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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2012 18:57:06 GMT -5
Since things have been boring around here lately lets spice it up a little and talk about animal behavior in relation too storm fronts and or location choices in regard to prominent food sorces or travel ways in other words lets here your reasons why animals act they way they do and how one might capitalize on such behaviors.
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Post by centro44 on Mar 2, 2012 20:08:28 GMT -5
well such as a deer, if snow is coming and fields are going to be covered they want to get the food before it is all covered up in my opion......or the get to better shelter or if its rain coming they possibly higher ground.....eric
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2012 20:10:37 GMT -5
i agree with ya centro animals move harder before a storm my best catch days are night before a storm or new weather front.
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Post by centro44 on Mar 2, 2012 20:14:20 GMT -5
i love trapping rats and when i know it is going to rain at night i do not sleep at all that night, because i know im hopefully going to be lucky enough for doubles and such due to to the fact that i gang set rat runs and it is worth doing especially when i find 2 rats 3 feet apart in the same run......eric
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2012 20:29:33 GMT -5
what do you think makes the rats move or run more during a rain verses a dry calm night ?
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oldeman
Fulton Montgomery Fur Harvesters Ass.
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Post by oldeman on Mar 2, 2012 21:14:14 GMT -5
Food and relitive safety from predators.
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oldeman
Fulton Montgomery Fur Harvesters Ass.
Posts: 581
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Post by oldeman on Mar 2, 2012 21:20:31 GMT -5
If you keep in mind that food and reproducing are about the two most important things in an animals life you will become a more sucessful trapper.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2012 21:26:44 GMT -5
this is kinda why i started this thread the more ya know about animal behavior and the habits and why they do a certain something the more fur ya can add too the stretchers . dirt holes flat sets cross overs if ya don't why an animals is attracted to or uses these in there every day life you will never understand trapping
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Post by centro44 on Mar 2, 2012 21:39:40 GMT -5
lol maybe when it rains the current is faster and the water carries the rats and they dont have to work as hard to swim lol.....eric
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Post by fuzztrapper on Mar 2, 2012 22:23:48 GMT -5
Now I am no experienced trapper but my opinion is that the drop in barometric pressure causes them to want to feed because they could be layed up for days with out food in the case of a fox none of the smaller critters that they feed on will be moving for possibly days after a storm. I believe that they can sense a storm is coming but not real sure they can tell how drastic the storm will be so they will be cacheing as much food as possible before a storm. On the topic of the breeding nature it just seems like it would be a whole lot more fun being stuck with a member of the other sex than being stuck alone. Lol Just my 2 cents
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Post by trapperwilliam on Mar 3, 2012 0:32:50 GMT -5
they move harder before a storm and after but i have noticed that rats move more in the rain m ust be becase there holes are flooding out and causing them to move to new high bank holes or any hole that they can get out of the rising streams and creeks
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Post by bballou on Mar 3, 2012 6:46:57 GMT -5
I was always told that "why" muskrets moved more during a rain ----was because there already low to the water profile---- was even harder to see with the rain hitting the water---thus being less likely to be seen buy a predators. The WEASEL family has always intreaged me---why do the trappers usually catch more of them during a stormy night. Than on any-other night. ?
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Post by trappermac on Mar 3, 2012 8:33:06 GMT -5
I believe that animals being instinctual to survival move when hungry and thirsty, when looking for a mate or running for their lives which could include storm results such as flooding. Canines have dispersal time(s) which causes movement outside those stated. That being said I’m sure that animals have made a survival correlation between barometric change and weather. Muskrats may move more ahead of a front and stock up their huts/dens with food to allow them to hole up. Prey food may gather more which sends canines out looking for that prey. In other words the entire food chain moves more ahead of a front as a means of survival. The prey food gathers, the canines and weasels take advantage of that movement. But as trappers we don't really take advantage of that as we already have our sets out. We simply realize the results of it by hopefully more trapsites visited.
As for dispersal routes that is something to take advantage of. I trap open farmland and the farms with disperal lanes take far more canines that those without....not even close. Number one are the farms with old railroad beds running through them. RR beds offer the least path of resistance to travel, typically puts the animal up a little higher than the surrounding countryside and since the RR bed stretches out many miles through many farms and woodlands it likely has the highest number of "travelers". After that I like gaslines since they are usually mowed a couple times and powerlines the least as they are usually brushy. But they still attract.
Hope I hit on what the original intent of the thread was.
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Post by wyatt96 on Mar 3, 2012 19:31:01 GMT -5
What do u think is better to trap mink before a snow storm, baited or lured sets or blind sets?
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Post by bballou on Mar 3, 2012 19:51:41 GMT -5
trappermac---Please dont think I am being argumentative----I belive you are right on point with your comments ----BUT-----what I dont understand is why isnt the catch of animals out of the weasel family as high as the catch of the animals in that family---if every one is active before ---during ---- after the front moves through.
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oldeman
Fulton Montgomery Fur Harvesters Ass.
Posts: 581
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Post by oldeman on Mar 3, 2012 20:13:42 GMT -5
I believe that members of the weasel family tend to travel more and farther under these conditions.
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Post by mole on Mar 4, 2012 6:06:03 GMT -5
For what its worth, I think prey species move before and after a front, but not during, especially if there is wind . with wind every sense is diminished, they cant hear or smell as well and everything is moving, scares them. Predators on the other hand move to make a kill, find a Dumb or unlucky one and then take kill and hole up untill the weather clears.
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Post by jsevering on Mar 4, 2012 7:55:18 GMT -5
-what I dont understand is why isnt the catch of animals out of the weasel family as high as the catch of the animals in that family---if every one is active before ---during ---- after the front moves through. ................................................................................................... metabolic rate ?..... jim
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Post by brushwolf on Mar 4, 2012 8:04:57 GMT -5
Thats what i was thinking also Jim.
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Post by trappermac on Mar 4, 2012 8:17:04 GMT -5
why isnt the catch of animals out of the weasel family as high as the catch of the animals in that family---if every one is active before ---during ---- after the front moves through. Well usiing the mink as an example I think they are such an efficient killing machine that they don't rely on expanded opportunity in the way that canines do. I think a mink eats anytime he wants to. They go into and seek out their prey and their diet is so varied that I don't think they go hungry often. I think they move as they always do no matter the weather. Only pattern I've ever been able to assume on them is that when the snow is deep and powdery they spend alot more time in the water vs overland hunting. I also don't think they rely on scent the way canines do. I have always felt that if my lured set is on one side of the stream and the mink is hunting the other I won't get him, he don't care about my set. If in a few days he is hunting my side, well then I have a chance. Probably why I prefer blind sets, trap them where they are likely to travel rather than lure them into a set like canines. Canines on the other hand whether before/during/after a front are in a "gotta eat" mode and the lured set attracts. All this thought just my opinion, could be all wet.... Now fisher and marten and otter may be different but I have zero experience with them (not in my area or can't set for them) and have formed no opinions.
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Post by herm on Mar 4, 2012 8:21:15 GMT -5
My thinking is in line with Moles.
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Post by bballou on Mar 4, 2012 12:45:14 GMT -5
Jim--brushwolf ---Pease explain metabolic rate---what chemical changes ??----mac---I agree with your thoughts that mink are very effictive killers---but they are also very good at stockpileing food---the otter is also the best at getting its food---and does to a small extent stockpile---the fisher they have piles of food marked throughout there area (we have no martin)----BUT --- whenever a front goes through---its always the weasel family that makes up the majority of my catch---- and has for years---(after the front has gone through )-----I guess I was looking for a simple answer
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Post by jsevering on Mar 4, 2012 15:20:56 GMT -5
energy expenditure food mass to body weight per day... need to eat to keep going... among other things....jim
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Post by brushwolf on Mar 4, 2012 16:41:06 GMT -5
Mustelids having a higher metabolism need to consume more calories daily. What seems as the weasels moving more during a storm might also be that alot of the other critters dont so it appears that they do by having more caught in sets. As Jim mentioned they need to keep going to eat.No holing up. Just a theory.
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Post by bballou on Mar 4, 2012 17:17:45 GMT -5
GUYS----THE FIRST THING TO DO IS "THANK YA'S"------Makes very good sence-----The thing that gets me is I should of figured that out on my own-----the time in the woods my partner and I have under out belts--- jest following and watching fisher and otter should of told me----guess whats in front of you is sometimes the hardest to see.---THANKS AGAIN GUY'S.
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