Trapping thread

[OhZark Biddies]

To help cover your sent, boil your traps, or snares, and after they have cooled, take them from the water with hospitle type gloves and drop them in a plastic bag with a few apple slices. Also wash a change of clothing with no detergent and dry them outside on a clothes line. Don't put them on till just before you are ready to go set traps - try not to sweat in them. Take a bath before you get dressed too, no shampoo or soap. Don't smoke or chew, or gum. When you get to where you will begin walking to the trap setting area, drop an apple and crush it with your shoes, both feet. Do a little shuffle dance on it until it's all smashed all over the bottom of both shoes. Go alone. Put on more gloves to open the bag and take out and set traps. New gloves each set (or at least each time you have to take them off - you'll sweat inside them). I don't know where you would find it anymore, we used to buy from fur buyers (or one guy I knew once who had a 3 footed coyote bitch in captivity), but coyote urin is the magic bait. They are wary and a little interested in food, but they lose all their sense when they smell strange coyote urin, especially bitch in heat urin. We used to pay several hundred dollars a gallon for this kind of urin, but it lasts a long time. It was worth it too. A few ounces would do a lot of sets. You cut it with water and just mist a few pumps from a squirt bottle. You can also mist those apples you step on and coyotes, especially alphas, will follow your trail. I am not in contact with any fur buyers anymore, but maybe google could help. I do guarantee that if you can find some somewhere, you'll never want to trap coyotes without it again. We've all seen how dogs act around pee, or sniffing for bitches in heat - food means nothing to them when they get a whiff of that. I've often wondered, but never tried bitch dog in heat pee for coyotes, but I think it would work too.

You can buy fox or coyote urine by the gallon from many trapping suppliers.

But I catch coyotes all the time, and I don’t bother using urine at coyote sets any longer... and I assure you too there are no apples, plastic bags, and hospital gloves involved either

Most are drawn in using a scent lure or bait. A proper dirt hole set in an embankment along a two track road or trail is a favorite set. Flat sets around a staked down beaver carcass gets it done too (know your local regulations before using a staked carcass though, many places don’t allow it)

I don’t get too fancy for scent control... they know where you’ve been and when you’ve been there better than you do... I usually don’t have coyotes work a set until two or three days after it’s made...

once I’ve got that first burn circle it’s usually good for another catch, often multiple more.

I’ve never found coyotes to be all that difficult... maybe I’ve just gotten lucky all these years though

For anyone looking to learn to trap, there if more shared information from folks that really know the subject inside and out on the internet these days than ever before, just visit a dedicated trapping site... BYC is about the last place to look for accurate, well tested information on the subject though.

 

[Maugwa]

I can't help but wonder why you hate them so bad? Are they really stupid? The term sly as a fox suggests otherwise.

I value living in a bio-diverse environment that includes black bear, mountain lion, and all sorts of other predators. Take out all the top predators, watch the smaller varmints run rampant.

I understand we all need to protect what is ours and do what think is right... I don't understand a kill them all attitude.

That's one way of looking at it and I don't disagree at all, but there is a big difference in a 'kill them all' mentality, and keeping over population under control. In wilderness areas, where there are no roads, farms, or houses, there are predators, but not as many as most people would suspect. They have found their own balance. There are far more coyotes per mile in places like Los Angeles. When you start adding things like pets, sheep, calves, and chickens to the environment, predator populations grow too. When you plant corn, coon populations explode. Since PETA put so much pressure on the fur industry, especially getting the US military to swap coyote collers on all their jackets out in the mid 80s, wiping out the market, in many places the coyote population has gone so far out of control that many counties in the West have had to put bounties on coyotes, and or hire Gov't trappers, and/or put out poisons. I understand well about the over population if varmints too, but in reality we see that coyotes, coons, and foxes not only clean up the rodents and such, but they move into your back yard and eat your cats and chickens and keep on breeding. It may be nice to have a few around, and I would never advocate shooting off the last of them, but left unchecked a few of them is not what you end up with.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

We've had fox issues, including an attack in the afternoon while everyone was out in the yard! They can be very bold!
We have a neighbor who was a professional trapper and after our issues we started having, I talked to him about trying to trap it. He laughed and said "Good luck!" Fox have a very good sense of smell and unless you completely cover your scent, they will never go to a trap, regardless of what you bait it with. The only exception is if it's a young fox or desperate for food and willing to take the risk. He came over and walked my husband through the steps to set up the trap, but we never caught it. We are in a rural area and there is enough other prey that the risk probably wasn't worth it for this guy. However, we haven't had any loss to suspected fox attacks since, so maybe the trap was enough to make it move on.

You have a neighbor that is a pro trapper that thinks foxes are untrappable?

Did he or she mean it’s nearly impossible to catch one in a cage style trap? If so, I would agree with that.

Bobcats, fox and coyotes are almost never going to be caught in a cage style trap... at least not the ones you buy at farm store.

There are special bobcat cage traps designed for states where other methods are prohibited, those traps are taller and cost quite s bit more. And trappers in those locals use them successfully for bobcats ...

I don’t think I ever heard of foxes being caught reliably in them though....and most experienced trappers regard cage style traps as a very low odds method for canines.... I think most would even say it’s a waste of time.

 

[Roo5]

So, woke up this morning to find nothing.Thats ok for now. I’m almost for sure it went and checked out he trap because my dog tracked down a scent headed right towards the trap.

 

[Roo5]

I agree however when you have tried scaring it off, scent marking everything and it still won’t leave, death it the only option.
I planned on killing it and leaving the body in the woods as a deterrent.Heard if other foxes smell dead ones they leave the area to avoid it being them.

I can't help but wonder why you hate them so bad? Are they really stupid? The term sly as a fox suggests otherwise.

I value living in a bio-diverse environment that includes black bear, mountain lion, and all sorts of other predators. Take out all the top predators, watch the smaller varmints run rampant.

I understand we all need to protect what is ours and do what think is right... I don't understand a kill them all attitude.

 

[Roo5]

How often through the day should I check the traps?

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

That's one way of looking at it and I don't disagree at all, but there is a big difference in a 'kill them all' mentality, and keeping over population under control. In wilderness areas, where there are no roads, farms, or houses, there are predators, but not as many as most people would suspect. They have found their own balance. There are far more coyotes per mile in places like Los Angeles. When you start adding things like pets, sheep, calves, and chickens to the environment, predator populations grow too. When you plant corn, coon populations explode. Since PETA put so much pressure on the fur industry, especially getting the US military to swap coyote collers on all their jackets out in the mid 80s, wiping out the market, in many places the coyote population has gone so far out of control that many counties in the West have had to put bounties on coyotes, and or hire Gov't trappers, and/or put out poisons. I understand well about the over population if varmints too, but in reality we see that coyotes, coons, and foxes not only clean up the rodents and such, but they move into your back yard and eat your cats and chickens and keep on breeding. It may be nice to have a few around, and I would never advocate shooting off the last of them, but left unchecked a few of them is not what you end up with.

Right. I'm for killing anything that is destroying your property, killing your animals and may a threat to you, but wiping them out completely I draw the line. The pest/predator population around here is terrible. All the animals come on peoples property, and either eat, tear up or poop on your stuff and it's disgusting not to mention the diseases, mange, fleas and ticks they carry and possible rabies.


@Maugwa your grandmother must have been one brave woman to have chased bears off with a broom! Me, I would've screamed and reached for a gun!

 

[slordaz]

We had an issue with most likely a racoon someone had kept as a pet as huge as it was, a trap for a coyote wasn't big enough we had to get one big enough for a wolf, it was dispatched after talking to fish and game ,as they are not pets but predators and this one had decimated half the flock. most of them though you cannot legally trap and relocate and some you are not allowed to kill either, my best advice is to contact your local department of wildlife. They are trained to deal with these guys and know where to do the best relocations for human and animal alike.

 

[RhodeIslandRed5]

Aren't foxes nocturnal? Probably should check like early in the morning or late in the evening. Or unless it's rabid and wandering around during the day.

I didn't know killing a fox and leaving the body out for others to see worked like that. I thought that was only supposed to work on crows.

 

[KCD]

You have a neighbor that is a pro trapper that thinks foxes are untrappable?

Did he or she mean it’s nearly impossible to catch one in a cage style trap? If so, I would agree with that.

Bobcats, fox and coyotes are almost never going to be caught in a cage style trap... at least not the ones you buy at farm store.

There are special bobcat cage traps designed for states where other methods are prohibited, those traps are taller and cost quite s bit more. And trappers in those locals use them successfully for bobcats ...

I don’t think I ever heard of foxes being caught reliably in them though....and most experienced trappers regard cage style traps as a very low odds method for canines.... I think most would even say it’s a waste of time.

Yes, he was referring to a live trap. I wasn't interested in killing it since we know there are more and it wouldn't accomplish much, in our area.