Here's something you don't see everyday

[turkey]

I was walking the DHALO section of a local ditch this morning and came across this blue bird. The overhanging tree guards a fishy spot in the creek and therefore is filled with flies and lures from errant casts and missed hooksets. I guess he zeroed in on a trout magnet or some such meal worm imitation, hooked himself, and eventually expired. Heck of a way to go. Sorry if the pics are sub par. I couldn't get too close and I'm posting from my phone.

 

[JackM]

I saw a juvenile duck dangling from a hook at a local lake. Fortunately I was able to wade over to the island and attempt to free it, but it was so frightened by my being there, I couldn't actually remove the hook from it's bill because it was flailing about violently. I ended up cutting the line near the hook and it flew away in a panic.

 

[Dave_W]

It is pretty common to see dead birds caught in fishing line.

Another reminder that mono kills and that we should be vigilant to remove and dispose of as much of it as we can.

 

[turkey]

Jack I thought of you when I saw all of the flies in this tree. You might've climbed it and repurposed them.

 

[HopBack]

guess he zeroed in on a trout magnet or some such meal worm imitation, hooked himself, and eventually expired. Heck of a way to go.

Yeah because birds don't eat bugs and fly fishermen don't catch trees. Only ignorant spin fisherman could have caused this to happen.

 

[ryansheehan]

HopBack wrote:

guess he zeroed in on a trout magnet or some such meal worm imitation, hooked himself, and eventually expired. Heck of a way to go.

Yeah because birds don't eat bugs and fly fishermen don't catch trees. Only ignorant spin fisherman could have caused this to happen.

Yup, we fly fisherman are a gift from god.....had to be a nightcrawler from the dark side.

 

[HopBack]

Here is one for you. Duck caught in a muskrat trap on the letort. The sad part was there was snow on the ground and no sign that anyone checked the trap in days. The duck was alive and I freed it but it had s broken leg. It was really terrible. The trap pulled the duck under water and it would surface every now and then for a breath.

 

[turkey]

HopBack wrote:
Yeah because birds don't eat bugs and fly fishermen don't catch trees. Only ignorant spin fisherman could have caused this to happen.

ryansheehan wrote:
Yup, we fly fisherman are a gift from god.....had to be a nightcrawler from the dark side.

What's with the snark? I only assumed it was some sort of soft plastic grub imitation because it's well known that bluebirds are attracted to mealworms. I have no agenda to sully the reputation of spin fishermen. To be fair it could've been a pheasant tail nymph. Although I don't want to hurt the feelings of high-stickers so let's leave open the possibility that a Catskill style dry fly could be the culprit too ;-)

HopBack, that duck picture is crazy. I've definitely never seen anything like that.

 

[barrybarry]

Yes ducks sometimes get caught in muskrat traps. It happens. Not often.

A muskrat trapper who checks his traps while walking in the snow will soon find his traps missing. Trappers check every day.

Anyone trapping fur this year is doing it for the love. Prices are at their lowest since forever.

Sort of like fly fishing rather than minnows.

 

[HopBack]

Just curious, how does one check traps without leaving some sort of tracks in the snow? Not saying someone didn't check them but there sure didn't seem to be any evidence. Traps were set below higher banks on the water cress. You couldn't see them unless you were right on top of them. This is the Letort were talking about. You cant just walk down the middle of the stream without the risk of being sunk up to your neck in mud.

I have nothing against trapping if that's what you want to do but you have a legal obligation to check traps everyday and it should be a moral one as well.

 

[FarmerDave]

I agree that traps should be checked every day. I think the law requires every 36 hours which pretty much assures that.

As far as checking traps from a distance, I feel that is difficult with muskrat traps because they are usually set under water. There are exceptions, but for the most part... under water ... and the animal drowns with leg hold, or in the case of a conibear... a little bit more quickly.

But it isn't impossible. Since the trap was obviously a leg hold, it was likely set, just barely under water where muskrat enter and leave the water. It was likely set in such a way that the muskrat could instinctually head to deeper water and drown. It would be easy to check that set from a distance, provided the visibility in that water is more than a couple inches.

I wasn't there, but it seems to me that a trapper could EASILY check that trap from the other side of the creek, using binoculars. It's how I would have checked it. Trap still there? OK, checked. Nothing in it. Trap not there? Something in it.

There is NO WAY that duck was in that trap very long, or it would have drown. The trap likely weighed nearly as much as the duck. He would have tired out rather quickly and drown. Any other assumption, including that it was not being checked is based on emotion and LIKELY false IMO and wouldn't have saved that duck. I'm actually surprised it didn't drown in the time you took to take the pictures.

Chit happens. It was unfortunate. Mo matter how careful you are, other things can be caught.

When I trapped muskrats, I used mostly conibears because it almost completely eliminates the chance of catching a duck or another animal, and the animal dies quickly.

A couple years ago I played a practical joke on a guy and his son who I allowed to trap muskrats in my pond.

Anyway, After checking their traps, he comes up to me shaking his head with a weird smile on his face... "You will never believe this! Somehow, a possum got it's tail caught in one of the muskrat traps and then drowned itself!"

I couldn't keep from laughing because I put it there. Don't worry, it was dead before I put it there.

BTW, bluebirds eat a lot of bugs. I doubt it was there for grubs or worms.

 

[HopBack]

Dave,

Your right I shouldn't assume anything and you are correct in saying it was a leg hold. I can say that the duck was there for a while. It was extremely exhausted and discolored from being under the water for such a long time. Also the feathers were nearly all worn off of it from struggling for such a long time. I watched the duck from a distance for a while. It would struggle to free itself from the leg hold and surface to catch a breath and then slip under the water from the weight of the trap. I'm not naïve, I know the duck was probably dead from the time the trap snapped but it really looked like it was suffering for a long time. It's just one of those things you wish you never saw.

 

[foxfire]

I thought the Bluebird's main diet consisted of bugs?? They hover around swarms/hatches at my place and feast.

 

[Acristickid]

I know nothing about trapping- ( speaking of not finding thier traps).


Don't trappers have to put up some sorta sign like a blaze marking near it so people know one is there??

 

[turkey]

foxfire wrote:
I thought the Bluebird's main diet consisted of bugs?? They hover around swarms/hatches at my place and feast.

That's true. They're mainly bug eaters. They also will eat berries. Its also common practice to attract bluebirds to backyard feeders with meal worms.

http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/eastern_bluebird_mealworms.html

 

[franklin]

Just go to the stocked area on the Neshaminy and you will find everything from salt water sinkers to 9" Rapalas in the trees. I've already gone home with over a pound of recovered lead and $50 in lures. It does give one pause when going through the brush as I half expect a large treble hook to grab me at any moment.

 

[FarmerDave]

acristickid wrote:
I know nothing about trapping- ( speaking of not finding thier traps).


Don't trappers have to put up some sorta sign like a blaze marking near it so people know one is there??

What he likely meant by, not finding their traps, is if you make it obvious where it is at, it will likely be stolen.

No, you don't have to put up a flag, or at least I didn't have to back when I trapped, and likely for this reason. Muskrat traps are not going to hurt you unless you put your face or some extremity into them.

You just had to have an ID tag somewhere on the trap.

I can only remember one trap getting stolen and yes, there was snow on the ground.

All my muskrat sets were either on private ponds where I had permission to be, or a stream on the way there that did not hold fish (AMD) so I never had any of those stolen.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Turkey,
Please go back and cut the wings off and mail them to me. The feathers will make some nice Salmon Flies.

I rescued a duckling a year ago at the PennyPack Creek. It had got caught in the current and was floating down stream. I got behind it, It went under some rocks to avoid me, and when it came back up I snatched it out of the water. I shared my findings with some of the kids at the creek. Being careful not to really get human scent on it. I walked up the creek for a ways and heard it's brother or sister. They started talking and sure enough the other came down the bank. I set the duckling down and they joined back up. It was a great experience.

 

[FarmerDave]

I was wondering how it tasted, but being it struggled for awhile, it probably tasted fowl.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Stick to farming there FD, Stick to farming!