Nothing in the traps today. Beautiful in the woods – like Disney Land. About 18 inches of snow on the beach, and half a foot in the timber. Total silence walking. Had one 220 with a fish head as bait snapped, so put a 330 there and a new fish head. Saw one deer on the beach, and tracks everywhere I went to the beach. Put in 2 more sets, so have a dozen or so out now. The new ones were put by the cabin, the cliff and the other side of the same cove. I only put 2 traps at the cabin and cliff. The other 3 sets have 3 traps at each one.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Finally got a few marten sets out today, and tried my first otter set. Only vehicle at the boat ramp. After all the cold and wind, it warmed up and dumped 8 inches of snow. The winds laid down mid-morning, so I headed out. I spent my first 2 seasons trapping this shoreline, and knew exactly where I caught all my fur, since I caught a total of 5 marten and 1 mink. I set at the sites I’d got marten, starting with the one where I got tided last year. The tide was flooding as I got over to the shoreline, so I wanted to be safe and set this one first since it’s a shallow shore and the sets are out of sight of the boat.

The wind wasn’t too bad, but it was blowing right on shore. So, I only found 3 places I could safely put the boat and it wouldn’t go dry in a short while. After I made the first set, the tide turned, so I had to be extra careful.

I decided to set 3 newspaper tube/120 conibear setups at each site, since I knew these places would catch marten. I was able to set 2 of the 3 places I’d caught marten before, but could not set the third place because of the wind and tide. I set a new place, so we’ll see how we do. I will put out more if the wind is right when I check these.

A poor Marine from Juneau lost 3 limbs and had a head injury earlier this week in his second tour in Afghanistan. God help this country. The current president and all the front running Republicans are all about more military and waring. Only Ron Paul speaks about changing our foreign policy, and his voting against Martin Luther King day is in his past. How can a country that supposedly prides itself on “Christian” values keep killing and killing others and our own kids. And for what? People are more worried about their download speed than they are foreign policy – I think most forget we’re even still fighting. The media only talks about what the candidates say about each other or the president – even NPR doesn’t report on actual issues, just what dirt one candidate has brought up on the other. Pretty sad.

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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Not many things nastier than mink musk glands. Seems I can’t skin one without damaging or otherwise releasing that nasty odor. Thank God our niece gave us a plug in scent thing for Christmas or Sara would evict me for good cause. I did learn how to flesh a mink tonight, after, of course, looking it up on the internet. I am drying the mink in our cold air, though, as that stink is too much for even the scentenator. All the fur caught so far – 13 marten and 2 mink – are now skinned and boarded. I took the furs I’d done so far to the office to have Bob, who trapped up north for over a decade, to critique, and his response was overwhelmingly positive – so I hope to get good value for what I sell and appear to be doing it properly. He did say I could use a little skinnier stretching boards to get some more length on my furs, so always something to learn.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

It is cold in Juneau town. Right around zero, and some north wind. Skinned 3 more marten, and boarded those and one left from the night before. Used a propane Mr. Heater in the garage for heat and that was tolerable. 2 mink and a marten left to do.

Got up to pee at 4 am and we forgot to leave the water running so the pipes froze. Found a little space heater and extension cord to put next to the water line under the house as we always had. When I opened the access door, there was another heater left there from earlier pipe freezes. So just plugged it in. Took 3 hours to unfreeze but it let go about 7. Then off to work.

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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Spent the day skinning marten. I must say the trapping part is alot more enjoyable. But, the first ones are the tough ones getting a system down. Must take me at least an hour to skin, flesh, and board each one. I realized I got mostly large, male marten, and perhaps I was trapping ground that hasn’t been trapped in awhile. Seemed like much more to flesh than the ones I helped my brother in law with on Prince of Wales Island. Maybe because we are further north the marten have more fat, or maybe mine are larger on average and that’s why. Anyway, I just turned the four I skinned today, and they look pretty good. I also noticed it takes a long time to thaw out marten that have been frozen whole, so another lesson learned.

Tracked down an old friend, too. A Lebanese coffee and diamond trader from Koidu town in Sierra Leone who is now in the Congo. He made his home a rest house for us when we were in the Peace Corps there – fed us, too. So good to hear from him, and I passed on his information with many others he helped like me, and they, too, were happy to hear from him.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com

Not one marten today. Pulled traps as I went to move them, then just decided to bring them all home as there’s a big cold front coming.

Beautiful day on the water. I saw a small pod of orcas on the way in. A large one was jumping out of the water and returning head first as if it were doing a sea world trick through a hoop. Others were slashing, and there was at least one tiny calf just watching on.

Time to start getting the fur ready I already caught and put in the freezer.
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Mark Stopha
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
www.GoodSalmon.com