Man my 700's clutch broke into 2 pieces. I cannot use it this weekend, but at least I figured out the problem! My brother is going to have to ride out on the 500f Trapper. I dislike how tippy that thing is.

Ah man that drags... Compeaus are liking my buisness right now...Getting the 440lt all tuned up before season slows down. I am so used to the tippy sleds owning my second one i have around 14k miles total of tippy riding :-) Luck out there

Nice Yukon, my wife doesn't like driving it. But, its the most simple and reliable sled I have to be honest. That machine is bullet proof, that's why I still have it.

Well said. We have/had 4 in the family so far. Sold one. Parted out the other. Still running two around. Otherwise, hoping to head out in the next few days. Most likely monday. Family day tomorow. luck out there.

My brother and I set out about 11:30 AM, a rather late start in my book. For the first 20 miles the weather was cold but calm, the other half of the trip was windy and even colder. Each ride gets longer and longer due to the 10 miles of the bumpiest, most windblown terrain the almighty can put together.
We didn't see any new wolf sign's this time around, but we did see some new wolverine signs. I had some pretty good wolverine trapping last year with my bucket sets, but this year the wolverines that inhabit the trees don't seem to care much for buckets. Every trip out, there's at least 1 wolverine that passes up a bucket, so I think I'm going to come up with a way to make some natural looking cubbies before next weekend to outsmart these tree dwellers. We put out a few more sets for wolves, so hopefully the next time they make their circuit they come across at least a couple of them.
In the meantime, here's a few pics of how I like to make my wolf sets.

Here's a pic of the ideal location for a set. This is a narrow pass where the wolves are funneled through the bottom of the river bed. As you can see the snow accumulates on the left side of the pass, so I find a location on the right side where the wind has little resistance. Bare tundra is a good indicator that the wind is constantly blowing in that location.

I use my ice pick to chip away the tundra to recess my trap below the surface, and then underneath my trap I chip an anchor hole 4"x4"x 4" deep for the chain. I tie a couple of knots at the end of the chain, and place that in the anchor hole. Then you pack the anchor hole full of snow and pour some hot water into the hole, stomp it down and repeat the process until the "slushy" is plumb level with the surface.

After I finished anchoring the end of the chain, I break some willow twigs that are then placed underneath the trap to keep it from freezing to the tundra. The piece of hard crust snow will help aide with the hare trigger on this Helfrinch 750.

I like to make my sets where there is some hard crusted snow close by, ideally blocks that are about 3 inches thick work best. I like to make my blocks a couple of inches bigger then the hole I made in the ground for my trap.

This just shows the thickness of the square block after trimming it down. I like to trim about 1/2" at a time, first you stand the block up on one side, hold your blade parallel to the ground and trim as much as you can, then you flip the block on the other side and repeat the process on all 4 sides until it is 1" thick. This takes some practice, I found that the harder the snowdrift the better off you'll be.

I then place the block of snow over my trap, then carefully start trimming the snow with a large kitchen knife with a serrated edge. You want to get the basic shape first and then trim it down little by little until you cut it enough so it will drop into the hole over the trap.


After I trimmed my snow down, I use the small chunks of snow I trimmed off to fill in the small voids around the edge of the trap, then I get some fine snow to fill in the remaining cracks to make it look like a solid piece of snow. You want to use the blade of your knife to kinda pack the snow down so it freezes as one piece.

I like to get a few handfulls of moss and spread it over the snow to blend it in with the surroundings place your lure and hope a pack comes by.

In this pic here you can see the gut pile with a trap to the left of my brother, and a rock about 15' to the right with a trap. This my ideal 2 trap setup.

Thanks for taking the time to post!!! Your pic's and write up are awesome! That takes alot of skill to set up the way you do in those conditions. Hope to see a catch picture!

X2.

Thanks for the great pictures and description! That is an interesting way to make your sets! Pretty cool to see how much different you have to set up there!

Nice job with the pics and description. I think i can use your style of setting on the river and lakes early in the season when there is less snow. Good luck!

Thanks nunamiut those are great pictures. Maybe we'll see some of those in your wolf book someday .

By the way can ya put my name down for when your book is available. :-)

You know I thought I was finished with the book, then I had my wife proof read it, and Im missing a whole bunch of little details out that an experienced trapper may know, but not a beginner trapper. So, I'll have some time after our deadline is up at the end of this month to finish it up. We need to finish up our remaining clients list for the weatherization project here in our village if we we want to qualify for the grants again, its a lot of responsibility being a Foreman! Its like babysitting men all day, and orchestrating plumbers and electricians. Bear with me here people.

Thanks for sharing!

Nice post.

Good post, thanks for sharing

Wow sorry to hear about that clutch ! Broken in two, sounds like no repair there.

Nunamiut- I was re-reading your wolf info above. I noticed you wanted to get away from buckets for wolverine sets. A set i always wanted to try was to dig a hole in the riverbank especially @ intersections of creeks/sloughs/ and on beav houses. Drop bait in, set coni in opening. In your pictures is there places along the the valleys that stays wind blown all winter that ya can dig a hole and make a wolverine set. Be bout as natural ah set can be made. Jus have to dig the holes in the Fall time before it is frozen out. Or in your photos above. How about rock Cubby's?

Saturday Byron, Tony and I set off about 10 AM, which is a pretty late start. The plan was to catch a couple of caribou and check traps.
The first half of the trip is always a cake walk compared to the second half! We seen a few new wolf tracks along the way, but I didn't have any traps along that part of the trail. I'm really kickin' myself for slacking on making wolf sets up to this point! The collar bone feels fine, its time to set some steel for the last few weeks of the season! Its on now. I want to make at least 10 new wolf sets the next trip, my brother is up for the challenge also. This season is getting pretty expensive with the lack of production from just very few sets. 9 wolf sets in 40 miles sums it up pretty much!
For the wolverine sets, I'm getting a pretty good challenge from the qavvik. Trapping in the trees is different from the bare tundra Im used to trapping in. Snow keeps accumulating over my traps and wolverine's are stepping on my sets without breaking the snow. So far it has happened 3 times. Convincing the qavvik to stick his head in a bucket seems non existent! Im going to be setting some more foot hold sets with bait on a tree the next trip. Also, we tried a new set. Im not sure if this will work or not, so here goes nothing.

Im sure this is where a modified 330 with a step plate trigger would come in handy. We broke some branches and placed them so they extend over the trap to hopefully make the wolverine step into the trap rather then jumping over it.

Soon as we walked away these camp robbers took over the scene!

Byron enjoying the scenery.

Heres a pic of us cruising home.

Sunday
Well I went for a ride to hunt some caribou. Back in this valley I found wolf signs everywhere! In a couple of days I want to cruise back here and make some sets on the river bed. Now this trapping terrain I could relate to!

I managed to pick up a caribou and a fox today. The fox pulled up to me after I shot the caribou. For some reason the pic on my camera turned out completely white.

very nice and informative, thanks, you work hard, very hard .

I hope you connect with the wolverine!! And the wolves to!!!! Pretty country!!