Hogs getting wise to traps...

Hey y'all

Just wondering if anyone else has a problem with their pig herds getting wise to traps. Had a pig get out the 1st night it was in its new location, then ratcheted it down and caught a pig the next two nights. Since then they've eaten the corn up to the trip wire but seem to know not to hit it How they know that's the "danger zone", I dunno. Anyway, moved the trap to a new location which they haven't found yet but once they do... how do I keep them from figuring it out too? Is it a contant game of moving it around?

Thanks

In my experience each group has few smart ones or a few that eventually get smart. I've never moved a trap. Just wait for the next group to come in. If they get hungry enough they will go in. Put a video game cam on it to see if anything in particular is keeping them out. Good luck!

Yes I haven't even trapped any and can't get them to go in!!!!! During the summer they went in but I made some modifications to it and put in a better trip wire and since then I can't even get them to go in it!!

I've watched a few pigs also actually "know" where the motion activation field on a feeder kill light was and skirt around the area just outside the field that detects motion.

I've heard pigs are every bit as smart as a domestic dog, and I am starting to think that's true. They seem to only stick to corn fermented in beer also... I've tried to bait them with apples, carrots, celery, eggs, expired milk, stale bread, potatoes, and bits of whatever else... they avoided it like the plague. Seemed every time I would put something new in the trap they'd stay away from the entire vicinity for awhile.

Yes - try to pick something and stay with it. Every time you make a change in the field they will spook a bit.

Yeah, I think 'new' things make them edgy.

I can't say it works for sure, but I've had occasional success by sprinkling Kool-Aid or Jell-O in the trap with the corn.

They get trap wise very quickly. What I did was add a couple of hands full of mini-marshmellows to the usual corn in one of my small traps, and it appeared to be just enough to lure 'em in again. It ended rather tragically for these three. . .

Try a figure 6 trap.

+1 Bigger the trap the better... Used a small trap years ago, best results were placing it at edge of thick area instead of open & camoflogging it... Then heard were people were catching deer, stopped using mine... Their were several threads were people using bigger traps, they fissled out though... If had the money tis way i would go... Push door trap...

if you have a circle trap try this trigger mechanism

Hornet That looks slick! so once they bounce the tire out of the way it triggers? Clever

hornet, give us some more details, please! These tired old eyes can't quite figure out how it works. How is the release mechanism set up to tie the tire to the t-post to the door release?

I sat and watched as a pig circled a trap, he would go in the door about half way, then back out. The small 2' x 3' opening made him skittish. So I made a trap with a 4' x 8' door. I catch pigs every weekend.
Deer and coons may also be responsible for the corn disappearing.
A sensitive trip wire is also good.

I had one do like simple searcher mentioned. I knew he was there, but could not catch him. Put a camera up and got plenty pics of him doing everything but going into the trap more than shoulder deep. Never did catch him.

I bought a metal mesh trap from a neighbor. He had caught many pigs in it, until he put a sheet metal bottom on the trap. Quit catching them and sold the trap to me, cheap. I could not catch a pig. But them I shoveled in dirt to cover the wire and sheet metal and started catching them again. Had to be the metal that tipped em off.

Pigs really are smart. But I'm patient.

Interesting, I never thought about the wire bottom being an issue for some pigs. You never know what might tip some of them off.

Appreciate the responses! I think y'all are right that a bigger trap would make a huge difference. Without having exact measurements, I would say it is 6 L, 3 W, 3H. The 3's may be 3.5. It isn't a real big cage. Gonna start looking at other types of set ups!

If you have the $$ and landowners permission I would build one like the circle trap pictured on the 1st page. Lots of different triggers available and the size doesn't run off any pigs, plus you can trap more at a time.

The tire is connected to a cable that is attached to the gate. The post in the middle is to hold up the cable. Rods art driven in the ground on the gate side of the tire to prevent it from being rooted back towards the gate. When the hogs root the tire "away" from the gate it is set off. Really helps with the deer, coons' etc setting off the trap