Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Interesting things you've seen on the trapline

I thought I'd share a little story about something I'd never seen before on the trapline.

Awhile back I was checking my Beaver traps along a small stream that led into a flooded flat. The ground was frozen, and the night before we got a dusting of snow, less than an inch. As I walked the stream bank checking the 330 slide sets, there close to the water on the edge of the bank I noticed a small Beaver tail on the ground. Not noticing at first that there was a beaver attached to that tail, because the fur and rest of the animal were unexposed under the snow, I attempted to pick up the tail. Well, it became obvious that there was indeed a young beaver, nlt just the tail just laying there on the stream bank.
That young beaver was pinned to the ground by a tree that was about 3-4 inches in diameter that he had cut. The top of the tree was hung up in the tops of the other surrounding trees and could not lean to fall, but instead, slipped off the stump and drove its pointy end like a stake straight down toward the ground, the little beaver was between that pointed end and the ground and took the stake right in the center of his back.

Not something ya see everyday.!


Anybody else seen some strange things in the woods and on the line..?

had a mushrat and a mink both neck caught in the same 110

Thinking that 'rat was almost mink dinner...till they hit the wire. Pretty wild.!

My cousin and I were setting on opening morning of mink/muskrat, and watched a 'rat swim right into a 110 that we'd set just minutes before. Pretty cool to watch! After that, we decided to backtrack the entire line on the way back to our pickup point, and had two more.

Jeff

Absolutely pretty cool to watch.! What a great morning for you and cousin.

It reminded me of a time went out to check my bunnie snares and kicked a cottontail out and down the trail right into my snare.SCORE!

A guy I went to high school with caught a turkey vulture in a raccoon set. Another guy helped him release it, I was so glad that he didnt call me and ask me for help with that one.

Last year I found out what happens when the coyotes find a grey fox in your leg hold. A mess of a scene with a grey fox leg caught in my mb550 but no fox just a front leg. Bloody mess everywhere and a unreal blood trail where they carried it off. I had a jip yote caught in the next trap 30 yards away and the other fox in a set a couple hundred yards away. Later in the season and several foxes later I had a nice grey caught and the next two sets on the line both yielded coyotes. When I skinned that fox i found he had survived a fight likely with those coyotes as he had been bitten hard all over.

It's quite the fierce reality out there, unless a person is a part of it and witness it they might be quite surprised by the predator/ prey twist.

I've seen mink and muskrat fight to the death, it's rough to watch but everybody has to eat.


Congrats on those Greys.!

It seems that everything that a coyote can take down looks like something to eat.

Driving down a gravel back road during the middle of the day I watched a coyote come around the corner of a house, snatch the cat out of the yard and leave out around the other end of the house never missing a beat.

set a 330 in a channel for beaver. Standing there looking at my handiwork and a muskrat came around the bend, never saw me, swam right into the 330 and was caught. I watched the whole thing happen. never thought I could catch a muskrat in a 330 but i surely did.

I caught a Pike in a 330....

Once saw "the beast with two backs" while checking a line along a swamp.

Snow was half way up the shins with temps hovering a bit above zero at the time. Even for a 17 year old I thought their choice of location to be pretty "interesting".

A great blue heron picked the wrong spot to land. A a mink leaped out of the bushes, grabbed the heron by the throat, and held on long enough to kill it.

I had a Cat set in a hiddey hole under some deformed Pine bows that a Sow Whet Owl (they're about the size of a beer can) decided to winter in one year.
He/she didn't seem to mind my comings and goings and would be there almost every day when I checked traps.

I did some reading on them and found that they are people tollerent and will hang around if you build boxes similar to Wood Duck boxes for them.
I built a few and hung em up near that spot but squirrels moved into the boxes and I never saw the little guy again.

These pix are from about 5-6 feet away.

I was trapping in N. La. years ago and my trail took me between two sloughs/beaver ponds.. At one place the dry land was only about 8-10 ft. wide. If I didn't use this trail, I would have to walk an extra 3/4 mile to get to some of my traps. It had been cold for several days and then it turned off exceptionally warm for 2 days, got into the high 70's or low 80's. Then a front blew in and it was back into the 30's overnight. As I was walking down my trail the next morning, looking around but not paying attention to where I was stepping, I stepped on a cottonmouth. It was one of those moments where you caught a glimpse of something not right, just as your foot touched down. Somehow I knew instantly I had stepped on a cottonmouth and I remember a cold chill all over my body. I jumped, probably squealed like a little girl, but because of the cold, the snake was too sluggish to strike. I found me a stick and put a whoooping on him.

A mountain goat with busted up back legs, he still had some life left though and seems to have made it out of the drainage he was hanging in.

Saw this young guy on the beach. Pretty unusual.

Caught a muskrat while checking traps , retreived it , thought it was dead , turn around and it's after me -hopping like it wanted to bite me .
I kicked/stomped/mashed it real fast like - I needed that $5-6 dollars back then .

Was checking my coon traps along a creek one morning, I caught a squirrel in a #2 Victor coil spring. It was more like a Conibear on that poor squirrel, caught him just behind the shoulders, obviously DOA. I guess he wanted some sardines.

Caught a Grey fox by the shoulder one time in a #1.5 Victor coil spring. He had to be wearing that trap like a rifle sling when it went off, leg all the way through the jaws! Had a big fox squirrel get caught in a new #3 Victor coil spring at a flat set. That thing tore the pan, post, & dog clear off the trap. I didn't buy any more of those traps. I got a good coyote story I'll post up later, if you guys want to hear it.