Bruces Trapline

[hardkorrhunter]

very nice!!!!

[3nails]

 Everytime I see your work I realize how far I need to go. Looks great!

[Humptulips]

Two firsts for me today. I caught the first ever coyote in a cage trap.
Second first for me. I had the first ever chew out by a coyote in a cage trap.

Sorry forgot my camera again but how big a hole do you think it takes a coyote to get out of a trap?





Answer: 5"x 5"

[onetrapper]

Be on the lookout for a bald coyote 

[3nails]

 A great accomplishment, nonetheless!

[BOWHUNTER45]

Nice mixed bag .... Sweeeet !

[Turner89]

How long have you been using the cage traps? Was that a hard adjustment?

[Humptulips]

How long have you been using the cage traps? Was that a hard adjustment?

Boy was it ever a hard adjustment. I swore I would never use them when I-713 passed. Was I ever depressed! I went down to OR that year and took my Trapper ED test, next summer I took a trip down scouting and after that I trapped OR until four years ago. Then because of family commitments it became increasingly difficult to get away. I dabbled with the cages for the first couple years with some short breaks to OR. Last year I really got into experimenting and building traps to find something I liked.
I still don't have much figured out but at least I'm able to enjoy it. Catching enough not to get completely discouraged.
To tell the truth if I hadn't been forced into it I would still be going out of state.

[Turner89]

Reading some of yours and others stories, has really got me interested in trapping again. Once they made footholds illegal i kinda just figured trapping was a thing of the past around here.
 I probably won't do anything this year, but defiantly next year. Do you build all of your traps? I stopped by the feed store on the way home tonite, and almost bought one for $35. (racoon size animals)   Not counting, labor how much do you figure it cost you per trap?

[pnwmtnmn]

on the 12x12x48 swin thru beaver trap costs lessto build than that raccoon trap does to buy. Muskrat colony traps are less than $5.00 to build depending on size.

[Humptulips]

I have just a bit over $30 in material in one of my swim throughs. I would say if you build your own all the larger traps you'll be pushing that $30 mark for material. The swim throughs I make are a bit more because of the springs, triggers and I used expensive paint because I thought I might get them in to salt water. I used marine epoxy and it costs.
Cat traps and coon traps should be cheaper and of course small traps a lot cheaper. Takes a lot of time to build them though. Mostly I spend time trying to figure out a design that suits me.
Store bought traps: I have bought several and I don't like any of them. I honestly think if you want a decent trap that will actually catch stuff you have to build them yourself or buy something from one of the smaller cage makers that are actually trappers.
One other thing, it is pretty hard to make much of a catch if you only have a half dozen traps. The economics of buying 2 or 3 dozen cage traps is not there. Pretty hard to run much of a trapline without building your own.

[hardkorrhunter]

BOY IT SURE DOES BURN ALOT OF TIME BUILDING YOUR OWN TRAPS. I JUST BUILT MY FIRST ONE.HOW EASY ARE TRUE HOG RINGS TO INSTALL I IMPROVISED USING STAPLES DESIGNED FOR SPLICING BELTS TOGETHER AND THAT WAS A PAIN.

[Humptulips]

BOY IT SURE DOES BURN ALOT OF TIME BUILDING YOUR OWN TRAPS. I JUST BUILT MY FIRST ONE.HOW EASY ARE TRUE HOG RINGS TO INSTALL I IMPROVISED USING STAPLES DESIGNED FOR SPLICING BELTS TOGETHER AND THAT WAS A PAIN.

C rings with the pliers made to put them on are pretty fast and easy to apply. Cheaper then hog rings too.
http://klubertanz.com/
Get the 1" blunt c rings to go around 1/4" round stock and cage wire.
They cost about 1 1/2 cents/ring.

[Humptulips]

My trapping has been pretty poor of late but the recent rains made things move a lttle and I brought home enough to make it worthwhile to take a picture. Trouble is I don't feel much like taking pictures on the line when it's raining. Brought this home yesterday.



The civets look better after they get dried out. Here's a little tip I use all the time on wet critters. I don't like to skin small animals unless they are dry so it takes a while in front of the fan to dry them out. I carry some old newspapers and roll each wet critter up in a section of the paper. They will be pretty darn dry when you get home with them.


Here's an idea I've been testing and it seems to work on civets. I made a trap out of a plastic newspaper tube. I just cut a piece of cage wire and attached it like you would the door on a colony trap. I drilled three holes in the top of the paper box and attached the cage wire with three c rings.
They go in but they don't come out. I'd like to find some tubes without holes in them. Haven't found them yet though. Without holes I could fill them with water when I had a civet. Be an easy dispatch.
Kind of thinking about trying it on mink.

[3nails]

 Very nice! I am going to use the newspaper tip tomorrow when we run our rat line. (Hopefully)