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Post by 4fur on Mar 28, 2011 23:27:04 GMT -6
Had a nice visit with Rat Boy tonight when he spent the night in town on his way to the marshes and pot holes of SD. It had started snowing pretty hard when he showed me his set up and my camera didn't like the snow so I only managed a couple pictures... I gave him an ear of corn for good luck so I'm pretty sure he will come home with at least one 'rat other than the road kills he picks up lol... Actually, he looked well prepared and I bet he does great! Good luck and keep us posted, Kelly!
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Post by braveheart on Mar 29, 2011 5:31:12 GMT -6
Wish I could have went.I had 7 people from the East Coast that took off to go to S.D this week also.I will be full house up there.But it still will be a lot more fun than work.Get em Kelly
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Post by minnow on Mar 29, 2011 8:09:27 GMT -6
Talked to Kelly yesterday when he was passing threw. He was pump up about trapping some SD rats 4 sure.
He said he was armed with rat floats & traps!
Have Fun Kelly
Braveheart, That would be a good cure for Spring Rat Trapping
4fur, Ear of corn for Good Luck, LOL thats the best!
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Post by dspree on Mar 29, 2011 10:45:39 GMT -6
Sounds like a lot of fun.
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Post by ~ADC~ on Mar 29, 2011 11:12:50 GMT -6
How many B&L's were in that trailer Wayne? I hope he saves both the rat glands for me from the one he brings home. lol ~ADC~
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Post by tjk on Mar 29, 2011 17:05:31 GMT -6
Lots of snow up there yet not to mention the ice covering most of the waters.Hope he brought a ice fishing pole to keep him occupied until it thaws.Hope he times it right and has lots of luck.Sounds like a good time to me.
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Post by Kelly on Mar 29, 2011 21:18:18 GMT -6
Arrived here at 2:30 this afternoon-spent a couple hours getting situated. Then took a drive and managed to get 12 floats set before dark. On the way back to the motel drove by one of the floats I had set an hour earlier to find my first SD rat bobbing for air. Sharp rap on the nose, grab behind head and pull on the tail and he was lights out. Whoohee At least I won't be skunked. Yep lots of guys here already-ran into Fossil2(Tim Sawatsky) and his son today-they had quite a few rats in back of their truck-my guess was near 50-they run a huge line. Ron Hauser is supposed to show up here tomorrow and another guy from MN is here too so there will be lots of competition. Not very much open water here right now-only go to 32 today but forecast for the weekend and next week are looking good. When we get more open water there will be rats galore caught by all of us. Hope to get the rest of my 80 floats set tomorrow if I can find enough open water.
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Post by Kelly on Mar 29, 2011 21:21:36 GMT -6
How many B&L's were in that trailer Wayne? ~ADC~ None ADC-in the trailer that is but there were some in the truck ;D along with a bunch of pinch pans.
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Post by 4fur on Mar 30, 2011 8:05:01 GMT -6
Obviously you used the ear of corn I gave you to catch the rat. Now what? I'd try squirting some of that 5 gallons of Marty's rat lure on your truck tires. Just apply to the rear tires and make sure you wash it off before you drive back through Iowa! Good job, Kelly and keep us posted! PS: Any banjo playing boys at your motel??
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Post by justwannano on Mar 30, 2011 8:32:33 GMT -6
Hey Kelly Is Sawatsky using mostly floats too ? good luck just
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Post by x-demoman on Mar 30, 2011 10:18:05 GMT -6
Good luck Kelly. If ya see Ron Hauser tell him hi for me. Haven't talked to him in awhile.
Gene
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Doug
Active Trap Talker
Posts: 65
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Post by Doug on Mar 30, 2011 17:42:48 GMT -6
sounds like a blast. I hope you catch a bunch!
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Post by Kelly on Mar 30, 2011 21:28:19 GMT -6
Hey Kelly Is Sawatsky using mostly floats too ? good luck just Yep, 3-400 of them over a huge area.
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Post by Kelly on Mar 30, 2011 21:34:10 GMT -6
It is really tough right now when there is so little open water-some spots have 4-7 floats in a sliver of water-I just drive by them waiting till more water opens up then there will be room. Woould say that 75% of roadside water is still locked up with ice. Supposed to rain tomorrow but then 6-7 days of 40's but still freezing at night.
Woke up to 25 degrees and several floats were froze in but did manage 18 rats today out of 12 floats(5 doubles) but that includes a couple rechecks this evening on the way back to motel. Set another 21 locations today-even some regular rat sets when there is deep water next to bank and have been setting up some creeks that I come to. Rats are looking good except one that had some bite marks in throat area and between front legs. Had two floats that got water logged so switched them out-some of my wood was kind of punky anyway.
Rats are drying on the floor of trailer with fan blowing on them. I'll skin/stretch these tomorrow=then dry tomorrows catch, etc. Too dang cold this morning checking to take pictures but I will take some. Really quite the circumstances up here-every place there is water there are rat huts/rats. Quite amazing and the majority of places are on private land so won't get trapped-they will replentish the roadside sloughs/potholes.
Gene; When I see Ron Hauser I'll say hi for you.
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Post by steven49er on Mar 30, 2011 21:50:04 GMT -6
Go get em kelly and if you see tim again tell him i said hi.
I am not a hundred percent sure where you are at but drive south, you'll find open water.
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Post by LLLTrapper on Mar 31, 2011 5:35:12 GMT -6
Wish I had went. LLL
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Post by x-demoman on Mar 31, 2011 19:42:11 GMT -6
Thanks Kelly. Need to give the ol gizzer a call.
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Post by Kelly on Mar 31, 2011 23:33:05 GMT -6
38 rats today, had one float/traps and stake stolen plus 4 traps reset on my floats not the way I placed them plus the pans were set real high so probably had 4-5 more rats. There is a local guy that had a couple floats across the road from where the traps were reset and the stolen float was just down the road where he did not have any sets. Plus Tim Sawatsky is having problems too with the same guy. If it continues tomorrow will call the warden. I mean there are so many rats up here that no one needs to resort to this but his methods are not working-never see any traps missing from his floats,which are poorly designed/constructed. Guess he is just frustrated because NR catch a lot of rats. All he needs to do is mimic our floats/sets and he'll catch lots of rats too. Have 69 floats set plus a handful of regular rat sets. Hoping for a big day tomorrow.
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Post by arcman on Apr 1, 2011 0:10:08 GMT -6
Kelly, Are you bringing your rats back to Iowa? Or are you selling them up there in SD? If you bring rats in from out of state do you still have to have a permit to hold from Iowa DNR?
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Post by braveheart on Apr 1, 2011 4:37:32 GMT -6
Good Job Kelly :)I guess I will go to work and wish I could play ratman too.
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Post by Kelly on Apr 2, 2011 23:04:51 GMT -6
Sorry for not updating yesterday but was totally exhausted after skinning till 1:30 AM and 12:30 the night before, yet was still behind 72 rats for skinning so have now decided to put the rats in freezers-when full then sell on the carcass.
Yesterday's total was 84 rats and one 10" Northern Pike that tried to get through the 1x2 wire door but got stuck. Should have took a picture of that but didn't think of it. In the other end were 3 rats. Then today that same colony had a 22" Northern in it as he had moved it over 5 feet. Yesterday had a rat caught by the head on one end of float and another rat in the other trap.
Today I had a rat caught in both traps and on another float had one rat caught normal(interestly seems about 50-50 front feet to hind feet catch) and the other rat caugh midway on his tail. 85 rats today.
More water is opening up everyday-most of the smaller sloughs-say 5-50 acres have black ice so tha twill go in next day or so. The BIG water-lakes-still have lots of white ice and there is still quite a bit of snow around although with rain coming Monday that will all go then.
Have purposely not set any more traps or moved to more productive water because I've had the mindset of skinning and really couldn't keep up. But today with the help of my good friends Wayne and Tim and their Pep Talk I've decided to switch gears and sell on the carcass. Now I can expand and catch more rats. Only wish I had another 50 floats-they are deadly with Marty's lure! ;D
I have taken some pictures but don't have the download program on my laptop so you'll have to wait till I get back home. See you tomorrow!
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Post by Austin K on Apr 2, 2011 23:25:36 GMT -6
Nice work!!! looking forward to see some pictures!
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Post by LLLTrapper on Apr 3, 2011 6:38:38 GMT -6
Great job Kelly. With so limited time to catch good rats I think you are going to go over 100 daily when you can use the time to catch more and maybe get a little more sleep you will definately catch more. I heard the price was good on carcuss rats and when the ice goes out ahd they start chewing on each other I bet they drop the price. Sounds to me you got excellent advice from Wayne but that don't surprise me either. I have him on speed dial right next to the wife. ;D Have fun and be careful LLL
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Post by 4fur on Apr 3, 2011 19:02:41 GMT -6
Sounds to me you got excellent advice from Wayne but that don't surprise me either. So the extra strength tampons must have worked, huh? ;D Glad to hear you got a second wind!
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Post by Kelly on Apr 3, 2011 21:54:13 GMT -6
Check day #5
Well if you can count day one with only 12 floats out and 18 rats. 95 rats today-wow was I surprised as it was a horrible day weather wise. Windy like crazy, many floats tipped over, also many starting to sink so I pulled all of those. Will go to lumber yard in the morning to get some foam and a drill bit so I can stake in the middle, which will prevent the turning over.
So this is another reason for center staking these floats. With the foam to prevent sinking and stake in middle I can pile some grass in center-that leaves only the ends for the rat to climb on and I'll position the traps closer to the pile. Right now I've quit piling grass in the middle cause it gets wet and then helps sink the float.
The day started out really slowly but then about 1/3 into the line the catches came pretty regular. Even most of the overturned floats had at least one rat and several of the sunken ones had a rat too. My regular rat set-when I have the bank to make them-rarely miss. One praticular location-two resting spots-1 one each side of culvert has doubled now 4 checks in a row and I scared rat off of the bank again today. Tomorrow am going to double up each side of culvert cause the rats keep coming for a slough downstream.
One spot today has 5 floats at it-two are mine- and every trap was off the floats. I had 4 rats and suspect the others were full too. Think I've caught at least 8-9 there and it is not that big-maybe ten acres of cattails and houses-will count houses tomorrow.
More water opening everyday but forecast is for cold tonight-maybe snow-then very windy again tomorrow and cold again tomorrow night. Then Sunny and 50's for 6 days and above freezing at night. So fixing my floats and making another 20 will give me 100 floats. Then I should be able to do 100+ every check thereafter. I have 320 total, expect maybe 50-60 tomorrow partly because of all the floats-maybe 20-25-picked up. Then if I get all my originals back working should do 100 Tuesday. Buyer comes Tuesday night which is good as I'll be pretty close to freezers full.
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Post by 4fur on Apr 3, 2011 22:42:03 GMT -6
You are rolling with the punches and improvising. Great job! But this thread needs PICTURES! I tried to post a couple pictures of your floats that you e-mailed me but no-can-do. PLEASE remember to take some pictures of your motel including 'rats drying on your topper and your float construction/repair project in the parking lot. Also get some shots of the other guests and the owners/employees and their facial expressions of approval/disapproval. Don't forget a barn shot before the sale on Tuesday! Good luck tomorrow and keep us posted!
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Post by Scott W. on Apr 4, 2011 4:24:35 GMT -6
Thanks for keeping us posted . This is interesting!
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Post by trapping24 on Apr 4, 2011 10:31:00 GMT -6
Keep it up!!!
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Post by 4fur on Apr 4, 2011 19:30:56 GMT -6
The wind was horrible here today. I can't imagine trapping with floats. I bet I ate 5 pounds of dust and got another 5# in my eyes! It was really tough walking into the wind sometimes in my waders. Did the wind go down up there Kelly?
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Post by Kelly on Apr 4, 2011 23:23:22 GMT -6
Still was windy today but not as bad. I do have pictures but can't post from here and haven;t had time for any picture taking the past couple days. When all floats are working agin I'll take pictures but you'll all have to wait till I get back home to see them. Sorry!
77 today-total 397-not bad considering missing the 20+ floats I pulled yesterday for repair. Re-set them and pulled another 25+ which are ready to go tomorrow. Checked some of the repaired floats tonight on the way back home and all had at least one rat-some two.
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