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Post by trappermac on Nov 5, 2019 17:38:39 GMT -5
Anyone doing anything? I'm setless right now for a few more days due to some work requirements that came up...hope to get set back up this weekend.
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Post by mikespring on Nov 10, 2019 17:18:37 GMT -5
yep...Best year ever...but then again no ones out there.....To be expected tho with low fur prices...
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Post by trappermac on Nov 11, 2019 8:52:28 GMT -5
Glad to hear you're doing well on them Mike...."best year ever", must be impressive numbers.
I reset 12 sets last Fri after work, ran 3 checks and pulled today, adding another 6 reds to the shed. Back to work tomorrow and then the deer season, so down for a while here. Seems to be lots of canines around this year. I decided to spend some time with the bow, should have just put more traps out...but thats how it goes.
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Post by dinorocks on Nov 11, 2019 10:19:34 GMT -5
Great guys! I took some time off this week in hopes to arrow a deer...saw 2 different red fox from my stand this morning. Once/if this weather stabilizes, I’ll get some K9 sets out behind the house. I was able to get my immediate trapping “fix” in last week in Northern NY.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 11, 2019 11:23:27 GMT -5
Show those pics, Dino! Unless you've already posted them somewhere on the site and I didn't see them. Great job!
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Post by dinorocks on Nov 11, 2019 13:13:13 GMT -5
My first bobcat!
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Post by milkie62 on Nov 11, 2019 21:33:03 GMT -5
My computer at work with firewall does not allow all pictures to get through. But from what I have seen everybody is at least having some fun. A question after seeing the post on Sullivan trap tester. Who is using some pan tension vs the ones who are basically letting the pan free fall with no tension so to speak ? Also for the ones that are fisher trapping, how is the primeness coming along ?
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 12, 2019 10:42:22 GMT -5
I didn't use to bother much with pan tension, but as said this year I went whole hog with it.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 12, 2019 17:25:33 GMT -5
Only traps I use anymore are mb550 (80%) and some modified bridger #2 dogless. I use both out of the box, nevered measured but I assume 2-3lbs pan pressure. Haven't touched a possum, skunk, or coon yet this season. Could be because they never came around.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 12, 2019 20:01:30 GMT -5
Got a BIG male coyote at the same double dirt hole set with the slide away. I took some pics this time lol. Mac, ok to email them to you to post here? Of course with the snow (we had mostly ice but a few more inches from lake effect most of the day) couldn't help making tracks all over but I keep a whisk broom just for covering things up. That and the screaming wind - a few minutes after I took the pics, you'd never know anything had gone on.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 12, 2019 21:59:36 GMT -5
Yeah, send to me.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 13, 2019 17:30:37 GMT -5
TMC's yote...
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Post by dinorocks on Nov 14, 2019 8:22:00 GMT -5
Great job Tim!!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 14, 2019 8:46:31 GMT -5
lol, just saw the pics. They sure look bigger on my phone. Mac, thanks again. I'll get this pic thing figured out soon. And thanks, Dino! The bottom pic is the double dirt hole with the sprung KB 5.5 sitting a couple of inches from the trap bed. Other than my track and the 4-wheeler tracks, that set was pretty much undisturbed. Reset the trap, sweep away my tracks, never know I was there. Wheeler tracks - yeah, too close, kinda stupid but it was brutal being out in the wind that day and I was NOT thinking squarely. Swept the wheeler tracks away for about 30 feet in both directions. Top pic is the coyote, phone pic perspective is, well, not great. The 4-wheeler (you can see the edge of it in the right side of the top photo) is only about 3 or 4 feet from the set, the slide-away chain end where you see the coyote is about 12-14 +/- feet away from the set. FWIW, I do not sweep the are where the critter ends up and forms the catch circle. Yesterday's check proved there was absolutely no sign of any tracks showing because of whisking and the wind. But coyote, red fox, and grey fox tracks close by in areas protected from the wind, where I have no sets yet. Hopefully after this weekend I'll be putting in a lot more sets. I know, deer "gun" season opens Saturday. But over the decades I've managed to finally get the law laid down against trespassers and poachers and they either know better, moved away, or are dead, so yeah... much better than in years past. ..and no, I didn't kill any of them. Old age or natural causes, I swear!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 16, 2019 22:20:05 GMT -5
I am going to rethink using 155's for fisher after today's trap check. At one cubby/155, sprung trap and sign in the snow of epic struggle. Huge tracks for a fisher. It was an easy trail to follow from there; it passed by the running pole set but I could see at another cubby/155 he was kind of hesitant, but that trap was also sprung although not much of a struggle at all escaping, so I figure it was tentative about going in for the bait and just got brushed across the muzzle. Farther along it went to another same setup, walked around it a few times but wouldn't go in this time. Next cubby it passed by without breaking its stride. These sets are along that farm's southern line (same line I talked about in "Permission Dilemma" lol!), over the course of about 2,500 feet. I think for this year I'll set #2 double longsprings at each of the cubbies I have out, I figure that way I'll get this bucket-headed male one way or another. I won't go into details because it's a public forum but the last two BIG males that I caught in 155's could've just as easily had the same escape issue as today's bucket head. Tons of coyote activity at a few locations where I was pre-baiting but haven't yet placed any sets. Maybe tomorrow. Also, re: the issue of trap pan tension - at one set that I have in the woods for grey fox, pan tension was set to 1.5#, but today's check showed that a grey stepped RIGHT ON the pan but the trap did not spring. It took a good 4-plus pounds by my estimation to spring it. I'm thinking between the snow, the cold, the Formula One (maybe?), freeze/thaw getting mud/dirt into the trap's workings blah blah blah... So I adjusted it to almost-floppy and reset it. I'm willing to risk getting a skunk or possum, but not to let another grey give me the slip. So, rethinking pan tension as well; or just do like Mac says and go with what works out of the box. But I do think adjusting pan tension is worth the trouble, I consider this just fine tuning the practice. This was a KB-5.5. I love them but I may swap-out that trap with another type, maybe Bridger #2 dogless or a #2 DLS. I'm hoping this coming week to get a LOT more sets in... we'll see.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 17, 2019 18:07:45 GMT -5
I only had time to put in 3 more sets today... a #2 Sleepy Creek DLS at the cubby set from which the fisher escaped yesterday, one KB 5.5 at the catch circle where I've caught the two coyotes so far, and another KB 5.5 on a chain slide-away at another burn circle/pre-bait spot that everything from crows to red and grey fox to coyotes have been working. Snow helps seeing what's going on. That burn circle is only about 200 feet away from the burn circle where I've taken the two coyotes. Hopefully more this week.
I wish I'd had time to make the extra set at the catch circle before today, a lot of coyote tracks all around it. We'll see how it goes.
Anybody else doing anything? After deer season slows down a bit I plan on setting for canines here at the home orchard. At night from the house I can see silhouettes of coyote, deer and fox from time to time against the snow, it's interesting to watch their habits. Some are right in the backyard, not 40 feet from the back of the house. Maybe I'll get a few sets yard/"vineyard" this week as well, give 'em a little surprise lol... Over the years I've caught red fox and coyotes, more than you'd expect, right in the backyard and gardens.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 17, 2019 19:25:21 GMT -5
Deer hunting here, a doe so far. Wishing Thanksgiving was this week, so the deer hunters could be one week and done. Now we got a 4 day barage coming still late next week.
I plan on getting in some mink and rats sets in a week, and a few canine as well. So I'll be quiet for a week here.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 17, 2019 20:13:56 GMT -5
Congratulations on the doe! I'm embarrassed to admit that the mink and muskrat season opened here LAST SUNDAY lol, and I completely forgot about it. I don't have a lot of water to trap, but that's a wasted week. Oh well...
I stole about an hour to hunt yesterday, saw nothing. This afternoon I'm making sets and being watched by at least 5 deer that I could see lol! I didn't have my rifle with me and they were too far away for my .44, so I just played it cool and quiet and let them watch. Maybe it'll help. They're used to me and my presence all the time anyhow.
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Post by nyrat on Nov 20, 2019 17:31:10 GMT -5
my sons and I will be setting mink and rat traps Monday morning opener
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 20, 2019 19:25:40 GMT -5
No new sets out, no new catches. But I did get a nice 6-point buck this afternoon. He walked out in the field to a point right in-between the two burn circles where I have coyote sets. Gut pile oughta bring in some action tonight lol. On the way home from that farm around 6PM, deer in the road practically everywhere. All were does and fawns. It's only about a 9-mile trip but I saw at least 14 deer. But also one red and one grey fox. Active night! Here's hoping for a nice catch tomorrow for all.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 20, 2019 20:45:36 GMT -5
Congrats on the buck Tim.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 20, 2019 20:48:45 GMT -5
my sons and I will be setting mink and rat traps Monday morning opener Good luck to you guys. Not many rats by me but going to put in a small vehicle/bridge mink line.
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Post by tony1967 on Nov 21, 2019 11:10:10 GMT -5
I’m hoping to get a few water sets out next week. Didn’t do as much land trapping as I had planned, but maybe get a few k-9 sets out at the same time here around the house.
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Post by trappermac on Nov 25, 2019 15:16:16 GMT -5
Got a few mink sets out today, a few rats sets also but the rat sign was sparse at best. Put 10 canine sets back in action yesterday and picked up a yote and a red this morning. Given the fact that there are plenty of gut piles around I was pleasantly surprised.
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Post by nyrat on Nov 25, 2019 16:40:34 GMT -5
83 rat sets 4 coon sets will see what tomarrow brings
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