Will I Catch Anything?

[CementFinisher]

hows that double catch coon trap of yours been working?

[kirkdekalb]

It has always been a good trap.Customer last year bought 9 and caught 162 coon and possum in 6 wks. He was catching doubles many nights in a row. He owns a plantation in Lee county Ga. He baited with peanuts and peanut butter he got as seconds from a processor. Teena that works for me has caught over 100 in hers in the last three years. Just setting more than one trap, when you know there are several coons coming to a location, makes a big difference also.

Have come up with several new designs for coon traps recently. Made one yesterday. Unlike others in the size of the trap. They are very small and can catch the largest coon. They are less than half the size of a standard coon trap. Coon is not scrunged up when caught.

Can put quite a few in a truck. Got to test more and see if I can make better and less expensive.

I want to trap, but I keep coming up with these ideas. Maybe hair brained. I am afraid if I don,t make them, I will forget.

Personally, from what I have seen, there are many on this forum with the same problem. I think we all want to do something about it, but the money is just not there to follow the brain as fast as we would like. Paying the bills gets in the way.

[Smossy]

It has always been a good trap.Customer last year bought 9 and caught 162 coon and possum in 6 wks. He was catching doubles many nights in a row. He owns a plantation in Lee county Ga. He baited with peanuts and peanut butter he got as seconds from a processor. Teena that works for me has caught over 100 in hers in the last three years. Just setting more than one trap, when you know there are several coons coming to a location, makes a big difference also.

Have come up with several new designs for coon traps recently. Made one yesterday. Unlike others in the size of the trap. They are very small and can catch the largest coon. They are less than half the size of a standard coon trap. Coon is not scrunged up when caught.

Can put quite a few in a truck. Got to test more and see if I can make better and less expensive.

I want to trap, but I keep coming up with these ideas. Maybe hair brained. I am afraid if I don,t make them, I will forget.

Personally, from what I have seen, there are many on this forum with the same problem. I think we all want to do something about it, but the money is just not there to follow the brain as fast as we would like. Paying the bills gets in the way.

Sounds like you know a thing or two about trapping, Ive been considering joining the trappers association and getting myself an additional hobby. What would be my best bet for approaching this?

[kirkdekalb]

Contact the ones on this forum. Get a kid involved with you. Become a member of your states association.

If you can, go to a National Convention. NTA, FTA (take your wife, she will have a good time)

Each region is a little different, learn what works for you where your trapping.

Look for good and you will find it.

My children are all grown and each has a college degree and a professional title. Trapping played a large part in not only getting them to that point, but molding them to a better  understanding of reality.

A good place to start would be the 3nails post, showing his catches. You can,t beat his example and some that answered, responded, or participated.

[kirkdekalb]

The first picture is of the trap on a run over a pond dam.

The second picture is the catch.

The third picture is of a guillotine doored trap set in 24" of water on the run to the right of picture.

[3nails]

No fair posting trapping pictures when the season is closed up here, Kirk! 

[kirkdekalb]

Here is another 3 nails at same location I caught this morning.

Don,t rule out opportunity's on land.

We have no closed season on beaver. They are very destructive.

[3nails]

 What is the draw for them at that location?

[kirkdekalb]

Across from this pond is a swampy area. I believe the water temperature is cooler in the big pond and the water feeding the swampy area is constantly running to the road culvert. They probably are active because of the running water and necked down area. They probably have a bank den in the big pond, cause across the road has been dry for 4 years. The only amount of willow and privett is on the other side of the road in the swampy beaver pond. The swampy pond just got water this year.

I have permission to trap there, I just didn't want to fight the snakes. I am not as young as you are.

My son caught quite a few beaver this winter about 1/2 mile further down. There is a series of irrigation ponds there.

This big pond irrigates quite a bit of land. The man that owns the pond has a land clearing business and dug the pond beside my house. He also was instrumental in my being the beaver trapper for the county south of there which was 16 years ago. He called me and ask me to come. I waited until I had more locations to trap in that area.The county pays me to catch them in the form of a bounty. The other county has a different arrangement with us cause they will only pay me to trap at select drainages where they affect the roads.

[kirkdekalb]

Caught this one just before the one in the cage I posted above here. I caught several in cages when the water was lower at this location. I set the cage trap in the cross drain pipes to the left of this picture, that you cannot see.

I posted this so I could show you something. Notice how far the scent mound is up on the bank. I did this so I wouldn't catch a none target smelling the lure. If I did it another way, which would have the mound closer to the water, I could catch a coon or another animal circling the mound smelling the lure.  Also set the trap in 8" of water to get a back foot catch. Also what you don,t see is the wind has been toward the water. This set is right beside a road.

There are other ways to make safer sets using conventional methods. Too bad most states don,t teach or even know the methods.