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Post by walleyed on Mar 11, 2012 19:17:04 GMT -5
We've managed to scrape together a few pitiful catches the past few days that the DWARF HOOVER VACUUM CLEANER didn't suck up. Gas is $4.09.9 in Henderson Harbor and $3.95.9 in Belleville, N.Y. so we aren't going far. The DWARF has laid waste to all the local furbearing water animals populations leaving only a few crumbs for walleyed and New Wave Dave. Here are a few shots from the last few days. WHOO DAT ? DAT MINKY !! Definition of "CAUGHT" A better view out of the water !! "SCRATTY" won't be coming home tonight !! LOL Cranberry Pond Fatty meets the "SQUARE OF DOOM" Skinned, Fleshed, and Tacked. 64.5" Inches Boarded Loosely (1XL) Thanks for looking. walleyed
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Post by sixgun44 on Mar 11, 2012 19:40:31 GMT -5
Awsome...gotta keep that Dwarf in line...lol
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Post by nyrat on Mar 12, 2012 3:33:10 GMT -5
there seems to be more mink around then there is rats around up north got 10rats this weekend saw lots of mink sign
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Post by bmtrapper on Mar 12, 2012 19:34:21 GMT -5
Looks like a good days catch, nice job
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 12, 2012 20:22:26 GMT -5
"Gas is $4.09 in Henderson Harbor..." no kidding... I was forced to pony up $20 worth on my way back home this afternoon down Rt 3. I checked your float sets under the bridge and saw where someone has a mudpie setup just downstream and #110 covering a hole in tree-root jam that looks minky. There was a fresh mudpie with a hindprint the size of my hand from last night between the bridge and beaver set... someone is going to tangle with a big one there Perch River had at least 12 guys that I counted at 9am this morning, which is not a problem if the historical 200+ houses are visible from the Vaaldi rd dam overlook. I counted six (6) houses in sight from any road in the whole system... spent an hour circling it. Drove up to north to check out the bays there, everything still iced up. A few rat houses visible, not much to get real excited about. I actually saw more rat houses and sign along I-81 than everywhere else combined... and double the live coyotes (2) than live muskrats (0) sighted up north. Few houses, no fresh toilets, no fresh cuttings... not even lone droppings on rocks at bridges and culverts. Lots of otter droppings everywhere in those key spots, though. On the way home thru Port Byron and Clyde, muskrats swimming everywhere around the Montezuma complex. Go figure
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Post by walleyed on Mar 12, 2012 20:44:42 GMT -5
I put in 25 Rat sets upstream from that Vladi overlook today. I had to hunt real hard to find any active feed bed sets or rat toilets that weren't already set up. I saw ten live rats in stoploss traps between 10:00AM and 3:00PM. Somebody isn't in a hurry to check their traps. Never actually ran into another trapper on the water.
I suspect most of the traps I saw have been set by a few trappers as the flagging is mostly the same type.
What type of truck were you driving and what color Canoe ?
I was parked on the north-eastern access road by the spill way. (the dead end road)
You can forget setting any 160's 0r 110's upstream from that overlook as the water averages four to six feet deep and really no runs or den holes visible. You better have extra long stakes (7 to 8 foot) as Lathe is pretty much useless up there .
There is one big pile of steel soaking in that marsh right now.
I say if you aren't set on feed beds or toilets, then you aren't trapping rats there. I threw in about five floats to see how the rats reacted to them.
The was certainly enough rat sign when compared to what is available at Lakeview right now.
I'm going to give it three days and see what happens. Hope to squeeze in some more sets tomorrow if the rain doesn't hit too hard.
walleyed
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 12, 2012 21:08:45 GMT -5
I didn't set at all... not enough rats and space to justify my time spent so far from home. I had 100+ big coils in the truck and would have gladly set feedbeds and toilets if enough of them existed relative to the trappers persent.
There were three trucks on Rt 12, three on Vladi, looked like three over on other side of the dam from Vladi (only place I didn't drive) and three others on the nw end of upper pool refuge area. I drove a old chevy Z71 (red and rust) with a red canoe out the back.
I walked a few stretches of dikes, saw three deep dens with fresh smoke but that was it. No doubt there are muskrats present, but not nearly what used to be.
As for the eastern shore zone you are working, that looks terrible for numbers. Zero rat sign and mostly one big clogged cattail mat 100s of acres unbroken. If the state ever went in and dug some channels there, it'd be a rat bonanza overnight.
Big surprise to me was otter droppings and vomit everywhere... all the small bridges and culverts were marked from Pulaski to Hammond. Should have ditched the rat gear and packed #330s instead! <lol>
Was very disappointed with rat numbers compared to historical. Perch River and some St Lawrence bays used to have 100+ houses visible from a single spot. One spring several years ago (maybe ten, I forget) there were easily 200 rat houses in sight from the Vaaldi road d**e spillway, looking all directions. It was a literal sea of houses. Today it was a sea of cattails and brightly colored flagging.
Hope you have 25 rats on your check thru tomorrow!
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Post by walleyed on Mar 12, 2012 21:12:46 GMT -5
"Gas is $4.09 in Henderson Harbor...&q on my way back home this afternoon down Rt 3. I checked your float sets under the bridge and saw where someone has a mudpie setup just downstream and #110 covering a hole in tree-root jam that looks minky. There was a fresh mudpie with a hindprint the size of my hand from last night between the bridge and beaver set... someone is going to tangle with a big one there :) Which Floats on which Bridge ? You May have checked the Dwarf's floats. LOL walleyed
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 12, 2012 21:16:58 GMT -5
Which Floats on which Bridge ? You May have checked the Dwarf's floats. LOL walleyed well, just say somewhat north of little sandy creek... a pair of #1.5 longsprings. No danger of me tampering with anybody's anything... I wouldn't harm someone else' set if held at gunpoint. hopefully those traps connect, but it looked to me if a single muskrat ever swam thru there all season, it must have died of loneliness at least one pretty big beaver there, though. size of the hind print made me double-take... definitely a struggle to pull that one up with the drowner :)
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Post by walleyed on Mar 12, 2012 21:28:03 GMT -5
Was very disappointed with rat numbers compared to historical. Perch River and some St Lawrence bays used to have 100+ houses visible from a single spot. One spring several years ago (maybe ten, I forget) there were easily 200 rat houses in sight from the Vaaldi road d**e spillway, looking all directions. It was a literal sea of houses. Today it was a sea of cattails and brightly colored flagging. There was actually quite a few rat houses back in the high cattails. The Bad news is 25% of them were torn open as well as Many of the pushups. looked to me like the work of Otters and/or Coyote on the Ice. we'll see how I do in The morning. Yup, Lakeview is pretty much a rat desert. Gets hit Hard during the fall, but there is usually a pretty big rebound over the summer. Nothing Like the old days though. walleyed
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 12, 2012 21:48:39 GMT -5
www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3044998/Re_Muskrat_Life_In_A_Cattail_M.html#Post3044998That thread from Trapperman shows pics from last month up in Iroquis - Oak Orchard - Tonawanda complex. There are places you can easily count 100 structures visible from one vantage. Same is true for places on Montezuma this year. That's what Perch looked like last time I was there. For sure it has rats, but nothing like years past. The other Federal Wetlands held historical populations this year... but it appears to me the eastern end of Ontario is way down in numbers from what I recall in the past.
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 13, 2012 19:23:35 GMT -5
Any report on how many hapless rats lost their lives in the Perch River unit last night? <grin>
Definitely one of the nicest days we could ever ask for to be out there paddling around in the water. Looks as if next week will be even warmer... might need to be wearing bug spray while checking beaver & rat traps!
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Post by walleyed on Mar 13, 2012 20:15:28 GMT -5
My first five traps I checked were "missing".
ALL The rest were pulled off the toilets and feedbeds into deep water and fired.
I pulled out and went home.
Rats: ZERO
I suspect Malfeasance
walleyed
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Post by mikespring on Mar 13, 2012 20:26:44 GMT -5
I could not deal with that crap..
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Post by herm on Mar 14, 2012 6:34:17 GMT -5
Walleyed,That is too bad.In a controlled marsh that you needed a permit for, who ever did that needs to be caught.If it happened to me and I was sure the person would be back and do it again I might have to make an effort to try and catch that guy.
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Mar 14, 2012 7:04:42 GMT -5
First, my sincere condolences for that overall experience. It is a terrible thing to do from one "trapper" towards another, and I hate to even use that term "trapper" in this case. For whatever reason(s) the northern marshes are legendary for that type of behavior. Way back in the mid 1980s when I thought I knew something about muskrat trapping, I was talking to my fur buyer (Jim Betts) and told him I thought about heading up towards Clayton or the eastern shores for spring rats. He told me in no uncertain terms that the local guys were highly "territorial" and do not tolerate outsiders well. I won't elaborate from there, but he had specific names of mass-theft victims and where it took place... Perch River being one of those spots. That conversation happened way back in 1985... almost thirty years ago. ** When guys spend the morning out setting new traps and then run checks in the late afternoon, it is easy to wait for other traffic to clear out before running the end of line. I don't want to make this sound accusatory by any means, but when a trapper leaves muskrat catches in traps all afternoon and runs the check removal late-day, that takes them past all those new sets in the process. Five missing and twenty snapped sounds like a territorial thing... someone did not want you catching any rats in front of their sets and/or wanted you gone so they can move further thru. To state the obvious. It is a shame that whoever did it is definitely not a casual visitor to the area. They are specifically in their canoe running traps and present right there amongst permitted trappers. I would strongly suggest you contact the managers and give a detailed written report on that. It cannot hurt and can only help to bring these situations to light with headquarters. Your overall experience is mostly why I did not setup there myself. Too many guys on too few locations. The locals have great advantage in the sping season... they can keep setting as ice conditions evolve. Outsiders are at a great disadvantage then. In the fall season when opener starts at 7am for everyone, there is no advantage at all. Everyone present has the same opportunity for areas, and guys who can set fastest win. Then it's a matter of keeping an eye on locations set, which is another story outside of this conversation. In any event it pains me to read what you experienced and hopefully your other locations keep producing well
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Post by walleyed on Mar 14, 2012 15:07:36 GMT -5
Walleyed,That is too bad.In a controlled marsh that you needed a permit for, who ever did that needs to be caught.If it happened to me and I was sure the person would be back and do it again I might have to make an effort to try and catch that guy. I spent much of the afternoon resetting in a secluded, harder to access, State WMA Marsh closer to home where I can keep a better eye on comings and goings. At some point, I will address the situation with the right people, but right now my time is best spent putting down some more steel as Rats are definitely on the move now.
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