School me on trapping

[Samcirrus]

Today's " I'm not smart" story is : I staked the traps, baited them again last night. I even went out and checked them about 11. I left the saftey(?) Latch engaged. Pretty hard to catch things when the trap can't close D'oh!

You have to wire up plywood plates inside the trap. Many raccoons can shove their hand out and pull the latch freeing themselves! See photo...

 

[SNIPERBBB]

I've already been robbed tonight. I'm declaring full war. My ducks aren't going down again. Reinforcements are planned. Recommendations welcome!

I'm sorry and a little embarrassed but extreme measures are welcome via pm. I don't care, the 'coons are going to loose

How did you get robbed? Need to know that to offer help

 

[SNIPERBBB]

You have to wire up plywood plates inside the trap. Many raccoons can shove their hand out and pull the latch freeing themselves! See photo...View attachment 85936

Or just get better traps. I get paid to do this and you won't catch me setting a cage from a hardware store for a client.

 

[Horn]

How did you get robbed? Need to know that to offer help

I'm not sure. My stakes were moved some like the trap might have been rocked or wiggled. Bait , pork chop fat last night. Was gone and the door closed but no critter. I'll take a picture and post it.

What kind of traps do you recommend? I do have a hardware store trap now

 

[woodsdog2]

I'm not sure. My stakes were moved some like the trap might have been rocked or wiggled. Bait , pork chop fat last night. Was gone and the door closed but no critter. I'll take a picture and post it.

What kind of traps do you recommend? I do have a hardware store trap now

Williams style box or cage traps. They have split rings along the door framing that slide up and down. The pan and everything is made out of the heavy duty cage material with steel frames. You roll them over and the door pops open. Mine are up in my garage attic I’ll take a picture or two when I get to it. Any trapper supply house will have good ones. Sterling Fur out of Ohio or F&T Fur Harvesters Trading Post are two good ones with a lot of inventory usually. I got mine from a local fur buyer trap supply dealer I’m not sure he even has them anymore. Duke may make some Comstock I believe is another??

 

[woodsdog2]

The best time to get big bulky stuff like that is to drive to a trapper’s rendezvous they will have show pricing and you don’t have to pay exorbitant shipping charges.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Koonce traps are very user friendly, you literally just open the door of the trap all the way and the trap is set. Williams traps as mentioned earlier are good traps though I dont think theyre being made anymore. Havent seen the guy that makes them at conventions in years. Safeguard or Tomahawk are good ones. I personally run Koonce and Comstock Traps.

 

[Samcirrus]

I'm not sure. My stakes were moved some like the trap might have been rocked or wiggled. Bait , pork chop fat last night. Was gone and the door closed but no critter. I'll take a picture and post it.

What kind of traps do you recommend? I do have a hardware store trap now

Yes, I too have better large traps for actual fur trapping, but to be honest after putting those thin boards inside the cheap ones, I've never had sprung empty trap!

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Yes, I too have better large traps for actual fur trapping, but to be honest after putting those thin boards inside the cheap ones, I've never had sprung empty trap!

Fail to see what those boards are supposed to do pics of the setup?

 

[Samcirrus]

Fail to see what those boards are supposed to do pics of the setup?

I unfortunately don't have another picture and the trap is at my uncle's....but it is cut at the angle of the trap door when closed and are 1/2" thick. The result is that no wily raccoon can stick their arms out through the side of the cage by the door and grab the spring bar down!

 

[Samcirrus]

Here, at 30 seconds you see the raccoon stick his arm out the side of the trap and grab the spring bar! If you have 2 boards that are at least a 1/2" thick and match the angle perfectly then they can't fit their arms through the side! Patent pending!!!

 

[SaddleUpPartner!]

Just caught a muskrat in my pond using a conibear 110. There’s multiple holes they have dug on the one side of my pond so I just stuck it in front of the den hole. I’m still waiting to catch one with the foot trap I set. I see why people do trapping… kinda fun.

 

[Horn]

Here, at 30 seconds you see the raccoon stick his arm out the side of the trap and grab the spring bar! If you have 2 boards that are at least a 1/2" thick and match the angle perfectly then they can't fit their arms through the side! Patent pending!!!

I can't see it in that video but there is a flap on top of mine you have to lift to bring those bars back. Is that not standard? Curious, I do have a cheap trap

 

[Samcirrus]

I can't see it in that video but there is a flap on top of mine you have to lift to bring those bars back. Is that not standard? Curious, I do have a cheap trap

Yep they are there, but many times the spring rod just doesn't go far enough into the catch and often just sits under it with letting it fall back. The boards are a 99% guarantee that they can't even reach their hands out at all.
Of course a large boar raccoon may just have enough brute strength to push on the door and flex it out..... for them use a 330 conibear or a snare and make sure all dogs or cats are locked indoors!

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Yep they are there, but many times the spring rod just doesn't go far enough into the catch and often just sits under it with letting it fall back. The boards are a 99% guarantee that they can't even reach their hands out at all.
Of course a large boar raccoon may just have enough brute strength to push on the door and flex it out..... for them use a 330 conibear or a snare and make sure all dogs or cats are locked indoors!

Ah I thought you were talking about them grabbing the spring catch not the spring itself. In that video it doesnt appear that there is that catch on the trap. Anothe design issue I note on the trap in that video is that the spring bar isnt angled at all. I do have an old havahart(23 years old) and a 10+tractor supply trap thats impossible for the coon to grab the bar. The plate idea would help with them ripping the doors off.

 

[Horn]

Got a 7th coon yesterday and a possum last night

 

[Samcirrus]

Got a 7th coon yesterday and a possum last night

Now you have as much meat as a deer! Coon stew is delicious! I recently made a crackpot stew for a work potluck and all the city slicker engineers said they thought it was really good!

 

[CZMark]

I've got some bad news for you, @Horn . With the coon population you seem to have, shortly after you trap out the coons on your property, "new" coons are likely to start moving in. Trapping may turn out to be longer term than you think.

 

[Horn]

I've got some bad news for you, @Horn . With the coon population you seem to have, shortly after you trap out the coons on your property, "new" coons are likely to start moving in. Trapping may turn out to be longer term than you think.

Yup. I'm not are why there are so many but much better defense is probably a better strategy. I'll probably stay on offense too, but you're right this is probably a forever problem.


Pretty much tall grass all around

 

[Horn]

I was talking with my neighbor yesterday and he said his son ( lives very close, just NW on my picture above) had an issue over at his place a while back, also getting close to 10 coons.

I appreciate all the advice! Thanks!