Rooter doors on traps

My hogs are either very stupid or very very smart. I have a corral trap and just a standard trap. Both having a rooter door. The hogs on the corral trap will look at the door if it’s closed. They can go in there days in a row but if you close that door they will just look at it and not even try to go in. They will also just walk around the trap and some have even tried to root under the panels of the trap. I have set a trip wire for in the past and it has worked some but wouldn’t the hogs want to push the door open? And on my standard trap they will eat all the corn around it and once again they will look at the door. They will not even try to go push it. Any tips? Should I just keep trying the trip wire like I have been?

Not a big fan of 'root through' doors. Yes, set it up as a trip wire arrangement.

Prop open the door with a 18 inch stick. Lets the little ones run in out out, but once big bore or moma enter and push the door up. All hell breaks loose.

I never have had any luck with rootin' doors. I have converted traps into falling doors and different types of things like that and had much better results. I have a round trap with a door setup that had 3 rooting doors on it. I fastened a piece of angle iron to the bottom of them to convert them into one large door. I open the door and prop it up with a long piece of steel. I have a rope tied to the bottom of this piece and it extends out into the trap where the other end is tied to a tee post. The hogs wander around in the trap until they bump into the rope and drop the door. If I can remember, I'll take a pic or two of the arrangement in the morning when I go back out to check the trap.

Some years back I welded up a "saloon-door" rig on a feeder pen turned trap. Used a bungee cord to hold it open for a few weeks to let the locals get used to it. Then, propped the doors open about 6 inches with a stick (set so the first pig in would bump it off and shut the doors) and changed the bungee to hold the doors together. Usually trapped three or four, but one night 17 of them got in.

I've used just about every possible trap door rig that's been published out there, and have found that the "rooter doors" are the least effective for me. Some type of positive trigger mechanism always works better for the piggies I trap around the Mason/Brady area.

A guy next to us does this and it works really good.

IMHO...use a trip wire on a wide guillotine type door and have a catch where the door can not be pushed up. I have never had much luck with rooter or saloon doors with out a trip wire.



Also, just a side note, if you are building a trap from scratch have it where the deer can jump out. Deer can kill or cripple themselves in a totally enclosed hog trap....not a pretty site.

Couple of pics of the way I set my door on a round trap I use. I have never had any use for the rooter type of doors, so I converted this one to a different way of doing it. I have a piece of 2x6 lumber on the ground under the stake, so the stake can slide and let the door drop. Simple arrangement, but it works for me. Originally I used some very light wire to attach to the stake, instead of the rope...but it really didn't make much difference.

I built traps for a living and trapped daily for years. Root doors are worthless, pigs have to be extremely famished to use them or just goofy. I always use a simple spring door from the side, caught over 300 hogs a year that way, simple, effective.
There are some hogs that will not enter any trap ever, have to accept that.

i use a tire ,tied to my trigger. cuts way down on coons and deer setting it off. they have to root the tire before it will set off.

I've used the tire thing myself with a similar rig before. Lots of options, but don't fall for a trap with a rooter door on it. They are just not effective.