Attaching Trap Tags

Here's a tip for attaching your trap identification tags so that they won't fall off or get torn off by an angry 'coon.  A kindly old trapper taught me this little trick.

Curl up one of the ends of the copper trap tag using long-nosed pliers, like this:

Hook the curled end of the tag around a link of chain, like this:

 

Using your fingers, roll up the tag around the chain link:

Finally, once you've rolled it up as far as you can with your fingers, use your pliers to crimp down the end of the tag so it is rolled up tightly:

Then just boil your traps with the tags attached like this.  They will turn dark and blend in with the chain.

Prime Time for Scouting

The season is over, my fur shed is a mess, and I have a long list of things to get to that I neglected during trapping season.  It'd be very easy to just wait until Fall to start thinking about trapping again, but for some reason I just can't.  Well, you know the reason.  Trapping may take place for only a few months a year, but being a trapper you're always a trapper.  There's always something to do and some way to keep up the addiction.

I try to build into my schedule some dedicated scouting time each Spring.  It's right on the heels of the season so potential trapping spots that I didn't get to this year are still fresh in my mind.

The biggest reason to get out and scout now is that everything hasn't bloomed yet.  Once Spring comes in full force the woods will hide its secrets again, but now when the ground is barren it is so much easier to spot scat, tracks and trails.  Sure, the animal patterns may well change quite a bit between now and Fall, but scouting now still yields a lot of information that will be useful when next season starts.

I'm mainly out looking for 'coon trails.  With barren ground they are much more visible than they will be come Spring.  Raccoon trails tend to stay active, and many trails I find in the Spring yield catches in the Fall.

Once I find a trail I just follow it as far as I can, and very often it leads to a den.  Out comes my notebook, and I jot down the location.  Many dens I know of remain active year after year, so once I find a good den I know the spot will be worth scouting again the next year.  If I go into a new piece of woods I often start at the highest point or ridge-line, look for a trail, and follow it as far as it will take me.  I'm always on the lookout for rocky overhangs and old piles of debris (concrete, railroad ties, etc) as these tend to be great den areas.  When scouting for trails I often scan hillsides with thick grapevines, and look for high ridges with big hardwoods.

With the ground still barren 'coon sign is not hard to find.  If it's there, you'll find it, but the best time is right now.  When late April and May roll around the woods will hide its secrets again.

If you have any pics to share from last season I'd love to see 'em and post them here.  Just click "contact me" in the sidebar and send me an email.

Happy trails!

A Lesson on Location

Ever have trouble picking the best locations for your sets?  If so, this article is a must-read!  Don Wilson from Indiana has provided this excellent illustrated article on how he picks productive locations when trapping canines.  I'm sure that most trappers will find this material VERY helpful, and the catch pics are great.  Many thanks to Mr. Wilson for sharing these insights.

"Carpet Bombing" for Raccoons

A well established rule of our business is "set on sign."  Look for tracks, droppings and other evidence of furbearer activity and put your sets there.  Of course this is the way to go, but sometimes you find an area during the season that you have not had a chance to scout properly.  Sometimes you just have a hunch that an area will produce fur even though you have no specific hot spots with abundant sign.  In a case like this, I do what I call "carpet bombing."

Carpet bombing was a WWII tactic that American bombers used long before the days of precision "smart" bombs.  Basically, hundreds of bombers would saturate a general target area destroying everything in the vicinity rather than aim for one precise point.  Leaving aside the question of ethics, it got the job done.  It was messy, but it worked.

Applying WWII bomber tactics to raccoon trapping may not be intuitive to some, but let me explain.  If I find an area that I have not had a chance to scout, but it looks "raccoony" to me, I'll follow my hunch and put in some sets.  If I don't find specific spots with sign to target I'll simply put in several quick sets at even intervals in an attempt to "carpet" the area.  This may not seem very efficient, but if your hunch is right and you connect with a few coons, you will quickly learn where to focus your efforts.

Here's an example.  The map below is of a pond and swamp where I tried this tactic.  The red dots represent my initial set locations.  I simply set the various points of the pond at even intervals with dirt-hole sets on the bank.  The first two nights I caught one coon on the north point at the bottleneck between the pond and the train tracks, and two coons on the east point at the tip of the small peninsula.  The other three sets saw no action, but after two nights I knew where to focus my efforts.  I pulled the inactive sets and doubled up my sets where I was getting the action.  "Carpet bombing," as I like to call it, is an exercise in narrowing down your set locations by a process of elimination.  You start on a hunch, saturate the area, then narrow down your efforts to where the action is.

Maybe it's not the most efficient method.  Setting on sign in well-scouted area is always best, but if you're setting a new area and time is short, try carpet bombing.

(click to enlarge)

   

Conibears on Leaning Pole Sets

In this article Ron Lancour from British Columbia illustrates a simple and effective method of securing conibear traps on leaning pole sets.  Some good, clear pictures are worth a thousand words. 
Thanks Ron!

Scouting Your Trapline with Google Earth

Trappers have many resources on the internet these days, but I have found one of the most valuable is Google Earth.  This is a free program that provides detailed satellite images of just about anyplace in the world.  Google Earth has incredible features for a free program.  You can zoom in and see amazing detail of any area that you plan to scout, clearly identify key terrain features, plot courses and measure distances, and generally get a bird's eye view of your area.  While it may take hours to get a feel for an area while scouting on the ground, Google Earth can give you the big picture instantly.  Nothing can take the place of putting your boots on the ground when looking for animal sign, but Google Earth can give you an idea about where to look, what terrain features are present, and what is the best approach to scouting and trapping a piece of land.  I do a lot of pre-scouting with Google Earth and have even identified places that I knew would be productive trap sets before I even got on the ground to check them out in person.  When using Google Earth I look for several things:

Pinch Points:  These are areas where terrain features naturally narrow down avenues of travel, such as a piece of woods that narrows down to a bottle-neck, or a narrow point between the edge of a field and a stream.

Transition Areas:  Where woods borders a field, or steep terrain transitions into a flat area.

Natural Barriers:  Roads, streams, fences and other such features will often dictate travel routes for animals.  Pay particular attention to where these kinds of features intersect, or where they will naturally funnel animal traffic.

Outstanding Features:  Rock piles, sand pits, high points, old structures, lone trees, etc.  These kinds of features will often be a magnet for curious critters.  Google Earth provides enough detail to see such outstanding features in any area.

With Fall nearly here it's time to start scouting and planning ahead.  By scanning your areas ahead of time with Google Earth you can strategize your scouting and save yourself a lot of legwork.  You can download it free at this link.  I think you'll agree that this a great tool for planning your line!

Good luck and God bless. 

Dental Floss and Trapping

 by Tom Sabo in British Columbia

Dental floss is a very important trapping item for me. I do not go out on the line or work in the skinning shed without a roll or two. It is light, compact, and very strong for its size. I prefer the waxed variety as it is the easiest to work with. There are many uses for it on the line and in the workshop, such as sewing beaver and otter leg holes and accidental cuts in hides, hanging cat cubby set attractors and bait/lure holders as well as positioning snares.

Have you ever had a problem hanging large loop snares in the position desired, or have snares that want to twist on you? Dental floss provides a quick and efficient answer for these problems. Simply pull off an appropriate length for the situation, tie a half hitch around the snare loop in a suitable location, lift the snare into the desired position, then tie the other end of the floss to a bush, tree or tree limb. The dental floss looks like a spider web, is virtually invisible and will not alarm the animal you are trying to catch.

Before

After
The floss is highlighted between the red lines

Many trappers use mono-filament fishing line for various purposes on the trapline. I find that dental floss can be used for the same purposes, in most situations, and is, in my opinion, easier to work with than the fishing line. 

Theft Resistant Anchor System

by Tracy Truman

If you've been trapping more than one season, you've no doubt had experience with losing a trap or two to a thief. I hate thieves. Really. I've often silently prayed that I might actually catch someone in the act of stealing my trap . . . but then I figured if the Lord determined their time here on earth was over, there were probably other, less messy ways to die.

Anyway, so like most of you, I've spent sleepless nights trying to come up with a totally foolproof, inexpensive, easy-to-use system to foil even the most clever thief. Uh, the only problem is I haven't found one yet. But I have found something that is pretty close. Its not for everyone, but it may be of some use to some of you.

At the outset, you have to have trees or rocks near your sets. OK, that was easy enough.

Here's the basic set up that I use for my cat traps.

First, I get a 7-10 foot 1/8" cable beaver drowner from the Snare Shop. You can make your own, of course, but invariably someone will want to know where I got mine, so now you know.

The beaver drowner has a loop at each end. Using J hooks, I attach one end to the trap chain swivel, and the other end I attach to a 1 1/2" flat washer, like so:

The beaver drowners come with a washer bent at a 90 degree angle, but in this application, it has no use, so just ignore it.

In this application, I'm anchoring to a rock ledge. So I get my handy-dandy cordless drill with a half inch masonry bit, and drill a hole about 3" deep in the rock.

Now I place the flat washer over the hole, and use a 2 1/2" inch long, 1/2" diameter concrete anchor bolt (about $1 at Home Depot or Lowes) through the washer.

Now smack the top of the bolt with your hammer a couple of times to drive it home.

Once the bolt is driven in, take your socket/ratchet and tighten the bolt. I then smack the bolt a few more times to "booger up" the threads so no would-be thief can simply loosen the bolt.

When the bolt is seated all the way in and tightened, you're all set.

Now its time to go catch some cats.

You can use the same technique by anchoring to a tree. Like I said, it isn't foolproof, but a thief can only get the trap if he happens to be packing a pair of cable cutters, some bolt cutters or similar tools.

Hope it gives you some ideas.

An Effective Staking System

by "Yoteguts" in central Illinois

This system has worked great for me from soupy mud to frozen crust 3 to 6 inches deep.  I have changed things a little this year.  I have gone to #3 chain and 5/8ths lock washers on my chain stakes. The #2 chain seemed a little weak in the frozen ground and I never did like the little s-hooks on the stake head.  I use finned super stake with retrieval cable.

The set up.

Drive it in with a pilot hole first in frozen ground.

To pull the trap dig down and find the cable, about 4 inches.

Hook puller on and pull it out.  Simple and easy as pie.

 To clean the dirt out of the stake I made this handy little tool.

There you go, all ready for the next set.

Got to have a catch pic....