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School me on trapping

Iron_llama said:
I used to have a bunch of maple and ash trees on my riverfront property. I still have a few but the loss over 3 years has been pretty dramatic. I don't care if they take popples or dogwood but c'mon... mature maples and ash trees? They halfway girdled a mature oak tree as well.
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If they started in on an oak I would skip the trap and go straight to high brass 6's.
 
If you're a magazine fan, check out Fur-Fish-Game. This time of year, the articles are heavy on fishing, but the trapping articles start in the fall-lots of good info! I trapped back in the day when I was in Jr High & High school, up in NW PA. Grey fox, coon, possum, skunk, & the rare mink....LOVED it, & it kept me out of trouble!

...a word of warning-trapping is a rabbit hole every bit as deep (and expen$ive) as saddle hunting!! ;)
 
My kids started trapping this year. It’s pretty addictive.
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My favorite method for skunks is a box trap with a scrap of chicken or meat or two near sign. Whole peanuts work well too believe it or not. If you can sheet metal cover the trap the better but unnecessary. Removal is a cautious affair but nothing to be overly concerned about. I cover the entire box trap with a soft blanket. Walk and move softly and somewhat slowly and deliver them to the release location. The best box traps are NOT the TSC types but actual pro box traps known as the Williams style box trap. Simply roll the trap over on its back and the door opens on its own. The critter will walk out if you’re doing live release. Be mindful that it’s typically illegal to create a problem for othe landowners. I’ve had mix results with any kind of dispatch with the exception of acetone to the chest cavity. Note this does not work well with any other furbearers. If targeting coon in residential areas, I use the same Williams style box trap but just bait with a plain marshmallows broken in half. Anything else attracts everything else. Line trapping out of residential areas I have whole other techniques and recommendations. Have fun!! Oh, if you’re interested in good beaver trapping videos with simple sets and techniques thst work, subscribe to 330maniac’s stuff. I have no affiliation but his beaver trapping stuff is some of the best.
 
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cville_bowhunter said:
I was initially thinking about coyotes, yes, but I am mostly just curious in the craft as a whole. There is a big ol' skunk that I see creeping around my yard every now and then (smell all the time), and he also has me intrigued. I was reading about trapping rabbits too, and that sounds like it could be a blast...in typical fashion, my initial interest in trapping is starting to wander all over the place
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Remember though a rabbit is not a true furbearer they actually have hair not fur like a deer. Check your regulations for trapping anything not considered a true furbearer as it could be against the law.
 
Dyeing traps is over rated IMO. Boiling them is not. You won’t catch with oily traps. Maybe coons and opossum’s, but no dogs or cats. I like setting a couple dog proofs near sets on a new place to keep the trash out of sets. I also re set when I catch and have had great luck doing so, books say it’s the scent the caught critters leave. It’s fun. Just takes a large time commitment if you’re going to do anything more than tinker.
 
I second the long short list of things to learn!

Maybe this is silly question, I'm actually embarrassed to ask - which is odd for me, especially on the internet . But if I look into trapping is there going to be info on helping identify droppings? I pretty much roll solo, haven't got tons of help identifying poo via text lol
 
Coyotes can be sketchy I’ve had them ignore a set for days then commit. I’m old school and like to dye and wax my traps. It’s a tradition for me but there are other good methods. If you use the dips you can thin them a lot more than the directions say. Dying is absolutely unnecessary as you cover the trap but for coyotes I do recommend waxing your traps. But like I said I just like the looks of a dyed trap. Big thing is get the grease off of new traps I like boiling them in dish detergent degreaser to get the grease off as much as possible. Pressure wash them or take them to the car wash to get them as degreased as possible. If you’re going to dye them you need to rust them first. I like a gallon of white vinegar to five gallons of clean water. Let them set for a day or two in that brine and they will take in a nice surface rust. Then be sure to really rinse them super clean to get all the vinegar off or they will continue to rust. Then dye them. I like to dye and wax separately. Tons of info on it available. An effective trap dye is black walnut hills the black rotting ones. Place them in a some pant hose in your boiling water and boil your traps in that if you don’t want to buy logwood dye.
 
Iron_llama said:
@cville_bowhunter where are you located? I'm trying to teach myself some trapping skills - loosing a lot of hardwoods to beavers, I've got woodchucks by my retaining wall, and there's a skunk that sometimes sprays my front door - but so far I haven't put enough time into solving these problems. I did get the red squirrel that was raiding my pickup cab, though. I'm in Northern MN.
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How far north? Virginia? Ely? International Falls?
 
Iron_llama said:
I used to have a bunch of maple and ash trees on my riverfront property. I still have a few but the loss over 3 years has been pretty dramatic. I don't care if they take popples or dogwood but c'mon... mature maples and ash trees? They halfway girdled a mature oak tree as well.
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If yr 30 miles anywhere from Duluth ill come help you take care of those Beavers!
 
woodsdog2 said:
Remember though a rabbit is not a true furbearer they actually have hair not fur like a deer. Check your regulations for trapping anything not considered a true furbearer as it could be against the law.
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I actually learned that trapping rabbits was a thing from checking out the laws in VA...not sure if this is similar to where you live or not, but in case you're interested, this is for VA:

October 15th–January 31st (box traps only).

No traps shall be set on another’s land without written permission of the landowner. No license required to box trap rabbits. Live boxtrapped rabbits may not be moved outside the county of capture. For rabbits box-trapped for human consumption; all parts not saved for consumption must be disposed of according to regulations described elsewhere
 
Horn said:
I second the long short list of things to learn!

Maybe this is silly question, I'm actually embarrassed to ask - which is odd for me, especially on the internet . But if I look into trapping is there going to be info on helping identify droppings? I pretty much roll solo, haven't got tons of help identifying poo via text lol
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Typically your state trapping booklet that you get when you attend a trapping course has a breakdown of each furbearer and pictures or drawings of their scat and tracks.
 
Adding to my waxing comment, never wax body gripping traps or "conibear" style killer traps. The wax makes them too slick to stay set and the bigger ones like the 330's can be very dangerous if waxed. If you happen to buy body gripping traps used that have been waxed, be sure to boil the wax completely off of them. Also, take a chain saw file and file the notch of the "dog" of the body gripper. When I set them I set the dog right on the jaw of the body gripper to get the trap positioned correctly. When I think it will set in the water or whatever correctly and stable, I then engage the dog with the trigger of the body gripper. 330's can be a bear so you need trap setters and also a safety clip.
 
woodsdog2 said:
Typically your state trapping booklet that you get when you attend a trapping course has a breakdown of each furbearer and pictures or drawings of their scat and tracks.
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MI doesn't include scat in our manual, but I was able to find the NYS version that does. Thank you.

Do you teach a lot of trapping courses? There are none within 250 miles of me, that would probably cover the entire lower peninsula, or close. Just curious
 
Pop question: Who has been "caught" by their own trap before? Any tips for the newbies on how to self rescue!?
Man, getting both hands stuck in a 330 is not a fun time! But I found you can manage to release with just yr feet and a conibear opener! Footholds can be nasty too. I think I got caught about 10 times in my first season of trapping....now I'm way more careful, lol.
 
Horn said:
Do you teach a lot of trapping courses? There are none within 250 miles of me, that would probably cover the entire lower peninsula, or close. Just curious
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We are experiencing the same issues, shortage of cerrtified instructors for trapping especially. My teaching team and I typically teach two trapping courses in our county, one in the North and one in the South County. I also teach two gun courses and two bow courses each year. With a full time job, family and other responsibilities, It's hard for me to schedule many more in each year. I had two Hunter Ed courses this past march at two different clubs to get people certified for Spring Turkey Season both the early youth and the regular season. Numbers of in person attendance seem to be dimishing from past years. I routinely had 30-40 participants per class. Now the state offers an online version..... not sure how handling a firearm properly can be done over the internet but way above my pay grade. During COVID the numbers bumped way up in NYS to over 60K that took the Hunter Ed/Bowhunter Ed course but now its back down to aroun 20k per year which has been the historic average in our state.
 
Samcirrus said:
Pop question: Who has been "caught" by their own trap before? Any tips for the newbies on how to self rescue!?
Man, getting both hands stuck in a 330 is not a fun time! But I found you can manage to release with just yr feet and a conibear opener! Footholds can be nasty too. I think I got caught about 10 times in my first season of trapping....now I'm way more careful, lol.
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Prevention is worth everything. Luckily I have not been caught but have been clipped. It hurts too espeically with a duke magnum or beslile. Anyway, the trap setter is a must with these big traps and a safety clip. Carry a length of rope in your trapping jacket to be able to weave it through the spring eyes that close up on the jaws. We should all practice doing this one handed too. have a loop with a cinch knot or better yet a bowline knot on the bottom to put your boot through, loop the tag end around both spring eyes and pull to compress enough to remove your hand or arm. It will not be a fun time. Which is also why i typically try to anchor my big connies last so if it does go off, I have the mobility to get to a better location to remove the trap.
 
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