Pre-Emptive Trapping

[DoctorGoose]

Hey--what did you use for bait? And where did you situate the trap on your property? Mine is near our manure pile, and it took FOREVER to catch anything!

 

[MayberrySaint]

I baited it with peanut butter mixed with bird seed.
I put it along the edge of my house foundation. Most critters will move along a barrier...barn, house foundation, tree line, etc.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I have a trap set almost year round. I use marshmellows if I am going for a coon and else just leave it empty. I place it around edges of the chicken cages or along fences or the side of the house leading to the cat dish. I've caught at least a dozen possums and a few coons. I went to the feed store and picked up the "racoon" sized one. I've caught things as small as squirrels in it. I usually dispatch the animals as they are pests in the city.

 

[ivan3]

If one plans to free range at all (and this includes supervised free ranging - foxes around here are brazen), preemption is the best policy. Preemptive removal of chicken eating vermin will never entirely remove the threat, but the overall frequency of attacks can be minimized.

We keep three havaharts set on approaches to property (drainages), two leg hold sets, three deadfalls, and use of poisoined bait as necessary. This is the first year (in ten years) that our coon harvest has dropped from the usual ~20 by this time of year to a mere 8. However, fox population has rocketed (between neighbors and ourselves: 13! - usually ~2 by Sept.).

For ease of use/cleanup on havaharts: Use a couple of lengths of 1"x1" under trap on either side (keeps animal from digging up yard, etc. into trap - waste falls through. Place a twenty pound paver or big flat rock on top of trap as this prevents the smart ones from tipping trap over or setting it off from the outside.

Even with these methods the oddball will sometimes get through (baby monitor saved the day a couple of weeks ago). I had been letting out the chooks at dawn owing to the extremely high temps (6ft. Welded wire fencing) came back in, took a shower. Got out of shower and heard all h**l breaking loose! Grabbed rifle and ran `au Rousseau' into the backyard. Nasty `possum had scaled the fence and the roo had it cornered (lost his tail feathers in the skirmish). So, yeah, `poss are nasty and will sometimes attack after dawn!

IMHO relocation is slow death, humane recycling via Turkey Vultures works out for the Turkey Vultures.