My Trapping Thread

[SaturatedShadow]

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments.

Man I am loving your post, good job! Are snares illegal in your state? They are in mine and we use them to catch hogs and yotes and they are pretty effective. Also look into picking ups 2 -3 202 and 303 conibears. You wont be sorry and they are cheap! I keep 2 202's and on e 303 in my pack. Just look for den sites and place them over active holes. Looking forward to more and congrats again.

Snares are legal in Missouri, but there are lots of regulations in them. They can only contract to a certain sized loop and similar stipulations. Rather than study all the legalities, I just used the foothold traps, which were free anyway. I may look into snares in future seasons, and conibears as well.

Maybe I missed it. But what do you do with the hide?

I haven't 100% decided. After I brought it in, I made a cut up the underside of the tail to open up the tail area. I then bagged it and put it in the freezer.

I'd like to learn to flesh it and tan it, but I'm not sure I'll have time this season to try all that. I'll probably sell it as it is.

It measures 24 inches from nose to base of tail.

 

[Chris Pierce]

Where would you sell it? I shot a raccoon in my brothers barn once. I wanted to skin it, but my brother didn't want the fleas in his shop/barn/shed/house/property. So we just buried it.

 

[greybeard58]

Good Thread! I have done quite a bit of coyote trapping in the past but have no time at present to trap now. I will pick the hobby back-up at retirement in a few years.

Your dist hole sets look very good and I do have a couple of suggested set variations that can increase your odds of success as follows:

1.) Make your dirt holes along travel corridors and especially where travel corridrs intersect with each other such as where fence lines ontersect or tree lines meet fence lines.

2.) Add a second set next to the dirt hole set, what is known as a "Urine Post" set, just about 10' or so away from the dirt hole set. You simply use a single stick or a nearby sapling of only an inch or two in diameter, sitting all by itself, dig out the dirt (for the trap only, discard the dirt elsewhere) and place the trap about 5" or 6" away and cover with only what is natural on the ground at the stick (no dirt covering, just the grass or leaves) and spray the stick and ground around it heavily with coyote or fox urine (fox urine usually works best even when trapping for yotes). I have had double catches many times using this method (especially later in the season) and often will catch the coyote at this set and not at the dirt hole, as often a smart coyote will usually circle the dirt hole first, and get caught in the urine post before reaching the dirt hole.

Good luck!!

 

[grafton]

A few tips. Your guide sticks and "fencing" at the set are a little too much for coyotes in my opinion. Use much smaller twigs or small stones. What you have done by placing large sticks in the trap bed is created a barrier. The canine will most likely work around the back of the set. It does not take much, be subtle with it. Not a problem for coons and such but coyotes can be a little picky about that. Try to make the set look more like a natural "dig" that an animal created.

Your distance from hole to trap pan is good for coyotes but I would offset it to the side about three inches.

Wax paper makes a good pan cover and does not hold odors like your cotton cloth. It will also help shed water that will soak your cloth and freeze up. Small rodents and such will sometimes dig up your trap to get that cloth. Don't ask me how they know it is there but they do.

In freezing weather, rain and snow, use waxed dry dirt or peat moss to bed your trap and it will stay in operation.

If using skulls, bones etc.. is legal in your area, stake them down so the coyote can not grab it and take it away from the set. You can stake it down or bury it. Bury it with just the nose sticking out and use the nasal cavity as your lure holder. Commerciel canine lure will also help you out a bunch. Order some. It does not talke much, just a few drops in the hole.

The above post is a good one. A good location gets two traps. Once you have found a good location, it will almost always be a good one. Eventually you will be able to read the land in such a way that you can drive to a farm you have never been to and know just where to set.

When checking sets, do so from a distance if possible or from a vehicle. Leave as little sent as possible, don't mill around at the set and mess with it...check them and get out of there. It can take many days before a coyote decides to work a set so you need working traps in the ground for as long as you can run them.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[kyturkey]

Good advise from the two posts above. Form what I've read grafton is spot on with your guiding.

I too started trapping for the first time this year. Put out 7 traps and 3 snares for a week in early Dec. and set out 6 traps for a week mid Jan.

Definitely is exciting to go see what you've caught. I've had pretty good luck with flat sets and a step down set. I've caught racoons, skunk, possum and coyotes in my flat sets and a bobcat in a step down/flat set. Location is what it's all about, of course good lures can help some too. I bought some Violator 7 from Minnesota Trapping Supply and it's worked well for me (don't open in the house). Catching those skunks was interesting, wife let me know one day to leave my clothes in the garage.

Here's a flat set that caught a skunk and coyote. I put a little Violator 7 on that groove on the side of the rock.

Terrible early morning checking photo, but he's the coyote in that set

Back foot catch on a coyote

Another flat set that caught a coon on the first night. I had rubbed some Violator 7 on the underside of that stick in front of the trap.

16 1/2 # bobcat I caught in that step down set. It had some tall grass as backing that I put the lure at the base of. This set was out for 4 days before catching him.

 

[kyturkey]

Where would you sell it? I shot a raccoon in my brothers barn once. I wanted to skin it, but my brother didn't want the fleas in his shop/barn/shed/house/property. So we just buried it.

I'm planning to send my hides to auction with NAFA. There are a couple different organizations that auction fur that has been fleshed, dried, and stretched (finished). I know our state Fish and Wildlife has a list of fur buyers on their website. I think it's common for country buyers to buy green hides, which they then finish and turn around and resell.

I might try tanning a couple of the hides myself. I understand it's a spring or fall activity. Can't let it freeze or let the temp get above 70 or 75 degrees.

 

[SaturatedShadow]

Where would you sell it? I shot a raccoon in my brothers barn once. I wanted to skin it, but my brother didn't want the fleas in his shop/barn/shed/house/property. So we just buried it.

I talked to a coon hunter buddy of mine and got his advice on where to sell. There are a number of fur buyers in the state that buy green hides.

Good Thread! I have done quite a bit of coyote trapping in the past but have no time at present to trap now. I will pick the hobby back-up at retirement in a few years.

Your dist hole sets look very good and I do have a couple of suggested set variations that can increase your odds of success as follows:

1.) Make your dirt holes along travel corridors and especially where travel corridrs intersect with each other such as where fence lines ontersect or tree lines meet fence lines.

2.) Add a second set next to the dirt hole set, what is known as a "Urine Post" set, just about 10' or so away from the dirt hole set. You simply use a single stick or a nearby sapling of only an inch or two in diameter, sitting all by itself, dig out the dirt (for the trap only, discard the dirt elsewhere) and place the trap about 5" or 6" away and cover with only what is natural on the ground at the stick (no dirt covering, just the grass or leaves) and spray the stick and ground around it heavily with coyote or fox urine (fox urine usually works best even when trapping for yotes). I have had double catches many times using this method (especially later in the season) and often will catch the coyote at this set and not at the dirt hole, as often a smart coyote will usually circle the dirt hole first, and get caught in the urine post before reaching the dirt hole.

Good luck!!

A few tips. Your guide sticks and "fencing" at the set are a little too much for coyotes in my opinion. Use much smaller twigs or small stones. What you have done by placing large sticks in the trap bed is created a barrier. The canine will most likely work around the back of the set. It does not take much, be subtle with it. Not a problem for coons and such but coyotes can be a little picky about that. Try to make the set look more like a natural "dig" that an animal created.

Your distance from hole to trap pan is good for coyotes but I would offset it to the side about three inches.

Wax paper makes a good pan cover and does not hold odors like your cotton cloth. It will also help shed water that will soak your cloth and freeze up. Small rodents and such will sometimes dig up your trap to get that cloth. Don't ask me how they know it is there but they do.

In freezing weather, rain and snow, use waxed dry dirt or peat moss to bed your trap and it will stay in operation.

If using skulls, bones etc.. is legal in your area, stake them down so the coyote can not grab it and take it away from the set. You can stake it down or bury it. Bury it with just the nose sticking out and use the nasal cavity as your lure holder. Commerciel canine lure will also help you out a bunch. Order some. It does not talke much, just a few drops in the hole.

The above post is a good one. A good location gets two traps. Once you have found a good location, it will almost always be a good one. Eventually you will be able to read the land in such a way that you can drive to a farm you have never been to and know just where to set.

When checking sets, do so from a distance if possible or from a vehicle. Leave as little sent as possible, don't mill around at the set and mess with it...check them and get out of there. It can take many days before a coyote decides to work a set so you need working traps in the ground for as long as you can run them.

Good luck and have fun.

Good advice, thanks.

Good advise from the two posts above. Form what I've read grafton is spot on with your guiding.

I too started trapping for the first time this year. Put out 7 traps and 3 snares for a week in early Dec. and set out 6 traps for a week mid Jan.

Definitely is exciting to go see what you've caught. I've had pretty good luck with flat sets and a step down set. I've caught racoons, skunk, possum and coyotes in my flat sets and a bobcat in a step down/flat set. Location is what it's all about, of course good lures can help some too. I bought some Violator 7 from Minnesota Trapping Supply and it's worked well for me (don't open in the house). Catching those skunks was interesting, wife let me know one day to leave my clothes in the garage.

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like you've done well.

 

[GarnetandBlack]

Man, GREAT stuff! thanks for sharing! You've done great and learned alot and made tons of progress in a short period of time. Congrats man, really enjoy this thread, i like that trick with the 2 sticks for seperating the tail on the racoon, too. I've gotta try my hand at trapping

 

[Woodrow F Call]

Very good thread. Thanks for posting the information.

 

[lightleak]

This is a good thread because it reassures me that I will never ever use snares on animals unless I am going to starve to death without doing so. Really, I mean no offence to you and indeed one can learn a lot about snaring from your descriptions. I know this is how our ancestors survived and I know that nature can be much more cruel. I fear this is less cruel than how animals are treated in mass stocks and mass abattoirs of which the factories buy their meat and whose steaks I eat.

Yet the thought that this little raccoon spent his last night stuck in that snare in pain and fear to be shot the next morning makes me feel sad. This is probably the wrong place to say that but I just had to. Again, I don't want to flame you or people who use snares, I just wanted to raise my voice to say that I would not do this unless there is absolutely no other choice left.

Best regards,

ll.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

I fear this is less cruel than how animals are treated in mass stocks and mass abattoirs of which the factories buy their meat and whose steaks I eat.

I understand your feelings and actually have some of the same concerns myself, but this is one point hard to get around.

 

[lightleak]

I understand your feelings and actually have some of the same concerns myself, but this is one point hard to get around.

I agree. That is why I try to eat less meat and buy meat from farmers that treat their animals better. Yet I am well aware this doesn't always work as it is a money problem as well. But still, in my opinion if you have to „do harm“ because you decide that you want to eat meat, it is best to do as little harm as possible. So I personally would try to avoid snaring an animal as some sort of sport or „outdoor activity“. I have nothing against hunting, but to stretch an animals agony over hours and maybe even days if you don't absolutely have to just seems wrong to me. If snaring is the only way people without enough money for meat or gun shells can get protein into their diet, I can understand it. But I wonder for how many percent of the people using snares this is the case, I would guess for very few.

Just my point of view.

Best regards,

ll.

 

[grafton]

All trapping threads seem to end up here eventually!

I see you are from Europe so I will give you a little bit of a pass on this one. I suppose the trap has gone the way of the gun in your home place?

What snared raccoon are you speaking of? I see a raccoon in a foothold trap. A foothold trap is not a snare.

Most places have a 24 hour check requirement. If you check your traps/snares in the morning and the animal was caught the night before, they are not in the trap/snare that long. Many times they are balled up sleeping when you get there.

I do not believe the wild animal "knows" of the agony and suffering that you speak of but that is always open to debate.

The fact of the matter is if you wait until you HAVE to catch something, you will not be very good at it. An emergency is not the time to learn.

Trapping is not for everyone and that is fine, everyone has different opinions. I do believe that death by the hands of the trapper is as good of a death for a wild animal as is possible.

 

[lightleak]

What snared raccoon are you speaking of? I see a raccoon in a foothold trap. A foothold trap is not a snare.

As you can imagine, I am no expert regarding trapping terminology plus I am not a native speaker. Now I learned that the trap in the picture is a foothold trap and not a snare, which seems even more cruel to me since the animal will most likely have crushed bones and bleeding wounds while waiting for its death for hours.

I see you are from Europe so I will give you a little bit of a pass on this one. I suppose the trap has gone the way of the gun in your home place?

Of course cultural background does play a key role regarding the way we think about things. Yet, in my opinion, it is important to think about laws and regulations from time to time, as our knowledge (and thereby maybe also our attitude) about some things might change.

The fact of the matter is if you wait until you HAVE to catch something, you will not be very good at it. An emergency is not the time to learn.

I think it is possible to practice placing a trap without actually trapping and killing an animal in it.

I do believe that death by the hands of the trapper is as good of a death for a wild animal as is possible.

This is probably true as far as the actual death goes. It's the hours before you take that shot that strike me as quite violent and cruel towards the animal.

I will stop to hi-jack this thread now and let you guys discuss the technical aspects of it again. I am really happy to see one can raise his doubts and concerns about something in this forum and instead of “flaming“ there is just a mostly reasonable discussion. This is just a very good forum. :thumbup:

 

[grafton]

As you can imagine, I am no expert regarding trapping terminology plus I am not a native speaker. Now I learned that the trap in the picture is a foothold trap and not a snare, which seems even more cruel to me since the animal will most likely have crushed bones and bleeding wounds while waiting for its death for hours.


The size and specs of the type of trap used helps to reduce the risk of injury. Why would a trapper want to have bones broken? broken bones leads to more escapes. The idea is to simply hold the animal by the foot pad. The majority of animals caught in foothold traps can be released unharmed. Raccoons are a special case because they will sometimes inflict injury to themselves while caught.
Of course cultural background does play a key role regarding the way we think about things. Yet, in my opinion, it is important to think about laws and regulations from time to time, as our knowledge (and thereby maybe also our attitude) about some things might change.

I am not sure what this means but perhaps it is a language issue. Laws and regulations were not being addressed and as far as anyone could tell, no laws or regs were broken.

I think it is possible to practice placing a trap without actually trapping and killing an animal in it.

This one you are wrong on, friend.

You can always learn from setting and catching the animal and then releasing it, which is not difficult to do with foothold traps. I would disagree that simply setting the trap is enough to educate yourself on trapping. There is so much that the animal teaches you, you learn from your success and from your mistakes. You will never learn what you will need to know by making a set and then removing the trap. Actual trapping is required in order to learn what works and what does not in your area, how weather conditions effect your success, how to deal with variuos weather conditions, how to recognize good locations, What traps work best and why, what anchoring system works best and why, what lures work best, trap pacement, etc.....

This is probably true as far as the actual death goes. It's the hours before you take that shot that strike me as quite violent and cruel towards the animal.

I will stop to hi-jack this thread now and let you guys discuss the technical aspects of it again. I am really happy to see one can raise his doubts and concerns about something in this forum and instead of “flaming“ there is just a mostly reasonable discussion. This is just a very good forum. :thumbup:

How you feel about what the animal is going through is personal and you certainly can feel anyway that you like. I too appreciate a reasonable discussion.

 

[grafton]

My apologies too for letting the thread go wild....now posts some more trapline updates so we can get back on track..

 

[Chris Pierce]

Now I'm curious. I had always thought that the typical "bear trap" leg hold traps broke the legs of the animals. But when I think about it I actually don't know where I got this idea from. Then Grafton stated that it was easy to release the animal from the leg hold traps. But if the animals leg is broken what would be the point in this?
Anyway, my question is, do the leg hold traps generally break the animals legs, or do they just hold them?
Thanks

 

[grafton]

They are not designed to break bones, as I said , that would be counter productive as it would be much easier for an animal to get out of a trap if bones are broken. It is the trappers goal to hold the animal there until he returns to check the trap (like I said most places I know require a check within 24 hours) You want as little injury as possible and still have a trap that is effective (as in holds what gets in it).

Does it ever happen? Yes.

Sometimes bones are broken and there are a lot of variables that can cause it but as a rule, broken bones are not the norm. Perhaps a smaller animal gets into a trap that was designed for a larger animal. Larger traps than needed may cause more injury. Some individual animals and different species fight a trap harder than others, some lunge around a lot while others simply lie down. Many trappers place swivels in the trap chain at the trap, in the middle of the chain and at the stake. This swivel action helps prevent injury as well. Smooth, wide faced jaws help out with this too. Trappers have been messing with this stuff and modifying traps for decades. There are people who study this kind of thing and lots of research has been done. If you look into the best management practices (BMP's) for trapping you can read up on it. You can read all about injury scores and other interesting things. I do not agree with everything that comes out of those but there will never be a 100% agreement on anything that has to do with trapping.

In areas where there are a lot of free roaming dogs, trappers sometimes catch them in footholds. I have never seen one injured by this. You simply check them out and they can be released. They may have a sore paw for a day but that is about it.

I have caught my fingers in big footholds many times and have never broken anything. It hurts, especially if your hands are cold but no major problem. A bear trap may be a different matter.

People who trap foxes and coyotes for the live market do not want injured animals. People doing research or catching and translocating animals do not want injured animals and fur trappers don't either. They do the best they can with the best equipment available to them.

Many peoples attitudes about trapping have been based on horror stories that they have heard or they think of the huge bear traps that they have seen on cartoons. They hear a story about someone who set traps and left animals in them for many days or some other illegal activity and they think that is the way all trappers are.

By the way, many people seem to think the teeth on early traps were there to be as cruel as possible to the animal. The real story is that they wanted to prevent the foot from sliding back and forth from one side of the closed jaws to the other. Preventing this sliding movement can reduce injury. The reason I bring this up is that there are a ton of myths and incorrect info out there about traps and trapping.

 

[Chris Pierce]

Thanks for the info Grafton. I'd like to learn to trap. But it's not a high priority for me at the moment.
I was just having a conversation about trapping with a friend of mine and he said that it was cruel because of the things that you stated. I told him that most trappers check their traps at least once a day. I had no argument against the broken leg though, until now.

 

[beau5278]

I haven't trapped in many years but I keep saying that I'm going to get back to it one of these days.Everything Grafton has said is right on the money and it's good to see people getting back into trapping,it's a very useful tool in wildlife management.