Any interest in trapping?

[TnRiver46]

24 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

Seemed the worst time of it was when skunks seemed to have a territorial dispute going on. At least that's what I was guessing it was. Do you think this is a possibility? One guy had a particularly bad time of it. Seemed his house was worth fighting over. The whole area around his house stunk. He said it had happened before and asked if I was interested in removing them. I said, No. That I was working on a raccoon study and was avoiding skunks if at all possible. 

What happens in late winter here is a female will get under a house, or shed, or concrete slab. She’s under there in eustress and males will come from all around to breed with her. You can usually set a trap near the mouth of the burrow and catch 10-12 males and you may never catch the female. If you do catch her, you seem to have to catch all the males first. All of this is somewhat specific to late winter, basically any cold time after new year. I assume they also have many territorial disputes, just guessing since they are everywhere and have such successful litters 

[TnRiver46]

@Paul Roberts, that territorial dispute thing you mentioned came to mind while I was setting traps today. I used to rent a log cabin that was just propped up on stacked stones, anything that wanted to could walk under the floors. One night in early sept we were sitting down to watch the first NFL game of the season and heard some kind of high pitched screeching noise. Within 2-3 minutes the whole place reeked of skunk and we went to go watch the game at a sports bar haha. This must have been something like you were describing because it was about as far from breeding season as possible . Skunk fights are always better when they don’t occur under your floor boards !

[Paul Roberts]

Thought I'd share my latest trapping adventures...

HUGE mouse/rodent year. No idea why (and that doesn't set well with me ?). Foxes were low, though, with few dens and pups seen this year. That could be part of it. Not sure about the owls, hawks, weasels, etc up here. Regardless, the chipmunks returned this summer, after many years. Odd thing about the chipmunks is they disappeared before the big local wildfire here in 2010. I assumed it was a disease running through. Anyway, they were back this past summer after a decade of absence! Happy to have them back.

 

Big fire year this fall too (2020), but locally we were spared. What we were not spared was the dense smoke from all the distant and not-so-distant  fires. Wild fire smoke is toxic, and we've all been suffering some respiratory issues since. Can't really escape it either, although N95 masks helped. What this smoke appears to have done is wipe out huge numbers of birds -canaries in the coal-mine apparently. Estimates are 100s of thousands to a million have died.

 

Our bird feeders have seen much fewer visitors this winter. It's downright eerie. The scariest thing has been the loss of juncos. We have 5 varieties that flock together and are the most abundant birds here. But this winter -not a one. Not a single junco. They are ground feeders and mop up all the seed that falls to the ground. This winter, the seeds are just piling up on the ground, uneaten. It's sad and scary.

 

I'm sure they'll come back, but there's another fire season coming. It's getting scary. Fires last summer and fall were unprecedented. One fire, due to 1000's of acres of dead trees due to an enormous beetle outbreak, drought, and big winds, ate 100,000acres in 24hrs! WT...???

 

Big sigh... Apologies for the digression. But when I wonder about the rodent populations here, I can't not help but think about the fires. Apparently, it's not just rodents that get hit. Radio-tagged elk were found to evade the hot zones in one fire, but still stayed in their home ranges.

 

So... BIG rodent year. My wife took over half "my" shop for a yoga/exercise studio. She wanted to carpet, so we compromised: We can carpet with low pile foam squares, but may have to put up with some wood and metal dust. I never have trapped mice in there, bc they aren't a problem. But, for her uses of the space, they had to go. And as I posted... well above now... it's lethal snap-traps all the way. Here's the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd nights catches! Now, a couple months later, it's one or two a week.

 

These are P. maniculatus (deer mouse). You can tell by the strongly bi-colored tail. Their look-alike, P. leucopus (white-footed), has a less marked tail. They are very different in habits though. I got to see this years ago  in a mammalogy class field trip in which we live-trapped a whole range of mammals. We then put these look-alike mice into a gallon zip-lock with UV-active dust, and... shake em up to coat the mice. Then release them in the dark of night, wait a half hour, then track them with a black light. The deer mice would stay on the ground running under fallen branches and the edge of logs, being entirely ground oriented. The white-foot's, being arboreal, ran the tops of logs and branches, and soon climbed a tree, until the glowing trail was out of sight in the canopy. Very cool to see.

 

OK, I guess that's story time for today.

 

13 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Paul Roberts, that territorial dispute thing you mentioned came to mind while I was setting traps today. I used to rent a log cabin that was just propped up on stacked stones, anything that wanted to could walk under the floors. One night in early sept we were sitting down to watch the first NFL game of the season and heard some kind of high pitched screeching noise. Within 2-3 minutes the whole place reeked of skunk and we went to go watch the game at a sports bar haha. This must have been something like you were describing because it was about as far from breeding season as possible . Skunk fights are always better when they don’t occur under your floor boards !

:))

 

As I remember it, the event I described was in fairly warm weather. There was no snow then. But I really don't remember the time of year. Setting traps outside to remove the parade of males is a great idea. Would have told him if I'd known.

[TnRiver46]

It’s funny because suppression of fires is the problem here, many bird species rely on a high frequency of disturbance and those are the only wildlife lacking in our area because humans have suppressed fire over the years. Every bit of open land is fescue and useless for anything but cows and normal backyard birds . 
 

you probably already know this but your bird feeder is most likely what’s feeding your mice. A bird feeder is the number one source of business for me 

[Paul Roberts]

Both fire suppression and excessively intense fires can both be bad news, and both often come together. That's been the case here, at least in the populated areas. Wilderness fires are let burn, but monitored. The incredible fires this past season were due to very dry conditions with intense winds. Pray for rain. But not too much! That's the other side of it here.  We've learned that those awesome canyons did not take "thousands" of years to form. Instead it was the "500" and "1000"yr floods that did the work! 

 

Yes, with the juncos gone there's more for the mice. But we feed birds every winter though. We've never had this many mice. Interesting thing is that even people living a canyon or two over are reporting the same thing. Seems to be a pretty widespread thing. Dunno what to make of it. We have a lot of predator species here. Can't imagine anythings hit them all. Unless it's the lack of species that take the most mice, like foxes and owls perhaps. We had no new fox litters that I've been aware of this past year. And, I've heard fewer owls this breeding season so far, Jan/Feb. Best guess there.

[roadwarrior]

Do you guys have a recommendation for someone that can make a coon or skunk hat?

I would like to buy both. Something like this on the right:

https://www.google.com/search?q=russian+fur+hat&rlz=1CAWPBA_enUS936&sxsrf=ALeKk01B48GA-Qoj67VexXv-hHL5Vtz0cA:1613431630623&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=UIzuKWUgbp20GM%2CraH8Ji4rWqgkBM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRneNKsHCUVe5RLpACn8HNt7QAHbg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKqNmZhe3uAhUEA6wKHVxrBEoQ_h0wAHoECAUQAw&biw=1366&bih=617#imgrc=EzChPzyVXpvRAM

[TnRiver46]

We have some of each ! I have pictures somewhere haha

[TnRiver46]

Got one this morning @Paul Roberts, should have another across town. I got a picture for you but it’s the wrong end of the skunk! Haha

 

@roadwarrior, here’s the skunk hats and a coyote hat. I’ll ask my boss who makes them, we just send the fur 

[roadwarrior]

Thank you!

[J Francho]

[TnRiver46]

just caught this, what can you make with it?? Not soup ........

 

maybe drop shot it with a nose hook? 

[roadwarrior]

I feed song birds, a flock of crows, two feral cats, two HUGE raccoons and a opossum.

My house is in the middle of a residential neighborhood, but close to forest, swamps,

ponds and the Wolf River. We have deer, coyotes, rabbits and snakes, too. Sometimes 

it seems I live in the country.  

 

Your possum is cute! Do you relocate or dispose of the critters?

[TnRiver46]

It depends on the laws. I’m not allowed to relocate skunks and I’m “encouraged” not to relocate raccoons. Possum squirrels and groundhogs we just take far away from where they were causing trouble and let them go. Sometimes you have to use lethal traps just to catch the critter like otters and beavers . We could legally release anything until 2005 when we were placed into the “rabies surveillance zone”

[J Francho]

They put cameras in my local pub too.

[Paul Roberts]

Do you mean kindof like this?

Funny how, whenever men put on fur hats or cowboy hats, they git them slitty "I's"! What is that? I notice the models wearing them in photos sometimes don't. Wusses?? Is this a real man thing?

This one's beaver. My wife gave it to me for xmas one year, for me to hunt in. But I don't wear it hunting; Too close to elk-colored. Nothing is warmer than these fur hats with the fold-down rim and ear flaps, though, called a Trapper or Trooper hat. Nothing. My wife has a synthetic fur one that she loves. But it's not as warm as the real thing. 

 

This is Derik, a neighbor up the mountain a ways who my wife bought the hat from. He's a blacksmith with no findable address, no phone, but does have an email account he checks whenever he comes into town. He can be found at various rendezvous' though. One of his claims to fame was to take-on challengers in a bare-knuckle contest. If you could make him bleed, you won. Proceeds went to a kids charity. Despite the rough exterior, and "them squinty I's", Derik is a sweet guy. Truly. Wish him well always.

Here's the maker Derik gets his leather and fur goods from. They aren't cheap but are very well made:

South Fork Traders

Terry Conn is the maker of historical leather and fur goods.

Please contact Terry at 970-484-6668

 

On 2/16/2021 at 6:01 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Got one this morning @Paul Roberts, should have another across town. I got a picture for you but it’s the wrong end of the skunk! Haha

Yes, I know that end! :)) With a clearer view it's a pink pucker with two little spouts that extend out... towards your eyes!

[TnRiver46]

Ok since @Paul Roberts put himself out there I guess I have to also

 

^coyote

^beaver

 

i fully expect these photos to be archived and used for blackmail or general ridicule so feel free 

[Smells like fish]

@MN Fisher that needs to be your avatar!!!!

[MN Fisher]

Just now, Smells like fish said:

@MN Fisher that needs to be your avatar!!!!

Thanks, but I like the 4# bass I got going on now.

[Paul Roberts]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Ok since @Paul Roberts put himself out there I guess I have to also

...

i fully expect these photos to be archived and used for blackmail or general ridicule so feel free 

Yeah, only Derik seems to be able to get away with it without potential ridicule.

 

Now, look in the mirror, put the hat on, and try not to make 'squinty eyes'! It's not possible.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

Yeah, only Derik seems to be able to get away with it without potential ridicule.

 

Now, look in the mirror, put the hat on, and try not to make 'squinty eyes'! It's not possible.

[TnRiver46]

One down 3 to go 

[TnRiver46]

Grainy work phone pic .

[TnRiver46]

They keep ripping the tarps off my traps 

[gim]

Any idea what a wolf pelt might be worth?  Wisconsin just had a 3 day wolf season last week and they had to close it down early because they exceeded their quota so quickly.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Any idea what a wolf pelt might be worth?  Wisconsin just had a 3 day wolf season last week and they had to close it down early because they exceeded their quota so quickly.

I would think a lot! I haven’t ever seen one so I can’t say for sure but some nice coyote and bobcat get over $100. I would imagine one without too bad of a bullet hole would be more like $500