dinorocks

We did bury her…and had a nice paw cast made that we keep on our mantle. I would get another sliver fox down the road. Right now, Samson, our GSP, keeps us very busy!

We raised Borisa for her urine…and of course she got lots of loving! She was especially fond of my Son. Unfortunately she was attacked by a hawk and we needed to put her to sleep…nothing the vet could do. A very sad day.

Thanks! I haven’t targeted coon in a while during trapping season…no lie, I caught over 30 coon this summer next to my chicken coop. Some nuisance trapper(s) release them on the lot next to my house all the time…very frustrating! (Saw them on multiple times and have gotten DEC involved but never found the guy(s). All my nuisance coon get buried. I’m assuming you are happy with Tubaris? If you have tried Moyles, etc. why, if you don’t mind me asking, do you prefer Tubaris? I would try somewhere different …not that i have ever had problem with Moyles (although I’m not too excited about the long wait time).

That’s what I’ll be doing again this year. I’ll sell my beavers (fleshed and frozen), castor, rats, and my low-quality (stinky) coyotes at the skinning demo in a couple weeks. I cannot believe how many red fox I have been catching! I only have 3-6 sets behind my house …in less than two weeks I have caught 11…and when I say behind my house, they are all about 100 yards from my house. I skin all my fur with the claws on (except coon and rats). I typically get my furs tanned at Moyles…where do you like to get your furs tanned?

That’s very impressive! Where will you be selling your fur this year? Thanks!

View of my sugar shack after the wind storm. Still haven’t completed figured out how I’m going to remove the tree without further damage to my sugar shack (at least I was luckier than the squirrel who got squished).

Canoed out to a spot this afternoon…hoping for company on the way back!

That’s great!!! Awesome job Tim!! I have carp fished with Bob (very active in lots of vet and kids events)…please tell him I said hi! Dino

I use closed jaw MB-750 for beaver. Regarding the body trap, all work good although I do not care for the Bridger (the spring eyes are too small making it harder to set by hand and the flat safety latches are a pain to deal with). good luck!

An MB-550 is too small for a beaver unless you catch him good in the front foot. Not sure where you are but I could lend you a couple beaver traps.

Was able to get out for the last hour or so behind my house. Figured with the light snow falling and a favorable wind direction, I would start my wood stove…very cozy! (Recently finished the stone work).

Sat with my brother for afternoon hunt and he harvested! Two bucks from the same stand!

Fun and successful hunt with my brother behind our houses this morning! Thanks Otto for the shells! Hopefully my brother gets his deer this afternoon!

Needed to head back home a couple days earlier than I wanted for an appointment I lost track of. Ended up breaking camp in the last few hours of daylight, in the non-stop pouring rain! Packing in the rain was the probably the most difficult/trying part of the trip…along with driving home in my sopping wet field gear for 6 hours (and as luck would have it, the heater in my Jeep stopped working…on the drivers side…go figure!?). As soon as I pulled up to my garage, my wife came out to meet me …she said a fox killed a couple chickens and it was out back now. Before I took my boots off, I grabbed my 17 caliber and shot the fox…one last fur for the trip! (While skinning it, I noticed it’s mouth was full of chicken feathers!) I spent most of the day unpacking and cleaning up my gear. I put my tent back up so I could wash all the mud off it and dry it …along with my dinning fly, canvas tent floor and other canvas tarps…lots of work! i caught animals in most of my sets except for all my coyote sets at one of the farms I trapped. I typically catch several coyotes there…I believe one of the neighbors put a serious hurting on them as part of their deer management program. Several of the traps I had out towards the end were getting dug up (traps had an odor from the previous catch). I’ll be re-boiling and waxing them all next week before they go out again. It was an awesome trip and I already have plans to do it again next year. I honestly wouldn’t do much different next time other than a few little tweaks here and there…I kept a journal to reference back on next year when I start preparing. I’m extremely thankful I have a family that supports (and joins in with) my passions! I’m also very thankful for the people who opened their properties to me to camp, trap, and hunt! And lastly I’m thankful for all the animals that ended up in my traps! I tried my best skinning, fleshing, and boarding the fur and using as much of each of the animals as possible (fur, claws, skull, castor, glands, bones, beaver tails, meat, etc.). My friend Old Brian is going to put a little video of the trip together for me…I’ll share it here when it’s finished. Thanks for following along…I cannot wait for 2022!!

Thanks for the comments and questions! No, I didn’t try the otter…was so busy skinning and fleshing, the thought skipped my mind…next time, if I’m lucky enough to catch another! Again, that bobcat was incredible! Finally caught the beaver I was after! Weighed a touch over 60# but the castoreum “sack” was not very full. Caught some more coon but they were dinks so i released them. Also caught another muskrat!

@Treeguy took this one…this coon ate lots of corn!!

Slow day on the line yesterday…very cold out and everything was froze up. I used waxed dirt at most of my land sets so they were still working …the ones I didn’t where frozen due to the previous rains. Re-made a couple sets, moved a couple beaver sets, and fleshed/boarded the otter…first time I ever handled an otter… I think it turned out perfect! I gave the other otter and one of the grey fox to the property owner to get mounted for his camp. A couple hours before sundown I did some hunting behind my camp…no deer seen but lots of sign!

Awesome trip! These are baculum from all the male critters I caught…I’ll clean them up later. The raccoon penis bone or baculum and the eye teeth of the North American elk are both ivory.

…and a few from my hunt

Today was another great day! My first check revealed an otter…the first otter I’ve ever caught and one I was targeting (330 in a run)! In a nearby set i thought I caught my “2-3 day muskrat”…when I got a better look it turned out to be another otter!! Then on my last set on that line I caught an awesome looking grey fox in a fisher/bobcat set in some cedars. I thought my luck would help me fishing but no fish after a few casts. Nothing in my other traps but I did find a roadkill mink. My plans were to skin the critters and take an overnight trip to chateaugay to visit with some friends at their very remote camp. Unfortunately they had to come home early but they did invite me over for dinner…venison backstraps, goose loins, and all the fixings! I left with some homemade fisher call lure, dried catnip and catnip tincture to try at my bobcat sets. Before I headed out for dinner, I went for another hunt around the camp…no deer but cool to hunt somewhere different than I’m used to. The moon was bright! Hoping the critters are out tonight!

Yesterday didn’t yield any target fur…caught a blue Jay in my weasel box trap and a snowshoe hare …both released back to the wild. I wish I had my camera when I caught the hare…they are so big compared to the cottontails I have in my neck of the woods! This one was starting to change color like the weasel I caught last week. I had a sprung beaver trap (coni) and it looks like a critter rolled in one of my K9 sets…sometimes the lure will make them do that…like my dog and goose poop. I pulled a couple K9 traps from one of my spots and reset in some nearby pines as fisher/bobcat sets. I tried some fishing in the ponds I’m camping near but had no luck…I’m assuming that the otters I saw a couple years ago feasted on them. I also went hunting near my camp for a couple hours in the late afternoon. I think I jumped a deer still hunting to a spot to sit. No other deer seen. Towards the end of my hunt it started to snow…the highlight of the day was hiking back from hunting in the cold and dark to a candle lantern-lit warm tent…what a cool experience! Dinner consisted of cheese curds, elk summer sausage, and beverage.

…and a few more Picts from the weekend. Got my bobcat and one of the fishers sealed…enjoyed trading stories with the ECO…very nice guy! Also set a few more fisher and bobcat traps, and a couple bait sets for muskrats. I’m going to see if I can find a spot to set for mink tomorrow and try to catch a couple more weasels.

We had lots of action on the trap line! Caught my first red fox of the trip, followed by a second red the next day. We some beaver traps and up with two very large beavers on separate checks! Also, caught a big male fisher and a few more boar coon as well as another muskrat (I only have one rat trap set, in a run, and I have been catching one rat every 2-3 days). Lots of skinning, fleshing, and putting up fur!

Had a great weekend…my wife came up to visit me at camp for four days! She tagged along with me on my trap line despite the poring rain….with enthusiasm and a smile! The owner of one of the property’s I trap invited my wife and I for dinner (and left us with a very generous doggie bag…including five bricks of cheese and the largest bag of fresh cheese curds I have ever seen! Another property owner gave us some Elk summer sausage with jalapeño cheese and some ground elk from one of his hunts…incredibly good stuff!! I saved the bobcat backstraps until my wife arrived…it was a pretty hard no until she saw how good it looked and she heard my raving review after my first bite. She reluctantly tried a small bite…and liked…we both finished it off. The bobcat was aged in the cooler for a couple days, followed by a touch of dry rub and olive oil. I fried them up in my caste iron until they were barely throughly cooked. It had an extremely mild taste and had the texture of thinly cut pork tenderloin. Bobcat just move up to the top of the list, past beaver and deer testicles! Highly recommend trying it if you have the opportunity! Cooked up some nice breakfasts too!

Caught another boar coon yesterday and spent the rest of the day hunting. Saw several deer again but nothing with antlers. Was able to get a shower at my rod and gun club…was great until I accidentally walked off the trail to my camp, right into a very muddy creek (was very dark out). At least I had a nice warm tent waiting for me… This mornings check finally yielded the elusive fisher! …And another coon. I also was invited to trap a beaver pond…set a few traps for them this afternoon…looks promising. Weather forecast tonight will test the water proofness of my tent…fingers crossed! My wife arrived this afternoon for a few day visit…again, fingers crossed that the tent doesn’t leak!