Finally got it back!!!

My laugh for today....

Two guys are walking through the woods and come across this big deep hole.

"Wow...that looks deep." "Sure does... toss a few pebbles in there and see how deep it is."

They pick up a few pebbles and throw them in and wait... no noise.

"Jeeez. That is REALLY deep... here.. throw one of these great big rocks down there. Those should make a noise."

They pick up a couple football-sized rocks and toss them into the hole and wait... and wait. Nothing.

They look at each other in amazement. One gets a determined look on his face and says, "Hey...over here in the weeds, there's a railroad tie. Help me carry it over here. When we toss THAT sucker in, it's GOTTA make some noise."

The two drag the heavy tie over to the hole and heave it in. Not a sound comes from the hole.

Suddenly, out of the nearby woods, a goat appears, running like the wind. It rushes toward the two men, then right past them, running as fast as it's legs will carry it. Suddenly it leaps in the air and into the hole.

The two men are astonished with what they've just seen...

Then, out of the woods comes a farmer who spots the men and ambles over.

"Hey... you two guys seen my goat out here?"

"You bet we did! Craziest thing I ever seen! It came running like crazy and just jumped into this hole!"

"Nah", says the farmer, "That couldn't have been MY goat. My goat was chained to a railroad tie."

Strawberry finally kidded!

THE RULES OF RURAL AMERICA

Listen up City Slickers!

1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap right, your head isn't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? Rt. 80 goes east and west, I-75 goes north and south. Pick one.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $150,000 corn pickers and hay balers that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. So every person in Archer waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming in,we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah, we eat taters & gravy, beans & cornbread. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available, at the corner bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.


12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup..

13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.

14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.


15. We have a whole ton of folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best..

16. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers. Refer back to #1.

17. 4 inches isn't a blizzard - it's a flurry. Drive like you got some sense in it, and DON'T take all our bread, milk, and bleach from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska , worst case you may have to live a whole day without croissants. The pickups with snow blades will have you out the next day.

18. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. ... It's about learning to dance in the rain!

For a long summers nap....

Trapping season is over for the year....traps cannot be set again until October 22. The totals for the year are:

Otter 2
Skunk 4
Mink 5
Beaver 11
Raccoon 13
Muskrat 15
Porkey 6

Awesome!!

We caught ourselves a 2nd otter!!!! I am limited out, each trapper is only allowed two a year. There are only 15 allowed in the entire area. I was #11 and #13!! My trappers ed instructor also maxed out this year he was #10 and #14.



Took my hides to another sale... this year total we have made $297.00. Much better than last year. Here is all the beaver I caught except for the one I have being mounted.

WOOOOOHOOOOO!

I just had a very good day trapping I caught two beaver in foot hold traps, which by the way is on accident. They should be caught in conabears. One weighed 48lbs. and the other 40lbs. I thought I was having a pretty good day right then until I went to the end of the trap line. I had a 110 set up for a muskrat and I was pretty sure I would have one in it. When I walked up on it I saw that I had a muskrat or at least I thought it was a muskrat until I bent down to pick it up and then I saw that it was a BEAUTIFUL MINK!!!!!!!!!! I have been trying to catch a mink all season and they keep making me look like a dern fool and now the first one I catch is on accident!

I have never been so excited on the trap line except for when I caught the otter.

A different kind of Otter...

My brothers and I went to check our trap line and my dad decided to come along. We were on the second to the last set and we had a beaver set across the eddie. My dad looked up and said "you guys, caught something....it looks like a giant muskrat." When we were able to get up closer we could see that it was an otter. I was so excited, where I live there is a quota of 15 otter per year and only 2 per person. It is considered as awesome as a bobcat!




They are a mandatory report and tagged with a special tag. we were number eleven of the year. Another trapper I know caught number twelve the same day.



We also went to a fur sale on Saturday. We didn't take all our fur just 4 rats, 6 coons and 2 ounces of porcupine hair and we were able to make $165! It is good because someone also stole one of my $18 traps and I need to replace it.

Otter

I FINALLY got my bloodhound. I have been wanting one for about a year and a half now. I named him Otter because his webbed feet and his silver/grey back remind me of an otter. He is 3/4 bloodhound and 1/4 mastiff. Those coons better watch out when he gets a little bigger!

A Sticky Situation...

My brother David and I were out checking the trap line. We were at a beaver set and he looked across the eddie and there was a porcupine sitting in a tree. Since I was wearing hip waders I crossed down stream about a hundred yards and trudged through the snow to shoot him.


Porcupines are a great catch because they are hard to get, usually trappers even pick up the road kill ones to get the guard hairs. In fact I have done it myself. They sell for $30 an ounce.

Cold Weather, More Beaver

We caught another 50lb beaver, we are getting this one rug mounted. Last week we were filmed by Jarred Scott out doors and for that video we caught a 25lb coon.

This is another 35lb beaver....


We got more than a foot of snow at our place over night. Made a lot of work out on the trap line.

But it also made for some pretty pictures.