Hog Trap Door

Howdy All,

I am finally going to break down and build a corral type hog trap this weekend that I have been talking about doing for a couple of years now. We acquired some 6"x6" wire mats 10"x20" in size. I am going to make a large tear drop shaped corral but I am not sure what the best door for it is. I am going to use either a lifting type door with a hinge at the top, or a swing gate/saloon type door. Either way set with a trip wire.

What are y'all's thoughts on the door selection? What do you use or have you seen work the best?

Does anyone have any suggestions on trapping hogs? We have about 270 in Bandera county and we really need to do some population control.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

I have traps with both types of doors and they both catch the hogs but I do prefer the drop type door. Just make it heavy enough to where they can't root out of it.

That is what I was leaning toward.

Do you buy them or make them? I would rather buy...do you have any suggestions where I can pick one up?

The swing down doors are the most effective... Drops work well also but use metal instead of wood

swing door with spring how big of trap, got every thing in inches

Here are 3 doors I have on my traps. 1 saloon type. 2 drop type

Where does a man get a trap door?

Howdy Ross!

These folks are over in Seguin and have good prices on their hog gates:

http://www.bb-manufacturing.com/Products.html

And gig 'em.

Need to look elsewhere...

Bummer. I was going to get a couple from them for the coming season.

Try these guys — http://www.hawgtraps.com/

on the left side of the page, select Panel Gates

Great site. Wish they posted prices...

Tractor Supply down in South Texas sells them.

They are easy to build, just need a cheap wire welder or if you know someone who has a welder. I build several different styles. I modeled my first one after the TSC version. It has caught a bunch but they don't root it up to go in usually. Once it drops, the ones that aren't in scatter. The other style is a swing gate/spring loaded set at about 45 degrees. Once it closes, they tend to push in more than the other gate I built. 2" angle and some cattle panels. I added a piece of plywood to the bottom of the swing style so and sprayed with diesel, they will push on a smooth surface better than the wire mesh and they like the smell of it. I've made box traps and corral style using both. I'll see if I can find a pic.



This one I just used some old metal I had laying around but I couldn't find a finished pic. I went with a double drop instead of a triple drop like TSC.

Thanks y'all for all the help!!! We have decided to just fab up our own swing down trap door for the time being. It will look something to the effect of the sketch below. We are going to build the trap this weekend and set up a feeder in the middle to bait the trap, then we will set the door the next time we go up there.

I will post pictures of the trap next week after we get it all put together, and I will update after the first time we set the trap.

Good Luck with the trapping! The doors are really not complicated, although as you've seen there are different types. They all basically work, and I saw a comparison done by (I think) Texas A&M that indicated root/drop doors don't really 'continuously' catch hogs. As h20theif indicated, you generally catch what's in the trap when the door drops and that's it. With that in mind, make whatever is easiest to construct!

Here's a photo of a trap I constructed a couple of years ago. It has saloon doors (double doors, hinges at each side) but if I were to do it again I think I would simply put in a guillotine door. I went with the saloon doors thinking it might catch hogs that weren't very far into the trap. That is, I felt a drop door (hinged at the top) might hit a hog as it fell and 'sweep' it out of the trap. A guillotine door doesn't do that. I don't know if it's really something to worry about, but that's why I went with the double doors at the time. They're shorter, and therefore less likely to push a hog out as they close.

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on the trap

I like the corn "arrow" indicating the direction of travel. Nice set up.

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some times ya gotta point the way for hogs. like pappy always says: proof this in the pudding in pudding an arrow down the hogs were trapped as seen in 2nd pic. the deer stayed away. proving my theary, hogs can't read, but can follow sign. the corn I put in my feeders say deer corn & people want the hogs out. not every one can afford ta pay hunters. I do what I can with what I can afford. Chance ta do some in & chillen. Hogs the other wild game. times is tough. price of insurance has held me back. don't do no good ta complain. found that out the hard way not sure how big of trap ya using, bigger with spring door is way I would go. not an expert slept threw that class

Hahaha I love the corn arrow!!! I'll remember to do that the first time I set my trap!!

There are different theories on trap baiting, but the way I do it is to lay down corn all the way from the trap entrance to the trigger. Some folks like to just bait at the trigger to better ensure a catch, but I think putting corn all the way slows them down a little, and prevents a few little ones from running to the trigger area and tripping the gate quickly. Hopefully it allows more time for additional hogs to enter before the trap closes.

I know I am slacking on the progress pictures of the trap! haha it makes it easier to post pictures when you actually take pictures!!! So a verbal update...

Basically I flat ran out of time, it was a quick trip to the ranch and I had to get all the feeders topped off which did take priority over the trap. We got the pin up, we made a big tear drop shaped pin around an oak tree. We tied 9-20' long panels together so it is a pretty good sized trap, and we have the door frame wired into it.

I did not buy enough tee posts and need about 14 more to finish filling in the gaps so that they are spaced 4' apart.

I am heading back up there next weekend to build a new blind and intend on finishing the trap then. All I have left to do is finish driving the remaining tee posts, put the door in the frame, and set up the feeder.

I did bait it with 100 pounds of corn/protein and a salt block before I left (yes, I did make a corn arrow into the pin :), and will do the same when I leave next time with the feeder going and the door wired open. So the trip after that I will just need to set the door and see what we catch!

I will make sure I get pictures when I am up there next weekend and will post them up for y'all to see!

theirs a pic on this form of trap door that is run bye remote hooked up to cell phone can't remember who posted it. like pappy always says: sometimes shift my brain in ta neutral & my mind wonders

I have seen some YouTube videos where they have the remote control trap doors hooked up to their cell phones and trap like that. Really cool, and way out of my budget...plus we are far enough away that we don't get cell reception (really fantastic problem to have when you are in the woods haha!!!).

good point . would go with push door going in, if had the budget would build one had posted in different post. best wishes

Nice build Ross. Here is smartphone ap to check out.

Haven't ever used one but this might be pretty sweet with a trail cam that
sends pics back to your phone. I don't mind hard work as long as it's
balanced out with a little bit of lazy and toys.

http://wirelesstraps.com/