I'm gonna dip my toe in…

[Railroader]

Did somebody say something about a cat?

View attachment 1122924

That.
Is.
Awesome!!!

 

[treemanjohn]

I trapped for decades with my father. All he had was a left handed welding glove and a 3ft hickory stick. You can save money

Nice work on your catches. I have a yard full of yotes that might need thinning

 

[1eyefishing]

Score today:
1 cat.
3 coons.

3 or 4 of my DPs were cleaned out without tripping.
I guess I have 3 options...
Wax them...
File a second little notch for the dog to sit in...
Or set them on half trigger… (easiest so I'll probably start with that).

One more night before I have to head back to the house.

 

[Doug B.]

Some more great catches. Pretty cat! Good job!!!

 

[canine933]

Good looking cat!

 

[canine933]

Trapping has come a long ways with information and guys helping each other. When I was a kid starting out people where very tight lipped. It was a long time before I caught my first cat.

 

[Doug B.]

Trapping has come a long ways with information and guys helping each other. When I was a kid starting out people where very tight lipped. It was a long time before I caught my first cat.

That's right! I remember them days. That's when everybody was making money off their hides.

 

[Railroader]

Trapping has come a long ways with information and guys helping each other. When I was a kid starting out people where very tight lipped. It was a long time before I caught my first cat.

I grew up on a good sized piece of river swamp that had and absentee owner in New York.

We hunted, fished, camped, and pretty much lived in those woods as a kid.

There was an old guy who lived down the road, that ran traps on the same property.

We'd see him sometimes, riding a Rokon dragging a sled, and he had a horrid looking old dog that went with him. I tried on a couple of occasions to make friends with him, and get him to show me about his trappin'...

He was cordial, but having none of it... ?

 

[1eyefishing]

No good catches or cleaned out DPs last night.
The 5 coons I took out so far may have cleared them out around my center foodplot )).
I caught another possum on the squirrel set. So that 1 is done with unless I get a new squirrel. Rain coming.
Catch of the day was this rat at camp. I had a DP out on what I thought was a coontrail isn't drill but my bait kept getting cleaned out without snapping the trap.
Downsized the little, and bingo...





On a more serious note, I took a few pics of my sets to see what y'all might think...

This hole set was 3 days old and it was becoming obvious where the cut grass was a different color than the live grass. I blended it in again and hung a coontail, Along with some hair clumps by the hole.
If I hadn't reworked it, I'm wondering what to think about the different colored grass...

Before...



After...



Here is the reworked set I cut a coon in a couple nights ago. Brush power behind the hole. The hole (and hair clumps) is barely visible between the brush pile and the leafy area over the trap.
Is the whole too hidden?




Here is the 1st set I ever built, a few hours older than the rest. I worked it over also because of the difference in the cut grass color. The pan is about 6" above the dirt clod on top of the grass and short stick buried half below the grass to the left.
My auger left a bunch of spiral cuttings from the wet clay... It looks unnatural to a human but I didn't think an animal would notice?





it It looks like I've wrangled an extra night here because my wife's day off has switched from Sunday to Monday...

 

[1eyefishing]

Happy toms=happy hunter.



1st birds on this camera since before deer season.
4 DPs in this frame visible in the night shots...

 

[Doug B.]

Nice sets, but I wouldn't put any grass on those dirt holes. Leave them so the coyotes can see fresh disturbance in the dirt for eye appeal. The only time I cut up any grass or whatever is on a flat set or urine post unless I'm afraid somebody will find it.

Dig a bigger hole and put that rat down it!

 

[Railroader]

Man, I really like what you have done in such a short time. You have had some serious success. Been fun to watch.

I ain't really qualified to give trappin' advice, but one thing is sticking out in my mind, that I am finding to be true.

I have caught most of my coyotes in extremely simple, plain-jane sets. Right out in the open, middle of the trail. Pick a grass clumps, dig in a trap, two drops of pee, and a twig dipped in gland lure. The "nothing-er" they are, the better they've worked for me..

Sets that I have tried to get creative with have gotten me coons, possums, and a cat.

Just something to think about, for coyote specificity....

 

[1eyefishing]

So for the holes yall are digging for the traps themselves are just left with mostly sifted dirt on top?

 

[1eyefishing]

Or are you saying don't hide the bait hole?
I've been leaving the hole itself bare with the shavings around it but hiding the trap hole.
The set I remade from the coon catch the hole is a little hidden because the coon worked the area over. I kinda left it as it was instead of making it more obvious. Each hole has a big tablespoon of that sweet Hiawatha Valley in it. And a Q tip worth of gland lure in the backing and a sprinkle of urine on top of that...

 

[Railroader]

So for the holes yall are digging for the traps themselves are just left with mostly sifted dirt on top?

Yes. A feller told me to leave it mostly bare.

 

[1eyefishing]

I don't see a bait hole on that one... Is that what you call a flat set?

 

[Railroader]

I don't see a bait hole on that one... Is that what you call a flat set?

Yep, no bait or hole. Just the natural grass clump, two drops of urine, a twig dipped in Yodel dog, and the trap.

Also, quit carrying q-tips, the woods are full of twigs, one less thing to keep up with...

 

[1eyefishing]

Did the turkeys know?
I ran them off the food plot checking traps this morning then they came back for that 1st round of pics...
It looked like the camera spooked them off but they are back.
It seems a little more than coincidence that they show up immediately after I work over the coons there.

 

[1eyefishing]

Yep, no bait or hole. Just the natural grass clump, two drops of urine, a twig dipped in Yodel dog, and the trap.

Also, quit carrying q-tips, the woods are full of twigs, one less thing to keep up with...

Thanks for the help. Yeah, no Q tips for me. I've got a little pouch full of bigger sticks for stuffing the bait hole and little sticks for dabbing the gland lure...

 

[Doug B.]

So for the holes yall are digging for the traps themselves are just left with mostly sifted dirt on top?

Yes. Just sifted dirt on the trap. I usually wad up some dry grass and put in the dirt hole. Sometimes you might not can see the hole hardly but coyotes can still smell them.