- Thread Starter
- #21
First check!
Well I was so excited to go check the traps for the first time as I have said. Was fortunate to have the ability to take the day off work yesterday and got up to get going. The weather had other plans, since we had gotten about six inches of fresh snow. So I spent the first two hours of the morning shoveling and running the snow blower to clear the driveway, walkways and sidewalk around my house. Took a shower and got going. Drive took what seemed like forever because of the roads. Thankfully they are logging out past where the traps are set so the single lane dirt road was plowed. Almost getting hit by four different loaded logging trucks ups the pucker factor driving around blind corners.
Waiting on a couple of logging trucks to come down a steep hill section.
About a mile or so from where the traps are set I saw a wolf in the road. Man was I excited!! He had a limp like he was hurt and was alone. My first thought seeing his limp and then finding a little blood in his track has that he had tripped one of the traps and gotten out?? I backed the truck to a wide section of the road, grabbed the rifle and took off thru the timber to try and follow him. Man these animals are smart and they are absolutely ghosts! He went downhill turned right thru some thick brush that I had to crawl thru. Then he turned back hard left and downhill again. So I circled out to the right and downhill to try and cut him off since I did not think he would cross the road again. I made it back down to the road without seeing tracks, so I walked back up the road about a 60 yards with no tracks coming out of the timber. I started back up hill thru the timber to try to find his tracks to see if he went back the opposite way he started. I made it all the way back to my starting point without cutting his tracks again?? I circled around him but was never able to see him again.
So I know that I am in the right area and thought seeing him was a great sign that I may have gotten something. Well no beginners luck this time, the traps where empty? The hike in was even harder this time since it had dropped about 12-14 inches of new snow. Thankfully I had remembered the snowshoes.
On the drive out I was searching harder for more sign of their travel areas. I saw tons of other game sign in the fresh snow so they still have plenty of reasons to stay in the area. About a half mile from where I saw the wolf on the way in I found where the rest of the pack had crossed the road. I picked out about five different prints with a couple being really big. I measured my hand from about where that print starts and ends. That print is about 8 inches long!!
Stay tuned. I will go back out Saturday, if there is nothing in the traps, I am going to relocate them to the trail that they where traveling.
And for my fans??
Well I was so excited to go check the traps for the first time as I have said. Was fortunate to have the ability to take the day off work yesterday and got up to get going. The weather had other plans, since we had gotten about six inches of fresh snow. So I spent the first two hours of the morning shoveling and running the snow blower to clear the driveway, walkways and sidewalk around my house. Took a shower and got going. Drive took what seemed like forever because of the roads. Thankfully they are logging out past where the traps are set so the single lane dirt road was plowed. Almost getting hit by four different loaded logging trucks ups the pucker factor driving around blind corners.
Waiting on a couple of logging trucks to come down a steep hill section.
About a mile or so from where the traps are set I saw a wolf in the road. Man was I excited!! He had a limp like he was hurt and was alone. My first thought seeing his limp and then finding a little blood in his track has that he had tripped one of the traps and gotten out?? I backed the truck to a wide section of the road, grabbed the rifle and took off thru the timber to try and follow him. Man these animals are smart and they are absolutely ghosts! He went downhill turned right thru some thick brush that I had to crawl thru. Then he turned back hard left and downhill again. So I circled out to the right and downhill to try and cut him off since I did not think he would cross the road again. I made it back down to the road without seeing tracks, so I walked back up the road about a 60 yards with no tracks coming out of the timber. I started back up hill thru the timber to try to find his tracks to see if he went back the opposite way he started. I made it all the way back to my starting point without cutting his tracks again?? I circled around him but was never able to see him again.
So I know that I am in the right area and thought seeing him was a great sign that I may have gotten something. Well no beginners luck this time, the traps where empty? The hike in was even harder this time since it had dropped about 12-14 inches of new snow. Thankfully I had remembered the snowshoes.
On the drive out I was searching harder for more sign of their travel areas. I saw tons of other game sign in the fresh snow so they still have plenty of reasons to stay in the area. About a half mile from where I saw the wolf on the way in I found where the rest of the pack had crossed the road. I picked out about five different prints with a couple being really big. I measured my hand from about where that print starts and ends. That print is about 8 inches long!!
Stay tuned. I will go back out Saturday, if there is nothing in the traps, I am going to relocate them to the trail that they where traveling.
And for my fans??