Weasel Traps for fun woodworking project

[Josh_D.]

Weasel Trap Cost per unit Analysis

<h1>Background</h1>
I have never caught a weasel; I've never even seen a wild one.  I have seen mink along the streams in my area and that is what got my mind started on the small mustelid.  Upon further research I realized that a small trap line for weasels could be a ton of fun!  Rat traps are easy to use, boxes are fun to build, and overall the traps are cat, dog, and child proof.  What's not to like!?
Now that trapping season is over, I don’t get to spend my time looking at all of your guy's fantastic catches so I needed something to do.  Grabbing my saw and pencil was a great way to enjoy some sun!

BLUF: Botton line up front
Weasel traps costing 5.05 per trap and are fun to make.

I have been lurking on this forum for quite some time now, but have never contributed anything to the community.  I hope not to post this as a guide, but rather something to reference and learn from my mistakes.

Seeing as I have never caught or seen a weasel I began my project with hours of combing through forums and YouTube videos.  I ended up choosing the dog-eared fence board construction for my traps.  The purpose of the unit cost analysis is to decide if this is a good route.   I found this photo online and I feel it gives a good guideline to what I am trying to create. 
 
<not my photo>

Personal alterations:
#1) I cut the bottom board 1 inch thinner in order to accommodate for the two sideboards to be flush with the faceplate.
#2)  I used 14g wire to create the back hinge.  (Hinges are 3.59 for a pair where I live)
#3)  I used 2 drywall screws to create a latch with 14g wire.


<h2>Beginning Construction</h2>

Each box requires a

1x 17"x5.5" top piece (dog eared side)
2x 12"x5.5" side boards
1x 12"x4.5" bottom board
2x 5.5"x5.5" front and back plate
 
This just about uses up all the board, there are a couple inches of waste but to me that gives some wiggle room to dodge terrible knots if I had to.
 
 If you are doing a batch of 6 traps, you can lay out all the pieces and you will save about half a 6' dog eared fence board which is good for the body of an entire extra trap.

 
Go ahead and grab your circular saw and get that done.  If you have a table saw you can cut the 1 inch strip off the side of the base boards easily. I do not own a table saw so I screwed by baseboard to the deck and then using my circular saw was simple.  No risk of me slicing my hand off.
 

After you get all the boards cut the next most laborious part in my opinion is drilling the holes.  I did 2.5" front hole and a 1.5" hole in the back.  I used a 2.5" hole cutter for the large holes but for the small holes a traditional spade bit was dramatically faster.  The soft cedar clogged up the hole saw constantly.  To make this process easier I screwed two pieces of 2x4 to my deck and created a jig.  (I didn’t drill large holes in my deck because I put another piece of cedar board in-between the two)

Once holes are drilled, simply staple 1/4 hardware mesh over the small hole. 
 
 


Next step is nailing it together!  I tried to be creative and toenail all the boards but I think just going straight in would have done just as good.  I started the nails in the side boards and then mounted that to the baseplate.  Then it is as simple as nailing the front and back plates on.  Note:  When nailing into a board 1/2" wide its really easy to miss the next board.  Be accurate and careful.
 
 


Putting on the lid is very straightforward.  I drill 2 holes in 1" from the edge on both the back plate and the top plate.  I then run wire through the holes to make a hinge.  For the front I wrap wire around a screw, tighten the screw, and then add another screw on the opposite side to wrap around as the latch which I can take on and off. 

What you end up with is this!
   


<h3> Unit Cost Analysis </h3>

Cost of materials per trap
1.99 6' cedar board
2.59  Victor rat trap
0.22 Nails
0.17 Wire
0.03 Drywall screws
0.05 Hardware cloth
-----------------------
$5.05 per trap. 

Cost could be reduced if buying the 12pk of traps online from amazon and buying 11 boards because you can build a whole extra trap from the leftovers.


<h3>Rat Traps Compared</h3>
The hardware store had two traps.  The classic victor for 2.59 and a cheaper "revenge" brand rat trap.  I did a lot of testing with the two inside and what I can say is that I do not trust the cheap traps.  They are noticeably weaker feeling when setting, and they do not clamp down nearly as loudly.  I decided that if I am going to buy a 2 dollar board to make the box I might as well spend an extra .59 cents for a cleaner kill and better chance of catching the animal.
 

[JakeLand]

  nice tutorial write up I would suggest a rat trap with a wide pan and light triggered they are very light footed

[ouchfoss]

Good write up! I've always wanted to see how productive those traps are here in Washington. I know a lot of people use them down south and they get plenty of weasels. I might give it try next season. Weasels are worth probably worth more than coons or beaver anyhow.   

[Humptulips]

Weasels are worth probably worth more than coons or beaver anyhow.   

Not so sure about that! The ones in W WA never turn white. There is no fur market for brown weasels. Probably there is a minimal taxi market but very minimal. Everyone wants white ones. For wall hangers they would be a tough sell. They cost almost as much as a larger animal to have dressed so you would have to get around $40 to come out on it. I can't see many paying that for a weasel.

[Josh_D.]

Humptulips:  Have you caught any weasels in washington? You say the ones in western washington dont change color, but do you know about eastern wa?  Any experience would be greatly appreciated!

[ouchfoss]

Weasels are worth probably worth more than coons or beaver anyhow.   

Not so sure about that! The ones in W WA never turn white. There is no fur market for brown weasels. Probably there is a minimal taxi market but very minimal. Everyone wants white ones. For wall hangers they would be a tough sell. They cost almost as much as a larger animal to have dressed so you would have to get around $40 to come out on it. I can't see many paying that for a weasel.

Wow, didn't know that. I figured the redish brown ones here might be worth more than the whites because they aren't as common. 

[JakeLand]

I incidentally caught a couple in my marten traps and they were white with a black tipped tail on the east side and not more then 16 miles different on the west side I caught a couple in my mink cages and they were brown and like a yellow ish coloring they are pretty curious creatures. when I released one on the east side he kept trying to get to the beaver meat I had for bait and he was persistent at having some so I tossed a tennis ball size chunk to him and that little guy packed it off like it was nothing ! Next year I'm going to start videoing a bunch of trap line stuff to share

[Humptulips]

Humptulips:  Have you caught any weasels in washington? You say the ones in western washington dont change color, but do you know about eastern wa?  Any experience would be greatly appreciated!

Yes I have caught them incidentally occasionally. The long tails are not as common in my experience. The ones I have caught were incidentals in mink sets and caught near water. Somewhat tan or light brown with a lemon colored belly. They are the size of a small mink.
The short tails are more common and the only reason we don't get a lot of them is they are too light to trigger most traps. Pretty dark brown fur with a white belly. 6" or 8" long. They work bobcat baits a lot but of course you never catch one. Too light to even spring my civet traps. Seen them on trail cams working the cat sets when I tried the trail cams. Use to catch an occasional one in a mink or civet set. Only a very light trigger will catch them.
Least weasels are protected now but I caught a very few back around 1970. I had some extremely weak #1 and #1 1/2 jump traps. Very touchy triggers.
I caught 5 one year. They are all brown, about as big around as your thumb and about 4" long. They have a very short bob tail. I was in school and didn't know much. I pelted them out and of course nobody wanted them. I ended up putting all 5 in a business size envelope and mailing them to  F. C.  Taylor Fur Company. They sent me a check for $1.25 and a note saying "Please don't send us anymore weasels." I bet they got a good laugh out of it but you have to give them credit for cultivating a school boy trapper.

Of course if you catch weasels in the Cascades or the east side you can get white ones and then they are ermine and there is a market for them

[bear hunter]

  Nice Josh seen some white one by Winchester Waste Way hunting pheasants. He was playing (peek a boo) in a junk car out in a field. He was white and seen another one this year in Duvall. He was brown and hinding in a junk car to. Seem's they like the old rust buckets for there homes. Lol  Might have to trap me one of each for a wall hanger.

[Kit Carson]

Humptulips:  Have you caught any weasels in washington? You say the ones in western washington dont change color, but do you know about eastern wa?  Any experience would be greatly appreciated!

I pelted them out and of course nobody wanted them. I ended up putting all 5 in a business size envelope and mailing them to  F. C.  Taylor Fur Company. They sent me a check for $1.25 and a note saying "Please don't send us anymore weasels."

 

[Josh_D.]

UPDATE:  I loaded up one of the traps and while moving it to my crawlspace to catch rats the trap went off.  The latching rod got jammed up and the kill bar ended up only going halfway up which resulted in it being stuck at 90 degrees.  I attempted to replicate this again by setting off the trap with a stick a couple doz times and I was not able to get the trap to be stuck.  In my design i wanted as thin a chamber as possible in order to force the weasel to set off the trap.  In the future, I will be building my traps without cutting the baseboard thin.  This will keep the ceiling higher and prevent jams.  In the 3d rendering I made, the boards are the full 5.5" wide.