Coon trapping

I’ve never trapped coons but I know a lot of people have a lot of success doing it. I guess I’m gonna try it. Reason is to keep them outa corn feeders. I guess those DP ones is what most use..?? Any advice on how to setup, any tricks, etc. Just right by feeder? If they start avoiding then move further away? Somebody said vanilla wafers work good. I’m not putting a ton of time into doing this so hope it’s not too involved.

Marshmallows in a DP trap. If you have ants then look at soup can traps. Put out 3-6 in a location spread in a circle and make sure they are secured to something extremely well that a coon can't bite through.

One of the guys on our lease has trapped for years. He puts those traps with marshmallows in them and usually tethers to the foot (or multiple feet) of a feeder. He usually does it sometime in early January when most hunters are done for the season and there’s still some corn flying around, keeping the coons close to the feeders. He traps for all sorts of stuff but he does get a bunch of coons

I have trapped many of those little buggers...very easy to trap. I set the trap close to the feeders maybe 20 to30 feet from the feeder. Then I just put a little corn inside near the trigger... and trickle a little to the door and a little around the entrance. There will be a coon inside in the morning.

For bait, I like dry cat food. A small, cheap bag form the dollar store will last forever. DP traps, fastened well to each leg of your feeder. I caught one this weekend that was not attached well enough. He broke the trap free, and I could follow the drag marks in the dirt and leaves from him dragging the trap off. I followed his track for over 100 yards before I lost it.

Maybe just my personal opinion, but I don't like the leg of the feeder. We have one set of two traps setup this way because there is nothing else to attach them to and we haven't put t posts out yet. That said, I want them further away from the feeder so they don't get in the way of the deer eating

I second dry dog or cat food. Cheapest you can get. Marshmallows work good but in the heat they can melt and make a sticky mess. Also attracts ants.
I’ve had best luck with dog food and sometimes mix corn in.
Anchor the DP to a feeder leg or a tpost with baling wire or cable. I’ve caught 100+ the past few years and had two break off the wire…
I also notice I can catch three or four in a night then won’t catch any on the sets for a few days. Learned to move them some after each kill…

Trap chain preferably needs two swivels for coons.

I started running Z-Traps here at the homestead (Z-Traps are dog proof and have a push/pull trigger), been hammering coons & possums. Baited them with corn around one of my house feeders but they wouldn't touch it, the deer would knock them over trying to get the corn out. Started baiting with tuna fish and they hammer that.

I've never needed anything other than what they came there for in the first place...corn. I also use Z-Traps which has a two-way trigger (push-pull), unlike the Duke's which is a one-way (pull). Not exactly dog-proof as claimed (IMHO), but at my place the chance of someone's wayward pet getting caught is virtually nil and a pet won't eat corn anyway, unlike cat or dog food. And if it happens to trap a yote (I have TC pics of yotes eating corn at a feeder), all the better.

I wire-tie my traps to the feeder leg as mentioned, but I don't recommend trapping during the season as I have obviously seen fewer deer at those feeders when I do. Hope this helps.

https://www.murrayslures.com/Push-Pull-Z-Trap-p/mt715.htm

Edit: Didn't fully read Skinner's report before I posted but I concur!

Yep!

I second the Push Pull Z Trap. I use the cheap canned cat food. And marshmallows are good too.

I place my traps at least 50 yards from the deer corn feeders. If I don't catch a coon within 48 hours, I either move the trap or rebait it.

I have one trap at the base of a tree that is somewhat hollowed at. The coons only have one choice to approach it. I catch a coon almost every day.

*** I cover the traps with some sticks or brush so they have to work at it too get to it.

I like the DP dukes, set on the tripod legs and filled with corn. Haven't tried the z traps, but can see the added benefit.

You want to do it when you can check them each morning, wont take long to thin the herd down.

we've used the DP traps a lot. tied directly to the feeder leg or to the feed pen if you have one. does need good swivels so they won't twist it up. I"ve not noticed that you need to be real careful with scent or anything. jsut set them. i tend to use dry cat food but lots of things work. you won't catch them all unless you really work at it. but if you've got a good population of every-nighters you won't have to try too hard to thin them down some at least.

Thanks guys. This is the type stuff I was looking for. Dont they come with some type swivel and is that critical?

Yes, and the Z Traps come with 2 swivels on the chain. The chains are pretty short though, so I just went to the hardware store and cut 2' pieces of chain attached with a quick link. Then another quick link on the end to hook back to the chain after going around a tree or fence post etc. They're not breaking that.

The ability for the trapped animal to swivel freely and not twist the chain is essential.
The most docile cutesy pie animal can turn into godzilla when trapped and can
twist out of the trap and possibly bend up and wreck your trap.
One of the first good lessons I was taught was to have a free swiveling trap that was
fastened as if a sasquatch was going to step in it.
I put at least one crunch proof swivel on all my traps including the body grips.

our LO out SW of Ozona doesn't allow killing any type of varmints, so live traps is our only path out there. I have 10-12 traps and set them 2-3x side by side with entry on opposite ends, toss some corn on the ground under the trap with a pile under the trigger. I set them away from the feeder, bait & set after the afternoon hunt at dark, next morning hunt will have one in each trap usually. Then after the morning hunt, load the traps in my truck and relocate 10-15 miles away near a windmill with water trough. I'm sure the hunters in that area hate me but they can likely shoot them where I can not.

in my younger years, back in the 60s thru the early 80s I ran trap lines on several large ranches I had access too. I think I had about 180-200 spring jaw traps I ran every morning before school during fur bearing season ... had to be before daylight or I would just have a leg left in the trap. I did a lot of headlighting on foot until I got my drivers license, then converted to Q-beam with red lens. Made a LOT of money while the prices were high.

That's an odd duck right there.

If this ****** would do his job, I wouldn't have to trap. Have another pic with 13 coons in it (a lot for us).

Don't you have grandkids TLK? Sounds like a fun night job for a youngster with a 22!

LOL ... she is younger than me but reminds me of an old hippy, very much a naturalist in a lot of ways. She inherited the place and wanted someone to take care of proper deer management to oversee the place. She would prefer we not shoot any deer either but after we had a meeting with the local TPWD biologist, she understands we need to do proper culling for improving the herd & population.

we have a red light on coons, possum, etc. but green light for pigs, coyote or mountain lion & bobcat (she wants the skull )

use the same thing you have in the feeder, that's what they came for.

Don't let her see Deep In The Heart (recent documentary), or Mountain Lion will get a red light.

Dukes traps, few kernels of corn and dry cat food have done the trick for me. I am up to 47 in the last 6 months plus a skunk and a possum. Set it and forget it. Make sure you lock it down in some capacity - I use master locks around feeder logs or mesquite stumps.

Set some last night and some got bait but didn’t trigger. Can’t even get them to go off by sticking a stick in em(hardly).
Friend bought some of them at Scheels and not sure of brand. Think those worked. Ones I bought at Scheels were Brigadeer and think they ones not working. They all seem to have same basic design and look like Dukes. Not sure the issue. It’s always somethin….

Mice and rats will steal bait sometimes, birds too. I've caught them all at some point.
Never ran the Bridger traps, not sure how sensitive they are. I know the Z traps are awesome and had dukes that worked well until they got rusty. But they cleaned up well and went back to work.

I think we figured it out. One of the guys took one home and looked up YouTube and fiddled with it. Evidently the newer versions have been tweaked a little to make it harder to accidentally catch cats or dogs. I havent messed with em yet but he says they aren’t designed to trigger by downward pressure but instead they need to put their hands past the trigger and then trip it as they bump the trigger going up.
Its not important to know how they work unless you use the wrong bait like us. We used vanilla wafers and the chunks were evidently too big to go past the trigger. With something small like corn it would go past the trigger and they would have to dig down to get it.
So now you know everything I know about trapping coons.

I think it also doesn't hurt to polish the bar that holds the spring against the trigger...I've found a little mud, rust, or other grime can stiffen the trigger somewhat and make it more difficult to trip. I'd really prefer the two-way triggers too.

May need to slightly bend that set bar to relieve some of the trigger pressure.

Thanks guys. Still learning so good to have tidbits of advice.

Sounds like the coons enjoyed the Free buffet.

The rest of the story?

Shhhh. . ., shhhh . . .

Corn! Dukes!
500 dead coons can't be wrong.

Don't do it. Risk to benefit it would be really stupid to risk social media destruction, thousand dollar fines, prison time, or ruining your life over a felony because you got caught using illegal poison for raccoons. There are many more examples than the sample of stories below. It's a different day and time. Just use what is legal. Those DP traps and conibear bucket sets are more than efficient.

https://www.msspan.org/flowoodcatcruelty

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/...5a3783e-1b76-5956-92d6-02e521554ab7.html

https://allongeorgia.com/georgia-pu...cted-pesticide-to-bait-and-kill-coyotes/

https://www.science.org/content/art...wildlife-deaths-misuse-deadly-fly-killer

Besides Sniper's sage advice, there other reasons to avoid this otherwise productive method.

I had no idea what the fly bait post was about….Not me, I ain’t goin there.

A coon friend asked me, "When is Free coming back?".

I’ll be back and those coons will be sorry.
Actually, our landowner may want us to pick up some more country so I may be too busy to trap coons.