In my ever increasing attemtps to increase my time in the out of doors, what can I do? In the off season I thought I might try some trapping, but from what I have seen it may be too much trouble. Seems like you have to boil..dye..wax the traps... and then sleep in a scent free chamber..etc. I just want to try and catch some critters. I dont know if jaw traps or snares would be my best bet. I would appreciate any help on this subject. Snares seem easier, but less effective. I would only get to do the trapping on weekends as my lease is a couple hours away.

its not as complicated as it seems. the dyeing and waxing serve a purpose but you can still get by without it.the main thing about the dying in preventing your traps from chronic rust,therefor making them work better. you can never be 100% scent free. if you manage odors you will sill be fine. keep your traps where they wont collect foriegn odors,ie:smoke,oil,exhaust, etc. Use a clean pair of gloves, be as odor free as possible when setting them. (dont set in oily, stinky work cloths,etc). If you are just trapping at your lease leave ur traps and clothes hanging in a tree away from odors. No doubt the more you work at dying,waxing, scent free, etc, the more sucess you will have,BUT, you can still catch varmints without being peter perfect. Varmints are used to some human scent.They will not freak out and haul buns if they smell a human.

If you do not want to dye and wax you can speed dip them. You can buy it at Gnader and it only take an hour or so. Just follow the directions. No boiling or waxing. Mix it up in a five gallon bucket and let them dry. IT will cost you a little $$$ to get into it. I would start out with about 5 good traps. Bridger traps IMO are really good or you can buy some used ones for cheaper. #2 bridgers are great for bobcats and yotes. I have several 1.75 Dukes that work well on coons and fox. Get you some good lure also.

Things you will need:

Traps
Speed dip or dye and wax
Stakes and some good wire
Shovel
Pliers/wire cutters
Wax paper, polyfill, sandwich bags...just something to keep dirt from getting under the pan
Sifter to keep rocks and twigs out of your jaws
Something to carry it all in.
Lure/bait
Gloves one for lure and one pair for handling traps.

This website has all you need http://www.murrayslures.com/catalog.html

I use a combination of dirt hole sets and walk through sets.

Dirt hole are the most common. You dig a small hole to put your bait/lure in and set your trap in front of it.

LOL that looks like the penis set!!!!

hey,hey, hey!! only did that once......it was because i needed the money!!!!!!!!!!!!

BB is right, dirt hole is a good set. if the ground is to hard, a flat set with the same set up will work as well

thanks for the advise...keep it up.

If you have a creek with any running water, wrap tinfoil around the pan of the trap and set it in shallow water and tie it off or stake it. Great for coons, they think it is a fish and most time you will catch both paws. Best on a big moonlit night.

no creeks, but we do have a couple of ponds..one usually gets almost dry and the other is always wet. got alot of spots where the coyotes cross under fences...is there a technique to catch them in that situation?

The is always the risk of getting deer or something else in a snare(pigs are bad) but if you find a spot where the varmints are dedicating in a particular spot(fox & yotes are easy to determine)...set a good trap there with some NEW scent(glad lure, etc..) just near the spot where they are leaving the piles. Usually when the animals comes into the area & smell the "NEW" smell the will try to mark over it & POOF snap the trap. I have caught a lot of cats by them just happening to step in the trap. Last cat I caught was in a fox set & was caught only by a couple toes on the back foot as the strolled by.

I controlled the varmints on a 160 ac. farm near Arden with one box trap. We were able to keep chickens for three years! The trick is in the lures. I used canned jack mackrel. Put it in an old dish soap bottle and let it sit outside. When it gets ripe squirt a bunch in the box trap. If there is anything near you will catch it. It is really effective on feral cats.

I went to the deer lease today, and got to walking around. I started looking for varmint sign, and when you are looking ...it's every where. QUESTION...I went and looked at some old blown over stands. looked in them and they were fool of old yote poop. I am thinking a dirt hole trap where it looks like a critter dug under it and died?

Thanks for the infor.

that would probale work. was the poop in the blinds? if so it more likely a ringtail or coon. make some sets along the roads, where other roads or trails intersect. anywhere you find poop, should be a good palce to start.

got my traps ordered and on the way...any suggestions on baits/lure?

bobcat pee is good as well

We ordered our lures from http://www.funketraptags.com/ ...there are 2 coon lures that literally are sickly sweet & they have helped bring in hogs & seen deer lick it also.

i put a cat in a live trap and catch his pee. i even caught a coon and put it in a cage and caught his pee. that worked until my mom "accidentally" let it go. she said she shut the cage but i dont think so.

Great bobcat set is to get two roosters and put each one in a seperate wire cage within hearing distance from each other in good cat area. Set 3 or 4 traps around each cage.
At dawn and dusk the roosters will start crowing to each other and draw the cats and coyotes in. Works awesome!