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Post by Toby Benoit on Jul 30, 2006 9:47:47 GMT 12.75
No rats down here, but we've got a bumper crop of coon. I doubt I'll get $2.50 a pelt, but I just like trapping them.
My 'yote pelts are still in the deep freeze waiting on the buyers to open up good. By the time our come prime down here, the markets are all full of fur and they ain't paying crap.
But, every one I get, I save a few fawns, so I'll be chasing them again this year too.
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Post by Mars on Oct 7, 2006 2:38:48 GMT 12.75
I scouted out a little creek Monday. Ain't so little now that beavers have moved in and built two dams.Should be good trapping.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Oct 13, 2006 13:43:33 GMT 12.75
Good luck with the beaver. I've always wanted to try trapping some of them, since they were the lifeblood of the trapping industry in american back in the day, but there aren't any around here. I've popped a few with .22 shorts, but no trapping.
Can you use steel or do you have restrictions to snares?
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Post by Mars on Oct 14, 2006 1:03:07 GMT 12.75
Either or both. Size #2 or smaller steel traps though. Makes it kinda rough to hold them so you gotta drown them quick. Be really nice if an otter would show up.
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Post by brittonfaith on Nov 12, 2006 14:52:34 GMT 12.75
Mike's brother brought in the first coon for our clan last night. Tree'd by a Walker pup out for her first hunt. Real whollop of a pelt. Nose to tip of tail about 48 inches. We're all guessing $6 probably will only get standard $2.50 though.
Guys are out again tonight - Mike, Tom, Charles, & Rob. I stepped out just now and don't hear a thing. Better get the coffee going. It's cold & wet tonight and if they don't bag anything, they're gonna need a pot to get the blood pumping again.
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Post by Mars on Nov 26, 2006 4:45:32 GMT 12.75
I'll be setting traps out today for 'rats and maybe a set or two for a certain coyote.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Nov 26, 2006 6:51:46 GMT 12.75
Fur's still a ways from prime still. Gotta wait another month otherwise I'll be lucky to get a seventy cents a hide for my coon. 'Yotes are singing pretty last night while I was deer hunting. I think I'll do good on the harvest again this year, but I plan on saving them in the freezer for the buying season to open again next year or I'll get next to nothing for them. I got the check back from sebring on the yotes I held over in the freezer and eleven pelts netted me $63.50. It's better than what I used to make on them. Good luck on your line! ;D ;D
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Post by Mars on Nov 29, 2006 13:18:51 GMT 12.75
A two day, two trap line. ;D Hopefully I'll get time this week to put out a real trapline. Anyway, I caught a large boar coon and a xxl sow coon and a large 'possum in those 2 traps. I turned the 'possum loose and froze the hides of the 2 coon.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Nov 29, 2006 17:36:28 GMT 12.75
I'm gonna get started a bit earlier than planned on the 'yotes.
We've been having some cold weather, so hopefully the pelts will be thick.
My sister busted a nice fat doe this evening and I put the gut pile and backbone out on the old railroad bed that runs near the house. There's a big embankment overlooking it from about a hundred yards away and is a sweet spot for an ambush.
I figure I'll be out there trying to slip in without making any noise tommorrow am.
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Post by Mars on Dec 23, 2006 3:17:34 GMT 12.75
Around noon I'm heading out to finaly get some decent sets out. Even got permission to trap at the factory as we have a bunch of coons and skunks roaming around.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Dec 23, 2006 6:43:15 GMT 12.75
Gittrdone! Still hasn't gotten cold here yet, but I'll be taking the war to the varmints real soon. I'd like to thin them 'yotes and coons down considerably. Fox are thicker'n fleas on a hound lately, but we aren't allowed to trap them.
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Post by Mars on Dec 23, 2006 12:33:20 GMT 12.75
I got 10 sets out today. 7 in the Nolichucky River Gorge and 3 at work. 2 for beaver,2 for 'rats and the rest for 'coons. I'll check them in the morning then be setting more the rest of the day.
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Post by Mars on Dec 24, 2006 13:17:03 GMT 12.75
RAIN! Though it didn't rain hard here it must have over in N.C. because the river was up about a foot and muddy. It was impossible to check the beaver and rat sets. I caught one boar possum. I did manage to get 9 more sets out, 3 for rats and the rest for coon. I went to the creek and the beaver had built another dam for a total of 4 but I could not find a decent place for a trap set.
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Post by Mars on Dec 25, 2006 8:45:23 GMT 12.75
1 boar coon and a female gray fox today. The traps at the river had nothing and needed reset from the rising water but I could not locate one beaver trap. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be clear enough to see if it caught a beaver or if it was stolen.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Dec 25, 2006 10:50:08 GMT 12.75
Congrats on the catches, hopefully you'll be surprised with a big fat beaver drowned on that missing set.
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Post by Mars on Dec 27, 2006 3:41:47 GMT 12.75
Dang rain! I cannot even get to my land sets as everything is so soaked the roads(dirt) are impossible to travel.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Dec 27, 2006 6:16:41 GMT 12.75
I'm thinkin' hard on puttin' out a half dozen snares this evening. I won't bother the 'yotes, but the coons ought to be coming prime any time now.
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Post by Mars on Dec 27, 2006 8:57:15 GMT 12.75
I pulled all the sets I could get to. I had one small coon that I hog tied and gave to the landowner alive. He wanted one. The river line is under water and it may be days before I can get to those sets.
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Post by Mars on Dec 29, 2006 1:48:20 GMT 12.75
I got the river sets out but still didn't find the missing set. It's supposed to be nice the next few days so this afternoon I'm hitting the mountains for fox and coon. Hopefully by this weekend, when it's supposed to be storming again, I can get some fur in.
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Post by Mars on Dec 29, 2006 2:14:34 GMT 12.75
Trapline tale
I was checking the river line with my daughter on Sunday the 24th. One section of it is across the river from USA Raft and Campgrounds. I despise those people. Anyway; we saw a young boy, about 3 years old, playing near the river as his family was packing or unpacking at the campground. I had just reset a trap when I heard the child scream and looked up and saw that he had slid down the slippery mud river bank into the river. He was OK as the water was only knee deep to him unless he wandered out further into the river. However not 50 yards down river it turned into whitewater rapids. The child tried to climb out but just kept sliding back and was screaming and crying. The father(?) walked toward him but turned and walked to a pond and filled a 5 gallon bucket with water not 30 yards from the still screaming child. Because of the steep bank and the height of it the child could not be seen on that side of the river so that much was excusable but I cannot understand how he could not hear the child. I yelled across the river for the man to get the child and he looked at me and continued back to his campground. Another child of about the same age went to the one in the river but could not pull him up the bank. Though not life threatening for the child, at that time, I was still debating in my mind of the risk of me swimming the 50 yards or so across the river. The distance part would have been an easy swim for me but the freezing water would be a serious risk. The man shows back up and I start yelling as loud as I could, which is LOUD and tell the man the kid is in the river. He finaly wakes up and runs to the river and no kidding here;
STOPS AT THE BANK, LOOKS AT THE CHILD AND ASKS "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?"!
I about came unglued but walked away. My daughter said it for me when she looked across the river and said "what a idiot!".
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