Modifications For Standard Havaharts (save time)

[loiseee]

I have a HH trap as well, but was tired of loseing the bait or the racoons flipping it over and getting away. I set up a simple way to stop that, all you need is a 33 gallon trash can, a piece of heavy wire and two cinder blocks. put your can down with the handles on the sides, wedge the cinder blocks one on each side( to keep it from rolling. I use tuna, peanut butter, but they love sunflower seeds. take your bait, throw it to the back of the trash can, slide the trap in, hook the wire on one side to the handle of the trash can. There is not enough room between the cage and walls of the trash can to get to the bait and only way to get to it is through the door.
It sure looks Mickey Mouse, but in a 45 day span I caught 13 racoons, 4 opposums.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
Any chance you have a photo of that? I'm having trouble envisioning it.

 

[darin367]

i'm to the point i'll try anything.... my trap is a HH trap, lost alot of bait...... 5 possums and 1 coon have went to heaven.... but i lose bait daily..almost feel like i'm feeding them....

 

[loiseee]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/99047_100_3200.jpg

I am not sure if the link will work, as I do not really know how to ad pictures.
This is what I use to catch my critters..

ok, try this one, sorry.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
The link does work, thank you for posting it, it's very helpful!

 

[Gargoyle]

Quote:
That's a good idea, thanks. I did the mods mentioned in the original post, and they work well. Unfortunately, I caught a skunk today and not the killer raccoon.

As to posting the image, you have the two img tags, but both are in front of the image URL, you need the opening tag in front, the closing tag after, like this:
{img}http://location of the picture.jpg{/img}
(I used curly brackets so it will show up, but the real tag has square brackets).

 

[loiseee]

Thanks, I did not know what else to do. I do now, thanks to all the other advise from memberss. Yuck on the skunk, have not had one around here is over 6 years, thanks to an old Aussie that we used to have, he took care of ALL the neighbor hood skunks, and boy, did he smell like it.

 

[fishman65]

just a little FYI...tractor supply company sells a very large coyote trap that has a big bait box in the end for using live bait (chickens, quail, rats or rabbitts). It is under 200 and you don't have to pay shipping.

 

[Jcamp0123]

Hello, this thread has some of the best modifications I've been able to find for live traps. I have a 32" havaheart that I need help with how I should modify it. I've trapped about a dozen racoons but now, but they seem to have figured out a way to break out. I have the trap on a concrete slab with a cinder block sitting on top of it. This helps keep it from moving or turning over. The problem I have now is that the racoons ram the door until they apparently are able to wedge the door open and squeeze out. I did trap one of them and he was ramming the door so hard I could barely keep hold of the cage when trying to relocate it.

Any ideas on how to better reinforce the door on the havahart? Anybody had this issue before? I got a new trap because I gave up on trying to reinforce an old one that had long since seen its better days, but the same thing happens with the new one.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[ivan3]

Jcamp0123 wrote: The problem I have now is that the racoons ram the door until they apparently are able to wedge the door open and squeeze out. I did trap one of them and he was ramming the door so hard I could barely keep hold of the cage when trying to relocate it.

There is a latching mechanism on the old 1079's. This is a shot of the little lever on our 1997 model; no through-the-door stunts, here. Close the trap door, and then start trying to pull it open from the bottom lip - jiggle it and see where the coons are gaining advantage - some part might be bent out of shape. Of course, if some have actually bested the live trap, then don't expect those to step back in. Probably worth a few bucks to pick up a dog proof foot trap. Of course, this makes `relocation', in the accepted sense of the word, a little more than problematic... Duke Dog Proof (trap and retire from target pool):