Checking Traps (Day Sample Clauses

Checking Traps (Day. 2 to 5) Monday through Thursday (inclusive) traps are checked three times a day. Three trap checks are the most that can be asked of the field crew while minimizing the time animals spend confined in traps. The first daily trap check begins at 0600 on Monday morning. This necessitates alarm clocks being set for 0530-0545. It is wise to have both members of the field crew set an alarm clock(s). Depending on the need for a morning energy boost, some crewmembers will desire food (power bar etc.) prior to starting the first check. The morning check is usually the busiest with respect to the number of captures as small mammals tend to be more active overnight and the interval since last trap checks is greatest at this time. Expect to spend up to 4 hours on the morning check depending on the number of captures; if it is an exceptionally busy year it could be longer still (good luck!). At the completion of each check, it is important to organize for the next check: process mortalities, re-supply bait and nestlets, and save the data. The second daily trap check begins at 1300 hours. Because this is usually the lightest check, additional effort is spent checking the working performance of each trap (see trap maintenance) and re-baiting if necessary. This check should hopefully be done by 1600, just in time for a nap and leisurely meal prior to the last check of the day at 2000. This day-to day schedule is repeated until the last check of each week at 2000 on Thursday. Late in the season, as the 24 hr light wanes, the evening checks can be started earlier (1930 or so) to ensure completion prior to nightfall. Nonetheless, headlights may be needed to process the last animals of the evening. During the last trap check of each session (Thurs 2000), the traps are also packed into the trap boxes and cached until the next sampling session or carried out to be used at other field sites. It is important to hide traps as much as possible when caching to prevent tampering and reduce visual impacts. It is even more important to remember the location of the caches (use the GPS to mark all cache locations as flagging has on occasion been removed by ‗helpful‘ backpackers).