Tales from the Trapline 2009

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Deer season has ended. It makes me sad and glad. Sad that deer camp is over but glad because the fur is prime.

12/13/08
A good friend offered me some of his secret potion. I met him on his trapline line this morning.

Mother Nature can be hard. The ice storm here was bad. over 400,000 people without power at the height of the storm. We lost power at home for 20 hours. The investment in a generator years ago was a wise choice.

Anton's trapline.


With the help of Anton and his 200 proof pink lure I set four fisher traps today. They are all leaning poles set with 220 conibears. It has been a few years since I have chased the black cat. The scent of the skunk is on the prowl.

The fisher trapping give me a reason to get into this permit and explore. The land has numerous man made ponds. They are all spring fed. I went out today to take inventory.

My love is trapping beaver under ice. Historically the season is almost here. Around Christmas we can usually get on the hard water.

This year if conditions are right I'll have a chisel in hand and few 330's in the pack. Here is what I have to look forward to.

Coming down the first hill I saw this new hut. It wasn't there last spring. This is #1


This pond has never had a beaver hut in it. Till this year. I call this the "Hidden Hut". This is #2.


I call this the "Condo". #3


Premier engineering.


This is the end of the piece. Furthest from the truck. Beaver lodge #4. The prettiest pond.


This is just the south side of the property. In total it is over 300 acres. Tomorrow I explore the two ponds on the north side.

12/14/08
After checking four empty fisher traps I finished my beaver inventory.

The beaver flow-age has two active lodges. #5 and #6.


The last man made pond had lodge #7.


There is only one lodge I can get to without a canoe or ice. Beaver hate to be kept down.


There are two runs going out of lodge #1. This one.


And this one. The bubbles don't lie.


I know where I'll be next weekend.

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12/27/08
I did go back to the pond #1 today. The ice will not support me. Set one trap in a beaver bank den.
Don't have much hope.
But I did jump a cottontail in there today. Looks like the piece has a hunt-able population. Need to check F&G regs on the cottontail hunting border. The New England Cottontail is a threatened species in NH. The bunnies on my trapline are Eastern Cottontails.

12/28/08
I was right. Nothing in my set. Pulled the trap. Maybe the ice will set up for next weekend?

01/03/09
Went on the line with the goal of setting two beaver lodges this morning. Get to pond #1, spud my chisel on the ice, and in two whacks it goes through. So on to pond #2 the hidden hut. Same results. The ice in the beaver runs only required one whack of the chisel.
I do not have a death wish. I did not set any traps.

I sure did see a lot of cottontail sign. Also saw snowshoe hare tracks. You don't find many places with both species of bunnies living in the same cover.

A cottontail form.


With beaver trapping postponed until the ice gets better I went for a snowshoe hike. I saw sign of deer, fox, coyote, squirrels, snowshoe hare and my favorite critter.....

Fisher tracks.


The tracks led to where the fisher dug through the snow for the morsel in the middle of the picture. Looked like a piece of fat.


Please be careful if you venture out on the ice.

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01/31/09
I had the pleasure of sharing a trapline yesterday with a couple of my friends from NEHN

Oddfish and Big Blue helping Coalman "Paint the Fence".


This is hut #1. It took a little chopping but we did find the hut entrance.


We went to hut #2 but beaver activity was minimal. So we headed another 1/4 mile in to the "Condo".

There is no sign of the feed bed above the snow line. It took us a couple holes to find the edge of the feed bed. We put in three baited sets. One with the the bait wired to the pole. One with the bait wired to the trigger and the last with the bait wired to the bottom jaw of the 330.

A picture of our efforts.


I can't thank OD or BB enough for coming with me and helping. Winter beaver trapping is a physical effort. I only wish they could be here today when I go check the traps.

I owe you both a turkey hunt.

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02/01/09
I put a strap around my belt and became my own sled dog. The packed down trail made the walk in instinct.

The Jet Sled followed with ease.


Arriving at the Condo Pond.


View of the pond from the lodge.


Bubbles are good.


The pole was heavy.


The prize


Text book


Rebuilding the set.


Thanks OD and BB. Life is good.

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02/07/09
We got the sled dog hooked up and it was off to check traps.


We encountered a slight obstacle in our path. There were otter tracks here in the fresh snow.


When we arrived at the Condo it was about 2 degrees. Each of us tried to capture the scene in a picture. The top of the lodge was a chimney within a rising sun. You had to be there.


We checked last weeks sets first.


We had a bite..........literally. My bad for allowing the bait to move on the 330.


We reset the trap and relocated a set. DWS did the chopping while I made amends. While resetting the trap DWS walked over to let me know he thinks he found the run. He just watched a beaver swim by on the way back to the hut.

With better feelings about both sets at the Condo we broke new trail to Hut #4 December 2008


February 2009. The lodge is on an island in the pond. Be it by boat or by ice


We are set in the gap between the feed bed and the lodge. DWS took a cord of chew sticks out of every hole we chopped. Check out the ice. DWS put us on the spot.


We had no bumps or bites on our daybreak check Sunday. The pond needs some quiet. Anticipation grows for the next check.

Trapping is good for the soul. :trapper: