned about getting home. If the roads after the compressor station weren't plowed, we would be in big trouble. If Wade, the well site guy we helped get unstuck was right, they should be plowing it today. But what if they don't? Our gas situation was also getting dicey. The Ski-doo had been working extra hard pushing snow wherever we went and we'd consumed way more fuel than I had anticipated. I wanted to run South Trail again but after looking down it, I decided it would have to wait for another day. It stunk of being stuck and looked like it did when it had shut us down a few weeks earlier. Our gas situation also screamed no!

We spent the day digging out our traps, which we've been doing every day since the snow started, and we managed to get a new cubby built on Cabin Trail. I took a trip to the top of Boulder Hill with just the Ski-doo, hoping a trail would help us get the sleigh to the top of it the next day when we were leaving. When I was at the top, I couldn't believe how big the snow drifts were. Thoughts of the road not being plowed once again entered my mind.

And it's still snowing!

I had to shovel away an opening so we could see out the window.

 Our trip to the compressor station was an eventful one navigating the snowdrifts. The trail I'd made the previous day was still visible and we made it to the top of Boulder Hill without issue, although that is where my trail ended. My gas guage was now reading empty and we were making new trail. I was worried that whatever gas we had left in the tank would be consumed before we got to the truck. We were having to drive over and through the snow drifts but for the most part, it wasn't too bad and we did make it to the truck safely. However, it too was drifted in on one side and we got stuck for nearly an hour before we managed to get out.

This is after two major snow meltdowns.

I have talked to several other trappers who are experiencing many of the issues we've faced this year when it comes to snow. For us, we have lost a full three weeks of the trapping season because of the snow and the problems it has caused. But a good trapper never gives up, so we will be back right away to get South Trail opened up once again.

Our catch from the trapline so far this year:
4   Beaver
10 Marten
33 Ermine
2   Squirrels
1   Mink
1   Fisher
2   Lynx 

Until next time!