fighting raccoons

[bruceha2000]

Man those Conibears are downright scary. Apparently FAST and humane. If you were cage trapping the Conibear removes the step where you have to shoot the chuck or coon which is appealing. Sure could have used one earlier this spring when the chuck (BEFORE she bore 4 little ones) kept bypassing the Havahart that I set at the tunnel entrance just outside the barn. Sure hope one of the bunnies wouldn't be using the tunnel for anything though.

Found a video of a guy showing how to set the big one and how it works. He said not to set it on land, too likely to nail someone's dog or cat. He traps beavers.

 

[Intheswamp]

Conibears are deadly, they work, but there's no second chances to release Fido. Use them with lots of caution.

Ed

 

[Howard E]

I spoke to a professional wildlife removal guy a few days back and he informed me that the conibear traps, aka "body traps" are illegal to use in my state. To use one at all requires a special permit from State Fish and Game. He said they were too dangerous for his use......one large enough to catch a beaver could break a guy's arm.

On live trapping groundhogs using cage traps, his method was to completely block off the entrance to the den, with the only exit through the live trap. Not near it, but blocking it completely. Same idea as using a body trap, except he used a live trap instead. Only way for the groundhog to get out of his hole was to exit through the trap. Since groundhogs have multiple escape routes, he had a trap placed on every one. Near 100% success rate.

I got to thinking about it and this reminded me of what I have seen hawks do. One was a red tail and it had abandoned attempts to catch squirrels running around in trees and on the ground. It would fly to the squirrel nests high up in the trees, peek inside and if anyone was home, grab them right out of the nest. No chasing required.

A Coopers hawk did the same thing with a nest of baby robins. It came one day and got all of them just as they are about big enough to leave the nest. Just reached in and grabbed them. No chasing required.

To quote Yogi Berra........"you can observe a lot just by watching".

 

[Intheswamp]

Howard E, what you speak of regarding the hawks reaching into cavities for prey is much similar to how owls prey on purple martins while nesting in gourds. The owls will grab ahold of the entrance hole with one foot and reach in with the other claw. If that doesn't work they will commence to beating the gourd with their wings and as a bird attempts to flee will grab it.

Ed

 

[bruceha2000]

I watched a different video on setting the 3 sizes of Conibear. He cautioned with the amount of damage each could do if you tripped it. Not too much for the small one and yeah, major damage if the big one snaps on your arm.

I just looked up the legality issue and found: http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a4_traps.php#conibear

Bizarrely the exception in CA is for: all purposes except recreation or commerce in fur.
So you can't use them unless you are a fur trapper, or just want to have fun trapping animals??? I guess if I lived in CA I couldn't use one because while I don't want the critters damaging my property (including the fieldstone foundation of the barn) or killing my chickens, I wouldn't be doing it because I find it fun.

A lot of them mention water sets being an exception.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Conibear traps come primarily in 3 sizes, 110, 220, & 330. They also can be found in single spring configurations and double spring. There are other sizes available, but those are the primary sizes. For beaver, I really like my set of 300's, they are a tad smaller than a 330, but just as powerful. I did manage to catch my arm in one, words cannot describe the experience.

The 110's are great for mink, 220's work well for raccoons, and the 330 is primarily a trap used to take beaver in water sets.

These are killer traps...that really require a working knowledge of the capabilities of the traps and general experience in trapping to use this equipment safely & effectively. Your goal is to take target animals. You do not want by-catch, non-targets, to get into a conibear set.

I would not reccomend the use of conibear traps by a novice, and definitely would advice against setting them on dry land....these traps are very effective, but not for a person that is not committed to trapping and possessing an understanding of sets.

90% of your needs can be met by protecting your flocks with cage traps. Beyond that I would hesitantly reccomend a foothold trap, with instruction. I would not reccomend conibears for protecting our flocks....

 

[Intheswamp]

Conibear traps come primarily in 3 sizes, 110, 220, & 330. They also can be found in single spring configurations and double spring. There are other sizes available, but those are the primary sizes. For beaver, I really like my set of 300's, they are a tad smaller than a 330, but just as powerful. I did manage to catch my arm in one, words cannot describe the experience.

The 110's are great for mink, 220's work well for raccoons, and the 330 is primarily a trap used to take beaver in water sets.

These are killer traps...that really require a working knowledge of the capabilities of the traps and general experience in trapping to use this equipment safely & effectively. Your goal is to take target animals. You do not want by-catch, non-targets, to get into a conibear set.

I would not reccomend the use of conibear traps by a novice, and definitely would advice against setting them on dry land....these traps are very effective, but not for a person that is not committed to trapping and possessing an understanding of sets.

90% of your needs can be met by protecting your flocks with cage traps. Beyond that I would hesitantly reccomend a foothold trap, with instruction. I would not reccomend conibears for protecting our flocks....

Good post, worth repeating.

 

[cream puff]

Opinions please, I designed this after a lot of trial and error in an attempt to keep the chickens safe from predators and from the wet etc. What do you think?




it's 4 feet off the ground, and they use a ladder to get in, I was hoping they would learn to fly in, they roost in the front and nest in the back.

 

[centrarchid]

I would play around with how the birds can fly in that is beyond what a raccoon can jump. This would require staying with birds at time they are going to roost to see how they do it. You will see they are able to change approach but it has a learning curve.

 

[cream puff]

I thought of some sort of perch about 2 feet off the ground that they could hop up on and fly the remaining 2 feet to the doorway? I think I've seen that somewhere before. I could just try it and see if they get the idea.