Trapline Trails

Quite often I talk about trails or roads on the trapline that most of you wouldn't have a clue as to where they are... say, in relation to my cabin or some other trail I've mentioned. So, I created a rough sketch of exactly that - the trapline roads and trails to help you easily identify where we are. North is up.

Squirrel and mink trapping

November 1 - 4:

I had made a phone call to a fellow who works at a gas plant about a 30-minute drive from my trapline parking spot. I wanted to make sure of how much snow was in the area. Good thing I called, a foot had fallen over the previous two days. The snowmobile would now become my mode of transportation for the next five months.

Dakota and I headed up Thursday morning in a freezing rain at lower elevations. Highway 16 was a bit of an ice rink and what is normally traveled at 110 km/h was now traveled closer to 90 km/h. Once we hit the gravel roads and higher elevations, the rain turned to snow. Once we reached Boulder Road, the hoar frost was hanging heavy in the trees and the skies were grey. We watched two cow moose cross the road in front of us near Boulder Hill and I managed to get a couple of photos.

Two cow moose on Boulder Road. The powerline feeds an unmanned gas plant
just a couple of kilometres off my trapline.

One last look back before she took off and disappeared into the bush.

Once we arrived at our parking spot, I unloaded and then took my Tundra 550F down to the cabin and hooked up the sled. My sled can haul a lot of stuff and it has a musher on it so Dakota has somewhere to ride behind me. In one trip, I had everything we were going to need for four days at the cabin.

My contact had been right. We had nearly a foot of snow at lower elevations, more higher up. The cabin roof only had about 6-inches on it but I decided to remove it before the woodstove warmed it up to the point of melting, causing undue weight on the roof. The weather was mild and the forecast was calling for freezing rain at Whitecourt; we were hoping it would remain snow and not rain at the trapline.

The rudimentary snow remover works really well pulling snow from the cabin roof.

That afternoon, Dakota and I headed out to put up some mink traps at obvious locations along a few creeks that flow through the trapline. By day's end, we had seven sets up with duck or beaver meat as the bait. I was trying out Lennon's Mink Lure, hoping it would pull in a mink over the three short nights our traps would be up. Next week we would be deer hunting in WMU 510 at Baptiste Lake where I have a lake lot, so the traps would have to be closed before we left. I wouldn't be back until later in November when Dad and I would be running the marten line for a couple of weeks straight. Dad would be bringing up a pile of fish heads for bait then as well. We'll reset all the mink traps then with fish as the bait. With the mild weather we were having, I wasn't expecting a good catch this trip, but I had my fingers crossed anyway.

A mink set alongside a creek under a small bridge. A 120 Conibear is set inside the box.
If you look closely, you can see the trigger wires.

The next day, after checking empty mink sets, Dakota and I hit the trail and set up the snares on his snare poles. We had just finished setting them up at one midden on Clear Trail when a squirrel suddenly appeared, watching us as we had a snack and a juice box. Much to our surprise, the squirrel jumped up on one of Dakota's poles and went straight into a snare. We had our first squirrel just minutes after setting up our first midden and we watched the entire catch from start to finish. We then cut a tree that had fallen on Clear Trail and loaded the sled with the wood. It was good wood for the outside fire at the cabin and I didn't want to just leave it lying there on Clear Trail.

Dakota with his first squirrel. This one entered the snare almost immediately after we set it.

The next morning, my plan was to check all of our sets and then run the Pipeline Trail. I wanted to make a trail with the snowmobile, packing down a base for easier travel later on. I wanted to put a trap in each marten box so I wouldn't have to haul traps and bait when the marten sets go up later in the month. After checking empty mink traps once again, Dakota was happy to discover he'd caught two more squirrels at the same midden on Clear Trail he'd caught his first squirrel on.

Dakota with his first squirrel midden double.

We then headed up the Pipeline Trail. An early section of the trail is quite steep and I was concerned about how the Tundra would handle it with a load on behind. The weather was wreaking havoc with the snow, making it heavy and wet, slowing down the Tundra. The steep part of the Pipeline trail has three berms on it, in essence, man-made humps meant to keep vehicles (hunters) off the pipeline. Unfortunately, you can't hit the really steep part of the trail with any speed, as one of these berms is immediately in front of it. We spun out half way up and had to make a new plan, but first we had to turn the rig around on what is likely a 40% incline. After unhooking the sled, I managed to get the Tundra turned around without tipping it over and the sled hooked back up again. This was quite difficult because the sled had to be held back or it would have took off down the hill without us. The plan was to now run the Pipeline Trail from the opposite direction. I'm pretty sure though that with better snow conditions and a packed base, we'll be able to run the line the proper direction. At least, we'll try to when Dad arrives and we're running the line full swing. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to run the entire Pipeline Trail by snowmobile, much longer by quad.

Dakota on the sled musher on an early part of the Pipeline Trail.

In the photo above, you can see part of the Pipeline Trail. The distant high point is where we need to go. After passing over that high point, the trail runs to the left about a mile and then comes all the way back on another pipeline, thus the name, Pipeline Trail. Along this route, I have about 15 marten sets and most likely, when tracks determine and once they are open, several lynx sets.

My plan was to run South Trail in the afternoon. I wanted to get traps in those marten boxes, check on South Trail Bridge and pack down the trail as well. As soon as we hit South Trail, we picked up on a pile of wolf tracks all heading southwest. This is where it gets interesting, as they were definitely hunting. Shortly after we picked up their trail, three wolves left the pack and headed directly east, two went straight south, and three stayed on South Trail, which at this point is actually running southwest before it too goes directly south. We now figured we had eight wolves in this pack. We followed the three wolves on South Trail for quite some distance. They had crossed South Trail Bridge (which is a little rickety and could use another log or two), before stopping and ripping up the ground, peeing all over the place and marking their territory.

Even though this front track is in a back one, you can still plainly see the front track, which is huge.
Compared to my hat, this is most likely the track of the alpha male or female.

We continued to follow the three wolves for about three kilometres when suddenly, two of the wolves that had separated from the pack, rejoined the three we were following. Then, a couple of hundred yards later, two wolves left the pack again and headed off down a cutline, once again leaving us three to follow. About another kilometre later, they returned to the pack and we were now following five wolves again, who were still marking their territory. A little while later, the three missing wolves returned and we had eight wolves again. South Trail turns back east for about a kilometre before turning back south again, at this point, we left the wolf pack trail.

My plan is to now watch this pack as closely as I can. I want to figure out how they operate before I can formulate a plan to try and catch some of them. Wolves are incredibly smart and difficult to catch, but if you can figure them out, your job gets a whole lot easier. Knowing where they are marking their territory is a good place to start.

Dakota on South Trail. By this time, we had left the wolf pack and were close to Broken Bridge Trail.
I decided to leave Broken Bridge Trail alone until colder weather guaranteed the bog would be frozen solid.

The next morning (Sunday) was our last before heading home. We'd accomplished a lot but had failed to catch a mink. We never set any weasel traps because they need to prime up a bit first, but they appear to be plentiful and were feasting on our mink bait. I'm surprised one didn't accidentally set off a trap and get caught, but weasels are quite slim and can bypass the trigger with ease. Weather also didn't help our cause, as both Friday and Saturday night saw rain, some of it freezing but for the most part, especially Saturday, wet rain. However, once again Dakota had another double at another squirrel midden on Unnamed Trail (I think that name is going to stick for that trail). He now has five squirrels and is well on his way to his goal of fifty.

Another double, this one on Unnamed Trail.

Until next time.

Beaver finished!

Skinned and boarded both the big beaver and the kit last week. Today they were ready to come off the boards. The kit appears to be fairly prime but the big guy is lacking in many different ways. Doubt either will command much of a price but I did manage to get nearly 60 fist-sized chunks of meat and fat bagged and ready for use on the trapline as bait.

Beaver pelts ready for auction.

Dakota and I are heading up Wednesday night and we'll be setting some mink sets and putting his squirrel snares to the proper side of the poles. We've got nine marten boxes sitting there doing nothing so we'll use them for the mink sets. Hopefully we'll have everything set by early afternoon Thursday.

I'd also like to get as many traps put in the marten boxes as I can. Just laid in there until I'm ready to start setting later in the month - I want the marten to prime up a little bit more yet. Not sure how much snow is up there but from watching the weather there might be 6-inches. Not enough to use the skidoo yet, but it's coming.

Beaver, mink and a northern goshawk

October 19 to 22:

Dakota and I hit the trapline for four days this week. I pulled him out of school for Friday and Monday with Mom's approval. Our plan was to take the beaver in the pond beside the cabin and break their dam, get his squirrel snares on the poles (he has poles set up on eight middens), and get some more wood put up.

On the road up, we spotted what we think is a northern goshawk that gave me a fleeting chance at a photo from the window of my truck before it took flight. Looking through the Birds of Alberta book, the closest we could come to it was a northern goshawk. Not being a raptor expert, I can't be 100% sure though.

Northern goshawk, or some other type of raptor?

We arrived at the cabin to a blustery fall day. The snowfall we'd had last time in had melted but a new skiff of snow was now on the ground. We're going to need a lot more snow before we can run the skidoo and sled, which will make running the 38 miles of trapline doable in a day. If we have to run the line by quad, we'll need two days to complete the run and probably won't be able to access some areas. Keeping my fingers crossed for the white stuff.

A cool -5 Celsius at about 3:00 in the afternoon.

Looking from the cabin porch.

Our main objective this trip was to take out the beaver next to the cabin. They are damming up the three creeks that run out of the floodplain and if they aren't removed, we could get flooded next spring. We finally found their house, out in the middle of the floodplain and not accessible by foot until the ice freezes. With the leaves off the willows and new snow, the house stands out like a sore thumb. Funny, because I had no idea where the house was until now. This is a new house though, so I'm sure the amount of beaver here wouldn't be that many. I want to take them out now because we can use their meat for bait. Their pelts won't be perfect but shouldn't be too bad.

We set up four traps the first night we arrived. Two where the beaver had been feeding last time we were here, one on the creek we've been breaking the dam on, and another on a run over their dam closest to their house.

A 330 conibear set on a run the beaver have been using to feed.

The next morning we awoke to -10 Celsius. Both traps on the feed runs were frozen in without beaver in them. The trap closest to the cabin had been filled full of sticks and mud as the beaver dammed up the creek again (we broke it before setting the trap), and the trap closest to their house was sprung with a stick in it. Now, I've trapped many beaver over the years and only once did I have a problem catching them. An old female who had watched me take her mate and kits had proven a handful but I eventually won and the farmer I trapped for was very grateful. In this case, I was baffled. How could these beaver be trap-shy way the heck out here in the middle of nowhere? I chalked it up to a fluke, readjusted my traps and added another as near their house as I could.

The trap on the floodplain creek closest to the cabin. The beaver filled it full of mud and debris.
I'm surprised the trap never went off when they were pushing the stuff in there.

That night while sitting around the fire, Dakota and I heard a trap go off. We quickly grabbed the binoculars and focused in on the trap nearest the beaver house. Sure enough, we could see the tail and one leg of a very large beaver sticking out of the water at the trap. We high-fived and congratulated ourselves, positive we'd have the rest of the beaver by morning. Boy were we wrong! All we had was the adult male; a large beaver pushing 40-pounds or better. The two traps on the feed run were frozen in again, the trap closest to the cabin had been filled in again, and the new trap had been sprung with a stick. Once again, we reset the traps and then headed out to put up some squirrel snares.

The squirrel snares are left to hang under the pole before the season opens.
Notice the snare to the left, and another nearer the tree. There is also one in between but it's hard to see.

November 1st is the open for mink, weasel, squirrel, marten and fisher. Coyotes and wolves are already open but we can only use legholds in our zone (Zone 4) because of the grizzly bears - we can't put up snares until December 1st when they are supposed to be in their dens. I have yet to see a grizzly on the trapline but have encountered their tracks and scat, including the tracks of a sow and cub. Coyotes aren't too plentiful here and only now and then do the wolves move through. Without snow, it's pretty hard to trap these guys unless you set up a bait station, and even then it's difficult not knowing what trails they are using. Without snow, a trapper is limited.

Dakota now has about 50 snares set up on his eight squirrel middens. We'll probably set the snares upright as soon as the season opens. I'd like to wait a little longer into November before setting up some mink and weasel sets but we'll see. There appears to be a good population of mink here as we encounter their tracks regularly and have seen them in the past and on this trip.

Mink tracks along the ice close to the creek shore.

One morning we were walking around the floodplain on our way to set a trap when a mink suddenly came scrambling along the ice right in front of us. Dakota said it looked like he was playing but I'm sure he was just hellbent to get out of the open. Mink are preyed upon by several animals but none that strictly focus on them, mostly just happenstance encounters. But owls, eagles and hawks are especially dangerous when mink are out in the open.

About two hours later back at the cabin, I suddenly heard Dakota hollering mink! mink! I quickly looked and sure enough, there was a mink just 20 feet away from Dakota across the creek on the ice. This time I had my camera nearby and managed to get a photo of him before he disappeared. Not too often you get to see two mink on the same day.

The mink cruising across the ice just out from the cabin.

The next morning we awoke to a windy and very cold -10 Celsius. Every morning when I get up, the first thing I do is toss my bucket into the creek for a fill of water. I use this water to wash my face; it's very refreshing and wakes you up in a hurry. On this morning, my bucket didn't just contain water, but it had ice in it as well and it really woke me up in a hurry!

The thermometer showing -10 Celsius. With the wind it felt more like -20 Celsius.

My water bucket with ice from the creek. Wakes you up in a hurry!

When we checked our beaver traps that morning, we discovered we had caught a kit. Now we had two beaver. The remaining traps had all been sprung with sticks except the one closest to the cabin, which was full of mud and debris again. I was now convinced we had a trap-shy beaver, the big female. In fact, we watched her chewing a stick while watching us reset the trap that held her kit. I'm now convinced there were just three beaver here, the two adults and one kit. From watching them in the summer, I can confirm this as we never saw more than one kit at any time and we watched these beaver a lot. The only way I'm going to catch her now is either under the ice or with a leghold and a slide wire. If we get back next weekend and the water is still open at the dam near the house, we'll try the leghold and slide wire. If not, we'll be waiting until the ice is thick enough to walk on.

Dakota with the big adult male. He probably weighs in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 pounds.

Here you can see the kit closest to Dakota.

The last order of business was adding to the woodpile. We found a good spot on Clear Trail that has a lot of dead-standing trees that should be able to keep us in wood for quite some time. Only problem is, the only way to get there is by quad. You could get a truck reasonably close, but the quad and trailer would still have to be utilized.

Dakota taking a break from loading the quad trailer.

Until next time!

Snow and lynx tracks

October 5 - 8:

Headed back up to the trapline hoping to get a few more things done before the trapping season hits full swing. That will be the third week of November when we start running the marten line. On this trip, I wanted to check on a couple of other unnamed trails, mainly one to the northwest that I haven't visited lately. It's a long dead-end trail but it accesses some nice ridges including a big one at the end. Fisher and marten like these high ridges, so I have a few sets down the trail. I also marked some lynx tracks there last year as well. Also on the agenda was to finish work on the Gulo Pen and to put up some more firewood.

One thing I didn't expect (but maybe should have) was snow already. There must have been quite a dump of it because it was still beside the road driving in and on the forest floor below the canopy. Good for tracks! Open areas and south-facing slopes were free of the white stuff but they were wet... just when I thought everything was starting to dry up nicely.

The main road into my trapline. From this point it's probably 10 minutes to Boulder Road.
And that's the end of the good roads. 

It takes me about 2 1/2 hours from my home in Edmonton to get to my trapline. It wouldn't take nearly as long but about an hour of this time is spent on gravel roads, maybe a little less. And the higher up you get, the worse the roads get. Boulder Road is named Boulder Road for a reason. And Smiley Rock Road and Grizzly Road are gumbo roads when they're wet and can be an adventure themselves. These are roads I have named that have to be used to get to my parking spot before I can unload the quad or skidoo and hit the Cabin Trail.

Everything is still nice and green at the cabin, 46 miles from the nearest town.

Saturday morning I was greeted by a bull moose calling for a cow. At first I wasn't sure of what I heard, but then the next sound was the unmistakable grunt of a love-sick bull. And then he stepped out about 50-yards in front of the cabin, looked my way (I was standing in the cabin doorway), and then he slowly walked into the bush. Not a little bull either, but a rather impressive bull, probably stretching the tape to 40-inches and better. This is the third time now I've had a moose standing, what would probably be 15-yards back from where this photo was taken. Of course, my camera was in the cabin.

After checking and again clearing parts of the unnamed trails, I headed back towards the Gulo Pen. I figured I'd finish it off and get it ready for a trap. I had a 220 conibear with me for sizing purposes. The trail into the Gulo Pen is a muskeg trail right up until it ridges, so navigating the muskeg clumps on a quad is a bit of a pain, but the trail is easily traveled by skidoo. 

A nice lynx track on the Cabin Trail.

And here is a photo of the just completed Gulo Pen. I should have run my poles vertical but what the heck, added character. This is the Taj Mahal of cubbies after all.

The Gulo Pen with a positioned 220 conibear. Some bait in the back, a lure on top and we're ready.
This will be set in late November when fisher are prime.

Sunday was a cooler day, so my timing was perfect for getting some wood. I drove out on Cabin Trail by quad and then took my truck up to the mouth of South Trail where Pierre had previously got a load of wood. And then went to work.

It took me three trips by quad to get all of the wood in to the cabin.

After I got the wood to the cabin, it was time to fire up the chainsaw and stack a pile. I feel a little bit better about my inside woodpile now, but could still use some for around the outside firepit. For the inside, I have two piles at the entrance to the cabin, and the pile in the photo below. The long row has another stacked and split row behind it.

From truck to quad to cabin. All in a day's work.

I was hoping I could get a little deer hunting in but I just never had the chance. Next trip in will be to trap out the beaver beside the cabin and break their dam. I want to take them out before the water freezes and it was getting a skim of ice on it each morning on this trip. I had to put on a small fire each night in the cabin just to take the chill off - the temps were dropping below zero.

On an unnamed trail a couple of miles from the cabin, I came across another lynx track in the mud. This must be one heck of a big lynx, as his track measures a full 5" x 5". Not too far away, maybe 100 yards, is a lynx cubby I had built after marking lynx tracks in this area last winter. Good to see he's back.

A large lynx track.

Until next time.