Well I have had some traps out this last week but haven't had much luck. The beaver ditch is frozen but I set 4 traps in runs under ice and a baited set. Four days set out and no beavers. Two muskrats in the four days, but one had been chewed up by a mink so I left it there. One snare was closed but no action with coyotes other than that. I set coon traps on the river on Thursday. It is a nice shallow river that is easy to walk through. A lot of coon sign was around too. I put out 20 sets in about 3/4 mile.
That night got down to 2 degrees with the windchill and it stayed that way until noon of Thursday. I was not optimistic that the coon would be out, and decided to pull all traps. I could almost walk on the beaver ditch ice but most wouldn't hold me. I was cutting ice with my hammer/digger tool. When I got out of the water my waders would turn to ice in about a minute. But, my feet stayed nice and warm with the trucks heater.
On to the river with my boat in the back. I was pretty disappointed when I got to the bridge and saw that most of the river was froze over. There were a few areas of fast flowing water that weren't ice. I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and my tool and took off into the water. I have to stay in the water to stay legal. Again, not enough ice to support me, but enough for me to keep trying. It was about 1 1/2 inches thick in the thick places. At least I knew the water depth from the day before. I would say I had to break the ice for about half the distance I had sets. I went about a hundred yards and thought I had sets but couldn't see them. I dig a hole in the bank and have my trap at the bottom in the water. All I do is look for a hole in the bank and know that my trap is there. I realized when I got to a place where I knew exactly where a trap was that my trip just became a lot harder. All of my holes were under the ice! I had no way of knowing where my traps were.
So I had to go to the spots where I knew I had sets, but also every spot that I thought looked like a good set, because I may have set a trap there and forgot it. I had to go to the side of the bank where I knew or thought I might have a set and stomp down the ice until I felt my trap go off. If it never went off, I drug my metal tool on the bottom and tried to feel or hear the chink of metal. It was tough but I got all of my traps out of there.
Heading back got to be a chore. I believe the five gallon bucket weighed about 40 lbs and got very heavy. I think it would have been twice that much if I was using rebar stakes. Once my bucket got filled up, I started putting traps inside my waders. (Bet thinking of that will make you laugh). I was relieved that on the way back I already had a trail broke through the ice and I could just walk on out. WRONG! About halfway out the ice had refrozen over my trail. That really broke my spirit. Also, there is a small pinhole in the right leg of my waders. I put duct tape around them and it helped a little, but not much. I felt my right foot getting pretty wet. I knew I needed to get out of there and back to my warm truck where dry socks awaited.
You might have a picture in your head about a poor little boy freezing and barely moving in the icy water, but that wasn't the case. I'm sure I looked strange with trap chains and cables coming out of the top of my waders and shiny duct tape on the bottom of them, and you'd think I would be shivering in the 2 degree windchill,but I was sweating once I got back to the truck. I was glad to see that none of my traps had been taken out of the boat on the back of my truck. I got in my cab and couldn't find my emergency socks that I now remember are under a jumper seat in the backseat. I stripped off my waders, which was difficult because they were practically an icicle. My right pant leg was wet from the knee down, and my sock was soaked. This was the first day I've driven any vehicle barefoot. I didn't have another pair of boots, and the warm air felt good.
My boat is put away for the winter. The coon and muskrat are still sitting in the garage hard as rocks. I couldn't get the christmas lights hung up because there is snow covering the roof. I didn't get the mud tires put on my truck soon enough for the snow. My trapping season has now switched to ice season, and now I must wait until it gets thick enough to walk on. Lisa and I went Christmas shopping today and it felt good to stay warm all day.
So far this season, I've caught about 60 coon, 20 muskrats, 6 beaver, 4 mink, 2 possoms, and 1 red fox. From now on I'm going after mostly beaver and muskrat.
If you're still wondering, no I didn't catch anything that day.
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