Raccoon proof hog trap trigger ?

Help please...

My corral hog trap has been in operation for a few weeks. However raccoons have been tripped the root stick trigger and shut the guillotine/drop/vertical door.

Did anyone have similar problem? Does anyone know how to make the root stick trigger raccoon proof, or at least raccoon resistant?

Thank you.

Post a pic of you trigger mechanism.

Sorry, Capt.

Will take a picture and post.

Our old landowner had a similar problem with an old box trap. He solved it by wrapping it in chicken wire and catching coons too.

This may not be directly applicable, but here's a photo of the trip mechanism I used in constructing a box trap a couple of years ago.



The vertical rod has a horizontal rod projecting out about 15 inches above the ground. It's high enough so that small pigs and raccoons just pass under it without moving it and triggering the trap. I have it set up so that if it moves a couple of inches in either direction it closes the trap. I have a stiff cable attached to the upper (small) horizontal piece that connects to the trigger mechanism.

Sorry RedChevy, the trap I made has open top.

Raccoons can climb over the trap fence. In fact they climb in and out after the door is closed. I saw pictures of a hog watching raccoons eating corns in the closed trap.

I had the same problem at one of my traps. I set 3 dog proof traps on the outside of the pig trap baited with dry cat food. Caught and dispatched the offenders and have not a problem for the last month.

Thanks, bar-d.... I sure hope I don't have to go that route.. although raccoons have been messing up my feeder timer and eating the corns. I am attempting to give them a pass as long as they don't trip my hog trap trigger.

IMO the best cage type hog traps are built with 4x4 inch livestock panel. The coons can't crawl through the smaller openings like they can with hog panel or the 6x6 panels....if they do trip it then they only trip it once.......no need for small external traps that will more than likely be torn up by hogs...........

HWY72,

The panel I used is called "utility panel" from Tractors Supply. The meth is actually 4x4.

I don't know if raccoon will be able to go through the 4x4, but they sure can climb over the fence - captured on pictures.

I understand, I didn't really want to mess with the coons but for weeks they ate all the corn and kept tripping the hog trap denying me income from the hogs. Once I started catching hogs again, I pulled the coon traps. I really have nothing against the little rascals but cuteness only goes so far when you are talking about potential income. I farm and ranch for a living and trapping hogs is part of that effort.

HWY72 this is the trap I use. Hogs may root them up or turn them over, might even bend something a little, but they are not going to tear them up.

Kill the coons, lot easier than changing the design of your trap

Thanks again bar-d and Txcatman1. I will look into trapping coons.

Capt. asked for a picture...

Here is the picture of the my trigger. Note that I have buried soure corn under the root stick.

Also, the following have been changed since my first post;

(1) The 2 set sticks have been moved to closer to each other
(2) The 2 set sticks have been changed from straight up to about 60 degrees away from the pull - hard to see from this picture.
(3) A metal wire has been added as an anchor to make the root stick harder to be rooted up.

Please let me know what can be done better. At the same time, I am looking at raccoon traps.

Thanks again.

So as it appears, as the pigs move the stick and/or lift it, the weight of the door causes the cage to close itself. If your current modifications don't work, let me know I may have a few ideas for you.

Here is what i used. helped a ton it an old tire hooked to the cable on gate. the tire has to be moved before the trap is triggered. hogs will root and move the tire, coons and deer will not

Hi, Hornet527.

Appreciate that diagram. I read somewhere on using the tire as part of the trigger, but unable to find detailed info.

Do you mind posting a picture to show the tire and trigger?

Thanks a bunch.

i dont have a pic PNG, ill try and explain a little better. My gates are rooter style and are held open by a pin connected to a cable, connected to the tire. doesn't really matter what style of gate, the concept is the same. from my gate, the cable is 3-4 feet off the ground, through a pulley on the T post in the middle of the trap, down to the tire on the ground. i have 3-4 stakes on the outside of the tire, on the gate side. this is the key concept---the stakes allow the tire to be moved ONLY in the direction away from the gate, thus pulling the pin and releasing the gate. this is the same as the rooting stick and other methods. i put corn inside the tire, coons and deer wont move it. when a pig feeds it will root at the tire and move it. this is probably clear as mud!!but hope this help ill try and get a pic later

Sorry png,

I know your post said corral, but I was replying to the others that mentioned the cage or box type. IMO the biggest flaw in most of the traps produced these days is that they tend to use hogs panels. The traps get tripped by the coons and they just crawl out through the 6x6.

I like the trigger set up you have...may try that on mine.

Good looking traps bar-d!

Thanks for the encouraging words, HWY72. I am a newbie at this and have not succeeded for even one time.

100% agree with your comments on bar-d's raccoon traps. I have read his replies multiple times and I imagine a pro trapper every time. There is no way I can reach that level, but I am happy to learn tricks particularly if I need to eventually go that route.

The bottom line is I want some hog meat and I need the ability to trap without fighting with raccoons too much.

Good luck trapping.

Hey, Hornet527.

I got it. I will have to add a stick to keep the door open, then connect the tire to the stick. My current setup does not have pin/stick at the door.

Thanks for offering another proven technique.

A friend of mine built a large corral trap with about a 40' diameter. He set it the first 5 or 6 times and didn't catch anything. Sometimes it was tripped and sometimes just the corn was gone. He put up a cam & found out Turkeys were eating all the corn so he had to go out and bait it right at dark. He started catching after that. Last I heard his best catch was over 20 hogs.... 1 trap 1 night.............

Good luck!

PNG
what setup do you have on your door? Are you using the figure 6 concept where the force of the panels close against each other?

turkeys are worse than coons sometimes!

Hey, hornet527,

Here is the picture of my trap door. The rope goes all the way to the root stick. Once the root stick is moved/lifted up - which happened a few times by the work of raccoons, the droor will drop due to its weight.

If my current change to the root stick does not work, I will add a stick to hold the door open and try your "tire wire trip" idea.

For your trigger to trip the cable/rope has to be moved away from the door - pulling the pin, while with my current setup the rope will lose its tension after the set stick is lifted causing the door to drop.

40' diameter trap is huge, HWY72. It takes eight 16' panels and $100 worth of T-posts.

Mine is rather small using 3 sixteen feet panels and there is a feeder inside the trap. I want to "manage" the hog numbers to keep a steady supply if you know what I mean...

Yeah, at the time he was trapping them near his 200 ac corn field and selling them live. I don't think it took him long to get a return on the cost of building it......

PNG, i see now, tire wont work with that set up . a hinge stick would work ok