My '19-'20 Nevada Trapping Journal

[mevertsen]

Awesome!

 

[Nick87]

Happy New Years!!!!! Took this day off to check the sets I put out on Saturday and get the rest of the line out. Connected on a beautiful Tom!!!!! When I set on Saturday, I didn’t find much sign, but today I was able to find a few washes with a lot of sign so I got out pretty much all the traps I have. Also connected on 2 kit fox. Not a bad way to start the year!

That top left pic is awesome!

 

[MT Bound]

enjoying the read, you are doing some serious trapping, wow that's some animals.

What kind of lure are you using for the cats? if you don't mind me askin....
I assume the cotton or whatever that is by your sets is an attention getter for them?

 

[backcountry_sassn]

enjoying the read, you are doing some serious trapping, wow that's some animals.

What kind of lure are you using for the cats? if you don't mind me askin....
I assume the cotton or whatever that is by your sets is an attention getter for them?

Yep, the cotton is to get their attention. Can’t use feathers in Nevada. It’s considered bait and you can’t have exposed bait. For lure, there’s not one brand and name of lure that I prefer. I just like to have a call lure, curiosity lure, and a skunky call lure at each set.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Pulled one area so I can expand another area and out some prospect sets in an area I’ve been looking at. Looks like I made the right call. Caught a cat in the area I’m going to expand and caught nothing in the area I pulled

 

[backcountry_sassn]

I was able to get 27 of the 40 traps I pulled back out in a new area. Didn’t find a ton of sign, but the area looks real catty. I was able to find more sign in the area I already had traps out. Out the the 16 traps that were still out, we missed a coyote by an inch and connect on a beautiful grey fox. These greys really brighten up and fur up this last in the season. The other picture is a set i put in. No sign at this exact spot, but it looked way to good to pass up.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

No cats again this check but still beat the skunk with another beautiful grey fox.

 

[buckbull]

This post is great, always enjoy the trapping ones.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Once again the cats didn’t come out to play, but the grey fox did and finally a coyote. Our coyotes down here are normally flat and dark, but I guess we do have a few good ones around.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Still no bobcats. I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to get anymore this season. Even if I don't, this has been my season living down here. I've only had one check getting skunked, and have been pretty consistent on individual species. I also have a veriety of fur for the sale. More than I've had in a long time. I have bobcats, coyotes, grey fox, kit fox, muskrats, and now some badgers to add to the fur stack. Was very shocked when I found one in a cat set, and even more surprised when I found another one in a cat set. Those 2 plus a fox made for a fun night checking traps.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Here are the pics

 

[MT Bound]

What is the ave. length of the 'yotes on the stretcher? I shot a big male a few weeks back that stretched 48" nose to base of tail, from online search it appears that would be an 3X?

Would love to see a pic of all your fur tied up on the barn wall right before you sell, that's got to be impressive!

 

[backcountry_sassn]

What is the ave. length of the 'yotes on the stretcher? I shot a big male a few weeks back that stretched 48" nose to base of tail, from online search it appears that would be an 3X?

Would love to see a pic of all your fur tied up on the barn wall right before you sell, that's got to be impressive!

My smallest is 44” and the longest is 52” (the one i just caught.) My biggest ever was a 58” yote I trapped while going to school in Idaho. I was too long for the wire stretcher (it was before I switched to wood stretchers). 48 is a very good sized yote.

haha and I don’t have a barn so I’ll have to lay it out of the fake grass in my back yard haha. Im now a city boy.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Well today is one for the books. It’s been a bit slow for cats the last two and a half weeks. My longest dry spell for cats this season. Well today they made up for it. 3 bobcats in one day!!!!! Also picked up 2 grey fox and a bonus badger. Long night of skinning tonight.

 

[MT Bound]

wow what a day, congratulations! that last pic of the 'cat is awesome, one to frame for sure.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Our luck streak is still going. We had our mid week night check and were able to pick up a big grey fox and beautiful bobcat. She was a smaller bobcat but still has a nice belly. I talk about it a little at the end of my new semi live trapping video on YouTube, but I'm not a huge advocate for releasing bobcats for a number of reasons. First, there has been a lot of research on the use of catch poles when handling any cat. The studies have mainly been done on house cats for animal control, but a few states back east have done it on bobcats as well. The research shows that a majority of cats that are handled with catch poles end up not surviving even if it takes a few days. The reason is because cats have very sensitive brains, and blood that easily clots. The catch pole has a high chance of causing a hemorrhage. Even though the cat might seem fine when released, a few days later it can end up dying from the incident. This is why animal control uses tongs when handling cats. Another reason why I don't release them is because I'm on public land. If I release it and it survives, the next guy who catches it will most likely keep it or carelessly release it causing it to hemorrhage and die. But the main reason why I don't release them is for the research aspect. In Nevada we have to turn in the bottom jaw of the cat and attach a tag to it saying where it was trapped, when it was trapped, and the gender of the cat. They use the jaw to determine if its an adult or not. A cats lower canines will be hallow if the cat is under 2 years old. With all of this data, biologist can determine the recruitment success with bobcats. If trappers are catching more kittens than female adults, it means kittens are surviving, meaning the population is healthy and strong. If only adults are being caught, it means recruitment is down, which means populations will start going down as well. We do have to fill out a harvest report, but they can trust that only so much. Some trappers will flat our lie about it, and some might have a tough time determining if a cat is 2 or 3 years old. Nevada has no limit on the number of bobcats we can take in a season. To manage catch numbers they lengthen or shorten our season. So when catch rates are high, the ratio between females and males is good, and the ratio between kittens and females is good, we get a 4 month season. A few years back they shortened us to a 3 month season because the data was showing a downward trend. But after a couple years of good ratios, then lengthened it to 4 months again. So our biologist have proven that they do stick to the science when determining our cats seasons. Anyways, i hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

[mevertsen]

Pretty awesome.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

Just got home from a long day on the line. Pulled half my traps and moved them, then checked the rest. Got a little of everything today.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

So I’m behind two trap checks. The last check my cat streak ended but I still caught 2 fox and a badger. When I moved those traps last Saturday, I decided to move them further from the road to see if I could get some more size. I can tell the closer areas had been trapped because I’ve only been getting smaller cats. They tend to “fill in” the areas that have been trapped since its unclaimed territory. So moving further back should mean I’m trapping established territories which would have bigger cats. My theory was proven yesterday with a big female. Lately my cats have been around 36” on the stretcher (from the nose to the base of the tail). This female was 42-1/2”. Very big for a female. Now I just need her boyfriend.

 

[MT Bound]

.... Lately my cats have been around 36” on the stretcher (from the nose to the base of the tail). This female was 42-1/2”. Very big for a female. Now I just need her boyfriend.

Where do you buy your stretchers? I need to order some for coyotes I've gotten back into coyote hunting this year and am absolutely addicted. Also plan on putting out some bobcat sets next December.