The First Winter

A natural optimist, I still felt a sliver of doubt as I watched our truck head south down the rough mining road. That departure will forever be etched in my memory. It was October 2nd1996, and a close friend had agreed to take our truck back to town before the mining road became impassable with winter snow. We wouldn’t see another soul until March. My wife and I and our three kids were about to spend our first winter on our new Yukon trapline, deep in the Yukon wilderness.

Both my wife and I are very independent people. We married young and moved to the Yukon Territory shortly afterward. With the closest family more than 1000 miles away, we learned to fend for ourselves early on. We had been trapping since we were kids, but what we were about to do was completely different.

We had spent the previous summer building a large two-story frame cabin. The tiny structure that came with our new trapline was just too small. The old timer we had bought the Yukon trapline from was single, so he only needed a little room. In addition to building the new cabin the previous summer, we had taken some time and explored part of our new trapline.

Registered Traplines are the norm in Canada

Like most jurisdictions in Canada, registered traplines are standard in the Yukon Territory. A registered trapline is a geographical area officially drawn out on a map. Size varies significantly from trapline to trapline, but most are more than several hundred square miles. The Government calls them Registered Trapping Concessions or RTCs. Registered traplines are routinely bought and sold among individuals. Owners have the sole right to trap on their concessions. They can also give an assistant trapper written permission to trap on their concession if they choose.

In recent years demand for traplines has gone through the roof, and prices have, of course, followed. A registered Yukon trapline will usually sell within a couple of months; some have sold for well over one hundred thousand dollars. While this has made it harder for new trappers to get into trapping, registered traplines have one distinct advantage. Since no one else can trap your concession without permission, trappers can manage their furbearer populations.

     Firewood is Essential on a Yukon Trapline

Our first lesson on our new Yukon trapline was the realization that a healthy population of grizzly bears and caribou lived in the mountains around our new home. We saw both species almost daily.Our first big job was to get in a good supply of firewood. Since our cabin sat above the tree line, this was a challenging feat. We didn’t know how much firewood it would take to heat our new home throughout the winter, so we decided to play it safe. The last thing we wanted to do was run low on wood mid-winter and have to waste valuable trapping time getting more. Wanting to get the job finished so we could move on to more enjoyable tasks, we put in some long days. Once we were satisfied that we had enough wood, it was time to set out some steel. Beavers were first on the list.

Water Trapping on a Remote Yukon Trapline

Even though our Yukon trapline sat above the tree line, the Little Hyland river below our cabin was full of beaver. Ernie Leach, the trapper we bought the line from, had used a canoe to trap the river, and we planned to use the same tactic. He had advised us to start our water trapping as soon as the season opened on October 1st. He warned us that the river could freeze over by the middle of October. The lovely fall weather had dulled his warning, and we started on October 10th.

Loaded with gear, my first run down the river was an eye-opener. Ernie had told us there was a lot of beaver in the river, but I still didn’t expect to see so much activity. In about 5 miles of river, I counted over 40 active houses. I planned to set up every third house. By the time I got to our prearranged take-out spot late that afternoon, I had 30 good sets out. That night the temperature plummeted.

A Long Day on the Water

I knew I was in for a long day when the thermometer read a frosty 10 degrees below zero the next morning. We were loaded up and ready to go when the first light rays came over the mountain. My biggest concern was the river. I knew if it froze, retrieving my traps would be a real chore, if not impossible.

Although the river was still flowing when we reached our starting point, it was running heavy with ice. The canoe was tough to handle, with the ice constantly jostling it from all sides. By the time I got to my first set, I was already soaked to the skin. With the temperatures still well below freezing, I stopped twice and build a warm-up fire. I was one cold, tired trapper when I maneuvered the heavily laden canoe into the pullout late that afternoon. Although I had managed to retrieve all my traps and even caught 14-beaver on the overnight soak, I also learned a valuable lesson that day. Ernie Leach had spent almost 25 years trapping this country, and he had given us advice for a reason. I vowed to take his advice more seriously from here on out.

A Wolverine in camp

By the end of October, everything was frozen up well, and we had a foot of snow on the ground. One morning after a heavy snowstorm, I noticed fresh tracks all over the area behind our cabin. Upon closer inspection, I realized a wolverine had paid us a visit during the night. I followed the tracks to a little shed where I was keeping my beaver carcasses stored.

The wolverine had been busy during the night chewing a hole the size of a basketball right through the door. The thief had made off with almost half of my winter’s supply of bait. Wolverine are famous for caching food, so I knew it had stashed the beaver carcasses nearby. Instead of trying to find them and possibly scaring the wolverine away, I decided to make a set and catch the wolverine before attempting to retrieve my bait.

Setting a Wolverine Trap

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With all three kids helping, we quickly built a milk crate set in the brush not far from the shed. The milk crate set is simply a plastic milk crate set on its side, with a piece of bait wired to the back. A 330 body grip fits perfectly inside the crate. Although it’s not my favorite wolverine set, it is fast and easy to make, and I’ve caught a lot of wolverine with it over the years.

The following day the kids were up bright and early, eager to see if our trap had connected during the night. I knew something was wrong immediately. The crate was upside down, and the area around the set was all torn up. A closer inspection revealed I had made a big mistake. In a hurry to complete the set, I had forgotten to wire the safeties back out of the way. When the trap fired, one of the safety clips caught the spring. With only one spring working, the wolverine quickly escaped. I ended up catching that wolverine a few weeks later. It wouldn’t go near a trap, but it walked right into a blind snare I had set in the trail.

A castor lure like Dobbins Backbreaker makes an excellent wolverine call lure

Winter Arrives on Our Yukon Trapline

By the middle of November, the established trails were opened and set up. I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a bit of fur sign on our new Yukon trapline. Marten and lynx are the bread and butter furbearers for northern trappers. Our altitude was too high for lynx, but there were a lot of marten, wolverines, and wolves in the area. With only 30 miles of trail out, I picked up two or three martens on every check. Then in early December, cold weather hit.

We could tell a high-pressure system was moving in a few days before it hit. Animal activity increased drastically ; judging by the tracks in the snow it seemed like they moved almost nonstop. I caught nine martens in one run the day before the temperatures plummeted.

Severe Cold Snaps are Hard on People and Equipment

Living in the north, you soon realize that cold snaps are just part of the deal. We usually get two or three each winter. The usual pattern is the cold weather will settle in slowly over several days, but not this time. Overnight the temperatures went into freefall. One night our thermometer read a balmy -12, and by the following day, it had dropped to 46 degrees below zero. Anyone who has ever experienced those temperatures knows it’s a tough neighborhood. The land becomes quiet when the mercury drops; the silence is noticeable. The animals hole up and don’t move, even the birds. Steel becomes brittle and breaks easily, especially on mechanized equipment.

We kept busy during the cold weather. I had furs to deal with and equipment to repair, and my wife took advantage of the kid’s reluctance to go outside by catching up on their homeschooling. The high-pressure system lasted for nine days. Then it started snowing.

Heavy Snowfall makes Travel Harder

A rope along like the one pictured above will fit under the seat of most snowmobiles and can get you out of a bad spot with ease. See the one I use here

Heavy snowfalls are common in the Logan mountains. By Christmas, we had six feet of snow on the ground. Snow depths in some of the higher passes measured more than eight feet deep. That much snow made getting around a lot harder. Our snowmobiles mired down anytime we went off the main trails. I quickly learned to pack the steeper hills with snowshoes before trying to climb them with a load of traps and fur.

Managing a Yukon Trapline

Although the snowpack made opening up new areas a lot harder, we were still picking up a lot of furs. Managing a marten population on a northern trapline is keeping track of your catch. It’s important to watch your ratio of males/females and young of the year. Your adult female catch should be less than one-third of your total catch. This is easy to do since adult females don’t travel as much as the big males and young of the year.

By the middle of February, we started pulling traps. We planned to leave in early March. We didn’t realize it at the time, but getting out was going to be an adventure none of us would soon forget.

Heading Back to Civilization 

We would have to take our snowmobiles down the old mining road to reach civilization. The distance we would have to travel was about 80 miles. The plan was for a friend to drive our truck to the junction where the old mining road met a paved highway. We would meet him there late in the afternoon if all went well. It didn’t.

We left early on the morning of March 5th with three snowmobiles. The two smaller machines pulled sleds loaded with gear, and I took the largest machine out front, breaking trail. It was tough going right from the beginning. The smaller snowmobiles got stuck continuously in the deep snow. We finally decided the best approach was for me to break the trail open a few miles down the road, then turn around and come back. We hoped this tactic would make it easier for the smaller machines, but we also realized it would take twice as much fuel.

Running Low on Fuel

By late afternoon it was apparent that we were not going to make it. Going over the trail twice made it easier for the smaller machines, but my big snowmobile was now almost out of fuel, and we had another 15 miles to go. We knew there was an old cabin a few miles away, so we decided our best bet was to use the gas we had to get everyone to it before dark. Then we would at least have some shelter during the night.

The cabin sat up on the top of a high pass, and the conditions worsened as we started the climb. I lost count of how many times we struggled to dig a snowmobile out of the deep powder in those last few miles. The sun was well below the horizon by the time we finally arrived. We were all exhausted. That night, a warm fire and a hot meal felt like general anesthesia.

The following day, I siphoned some gas out of the two smaller snowmobiles, and we were quickly on our way. When we finally reached the highway, two Conservation Officers were in the process of unloading their snowmobiles. Our friend had called them when we didn’t show up the night before, and they were getting ready to start up the old mining road looking for us. They were happy to see that we were OK and wanted to hear about our winter in the bush.

Trapping is a way of life.

As I look back on that first winter, we spent on the Yukon trapline; I realize it positively affected us all. Away from the distractions of the modern world, we got to spend a lot of quality time with our children, and they learned to value the land and the animals that live there.

That first winter was just the beginning. We ended up spending many winters out on the Yukon trapline, and to this day, it’s not uncommon for my wife and me to spend four to six months in the bush each year. Two of our three children now own remote traplines and enjoy their time on the land.

The little sliver of doubt I felt that the first winter is long gone. Our confidence has grown over the years, and we look forward to putting up a good catch of fur each season and opening up some new country. I can’t imagine living any other way.

 

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