I own and operate a remote trapline in Canada's Yukon territory. My concession is approximately 850 square kilometers or around 209,950 acres. I trap marten, beaver, otter, lynx, wolf and wolverine. Only a small portion of my concession is currently accessable so I will be spending the next few years developing it. Cutting trail, building and renovating canbins ect. I recently installed a satellite internet system at my cabin, and thought it might be a good idea to post a journal of sorts. I would be posting photos of sets that I'm using, fur that's being caught, and day to day projects. Let me know if this is a good place to do that. Tomorrow morning I'm headed out to cut trail for 3 or 4 days so I'll be away from the cabin. When I get back I'll post some pics of how it went!
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
-34 here today and I'm sure enjoying being back at the cabin. Got 4 more kilometers of trail cut. Have to fight for every inch now as I'm cutting through an old burn. The wall tent sure made things comfortable on the trail. I normally use an open camp with just a baker style lean to and a fire front. Being able to keep that tent warm makes for a comfortable camp no matter how cold it gets. I like it. I picked up another wolf yesterday, bringing my total to 6 this season. I'm impressed with those Sleepy Creeks...not as good as the Koro no 9, but they are a better trap than the mb750. Also caught a beaver, a mink, and a nice marten. Now that I have a beaver for bait I plan to put out a bunch of lynx sets after Christmas.
Quick picture of a mountain pass my new trail cuts through. Once I get down the other side I'll be able to drop into a whole new drainage that hasnt been trapped. Lots of lakes and creeks over there to explore. Anyhow, I'm heading in to town for the holidays. Going to bring my wife and son out after Christmas. Have some cabin renovating to finish, and plan to start trapping some cats now that the fire has paled up. Merry Christmas all!
Yukon, Really enjoying your post, good luck this season. I feel like I have a front row seat with Lewis & Clark! I'll never be able to do it myself, but oh how I love the land and remoteness. I'm hooked to a damn desk all day, I love my paycheck and trying to beat those NYC Yankee's everyday at stock picking. But that just doesn't compare to the beauty you encounter everyday. You are blessed, be careful, I know you are careful but wanted to say it anyway. Jealous and happy for you at same time.
Very cool thread! The Yukon is a beautiful place. Wish I could convince my wife that we should move there. I did a 2 week canoe trip down the Pelly River back in "86. Still have the topo maps as I would like to do it again. Jeff
Family and I made it to the cabin late yesterday. Weather was nice and mild today @ -6. We spent the day hauling in firewood for the colder weather that's sure to get here. Going to be doing some renovations on the guest cabin soon, so I'll be milling lumber with the Alaska saw mill in the next few days. Here's a picture of the family hauling wood. My son loves it out here...he will be 2 on the 19th.
Season starts for water animals Oct 1st. Everything else starts the first of November. Marten season ends February 28, lynx ends March 10th, and wolves are open till the end of March. Marten numbers are a bit low here this year so I haven't been hitting them that hard. Most of my focus has been on wolves and trail cutting. At 6 wolves so far and about 10 kilometers of new trail. Lynx are on a real high cycle here so will start trapping them now that their fur has paled.
Guest cabin for the clients will be fully renovated soon. I'll post photos, it's real comfortable. Your welcome to come out trapping anytime! Fishing is great on my lake too.
Guest cabin for the clients will be fully renovated soon. I'll post photos, it's real comfortable. Your welcome to come out trapping anytime! Fishing is great on my lake too.
Bad thing is I'm not sure that I'm even as tough as your Uncle. lol Have a question for you. Guessing you have to buy a trapping concession. If so who do you buy from the previous owner or the government?
Haha guess I can't assume I know who I'm talking to lol. That's the fun with screen names I guess.
Generally speaking you would buy your concession from a private citizen. There are traplines that are "un allocated" and a person can apply for them through a government program. I don't know of anyone that's ever been approved though. Definitely some politics there.
Haha guess I can't assume I know who I'm talking to lol. That's the fun with screen names I guess.
Generally speaking you would buy your concession from a private citizen. There are traplines that are "un allocated" and a person can apply for them through a government program. I don't know of anyone that's ever been approved though. Definitely some politics there.
LOL and here I had my bags packed. I'm a friend of your Uncle Ricks, live a few miles from your Grandparents. So the unallocated lines are off limits to trapping?
Haha guess I can't assume I know who I'm talking to lol. That's the fun with screen names I guess.
Generally speaking you would buy your concession from a private citizen. There are traplines that are "un allocated" and a person can apply for them through a government program. I don't know of anyone that's ever been approved though. Definitely some politics there.
LOL and here I had my bags packed. I'm a friend of your Uncle Ricks, live a few miles from your Grandparents. So the unallocated lines are off limits to trapping?
You can get a yearly permit for those unallocated lines sometimes. Because of First Nation land claims it can be political. If you do come up throw that Contender of yours in the truck, it would make a good trapline gun
Going to refer to you as Y B R if I may. You sharing has brought back memories growing up in western Alberta on a homestead many years ago. It frequently got to 35-45 below, coldest I have seen was -79* winter of 54. I do thank you for the memories and shall be riding along with you. PS never got that cold while on the arctic Islands but the wind sure did blow. As others have said thank you and be careful. Cheers NC.
don't judge until you have walked a mile in other persons' moccasins' SUM QUOD SUM........HOMINEM TE ESSE MEMENTO
So I ran my new section of trail yesterday, and caught 5 marten. Not bad at all for 10 k of trail! Nice to see all that cutting start to pay off. It will be interesting to see how marten prices are this year. I normally average anywhere from 80-100 dollars a pelt.
Im heading down the lake today to mill up a bunch of lumber. Ill post some pictures of that process tonight.
Wow! -78 is cold alright! We use Celsius here but the coldest I've ever seen was -60 and that was cold enough lol! At those temps it's best to just feed the wood stove and wait for warmer weather.
Got some milling done today. I put a new roof on the guest cabin this year so I needed some thin paneling for board and batten on the ceiling. I cut 7 inch boards 1/4 inch thick and my battens are 2inch by 1/4 inch. I'm running an Alaskan saw mill on a husky 460 rancher. Cutting speed is actually quite reasonable if you keep your saw sharp. I have ran various chain saw and bandsaw Mills over the years and, while it is the most labour intensive, you can't beat the Alaska mill for portability. Every trapper should have one.
The first few slabbing cuts use a 2x6 as a guide. Once you have a 3 sided beam of whatever width you want your boards, you set your cutting depth to your desired board thickness and start ripping. Will nail up the ceiling tomorrow, then I need to rip some lumber for a new door. Also hauled in some laminate flooring that I'm going to put down in there. Sure makes it easier to keep clean. I'll post some pictures of the guest cabin tomorrow.
It varies from day to day. Generally breakfast will be either, bacon and eggs, pancakes, or oatmeal. I'll often skip lunch if I'm on the trail, if I do stop for lunch it's usually just a cup of coffee and bannock. Supper is always wild game with a starch and a vegetable. This year it's been mostly moose, some years it's bison or caribou. So main course could be steak, roast, sausage, stew, casserole, ribs...you name it. As for liquids, coffee is pretty much the only thing I drink out here. Coffee and water.
Here is a photo of my guest cabin. When I got the place it was in pretty rough shape! I ripped the old roof and gables off as squirrel's had pulled out all the insulation. I did 2x6 rafters with R20 insulation and metal roofing. Next i sanded the weathered logs down with an angle grinder and stained them. I then built the porch and as you can see in the picture I haven't finished the pole railings yet. Just got done with the laminate flooring today. Tomorrow I'm going to start work on a new door. Once the interior is finished I'll post photos of that as well. The board and batten ceiling actually turned out pretty nice. The cabin is full full scribed log and the dimensions are 12x14. Definitely going to be more comfortable for my clients now than it was in the beginning. Cabin is super warm even down to -40.
I've been doing guided trapping trips since they brought out the guided trapping permits. The Yukon is one of the few places in Canada where a none resident can get a license to set traps with a guide. It's actually a great system, I'm not sure why other provinces haven't adopted it.
The little guy there is my son. He will be two on the 19th. Hes growing up like I did, in the bush most of the time. He sure is a handful lol but lots of fun too.
Great thread here!!! Thanks for taking the time to take us along.
Ping pong balls for the win. Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
Hello all. Wanted to show you guys a couple of the lynx sets I'm using.
The first is a cubby, set with a no 3 soft catch. I don't use any waxed paper or anything over the trap, I just lightly sprinkle snow over the pan. For bait I use a chunk of beaver. This set works good when the lynx are hungry. If there are a lot of snowshoe hare around they will sometimes turn their nose up at the bait.
The second set is a walk through snare set. I simply wall off a section of my snow machine trail that lynx like to walk on and hang a snare in the opening. This set is extremely reliable as it takes advantage of the lynx's travel paterns and doesn't rely on bait. The downside is you have to move and reset every time you use the trail.
Nice. Seems like all cat's love beaver, as well as bear. Well, and me.... grin
Ping pong balls for the win. Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.
I like 1/16 cable with a modified camlock for a super fast lock up. Lynx die quick in snares so I will often use a pole style drag like the one in the picture. When snareing wolves and wolverine I always anchor solid. I don't use any type of stops on my snares as I don't have deer in this part of the world. One does have to be careful about catching moose in wolf snares however. I avoid catching them with careful snare placement.
Wow, thanks for sharing with us. I never realized how much a wolverine looked like a mini bear stretched out in the snow. I enjoy chainsaw milling, I collect big chainsaws, this is a fold up table I milled from a big White Pine that went down in a storm. Inlaid the hinges and maid it so it would fold flat to the wall. My buddy puts his bunk under it at night. Thanks again for sharing.
Great thread. Thanks for sharing with us lower 48ers. I'm wondering how high off the snow do you set the bottom of your lynx snare? Thanks.
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
Wow that's some nice looking chain saw lumber! I just finished a bunk bed in the guest cabin but it's a bit more "rustic" than your table. Nice job!
I like to set the bottom of my loop between 10 and 12 inches high if setting on a hard packed trail. Loop size is probably around 8 inches.
Only downside to snareing lynx is their tendency to eat one another. Such was the scene when I checked the snare set in the previous post yesterday...
I'm heading out early tomorrow to check more traps.and cut some trail. I'll just be spending one night out so not takeing the wall tent. I'll post pics of how I set up a light winter camp when I get back. Take care all.
Back from the Barney lake trail. I think that's all the cutting I'm going to be able to get done on that trail this winter. The snow is almost to my waist in the pass and the cutting is heavy. It will be a lot easier to cut when I'm not fighting the snow. Caught 7 marten on this run which makes it 12 for that trail. Definitely worth my time cutting. If I can extend the trail out to where I want it it should produce 30-50 marten a year. Conditions kind of sucked where I was camping, it was windy and snowing all night but the temperatures were warm at -15 the downside to camping in a burn is the lack of spruce boughs for a comfortable bed.
The first picture here is a fake kill site i use for wolves. It doesn't take much bait as you can use the same antlers every year. The small chunks of meat attract Ravens and make it seem more natural. I make a hard packed skidoo trail across a lake that the wolves travel. Then I put this fake kill in the middle with a leghold on each side. I keep my traps back from the bait about 5 yards as the wolves will get more cautious as they get close.
Second photo is a urine post set on the side of my trail. Wolves mark that spot every time they come down my trail. I dig out the track and set a sleepy Creek 4 1/2 in it. I use white garbage bags, or waxed paper under and over the trap to keep it from freezing down. I cover the set with about a 1/4 inch of snow.for.camoflage.
Back from the Barney lake trail. I think that's all the cutting I'm going to be able to get done on that trail this winter. The snow is almost to my waist in the pass and the cutting is heavy. It will be a lot easier to cut when I'm not fighting the snow. Caught 7 marten on this run which makes it 12 for that trail. Definitely worth my time cutting. If I can extend the trail out to where I want it it should produce 30-50 marten a year. Conditions kind of sucked where I was camping, it was windy and snowing all night but the temperatures were warm at -15 the downside to camping in a burn is the lack of spruce boughs for a comfortable bed.
Camp looks cozy,not sure about -15*,couple marten in there. We need some pics of the woofs. Keep rollin,looks like fun.
Hopefully more wolf pics to follow. I wiped out the one pack of six that uses the area. I'm patterning another pack, looks like 6-8 but they only come through every couple weeks. As the snow gets deeper their movements and routes get easier to predict, so hope to have more soon.
The 4 1/2 Sleepy Creek trap. Is that a 7 1/2" open? I would think so for wolves, but not sure. How do you anchor the traps on the lake? I'm guessing drags or some kind of disposable anchor.
Great thread!
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Yup, the 4 1/2 is 7.5 open spread. My preferred wolf trap is the Koro no 9, with a 9 inch spread. They are quite expensive though, so I only have a half dozen. After the Koro my second choice is the 4 1/2. I find it to be a much better trap than the mb750s, at least for my conditions. Most of my wolf traps have a 7 foot chain attached to a 3 prong grapple made from 3/8s mild steel. The traps on the lake however I will often anchor by freezing a couple feet of the chain in the ice.
Never thought about freezing the chain in the ice for an anchor. Of course, way up here in North Louisiana, we don't have wolves and the most ice we see, is in our sweet tea.
I had never heard of the Koro trap and had to look that one up. They dont give them away!
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Great thread and thanks for the answer on the Lynx snares.
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
Yes yes yes great thread, enjoy it a hole hell of a lot !!!!!!! Used to trap in ont. Can. Mostly beaver, otter, fisher, mink, some fox, & coyotes. Really miss it no money in it anymore. Watching some of the new Alaskan shows, if the prices they quote were for real I'd be chompin at the bit. Still you are your own boss, no one tellin ya how to do it, ya still miss it. Anyway keep em coming, I really enjoy the reads, brings back lots of memories. Thanks don't stop, & keep the pics commin. I'm out, Bill
James Pepper: There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum? John Chisum: Wrong, Mr. Pepper. Because no matter where people go, sooner or later there's the law. And sooner or later they find God's already been there.
Sorry for the long absence. I had some generator trouble, and no generator means no internet...made a trip to town and have things working pretty good now. I just got back to the trapline here with a guest who will be trapping with me for 10 days. I will keep you guys updated as to our day to day catches and how things are going. Here is a picture of some trouble I got into a while ago...it was -30 and sucked getting my mucklucks wet....had to get an emergency fire going to dry out as I wouldn't have made it back to the cabin without freezing some toes...
Also had a question for you guys. I just got a bunch of ammunition for an old model 92 in 25-20 that I'd never used as I couldn't find shells. Seems like it would make a great little trapline gun. More punch than the 22 mag but less fur damage than the 22 hornet due to lower velocity. Any off you guys ever used one?
All I know about the 25-20 is that my daddy used to have one, and I shot it as a kid. Also, the whitetail that was the world's record for many years, the Jordan buck, was killed with a 25-20. I'd think the ammo would be rather expensive.
Keep it coming, love the stories. The dreaded slush!!! I hated it, we had one pond on our line that always had slush, always!!! Had to do it with the snow shoes first & wait for it to stiffen up. Maybe a coincidence but I shot my biggest buck with a 25-20! (Long boring story ) Ya I wish I had it when I trapped, or I also had a 32-20 that would've worked good. BIG heavy bullets??? Keep the stories coming, I'm following it all. I'm out Bill🐾👣
Thanks for the info on the 25-20 every one! I'm not terribly concerned about the price of the ammo as I plan to cast and reload for it now that I have brass. 86 gr hardcast should be easy on fur, yet penetrate good enough for wolves at closer ranges. Caught 3 marten and a beaver yesterday, as well as a lynx the day before. The lynx was badly cannibalised so no picture unfortunately. Found where a wolf pack hit the North end of my lake yesterday. There are several well used trails going back into the timber, and 5-6 beds out on the ice. Looks like the might have a kill in there somewhere. We are going to snowshoe in there today and snare it up good. I'll let you guys know what we find.
I let the fire go out after I cook and dry my clothes. I'm just relying on my sleeping bag for warmth at night. It's comfortable to -30. I try REALLY hard not to camp out colder than that lol. I do carry a SAT texting device for emergencies when I am trapping with a client. Good to hear about the 25-20. I'll have to start working up a load.
-30 here this morning. Going to catch up on some skinning I think. Picked up a nice lynx yesterday, and found some fresh wolverine tracks. I'm thinking we may find him in a 3-30 next time we check up that way.
Great thread... The .25-20 will be a great round for your work, especially with cast.. Paco Kelly covered it quite well in his book Leverguns... Good loading info as I recall..
Had a lynx raiding my bait pile when I came home yesterday. I set a pen set out front with a chunk of beaver for bait. Caught the cat this morning, 50 feet from my cabin!
Y B T Have a question for you, do you ever have wolves in a pack when travailing step in the tracks of the leader so that it appears as a single set! Back in 54 when working 120 miles of any road we would frequently see that, we were working in registered trap line area. The biggest bunch of moose we ever saw had 27 in the group! That was where I experienced the 79 below zero F. I am very much enjoying you day by day happenings, keep up the good work!! Cheers NC
don't judge until you have walked a mile in other persons' moccasins' SUM QUOD SUM........HOMINEM TE ESSE MEMENTO
Nice lynx!!! Have only seen one in all my bush tromping. Keep it coming, this is the first post I look at every morning. Didn't realize I missed it this much???? I'm out Bill 🐾👣🐾👣
YB, glad to see you're back to posting and everything is going good. Got a couple of questions.... 1. Glad to hear you're ok after getting the feet wet, but how did you get the snowmobile out? 2. The 2 snares on the pole, that seemed to be out in the open, were they for the wolves you said were on the ice?
Nice cats!
Be Safe!
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Yes I have seen that. Especially when the snow gets deep. They will alternate who is in front breaking trail, and the others will step in the same tracks to save energy. I will often set legholds right in the tracks as they will use the same trail each time they come through.
Getting the snowmobile out....haha that was no fun. After getting a fire going, I cut a bunch of little spruce trees,and shoved them under the front of the skidoo for traction. I would work on the snowmobile then run back to shore and thaw my feet out when they got too cold. took three trips back and forth to finally get it out. Not a fun day for sure. The snares on the pole are actually for beaver. After I took the picture, I cut a hole in the ice between the beaver house and their feed bed. Wired to the dry pole is a piece of green Willow for bait. The beavers will circle the bait and get caught in the snares. I quite using conibears for beaver as I find the snares work better.
Getting the snowmobile out....haha that was no fun. After getting a fire going, I cut a bunch of little spruce trees,and shoved them under the front of the skidoo for traction. I would work on the snowmobile then run back to shore and thaw my feet out when they got too cold. took three trips back and forth to finally get it out. Not a fun day for sure. The snares on the pole are actually for beaver. After I took the picture, I cut a hole in the ice between the beaver house and their feed bed. Wired to the dry pole is a piece of green Willow for bait. The beavers will circle the bait and get caught in the snares. I quite using conibears for beaver as I find the snares work better.
Several years ago, I was catching coons and selling the meat (hides wasn't worth the effort). I found lots of coon tracks on this shallow creek and put out a few #1.5 traps, using green cut limbs as drags. I knew there were a few beaver on the creek, but so what. Came back the next day and had to hunt for my traps... Beavers had eaten everyone of the drags. It took a while and luck was with me, but I found all my traps.
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Well today was my new friend's last day trapping with me. He came up for 10 days and we finished our last check today. Final number is 6 lynx and 6 marten in 10 days. We have tons of wolf sets out as well, but they haven't been back yet. We sure had a blast chaseing Cats around though!
Hey YB,,,,, Great Thread, and Photo Posting's as well,,,,,, but I gotta ask, I noticed that your Cabin Door Open's in,,,,, Granddad always said to make sure your Cabin Door Open's out,,,,, what's your thoughts on that,,,,, ??? Take Care & be Safe out there; LJ
Last edited by AK375DGR; 03/03/19. Reason: Spelling
Unfortunately I didn't build the cabins out there. In my renovation of the guest cabin I've changed the door to open to the outside. When I renovate the main cabin I will change the door on it as well. Not sure why. I just like it better that way
YB, thanks for the thread, all the pics, and for answering all the questions. It's certainly different trapping in that part of the country and interesting as all get out.
Thanks again
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Final numbers for the season are: 12 lynx, 8 wolves, 24 marten and 1 wolverine. I only had marten sets out on my new trail which is only 11 kilometers. Next year ill have closer to 50 or 60 kilometers of marten traps out so should see higher numbers. Lots of work to do!
in northern Minnesota we build our houses with the door opening in; don't want a heavy snowfall and then try to open facing out. may end up crawling out thru a window.
Thank you, sir. I have enjoyed the adventure of following in your footsteps.
An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.
the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.
Maybe we'll see ya at the Bergren Cabin. Two trips planned for that area this year.
Something like that is on my bucket list, but it can not happen anytime soon. Thank you for the invite, and I look forward to seeing more.
An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.
the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.
![[Linked Image]](https://i.imgur.com/wu4C3fG.jpg)
