Nabbed another beautiful gray today... and caught our first coon as well. Unfortunately, the battery in my Nikon was on its last legs and I didn't get to get any good pics of him before it died. There'll be plenty more of these guys coming soon though, as I stopped off at the biggest fur buyer in the Midwest and picked up another five Grizz Getters so we'll be running a half-dozen of these puppies soon in addition to our predator line... Here's today's gray: ... and the one blurry pic of our raccoon before the battery died:
This sure does give you great photo opportunities. Awesome photos, and keep up with the great trapping. By the way, I have never trapped before, and the more pictures you post of what you get...the more I want to try it.
We caught our first red fox at a flat set with a T-bone for an attractor... Thinking back on it the next day or so, I realized I should have had several traps there for a few reasons... One, if it's good enough for one it's good enough for three. Some fox trappers also believe that fox are so wily that they'll often visit one set and possibly shy away before becoming a bit more comfortable with later ones... I'm more of the opinion that I want to try to score a double or triple rather than use three to get one. With that in mind, I've now got a urine post projection set nearby the first flat set as well as a dirt-hole set within the immediate area. The grays I've caught were in totally different sets apart from one another that were specifically constructed for cats/grays.
I like gang sets for a couple reasons. Biggest one is that a possum or skunk is usually the first one to find my set. Having a couple of traps per location helped me catch the 'coons I was targeting even if I caught a possum. Because I was coon trapping, pan tension didn't help keep skunks or possums out of the sets. I caught over 40 'possums on just one piece of property. In the spirit of hijacking your post. Here is one of my favorite doubles. The 'coon closest to the camera was an 11 year old sow. You can just see the antenna of her radio collar in the pic. She and her young raided pheasant flight pens at a gamebird farm. They would sometimes kill several hundred pheasants in a night. (yes hundreds.. they must have wore themselves out killing birds) Anyhow, she was cage trap shy and couldn't be re-caught by the researchers and the gamebird farm was only using cage traps too. I couldn't use regular footholds or bodygrippers there because of all the dogs running around the farm. I put out two duffer's dog proof traps and caught her and the big boar behind her the first night. The researchers were both impressed and a bit bummed. :D
I'm impressed too, Christine! Awesome job, trapper! And yep.. that's one of the other reasons. Thanks for sharing one of your photos... feel free to hijack away by posting all the photos you want... these threads aren't about me as much as they are exposing some of our friends over here to the world of trapping.
Great pics. again Greg. I put a trail camera out at an active scrape yesterday aftrnoon. I had to pass one of my favorite set locations. In 10 nights last fall I caught 2 coon, a red fox, and a coyote at that spot. It really made me miss trapping. I won't go too many years before getting back at it.
Not too big a fan of the coons, but that fox is BEAUTIFUL!!!! I'm starting to think I want to put a trapline through my woods.....only bad thing is I have neighbors that have dogs, and I'd hate to trap somebodies' pet...... OFF TOPIC, but have any of you who trap ever gotten someone's dog or cat, vs. what you were hoping for??? That is probably my biggest obstacle that keeps me from really wanting to do it.
Not off-topic at all... I just bumped the thread of our red fox up (I don't think you saw that one) from a couple weeks ago and I specifically addressed that question. If you decide to stick your toe in the water, I'd be very happy to help with questions...
I've caught a dog and several cats. I usually let the cats go even though most of them are feral and not pets. Good footholds with the right swivels and lamination won't mess up a dogs foot and usually won't damage a house cat either. The hardest part is getting the dog/cat out of the trap. The dog I caught followed me around for the rest of the day, and one cat I caught sat on my shoulder after I turned it loose. Now, when it's really, really cold... you have to be careful about pets. A foothold by it's very nature will restrict some blood circulation and in subzero temps there's a danger the paw will freeze. I avoided using footholds in areas where I might catch a wayward pet in really cold temps. There are dog-proof traps that will catch 'coons and possums without any worry of catching a cat. That's what the 'coons in the pictures are in. Conibears/body gripping traps can be set and baited in ways that reduce the chance of catching a dog or cat.. but they are kill traps and you have to be very responsible about where/how you use them. I would avoid using them on land if you have a lot of stray pets around. I don't know the regulations for Ohio but there are 'relaxing snares' that will hold a fox or coyote or dog without killing it. Pet dogs have no problem in them because it's like being on a leash to them. There's always cage traps too. ...generally, you're not going to catch too many foxes in them tho'. This fox was a moron.
