Nov 29 - Dec 7, 2011 Wolves, Rain Gutters and Trapping begins, sort of...

What a week it's been. We had a family member become ill and we've spent most of the week away from home. So, we're a little short on photos. We believe that most people already know what a hospital looks like so why post pictures of ours?

We get a kick out of Scott and some of his facial expressions,  Here he's obviously quite intense about whatever it is he wants Susan to know.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the cat ... who is obviously very relaxed at the moment.

I got the correct parts for the Cherokee and finished replacing the ball joints and front axle U-joints.  Parts came to around $150.00.  No charge for the labor to install them.  (But then you get what you pay for!!!)

I headed out to the woods to make some bobcat sets and saw fresh wolf tracks.  I have my boot beside the tracks to get an idea of their size.  These are rubber bottom/leather top shoe "pacs" with the removable felt liners in size ten.  The tracks are approximately 5 inches wide.  There were at least two wolves.  It's kind of difficult to tell exactly because the wolves in back will step in the same track left by the wolf in front.  I had parallel trails in this instance so there were at least two of them.

This is one of the old skidder trails where I set some traps.  While I was making the first set the wolves began barking then howling.  One had a guttural bark compared to most dogs.  As near as I could tell they were abut 100 yards above me on the mountain side.

This is one bobcat set showing trap placement before I covered the trap.  These are number three double long-spring traps.  The bait is a chicken carcass.  I still needed to hang an "attractant" to get their attention.  I used feathers hanging by a string near the trail in this set.  I've also used old CDs.  The idea is to use a light string so that they'll move in the wind.  Cats are sight hunters.  They're attracted more to movement than scent.  

My first catch of the year ... a pack rat!  The bad thing is that I can't catch anything else in a trap that's already holding a non-target animal.  I had a lot of problems with opossums getting into my coon sets when I lived in Kansas until I discovered some sets that worked for coons and nothing else.

I learned that the best way to entertain Scott in the car was by letting him in the driver's seat.  He loves playing with the steering wheel.  In this instance the vehicle was parked in a parking space.  In a few years that may not be the case. 

We have one son who has a rain gutter business.  We get our gutters for free.  He just uses leftover material and forms them int he length we need.  The colors may not always match but we can live with that!