Someone got trap savvy!!

[chickintexas]

For starters, all of my birds are fine.

Shep slept in the backyard last night. I had reset the trap with more cooked chicken and in the same place as the previous night. I went out to check the girls and trap. Ummmmm.....something got the bait through the wire from the back of the trap!

My camouflage of trees branches were removed and there is a lot of digging on the ground behind the trap. A couple of dig spots on the side. The size of the dig marks tells me it was certainly another coon and not Shep. That and the chicken meat had been centered and at a distance from the walls. Something with nimble fingers.

A little eat and run action. I hate to think that Shep just laid there on the back deck while all that digging was going on, too.

Resetting the trap again tonight. Any ideas on how to prevent the little sob from stealing the bait? Apparently, they have a weakness for my cooked chicken!

 

[Rowtag]

Can you put something around the back and sides of the trap where the food it so that the coon can't reach it's grubby little paws though. Try and force it to come in from the front. I had some trap savvy coons and I had to start hanging food in it so that they had to come in and pull on it to get the food. Took me 5 days of baiting to catch the stupid thing. I think I would have to have a talk with the dog though lol

 

[yotetrapper]

Take a can of tunafish, with an old fashioned bottle opener (the pointy end) punch two holes in the top of the can. Take a piece of wire (coathanger'll work) and run it through the holes, wire to the bottom back of the trap. Guaranteed coon, lol. Well, almost guaranteed.....

 

[chickintexas]

Quote:
I think the problem is that my female is almost in heat. He's got other things on his mind.

The previous traps I had set had a cinder block in the back and scrap house siding on the side and top of the trap. Guess I'll be doing that again including the wiring of the food.

 

[Rowtag]

Yeah, dog has other things on his mind lol. I hate when you get one that has the traps all figured out. We catch young ones all the time and they go right in. It's the old coons that we have so much trouble with. I always have to wire the food in, even with babies or they just take off with it. I did have an opossum get in a trap without bait once... I had left it open (forgot to put bait in after getting distracted). Stupid thing was just sitting there watching me.

 

[katharinad]

We had skunks and raccoons trying to dig in from behind or the sides. Getting some concrete blocks and put is around that area will work. They can flip them over but tend not to do so and walk into the trap. We use a small can filled with some cat food to trap them.
Katharina

 

[cklspencer]

Get a leg hold trap and center it inside the trap with the chicken on the trip pan. If the coon reaches though the trap to get the checken he will get his paw in the leg hold and will not be able to pull it back out of the trap. I have seen coon get wise to live traps and this gets them everytime when they start pulling the reach in and pick at what you can trick.

 

[aprophet]

Dig a hole in the ground set your bait in the hole set your trap over the bait center the trigger over the bait stake your trap down . I use 2' of rerod / rebar driven through the trap about 1 foot driven into the ground oily fish give the best odor mackerel sardines etc . good luck.

 

[ivan3]

Check this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=232969

Good luck!