Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Day 17 - Outsmarted by a Varmint

I was scheduled to work this Wednesday which is somewhat unusual because I normally take Wednesday off.  However, due to an appointment booking problem, I ended up closing down and not working today.  This opened up several Survivor Diet options for me to do today.

I attempted fire but after several failures I was too exhausted to continue.  I will have to try another day.

No boat today so fishing is really not an option.  Today I will dedicate several hours working on my animal traps and tending to the bees.  I noticed that my triggering mechanisms needed a bit of work to make them more effective.  After watching several survival videos on YouTube I came up with my own solution that was a combination of several things that I saw.  I had trouble finding an exact method of trapping a squirrel or rabbit without killing or seriously injuring the animal.  So I ended up using a method that is used in some bird traps.  It's hard to explain with word so you may have to wait for the video.

After a few minor adjustments to both of my traps, I was ready to set them and hope for the best.  I left them alone for a couple hours and when I went to check them I noticed that one had been sprung.  I optimistically went over to the trap but the varmint was not inside.  My bait is a almond butter coated pretzel stick and it seems to work well for the squirrels but not for the bunnies.  I've tried carrots but that stereotype for rabbits is not very accurate.  After reloading the trap, I placed a video camera with a tripod next to the trap.  It thought if I could see how the animal approaches the trap that I may have a chance at figuring out how to catch it.

I videoed one trap for about 45 minutes and when I went out to check it, I noticed that the other trap (the one without the camera on it) had sprung!  However - no joy.  Empty trap again.  Hmmm.  Shouldn't my superior intellect be able to figure this out?  The next thing I tried was to weigh down the trap by placing some heavy ceramic tiles on the lid.  I thought that the animals may have been finding a way to crawl out underneath the trap somehow.  Both traps were re-baited and left alone - no video this time.

I raided the garden a couple times and gathered some asparagus.  Cooked some rice.  Cleaned the bluefish that I had caught a couple days ago.  Brined the fillets and dried them - ready for the smoker tonight.

Basically I just stayed busy for the majority of the morning.

We met with the architect in the afternoon and then it was time to pick the kids up from school and start their routine.  I picked up Jamie and Ty went to tennis. Then Jamie was dropped off at gymnastics. Each time I came home I checked my traps but this day belonged to the squirrel and I would have to try again tomorrow.  The desire for those sweet figs has really been driving me but the primitive trapping skills still need some work.

In the evening I tried fire again and failed again.  I wondered about making fire in another manner so I may do some research on the tomorrow.

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