Let’s Get Started

[idk]

Would like to start this as my journal, of sorts. From 0 Experience to…we shall see.

Trapping License


Got a few traps to play with from Trapshed (TY).

I’ll be posting updates here and there, on just about everything I venture into. Gonna try and make up some of my own tools if I find it cost effective. (Catch pole etc)

Once I familiarize myself a bit I’ll buy more traps, but for now, I’ll be learning with 1 (and 2 dog proofs).

Have to run and get kids from school. Looks like all we got around the house are possums, thought I might have a coon but nope, have caught nothin but possums on my camera. They’re snooping around my chicken pen at night so we might have to try and discourage em a bit.

I meant to post this yesterday, buttttttt got side tracked and never hit submit.

 

[idk]

Andddddd there he is, headed to the office this morning so checked and let em go on his way before heading out.

First Trap

Excited to see it work, even if it was just a possum.

 

[Heartstarter]

Congratulation Sir! A catch is a catch and Grinners are chicken killers for sure. They are great to practice on if you are interested in learning to skin, flesh, board and tan your fur. Prep that Duke 550, find some good sign or a trail and get it in the ground. You are off to a good start.

 

[idk]

Congratulation Sir! A catch is a catch and Grinners are chicken killers for sure. They are great to practice on if you are interested in learning to skin, flesh, board and tan your fur. Prep that Duke 550, find some good sign or a trail and get it in the ground. You are off to a good start.

Thank you! Yessir I’m gonna get the 550 prepped asap. I do want to learn to skin/flesh/tan, I let this one walk, gonna re set tonight and see if we can get another one. I set this one and forgot I had to go into the office today, so he got a pass due to me having to leave and be gone all day. I’ll set again tonight and see if another one is around. I need to get supplies for the tanning and fleshing though, if I were to get ahead of myself i can always freeze unfleshed right? Think I recall someone suggesting freezing flat if possible?

Thank you again

 

[sportsman94]

I roll skins up into a ball to freeze prior to fleshing. Fur side out and start rolling from the tail so the head is on the outside.
A bread bag works perfect for fitting most everything. If you skin and flesh a possum, don’t be discouraged if the hair starts falling out. They have super thin skin and can be a pain to flesh. Try putting a towel between them and the board if you have that problem and see if that helps. Pretty much anything else will take a lot more pressure than a possum will without damaging any fur.

Where are you located?

 

[idk]

I roll skins up into a ball to freeze prior to fleshing. Fur side out and start rolling from the tail so the head is on the outside.
A bread bag works perfect for fitting most everything. If you skin and flesh a possum, don’t be discouraged if the hair starts falling out. They have super thin skin and can be a pain to flesh. Try putting a towel between them and the board if you have that problem and see if that helps. Pretty much anything else will take a lot more pressure than a possum will without damaging any fur.

Where are you located?

Thank you! I may give it a shot with the next one, if I can catch another one . I appreciate the advice! I am in north ga.

 

[idk]

Day 2 - It was raining when I got back home last night, I put a solo cup over the top to try and keep the bait dry. I checked at 6 and no luck. I was talking to my Son and he asked if we could check it again before they left for school. I didn’t think it would be worth doing since I had checked it a hour before, but told him we could. I’ll be darned lol

 

[Heartstarter]

Stay after them, this week has been warm and rainy, next week it’s supposed to cool off again and be clear. Should get more movement then hopefully. Work on your locations and set on sign. Also look for trails, I do really well with blind sets in trails. You are doing good!

 

[idk]

Stay after them, this week has been warm and rainy, next week it’s supposed to cool off again and be clear. Should get more movement then hopefully. Work on your locations and set on sign. Also look for trails, I do really well with blind sets in trails. You are doing good!

Thank you! I am lookin for some places to try and get out, we have coyotes around the house so gonna talk to my neighbors and see if they’ll let me try and trap some. I am surrounded by pasture land (cows/horses) and from time to time hear them going nuts right beside the house pretty much. so maybe they’ll be all for it. While I figure out the best way to prep the traps I was hoping to find somewhere to try and get the DPs out for coons. Have a few wmas fairly close but none of those are ones that can be used with a permit. National forest maybe, bout an hour away or more depending. I’m surprised we don’t have any close to the house, I’ve looked up and down the small creek we have and up to the pond behind us and have found nothing but possum tracks. Maybe not enough food or reason for em to be there.

I believe Dawson Forrest is one that I could try with a permit, but that’s an hour or so away also, but.. may have to do what I gotta do lol

As for trap prep, vinegar bath to get the grease off, then dye and wax? Or is waxing enough? Gotta watch a few more videos, one used muriatic acid /water, if white vinegar works I’ll prob go with that.

 

[canine933]

This is what I do to new traps. Wash with dawn detergent or a degreaser. I mix up half vinegar half peroxide and couple teaspoons of salt in a spray bottle. You will watch the traps rust in front of you. Let them set a 2-3 days or longer if you have time then dye and wax.

 

[idk]

This is what I do to new traps. Wash with dawn detergent or a degreaser. I mix up half vinegar half peroxide and couple teaspoons of salt in a spray bottle. You will watch the traps rust in front of you. Let them set a 2-3 days or longer if you have time then dye and wax.

Awesome! Thank you for this, I’m thinking I’ll get a few more and do them all together/at once. Then start making some practice sets.

Is there a specific brand of wax and dye you like?

 

[idk]

I made a catch pole but not sure I like the clothes line tightener. Gotta dremel out the pvc a bit to see if it will stay in place better. May end up buying one if not. It seems to work, and was cheap. ‍ (saw em on YouTube)

 

[canine933]

Awesome! Thank you for this, I’m thinking I’ll get a few more and do them all together/at once. Then start making some practice sets.

Is there a specific brand of wax and dye you like?

If you dye them I use logwood dye. Wax is the blocks I get from the trap supply store. Hobby Lobby used to carry 10lb blocks but they discontinued it.

 

[Worley]

After longwood dye, I just waxed 10 traps with 1lbs block of wax. Fill med cook pot with 1/2 water and let wax melt on top of water, little to no fire hazard and no burn. Sink trap, it will turn white most likely let it warm up 30-60 seconds and pull up slowly thru wax , perfect coat …

 

[idk]

Thanks Guys, I appreciate all the info!

 

[sportsman94]

On new traps I just degrease and wax. Whenever you catch a couple they’ll shine it up and cause it to rust. Then dye the following year

 

[idk]

Monday Mornin update, couple small guys.
Didn’t have any luck over the weekend, we set out the second DP once the rain slacked off. Was thinking we may have caught the only 2 around the house.

Possum #3 & 4 this mornin.

I haven’t kept one yet, if we can get a bigger one I may try skinning/tanning. Hopefully I can find somewhere that has some coons here before long. Be a little more interesting to share w you guys. For now, around the house, it looks like it’s gonna be possums lol

 

[idk]

Unfortunately I decided to dispatch the one on the right. He must have twisted himself up trying to get loose and his leg was pretty much hanging by a thread (bone was exposed/visible). I’ve been checking their legs just to see if the trap does any damage and so far all of them have been fine. Until this one. I didn’t feel right about letting em run off with it. Looks like I’m gonna be skinning after all.

Disappointed it came to that tbh, but we will do our best to make something positive/useful from it.

 

[idk]

My first attempt at skinning, they are super thin! Especially around the lower mid section, so I got a hole or two there, I got a little overly aggressive with the pulling around the nose/mouth, which ended up leaving some fur behind. Wasn’t sure if I was supposed to keep the ears like that or not lol, if those should be trimmed off then I’ll do that later.

Going to put this one in the freezer for the time being. Will have soom fat to flesh off but for the most part it came off fairly clean, at first glance at least.


Lessons Learned :

-Dont use a bungee cord to hang, that was a pain.(as expected lol) I just grabbed the first cord I could find in the garage as I’m a bit pressed for time at the moment. Worked against my pulling efforts lol. Ended up having to grab the tail and pull in opposite directions.

-Take more time around the lower mid section

- took me a minute to figure out how to get the arms out, finally found the parts that needed freeing up then they pulled out fine. Will have to get a piece of metal rod and use as a pulling aide possibly.

Slow down around the eyes/nose/mouth.



It may be a couple weeks, but I’ll post more of the fleshing/rest of the process when I get some supplies.

Hope you guys have a good Monday!

 

[idk]

Nothin new since the last 2, maybe that was all the ones in the immediately area (around house).

Going to be putting in another order today, wax and a couple more 550s. Need to decide what I’ll use for anchors, with the DPs I have one screwed (timberlok) though the chain into a large oak limb that was laying on the ground. The other I made a cable with loops on the end and run through itself and have a carabiner to connect it to the swivel. Those seem to be fine for the smaller things, granted the screw isn’t ideal and only did that because of that big limb. Will probably make another cable for it also.

I’m either thinking crossing rebar stakes with double stake swivels, or maybe earth anchors… not for sure yet lol.

Figure I’ll get a few lbs of wax, which is probably more than enough for a few traps, just want to be sure I can get them submerged enough.

Are there other tools I will need starting out? Aside from hammer/digging, was going to look and see if they could make my own dirt sifter and those type things. Don’t wanna spend too much til I know for sure it’s somethin I will keep doing/enjoy for a while.

Is sheep wool somethin that is needed for a set or is that just an extra visual thing to get them curious?

Might order some bait and urine/lure of some kind also while I’m at it. Now that I’m thinkin about it would salmon work by chance? I got some in the freezer that’s about been in there too long, if I can use it for somethin that would be great.