From bad to excellent!

December 26-30, 2014: We left on Boxing Day with intentions of spending New Year's Eve at the trapline, as we have for the past three years. But before we would even point our wheels onto the 45 minutes of gravel roads that take us up to 4300 feet and the trapline, we would spend a good part of the day at the ranch checking the few sets we have there and perhaps get a few more up. We had high hopes of a coyote catch but our hopes were short lived, all of our snares were empty and coyote tracks were again few and far between. There certainly doesn't appear to be as many coyotes here as I was led to believe; perhaps they'll return before the season is up. Even with few tracks, we managed to get up another five snares on trails that did hold tracks, albeit, single tracks, not the well-used trails that you'd like to find.

We arrived at the trapline late in the afternoon. We have a few sets that we check on Cabin Trail Road and on Cabin Trail. This day they too were empty. So far our trip was beginning in poor fashion. Speaking of fashion, Dakota was sporting his new raccoon hat complete with tail, a gift from Mom and Dad for Christmas.

Dakota sporting his new coon cap complete with tail.

The next morning we hit the trail at first light in -16 Celsius weather. Again, our traps and lynx cubbies on Cabin Trail were empty but each was refreshed and left with new hope. Gulo Trail also held no catches nor did our mink sets and trail snares up Grizzly Road. We hit Unnamed Trail hoping for better luck and if you can consider a weasel better luck, then so be it, our luck was changing. Personally, I'd rather the little bait thieves didn't take our traps out of commission but they are a furbearer and there is a market for their fur. This was weasel number 8 on the season. I remarked to Dakota that if we were running the entire line this year we'd probably be at 30 already. The rest of Unnamed Trail held nothing.

And so it went, from one set to the next we looked at empty traps with our spirits low. We added another lynx cubby and set another marten box on the first part of South Trail, but that was as far as we were going down there this year. I want to rest the marten on this part of the trapline. It's where our biggest catch comes from and we'd taken several marten from this area over the past couple of years. 

With only Center Trail and Clear Trail left to check, we turned down the pipeline that would lead us to Center Trail. Our first set there was empty as well. Little did we know, our luck was about to get considerably better.

The next set on Center Trail is a lynx cubby guarded by a 220 Conibear. We'd caught a lynx here every year since it was built. This year, we added a couple of snares around the outside of it, hoping to catch a circling lynx. When we first arrived, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. The angle of the trail and where the set sits requires you to stand up to notice it but suddenly, I realized we'd caught a lynx in the 220. Closer inspection revealed another lynx caught in a snare to the right of the cubby. We had a double!

Dakota with our double lynx catch.

One caught by the 220 Conibear, the other in a neck snare.

With only one more set to check on Center Trail, I fired up the Ski-doo and we took off with our lynx safely bagged inside the sled. Our spirits were definitely up. We only needed one more lynx for a full quota, which on this trapline is a joke. The previous week, we could have filled our quota with ease. We caught two lynx and I could have shot three, all in one day. And now we just caught two more. The number of lynx here is amazing, they are everywhere it seems.

Arriving at our next set, I let out a hoop and a holler. There, hanging from a 120 Conibear in a vertical marten box was a huge male fisher. Our first fisher of the year!

The big male fisher. A perfect catch.

After high fives and cheers all around, we bundled up our prize catch and added it to the two lynx we already had stowed in the sled. Our luck had definitely changed for the better.

Next up was Clear Trail. My dad and I cleared this trail a few years ago and it's been a decent supplier of fur ever since. In fact, we caught our first marten on this trapline here, our first lynx, and our first squirrels. It's also a good supplier of wood for the cabin. We have three marten boxes on this trail, two lynx cubbies, and three squirrel middens. This year, only one squirrel midden is set, as one appears to be abandoned and the other had a tree fall that knocked down all of our poles. The one that is set gave us three squirrels the previous week. We've also caught a barred owl on this trail no less. The trail is a windy one that's quite narrow and arriving at sets is instant. Come around a tree and you're there, which is exactly what happens at the first set. To our astonishment, there, in the marten box that produced our first marten on this trapline for Dad and I, was another huge male fisher!

Our second fisher of the day.

Fishers are amazing creatures. To me, they are my favourite member of the weasel family. Their colours are beautiful, going from a grizzled brown at the head to jet black at the tail. They have large feet, very noticeable claws and large, sharp teeth. They are also the only animal that can consistently and successfully kill porcupines. This is because of their incredible speed. They say that for as fast as a marten can catch a squirrel in a tree, a fisher can catch a marten in a tree. They are amazing and we now had two large males that had to weigh 12 pounds each. This one has a noticeable porcupine quill stuck in his side. Most fishers are usually sporting a quill or two.

The fishers body can expel porcupine quills without infection or problem.

Our fisher quota is three. To catch a third would be nice.

Our next set was empty and our squirrel poles held nothing. Snow had landed on the poles, covering each of the snares. You could see where the squirrels had hopped along but with the snares under the snow, we had no hope of catching one. Our next set is a walk-through lynx cubby. This is the spot where we'd caught and released the barred owl the previous weekend. To say we were a little shocked to see another lynx caught in the same snare that had held the barred owl would be an understatement. But sure enough, there it was in the exact same snare.

Caught in the same snare as the barred owl.

Our lynx quota was now filled. We would have to retrace our tracks and start taking down the cubbies that we have up. A pain in the butt to say the least. But first we had two more sets to check. I was praying our next lynx cubby held nothing and somebody must have been listening to me because it was empty. Our last marten box held another weasel, the second of the day. I don't expect we'll catch a marten on this part of the trapline, even though we have in the past. But they have been few here. It was a very successful day with three lynx, two fisher and two weasels. Considering how few sets we actually have up, that's a fantastic catch.

Weasel number 2 on the day and number 9 on the season.

Back at the cabin, we fired up the stove and cooked up some nice steaks and fried potatoes for supper. A staple on the trapline is hot banana peppers. My dad got me hooked on these things when he was here a couple of years ago. Today, I eat them with breakfast and supper whenever I can.

Dakota getting ready to chow down.

After a few hours running the line, a good meal sure hits the spot.

A staple on the trapline - hot banana peppers.

That night the temperature dropped big time. By the time we hit the sack, the thermometer was reading -34 Celsius. And that's by the cabin window. You can add a few more degrees colder to that. The cabin has a good wood stove though and you never get cold here. In fact, quite often you're kicking off the covers.

The next morning we hung up our catch and spent the day tinkering around the cabin. A good cleaning was in order and in no time we had the place sparkling clean, well, at least to our eyes; my wife would beg to differ.

Hung up and waiting for the skinning shack.

A good catch for so few sets out.

Notice the large, sharp teeth on a fisher.

That night I went to work on our weasels. Skinning weasels is always an adventure in smell. Even if you don't hit their scent glands, they still seem to give off a pungent order. Below is the skinning sequence for weasels.

Our weasel ready to be skinned. A sharp knife is a must.

The first step is to put your weasel in a bag and spray it full of Raid. Weasels are notorious for carrying fleas and the last thing you want is fleas in your cabin. Then the weasel, as all fur should be, is brushed out clean.

The front legs are removed at the elbow.

The back legs are ringed, and then a cut is made down the back of each leg, meeting in front of the scent glands nearest the belly. Another cut is made to the back of the vent on each side, leaving a small patch of fur between the legs. The back legs are then worked free of the hide and the tail worked free from the tail bone.

The hide is then pulled down over the body much like taking off a sock.

Carefully, the ears and eyes are cut free and then the hide cut off at the nose.

The now free pelt is pulled over a board to match the size of the weasel.

A fleshing tool is used to remove any excess fat and flesh.

The front legs are pushed back in behind the pelt. I use a chopstick for this. Then the pelt is pinned to the board at the back legs and at the tail. A pin can also be used at the nose to help stop the pelt from slipping off or down the board. It is also wise to put a belly stick (again, I use a chopstick) down between the pelt and the board from the nose to the pelt bottom. This helps when removing the pelt from the board once dried. The entire process usually takes me less than 10 minutes per weasel.

Two finished weasel pelts. Once dried - about an hour or two - they are removed from the boards.

Until next time!