This year is starting off very slow. This first week of trapping was during the full moon, which is notorious for throwing off regular animal patterns, making the traps that I set on sign last week almost non-existent. I'm confident though that this season will be my BEST EVER, so stay tuned. This season, I have a fisher and an otter tag to be filled, as well as thousands of new private property to trap after December so while I may start slow, I'm hopefully I'll make up for it in the late season. See you down the line....
My first check of the season was this nice badger in a coyote set today, 10/21. Badgers do not have a harvesting season here in Wisconsin due to being the state mascot, but with their populations increasing and the damage that they cause to farmers, we will hopefully have them on the lottery tag system like fisher and bobcat in the near future. This badger was released unharmed but the mess he left behind was quite a challenge to remake!
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| I remake the set by simply re-setting the trap in the middle of the moat, in hopes that because of the huge amount of destruction, something would investigate the center. There are also traps outside the circle off camera in case the crater deters a shy coyote. |
I caught this beautiful cat on Sat. 10/27, in the EXACT same spot that I caught my harvested bobcat last year, on EXACTLY the same date one year ago!! This is a coyote and fox hotspot though, so I cannot pull this trap, but since I don't have a tag this season, this cat was released unharmed. You can see in the photos that this cat's paw is held tightly in the trap but not enough to cause harm, and that he is simply held in a pair of handcuffs. Using a sheet of plywood as a shield, I popped the trap open and he went off to kill more of the neighbor's peacocks, unfortunately. Bobcats are abundant in WI but unfortunately it does take a long time to draw a tag, and the average person waits 6-10 years for one harvest tag, though I've heard some guys waiting 12 years.
I filled my fisher tag this morning, 10/29, which was a pleasant surprise because I usually end up going atleast a month before I connect on fisher. This huge dark male was caught in a 160 cage cubby with a beaver skull in the back for bait and some Apocalypse Long Call Lure by Southern Snares and Supply on the tree. Fisher are very abundant here but you still need to draw a tag, which takes on average for my zone, 2-3 years.
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| These animals are the most efficient predators in the state of Wisconsin, as evident by their strong legs, long/sharp claws, powerful jaws and sharp teeth, and their ability to hunt both on the ground and in trees. That long tail helps keep them balanced like a monkey while they jump tree to tree raiding bird and squirrel nests and I've witnessed this hunting several times myself while out turkey hunting in the spring. |
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| Well it only took 10 days of the season to catch a canine but I finally got a coyote in my truck! This coyote looks small, but it was actually an old male whose teeth were dark yellow and very worn down. He was caught in this mock den set that I made using Apocalypse call lure on some of Marble's underfur from when I brushed him this spring, that's it, nothing more! |
I caught the world's largest badger this morning. This old warrior must have been over 30 pounds; I've never actually held a dead badger to be able to weigh it since we have to release all badger in Wisconsin due to no season, however just by judging coon that I've caught, I estimated his weight. He ruined a very good coyote set that I had on this hill but it was still a cool experience. I released him with my plywood shield and he slowly bumbled off into the darkness.
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| This photo shows how quick, easy, and effective using a plywood shield is for releasing animals. There is a hole cut out on the bottom of the wood; the track goes on one side and the animal on the other. You can add handles or have another person hold the board, but because I'm usually by myself, I just balance the board against my shoulder as I bend down and pop the trap off quickly. |
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| Caught this nice tom in a cable restraint. First cabled cat, 2nd cat released for the season, and my 11th overall bobcat in my trapping lifetime. |
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| Two days later, caught this female bobcat in a foothold. 3rd cat released this season, 12th lifetime cat. |
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| Getting some red fox this year, all in cable restraints so far, which is really exciting for me because I don't usually get a chance to catch alot of red fox due to bobcats, wolves, and coyotes. |
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| And another big male bobcat today, released due to no tag. 5th bobcat this season, 13th bobcat lifetime. You can watch the release by click this link to go to my youtube video: Releasing a Bobcat Using a Tote |
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| Finally caught a coyote; this female was in heat. My dog Marbles was peeing all over every tree in the area. This spot will be really good to catch a male in the future. |
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| Another female in heat a couple days later. |
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| Traps are so humane and harmless that most animals are curled up sleeping when we check traps. |
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| Weird snub-nosed coyote, after skinning it turned out her skull had a weird underbite and she had been hit by a car in the back end, so her joints were full of infection. |
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| Yep, you guessed it, another big bobcat. 6th bobcat this season, 14th bobcat lifetime. Released yet again due to no tag. Held securely in a 1x19 cable restraint made by Southern Snares. |
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| The following pictures are stillshots from the release video. |
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| My trapping partner Loren. Loren is paralyzed from the chest down, but that doesn't stop him from trapping all winter. We just make our sets so they can be checked from a vehicle. Loren had a bobcat tag earlier in the season, but it ended Christmas day, so while he was excited to see this cat, it was bittersweet since he worked so hard to try to get one just a month earlier. Stay tuned for a future article about his entire season and the challenges he faced. |
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| This was actually a double catch; you can see the catch circle behind the fox. I caught a coyote as well but the coyote was so strong that he broke the cable and set himself free. |
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| I've always wanted a fox mount, and this big male was so beautiful, I'm going to keep him to look back on for years to come. |
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| Another female in heat held securely in a 1x19 cable restraint made by Southern Snares. |
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