Caribou Gear

New to trapping. Things you wish you knew when you started?

Brauee20

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It feels like my 4 year old's preschool will inevitably be cancelled in the coming weeks. I figured I'd grab some traps to keep us busy through the winter now that deer season is winding down. He goes to a nature/outside orientated preschool and is not going to take to being cooped up all winter well if his school is shut down. We will mostly be targeting mink and rats in the swamp and creek behind my folks, but will be making a couple sets for coyotes as we had a handful on cameras this year. The place is covered up with racoons as well. I've already secured permission on a couple other places to fall back on in a month or so if we need it, as well as a ton of state ground about 20 minutes away.

I went over to my grandma's to see what was left of my grandfathers stuff but it was all pretty decrepit. Ended up with his fleshing knife, beam and some stretchers. I ordered a dozen 1-1/2 footholds, a dozen 110 coni's, and a half dozen Bridger dogless #2's, and was given a half dozen of the dogproof coon traps. Traps will be here tomorrow, and we'll spend the afternoon degreasing. Hopefully be dyeing, waxing, and getting some sets in the dirt/water this weekend. I read about spritzing the cleaned traps with vinegar to speed up the rusting so we may give that a shot tomorrow night.

Any tips or tricks, or overlooked things/suggestions would be appreciated. Bait/lure recommendations as well?

I'll try to keep this thread updated as we progress through our first season. He's pretty excited but has a strong concern about his fingers after I set off a foothold for him and had a talk about the dangers of them.
 
Make it fun for him. I started my kids this year with coon traps and we are doing on a very small scale. I gave each of them a trap and I promised to make either a hat or ear muffs out of whatever they caught. So far we are up to 4 released opossum and 3 fleshed coons.74AF61AA-3682-49B0-B51F-006F4CD3755B.jpeg
 
Make it fun for him. I started my kids this year with coon traps and we are doing on a very small scale. I gave each of them a trap and I promised to make either a hat or ear muffs out of whatever they caught. So far we are up to 4 released opossum and 3 fleshed coons.

Sweet! I made the same promise. I think about a dozen traps will be about right. A decent enough loop to keep him occupied but not so much that it starts to drag on. I'll set a half dozen with him this weekend.
 
Those dogless/coon cuff traps are extremely effective. I wouldn’t even mess with regular footholds. The best thing about them besides their effectiveness is that you don’t catch skunks, housecats, and possums. Which used to be 50%+ of my catch.
 
I was going to say the same on the dog proof traps. They are very effective with almost no by catch. You can catch skunks depending on the bait you are using (cat food will catch skunks even in the dog proof) but even then it is more like 5% instead of 50%.

Scent is key on coyotes. They are tough. Have the trap bedded very well and don't be too obvious with guiding them to the trap.

If you work it right it can be like Christmas morning walking the line to see what might be in the traps.
 
Those dogless/coon cuff traps are extremely effective. I wouldn’t even mess with regular footholds. The best thing about them besides their effectiveness is that you don’t catch skunks, housecats, and possums. Which used to be 50%+ of my catch.

Okay, awesome. I had planned on using most of the footholds for muskrats on stakes to start. I was able to dig up about 2 dozen of the foothold stake holder things at my grandma's, just need to come up with a bait holder for them now. Coni's will be on the myriad of culverts around the place for mink and rats, until I get a little better at reading water/bank sign.

I was going to say the same on the dog proof traps. They are very effective with almost no by catch. You can catch skunks depending on the bait you are using (cat food will catch skunks even in the dog proof) but even then it is more like 5% instead of 50%.

Scent is key on coyotes. They are tough. Have the trap bedded very well and don't be too obvious with guiding them to the trap.

If you work it right it can be like Christmas morning walking the line to see what might be in the traps.

We have a fencerow of trees between two fields that the coyotes seem to be working a couple times a week. They pop up on the one camera that sits over a scrape line. Couple spots with fallen logs and brush that will make decent backing. Going to start there with a couple dirtholes and see what happens.
 
What size of traps do you have

For coyotes, Bridger dogless #2's. Everything else 1 1/2's. Added crunchproof swivels, and some chain. Will be cross staking coyote sets until I have some time to mess around with and figure out pogo's.
 
The vinegar trick was something else. Took all of about 15 minutes for rust over.

He was chomping at the bit so I figured we'd rust a couple of them in use, and swap them out with some dyed and waxed traps midweek.

Made a quick scrat float and threw it in one of the ponds I saw them in while bow hunting. Need to add some foam tomorrow as she's riding a little low. Found a couple slides. Showed him the sign and he was super bummed we didn't bring his track guide. I could have used it too as I couldnt definitively tell him raccoon or muskrat. So we put together a trapper pack for him tonight. My dad's rigging up a couple drowners for us to throw out tomorrow at the base of the slides.

Great day of boiling traps, jamming in the garage, kicking the soccer ball around, and getting started on this little endeavor. Plus, there was hot apple pie when we were done.
 

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Never foot trapped coyotes but snaring them they aren’t as smart as people say. I walk right down the trails no scent control or anythin i set my snare and continue down the trail.
 
Never foot trapped coyotes but snaring them they aren’t as smart as people say. I walk right down the trails no scent control or anythin i set my snare and continue down the trail.

They get hunted pretty hard around us, and are pretty call shy, but I don't actually know anyone who has killed one while purposely hunting them. I'll try some snares next year after I get my feet wet a bit.

So far nothing from the ponds. Found the entrance to the bank den, so we moved one of the poles over near it as a last shot, before we pull and wait for a push up. Not a ton of sign so the muskrat or two that were in there may have moved out.

Probably going to have to take the float out of the pond midweek, and the two slide sets and pole sets out next weekend as there was a good bit of skim ice on the ponds this morning. We got the dogproof coon traps all set up midday and set a couple pipe sets for coyote on two different field edges. In preparation of the ponds locking up we set some skrat poles in the creek, and well start experimenting with pocket sets for mink in coon in the creek around the first of the week.

Just wrapped up waxing the last of the traps. Didn't start the wax on fire so that was nice.

Warren met me at the door this morning, in his pajamas with his boots and coat on chomping at the bit. The empty muskrat sets have yet to kill his excitement. Hopefully we'll have some fur tomorrow.
 
Never foot trapped coyotes but snaring them they aren’t as smart as people say. I walk right down the trails no scent control or anythin i set my snare and continue down the trail.
Snaring is a different ball game compared to foot trapping. Snaring the coyote is cruising down the trail. Foot trapping the coyotes senses are on high alert being a natural skittish critter sticking their nose down towards a hole “your dirt hole” another animals left. Doing both trapping and snaring I can stack them way easier snaring
 
Snaring is a different ball game compared to foot trapping. Snaring the coyote is cruising down the trail. Foot trapping the coyotes senses are on high alert being a natural skittish critter sticking their nose down towards a hole “your dirt hole” another animals left. Doing both trapping and snaring I can stack them way easier snaring
Even when I first started snaring always heard come from the side of the trail don’t walk their trail etc
 
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Well, the float came through. He got his first rat! If I was a better parent I would have been running the camera as we walked up to the pond to capture his excitement. He's hooked.

Still nothing in the raccoon traps. Probably need to move them off the field edges now that the corn is off, looks like they moved back down into the woods by the creek.

Also need to look up how to adjust the pan tension in the dogless bridger's I've got set for yotes. Caught a squirrel in one of those so they are way, way, way too light.
 
Congrats on the rat! For the coons set on fresh sign on their trails going to the fields from the woods. And if you can trap that Creek try some pocket sets
 
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Well, the float came through. He got his first rat! If I was a better parent I would have been running the camera as we walked up to the pond to capture his excitement. He's hooked.

Still nothing in the raccoon traps. Probably need to move them off the field edges now that the corn is off, looks like they moved back down into the woods by the creek.

Also need to look up how to adjust the pan tension in the dogless bridger's I've got set for yotes. Caught a squirrel in one of those so they are way, way, way too light.
There a bolt on the bottom of the two posts of the Bridger pan. Snug it up a little
 
Congrats on the rat! For the coons set on fresh sign on their trails going to the fields from the woods. And if you can trap that Creek try some pocket sets

We did just that today after school. Set right in the middle of a couple different trails that they hit last night in front of trail cams. We also made two pocket sets using muskrat quarters in the creek. Hoping for a mink but we'll take raccoons.

There a bolt on the bottom of the two posts of the Bridger pan. Snug it up a little

Thanks! We got them snugged up. Used a water bottle with 2.5lbs of sand as a rough estimate.

Also in your coon areas once you find sign set multiple traps. Your boy will think it’s pretty cool walking up on a double or triple on coons

We set a double today on a trail we had multiple raccoon on camera last night. Seems like their trails run just off the edge of the deer trails around the place and now that we've noticed them they stick out like a sore thumb. They look like tunnels if they are running through taller vegetation.
 
There a bolt on the bottom of the two posts of the Bridger pan. Snug it up a little

This guy was in the dirt hole coyote set we made yesterday. I'm assuming that we'll have to deal with catching 20-25lb raccoons in the coyote sets. It'd take too much pan tension to decrease the odds of raccoons? Would seem like a very fine line at that point between a chunk of a raccoon and a light footed coyote.

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This guy was in the dirt hole coyote set we made yesterday. I'm assuming that we'll have to deal with catching 20-25lb raccoons in the coyote sets. It'd take too much pan tension to decrease the odds of raccoons? Would seem like a very fine line at that point between a chunk of a raccoon and a light footed coyote.

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Add anymore and probably miss some fox too
 
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