Jim, Its been warm here and the outlook for through mid November is above normal so maybe they want guys to hold off so the animals will get a get a thicker pelt. Took a drive yesterday to buy some traps and seen some recent roadkills and they look to be pelted out pretty fair but didn’t stop to take a look. It could be because of the pelts that are held over from last year, but the forecast on the web is that developing nations are again going to be buying garments that are trimmed in fur and few fur coats like last year, so thats good, the long term forecast for the next three years is the same, is it longterm speculation or based on fact I couldn’t find an answer.
Next week I’m going to be searching the river banks for the best densities for coon prints and making my pocket sets and putting out scent rags a few days before the traps go down.
Its all new to me Randy because the last time I trapped was 40 years ago and there wasn’t any coyotes around here, now their all over the place and its going to be a learning experience and I’ll probably be messaging you for your input. I did talk to a guy who traps coyotes and asked him about using coon carcasses for bait he said coyotes aren’t real fond of them because of the grease they have and are more fond of animals like rabbits and squirrels. He did say if you want eagles around where you can get close pictures of them to use the carcasses to bring them in, he said they really go for the fat when you shave the hide, especially during mid winter when everythings frozen up solid.
Thats what I’m going to be doing Jim is fencelines because I can drive, set and check them from the roads, no wolfs around here, I’ve heard of the occasional grey wolf in southern Iowa coming up from Missouri. Some of The smaller field creeks stay open longer and don’t ice up so quick so I’ll be setting for muskrats and mink too. Some of those little creeks have small pools before and after the culverts as the water goes under the roads and hold quite a few muskrats and mink, enough to make it worth setting a couple traps for. The chubs and mice that are in and around those little open pools makes it worth while to set for mink, mink are great swimmers and a small chub is a good meal for them, one or two of them a week and the mink do fine. Going to build a skinning shed sometime in the next week or so where I put my boat in. George the old boy whos ramp I’m using had an excavator come in last year to clean out a cut for his ramp because the high water two years ago brought in a bunch of sand so I’m going to leave my boat right there in the river. I’ve got drywall finishing jobs to do and the customers I’m going to do them for said they can wait until after ice up when I can’t trap from the river, so it should be a good winter.
