10 December 2010 Empty traps and rain

Been a busy week.  Most days are routine.  Around mid-morning I take off to checkmy traps.  I only have a half dozen sets since I do this line on snowshoes.  The snow (and weather) has been warmer the last few days so snowshoeing has it's problems.  When the snow is warm the snow gets stuck in the snowshoe webbing and the ends of the harness straps.  Soon every time you take a step you're getting hit by a golf to tennis ball size of ice.  Gets annoying after awhile.  Sometimes it will swing around and land under your foot when you take a step.  That gets annoying too.  If I can get it against a stick or tree trunk I hit it with the pole end of the hatchet to break it up.  Otherwise I have to take the shoes off to break it against something. 

This time of year we get most of our water by melting snow.  With dry snow that takes awhile.  We have one kettle on the wood stove most of the time and sometimes add another of equal size (5 gallons) when we're melting snow.  It works best if you leave about a gallon of water in the kettle then add snow until the kettle is full.  We let that melt and keep adding snow until we have a kettle full of water.  We bring it to a boil to purify it.  After that we pour it into the barrel that feeds the tank over the sink.  When we pour it into the barrel we filter it using a funnel and coffee filter (shown on previous posts).

This is how I put together some of the cubbies I use when setting traps for bobcats.  I start with an "A" frame, lean-to like you'd use for a debris shelter.  After making a "skeleton" I add branches over it then pile snow on it.  I usually tie the bait to the ridgepole before adding the framework.

The snow is piled on here and I'm ready to set the trap and feathers.

The trap is set slightly off-set in the entrance.  I put a trap cover made out of waxed paper over the pan and under the jaws to keep the jaws from freezing down and the snow from filing in under the pan.

After sifting snow over the trap (I use a snowshoe and let the snow sift through the webbing) I place guide sticks so the critter will place it's foot on the trap pan.  My biggest enemy is the weather.  A warm spell can turn the snow to ice and then an animal has to jump on the pan to trip the trap.  The cubbie helps keep new snow off the trap.  I tie some feathers to a string to provide a visual attractant.  I use a heavy thread so that the gentlest breeze will make the feathers move.  Ideally a cat coming by will see the movement then be drawn to the bait inside. 

This is one of my sets this morning.  I think I either had a small wolf or large coyote in it.  The tracks leading up to it were bigger than my dog's tracks but not as large as a full grown wolf.  Whatever it was it put up an epic struggle before it pulled out of the trap.  The photo only shows part of the damage.  To the left of the photo the ground was torn up like someone had used a roto-tiller on it.  The trap is a #3 double long spring which should have held a coyote but wouldn't be enough for a wolf.  I haven't seen any cat tracks there for over two weeks now so I was going to pull the traps and move to a new area tomorrow anyway.  I sure would have liked to see what was in the trap though.  What little bit of hair that was in the trap looked more like a wolf than a coyote.

This is some of the material Susan is using for the hot-pads she's selling after Christmas. 

This is a typical afternoon or evening.  Susan working on her sewing while I'm on the computer writing.

We have three rubber bowls we use to give water to the goat.  I'll stomp one full of snow and set it by the wood stove to melt.  When it melts I take it to the goat and fill the one he drank dry with snow and set it beside the stove to melt.  We use the third on for the dog and/or chickens.  The chickens seem to get enough water from the snow when they're eating the feed we scatter.  At least they never drink any of the water we set out in winter. 

Susan had a flashlight in her mouth to illuminate the music as she played.  The camera's flash overpowered the light from the flashlight.

We bought the ham but the eggs are some tat Susan dehydrated during the summer and the spuds are from the garden.

The biscuits are for supper and breakfast.  The pie is from peaches Susan canned.  In the center are peanut butter cookies fresh out of the oven and in the skillet on the right is our supper (stir fry).

Some of the icecycles hanging from the roof.

Susan spoiling our youngest grandchild this afternoon.

3 December, 2010 New addition...

Been a long time since I made my last post!!!!

It's been a busy week.  The newest addition to the "clan" was born the evening of November 27.  Susan spent several days in Kalispel while I stayed home to keep the critters fed and played in the snow.  The trapping season for bobcats, martin, fisher, and wolverine opened December first.  I spent the previous day out in the woods getting some cubbies ready. On the second Tristan was here a short while and helped me get the snowmobile trailer (with snowmobiles) out of it's parking place and in the drive where I can get them going again.  (He's been house sitting for a neighbor while they were out of state.)

I had to rake the snow off the storage shed and wood shed since it was accumulating too much heavy snow.  I bought the materials to make my own snow rake last year then we never got enough snow to use it.  I finished it up and used it to get the snow off the metal roofs.  It's a ten foot section of 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe with a  pipe thread adapter on one end screwed into a base plate whis is bolted to a 1/2 X 4 X 4 foot board.  I'll get some pictures tomorrow and post them.  It was a lot cheaper than those they were selling for $30.00 at the hardware store and works just as good.  It also took me awhile to get the snow blower going.  Mush longer than it usually takes.  I'll get some pictures taken of that as well.

The snow is anywhere from 6 inches to two feet deep in the woods so I use snowshoes when I go out in the woods.  I enjoy snowshoeing and love being out in the woods when everything is covered with snow.  This is my favorite time of year.  I've only got about 6 sets out at this time.  I'll get some more out as I go but for now that's enough.  The total trail length is about 4 miles round trip.  I need to get my endurance up a bit before I extend it much farther.

The icicles hanging from their faces didn't come out as well as I had hoped here.

The snow has been pretty warm which makes snowshoeing a bit of a chore.

  WWhen the snow's warm it gets packed into snow and ice balls under your feet.  It feels like you're walking on slick rocks.  I sometimes had to take the shoes off every hundred yards to get the packed snow knocked off. 

I took the sled with me and had my short axe (Estwing), machete and bow saw with me in addition to traps and bait.  It was a long day on the trail because of all the downed trees I had to cut out of the way.  This is a short section where it was really bad.  It's an old skidder trail west of our cabin on timber company land.

One of the long straight stretches I go down.  This is a nice logging road that's gated off so I have it to myself.

Haven't seen any bobcat tracks yet but the only make the loop about every 7 to 10 days so it might not be time for them to come through yet.  I saw tracks from a pair of coyotes this morning.

The newest grandchild home from the hospital and dressed in the official state (Montana) color.  Susan stayed down there a few days to help them get settled in.

22 November 2010 Hunting success ...

The weather's been a bit on the cold side the last few days so I've been a  little negligent about getting out to hunt.  (Got some writig done though.)  It was -6F today but the wind was calm so I headed out into the woods again to see about filling my deer tag.  I saw three does in the first loop but does aren't in season this year (of course most of the deer I've seen are does.  I've seen two bucks since the start of the season and probably about 25 does or fawns.  I didn't have my rifle with me when I saw one buck (I was coming back from checking traps) and didn't get a shot at another one as he ran through the woods. 

I got one today but it had some challenges too.  I had four misfires before I got a round to go off.  The only thing I can think of is that the gun oil thickened enough in the below zero air that the firing pin wasn't striking the primers hard enough.  Every time the buck would take off I'd give a couple of grunts on the grunt tube and the dumb fool would circle back around.  He did it one too many times and is now hanging in the shed.  It was about a fifty yard shot in the woods.  I had to shoot between trees to put the bullet where I wanted it.  I always shoot for the heart on deer as that ruins the least meat.  (A real consideration when you're shooting a 338 Win. Mag.)  He still went about fifty yards before piling up dead.  He was spraying blood and pieces of lung and heart all the way and bounced off a couple of trees there towards the end.  I've never had one go that far after a heart shot.

Tristan, our youngest son, went hunting with friends and got a spike buck today also so we'll be firing up the canners.  I didn't get mine skinned today so it will be frozen tomorrow and a real pain to get the hide off it.  Both bucks were in prime condition with plenty of fat on them.

Tristan's deer.  I guess we can't tease him about his becoming a vegetarian now that he brought some meat home!

I got this one about an hour later.  It was west of the house on timber company land.  It was a real chore getting it home.  We had to drag it through the woods quite a ways.

Me, after a couple of hours outside on a day when the high was +4F.  The wool coat I modified is great!

21 November, 2010 Cold and more snow...

The snow keeps coming down although the total accumulations aren't much.  We've had a cold front move in so the last couple of days the temperature has been about 20 degrees (f) for the high and it's been down to around 6 degrees in the mornings.  It's supposed to keep getting colder the first part of the week and warm up into the 30's by the weekend.  (That's as of last night's forecast.)

Every morning (and sometimes during the day if it's snowing heavily) we go out and brush the snow off the solar panels.  We use a soft bristle broom with a handle extension.

The garden blanketed in snow.

The unused hammock...

The marsh in winter.

You know how some people always have it together and get things done ahead of time?  They aren't talking about me.  First snow of the year?  It's time to put the snow tires on.

This is my Harbor Frieght Tools tire mount/dismount tool I bought a coulple of years ago.  Here I'm breaking the bead loose.

You roll the tire off the rim one side at a time then reverse the procedure to put the new tire on.  It's usually pretty simple and the tool works good for tires up to fifteen inch.

I seated the bead and inflated the tire in the wheel barrow to keep it out of the snow.  Next I'll put it on the car and go to the next one.  I was going to replace the front drive axle U-joints but when I got the front tires off I found out the ball joints are beginning to get loose too.  Since I have to disassemble the front end almost to the same point to put ball joints in as to replace the front U-joints I decided to to do them both later.  I think I can use our son's heated shop and do it there.  He has my ball joint press at his house too.

We took the time indoors to do a few projects.  Here I'm repairing some wool pants I use when tromping around in the snow.

We bought a couple of used wool coats at the thrift store last time we were in Kalispell. I didn't like either one by themselves so I bought them both and am making one coat out of the two.  When I'm finished I'll have a decent wool coat for less than $15.00.

Susan is making soem things to sell at the Christmas Bazaar in Eureka.  Our son had his generator running so she took advantage of the electricity to do some sewing.

The two pictures above are some of the things she's making to sell.  She has some other, nonChristmas,

 material she's going to be using also. 

The buffalo still think they should be fed as do the chickens, cat, dog and goat.

Susan is emptying the last rain collection (half) barrel.  It will be dumped in the kettle and boiled then added to the dish/wash water.

When we have snow we melt it on the wood stove for water.  

After the snow water is brought to a boil we pour it from the kettle to the storage barrel.

We use a coffee filter to filter out the debris.  No matter how clean the snow looks there'll still be bits of lichen and moss from the trees and often a little soot from the chimney.  The funnel is for canning and has an extension at the bottom.  We sandwich a coffee filter between the tow halves.  If you put it off center you can get several uses out of one filter.  Simply rotate the filter to a clean spot for each use.

And of course, cold weather and snow is also gives you a good excuse to relax and do some reading.

17 November, 2010 Snow!!!!

Finally got enough snow to conver the ground well.  I've been out hunting much of the day for the last couple of days.  I've seen does but only one buck and he was going full speed away from me.  I carry a grunt tube and if I blew it he would have stopped but the trees were pretty thick and I thought he might have a bunch of them between us when he stopped.  There was a clearing ahead I thought he'd cros so I took out after him but he turned before the clearing and I never caught up with him again for a shot.  If you give a quick call on a grunt tube when you jump a deer it will stop for a few seconds.  The problem is that it only works once so if they stop with a tree (or trees) between you then start moving off again they won't stop again if you blow the call.  This was a decent buck and I didn't want to educate him when the chances of geting a shot were slim even if he did stop.

The view from our window this morning.  There's between 1-2 inches of snow on the ground.  When I went out hunting today I took a break to build a fire.  Not so much to get warm as it was for practice reasons.  The snow has everything wet so I had to shave the outer part of some sticks to get to dry wood then I made a pile of shavings for tinder to get the fire hot enough to dry the wood as it was put on.

I'm assuming that this is some type of fungi on this dead Birch limb.

Ran across some tracks in the now that I believe are fox tracks.  I haven't got my books out to check though.  They are much smaller than coyote tracks but the claws are clearly visible so that rules out anything in the cat family.  There were two of them travelling together.

A closer view.

Bobcat track.  The trapping season for bobcats opens Dec. first.

I ordered more stretchers and traps last week and here they are.  That's $100.00 in that box.

We've been dehydrating tomatoes as they ripen.  The first pan was in the last blog a few days ago.  I took the bottom photo just before posting today.

The spaghetti squash by the blue plate is left over from last year's harvest.  Susan found three more of them recently.  It's still good even though it's been stored for over a year now.  The squash chunks will be boiled.  When they're done Susan will cut the skin away and can or dry the squash for later use.

Seeds from the squash.  We saved some for planting next year and will roast the rest of them for snacks.

Susan is threshing wheat by hand in front of the wood stove.

We bought some cooking oil on sale so we'll preserve it for long term storage.  Susan vacuum packed the bottle after we wapped it with old newspaper to keep light out.

We're doing the same thing here only the bottles are smaller.

The oil was put in the bucket with some other things for storage.  We've never stored cooking oil this way before so we'll open one of the bottles in a year to see if it has gone rancid.

When the weather is bad outside we often wash clothes in a five gallon bucket in teh shower.

I'm sewing a tear in my internal frame back pack

I get my exercise outside trapping and hunting in inclement weather.  Susan uses her stair stepper to keep in shape over the winter.