The 200 Acre Project

Alright, it’s time to take our small scale test runs and expand to a little bit larger run. This will be a practice run on a friend’s lease to get my techniques honed in and be ready to take on some bigger tracking jobs later on. Some of the things I’m wanting to test on this practice run is DP trap line layouts, how much time it takes to set and then check “X” amount of traps, testing a few different yote sets, etc…..I’ll document my progress as we go.

For the most part I’m gonna just start trapping coons and possums to begin with until turkey season is over, then we’re gonna see what we can do on the yotes. The way this property is laid out, there should be a major coon population basically at the front gate. We’re gonna start there so as not to impact where the hunter is turkey hunting in the very back.

I picked up 2 dozen DP traps from the trapping store earlier today. Added to the ones I already had, that gives me 33 total now. I’ll be using 30 of them on the trapping project and 3 will be left here at my home property to keep monitoring any recruitment or activity here. I also picked up a MB-550 yote trap. Between now and when we start yote trapping on the property…..I’m gonna play around with it and see which one I like better, the 550 or 650. I’ll probably get a dozen of the ones I like the best to make yote sets when the time comes. The 200 acre project begins tomorrow. Bout to put the smack down on some baby turkey and baby deer killers.

To be continued…………..

I played around making some mock sets with the MB-550 this afternoon and my initial assessment of it is that I like the 650 better. I’m definitely not gonna just base my decision on this one run of test sets but one thing I noticed upfront is that the 550 doesn’t bed as solid with the same ease of the 650. Even as a beginner making his first sets ever, it’s not hard at all for me to take the 650 and bed it like its in concrete. Trying the 550 in the exact same spot, same dirt…..I was having to really push it around and manipulate the hole over and over….and I never did get it as rock solid as what I would be pleased with. Now I’m not saying that the 550 won’t bed just fine with someone more use to using them….BUT…..the 650 just seems like it will be simpler to deal with….especially if I'm putting it in less than ideal dirt or something. I like how the 650 locks both jaws open instead of having that one just free floating like on the 550.

I’ll have to look and see how to adjust the pan tension on the 550 but it really doesn’t look like it has an easy adjustment feature. The 650 is just a matter of turning a screw to adjust pan tension and fine tune it. The one big plus about the 550 though is that it didn’t feel nearly as much like playing with a stick of dynamite. To be fair, I actually got my finger caught in the side of the 650 trap the other day where there’s no offset so I’m sure that made it way worse….but damn that bit hard. It made me a little gun shy on the next couple practice runs. I think it was really just a matter of me turning the pan tension down too low. Got me a pan tester now so I’m not just eyeballing it.

Sounds like you got a good plan together! You should be able to put a hurtin on the coons with 30 traps!

I hope you have a lot of success. As I am learning my self and waiting for the end of Turkey season before I start back up. I will be using a dozen DP and 3 dozen Bridger #2. Just completed preparing the foot hold traps for use.

I’d like to eventually run 100 if trapping a property of say 1000-2000 acres or more. That’s one thing I want to see with this bigger test run…..Is that a feasible number to be able to set and check along with running yote sets too.




Thanks!....Good luck with your trapping.

Alright, so it took roughly 1 ½ hrs to put out 30 traps. That was taking my time but they aren’t spread out over a really large area so realistically let’s go with 2 hrs. I set them all out in pairs so there’s 15 different locations each with 2 traps. At that rate you could basically chalk up a full day to setting coon sets if you were gonna trap a big property with 100 traps.

Here’s our basic setup. I think a rough sketch along with a GPS may be about the easiest way to keep up with traps. I didn't use a GPS on this one but it would be a good thing just to mark the beginnings of each line. I just took a small pad and pencil with me and made a sketch about like the one below as I laid things out. The scale sucks so imagine that the double sets are all actually spread out even and that the beaver swamp across the road is a lot bigger. The beaver swamp is on another property so I can’t just set up down each side of it like I’d like to. Instead I’m lining off the other side of the dirt road with a flurry of traps. The whole area is swampy with standing water here and there. I don’t see any distinguishable coons trails right now though. I figure their funneling up each side of the swamp about like the deer so I just laid everything out on a pretty basic line. Now we wait…………

For nest predators it might not be too many, but the law of diminishing returns applies here too. For larger predators I believe you can put out too many traps easily.

Id lean towards quality over quantity.

Hopefully some of the more experienced guys will respond too.

Yep, I completely agree. The number of traps I have out is probably overkill. Where does that law of diminishing returns kick in?? BOFF said “More traps, more coons.” It’s a very interesting discussion really. I think the number of coons/possums I pick up on the lines will give me a better idea over the next week or so. I think “time” will be effected by the large amount of traps. In other words, if I would have ran say 10 traps instead of 30 I might take out all the coons in the area but it may take say 2 weeks. Where as with 30 traps it may only take a few days to get them all. Maybe….maybe not. Gonna see when catch numbers peak and fall off to nothing.

I don't think you could wipeout coons in an area even with 30 traps. They're crafty and learn. Too bad you can't use conibears. Not the big ones at least.

I think it comes in at the point where adding more traps adds costs in time and resources (traps and bait) but produces no extra catches. Tricky part is figuring out where that point is. I know my investment will likely never reach that point. Hopefully I will remove enough to increase nesting success

Day 1......0/30

Very surprising to not pick up a single coon or possum. There are several sets in quality locations that should have gotten some activity. Not a single trap had even been tampered with. Makes me wonder if maybe they just didn't move much last night.

Caught a big boar coon last night. 1 of 3 locations. Believe the females are still in the dens. Both catches this week were boars.

If females are denned up right now then it may be a bad time to trap. I suppose breeding season would likely give you the most coon movement. You would think the females would have to feed a lot once the little ones reach a certain age though. This little experiment will help give me a better idea of coon/possum density. If I come out of this bottom with about the same number of coons as I caught in the bottom here at home then I’ll know that I can cut the trap density way down. I was averaging about 0.6 catches per night with 5 traps over a two week time period here at home. That’s roughly a 10% catch rate. I’ll look at the catch rate on the 200 acre project when we finish and see how it compares. If its say 1-2% in comparison then that would be your law of diminishing returns I believe.

Late summer and fall the females will be foraging with their litter from the spring. You can really put a dent in them then, especially with multi-trap sets. I'm trying to remove any I can pick up now to help the turkeys keep their nest intact.

Day 2……..0/30

Hmmm……This has me scratching my head a little. I’m set up on sign that has to have been done since the rain came through the other day. I know for sure there’s at least a few coons in the area. The article BOFF posted about the new moon may be on to something. I wonder if the bright full moon is having any effect on movement? We’re gonna ride it out and see what happens. I did see two fox squirrels this morning so that was kind of cool. I haven't seen a single one in quite some time so it was unusual to see two in the same morning.

Here’s that article again BOFF posted………

http://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/conservation/2013/03/21/trapping-for-better-hunting

"Roughly 36% of the raccoons trapped over the past eight seasons, were taken with less than 12.5% of the moon’s surface illuminated. When the moon’s surface is illuminated for less than 12.5%, only 27% of a full lunar cycle, then the 36% catch rate during this time becomes more substantial. This trend proves true across years of trapping and many different weather patterns.

The moon has a strong correlation with raccoon movement. If your time to trap is limited, then wait for the “prime-time” to set out your traps, look in the forecast for the new moon. The data suggests that this is the best time for successfully trapping raccoons."

I’m continuing to play around with the MB-650 vs the MB-550 foot hold traps. I’m letting the new 550 rust a little before I dye and wax it. I went ahead now that I’ve got my pan tester and put a fresh coat of dye and wax on both 650’s to test out the pan tension. I’m seeing an issue develop with them. When freshly waxed, the lubrication between the pan and the latch is so slick that you barely have to breath on it to set it off…..even with the pan screw tightened down good. I’ve tried scraping it with my pocket knife and it still way too touchy. I don’t even think it made it to 1 lb. I may have to dirty ‘em up a little. I’m taking 5 right instead of getting frustrated. About to go back for round two. Again, this is coming out of the mouth of someone new to trapping but I just believe that you are gonna want accurate precision with your pan tension. If 3 lbs is seen as ideal…..then I believe we want all traps firing real damn close to that number. Easily replicating that each and every time after waxing a 650 may be an issue.....we'll keep trying and see what we can figure out.

Yep 0 fer myself. Didn't think much about it until I was headed to listen for a turkey this morning and the moon was full and orange as it set. Going to ride it out myself until Wednesday then pull everything. Will move to another site next Sunday afternoon late.

Know when I use to coon hunt with some folks years ago we didnt do as well on bright nights. Also boars would run a long ways back to familiar territory in February when they were looking for females to breed.

Looking at the lunar charts, prime trapping dates should be something like April 19-May 2…..give or take. That would put you trapping during the new moon and just either side of it. The new moon is April 26. Seems like I remember reading that coons could go without eating for pretty long periods. They may just completely shut down during full moon nights.

Today’s test runs with the two different traps favored the 550. We’ll see how it does after waxing but right now the 550 fires at about 3 lbs basically right off the shelf. I’m hoping when I wax it that maybe it just lighten up slightly. Even though the 650 does have an easy to adjust screw on the pan….it doesn’t seem to do much good after waxing when the trap is well lubricated. It’s the latch that’s holding the pan that appears to be where most of the hair trigger is coming from. It just doesn’t hold the pan well enough when waxed.

I played around more the 550 and did much better today. I’m trying a different technique for making my beds and it seems to be working much better for me. The one thing I did notice was that my pan tension after completing the set was 5+ lbs as compared with the 3 lbs of tension it had before being in the ground. I used peat moss on this set. Granted its not a waxed trap…….I’m still concerned with nearly doubling my pan tension. We’ll do it again when its waxed to get a truer read. I’m sure it’ll be a lot touchier when waxed.

Here’s one of my practice sets. The red circle is where my pan is sitting on the 550 trap. I took some fresh dug up dirt and mounded it slightly on either side of my trap to help funnel the yote and look like something had been freshly digging. Feel free to critique my set up. I’m thinking that even if the yote comes at it from the side….he’s gonna be likely to step right over that little mound and down onto my pan. I really wouldn't mind my pan being a little closer to the hole.

Day 3.......1/30

Picked up one female coon last. At least we broke the ice.

Another coon catch last night

Day 4........

I went 0/30 again. Definitely not the start I was hoping for. Like Edison said though....."I have not failed, I've simply discovered a 1,000 ways that won't work."


There may just not be as many coons in this little area like I thought there would be. If you saw it in person you would think it would have to be covered up though. We're gonna move on back into the property when my buddy finishes turkey hunting and set up along a pretty decent sized creek. I'm hoping to see more action when we do.

My buddy gave me the go ahead to trap the whole property today so I went ahead and moved 12 traps to spread things out more. They are still set out in pairs at 6 different locations. Gonna move a few more tomorrow so that everything is spread out and sitting on quality locations. I also put out one yote set with the MB-550.

I think I've just about decided to go with the 550 over the 650. After I waxed the 550 it was firing at somewhere around 2 1/2 lbs....that's not in the ground. The 550 is definitely tried and true and has proven to be a very capable trap. I've figured out an easy way to make my beds so I think I'm good on that front now. I'll take some pics of what I'm doing tomorrow. I'm guessing that the 650 is probably overkill and more trap than your really need. The pan tension becomes WAY too hair triggered after waxing for me to use....especially as hard as they bite. I'll probably go pick up a dozen of the 550's pretty soon to put out on the 200 acres. This property has some great set locations.

I also just picked up another test property really close by that I'm gonna move to after we finish trapping this one.....so we should be busy for several weeks getting in practice. It's roughly about the same size as this one.

Interesting read. Good luck with your project. I hope you wipe them out.

Is there not many coons on that property?

We’ll start getting a much better idea now that I’m able to spread out more across the property. So far I’ve just been trapping in one small area. Some of the traps I moved yesterday were reset along areas where I saw coon tracks so there’s a few at least. I expected to get 15-20+ off of this property but that may not prove to be the case.

Ok. I was just curious. I ran 3 dp traps last February in a 10 yard or so area. I could count on one hand how many times that I didn't have all 3 full with either coons or opossums.

Good luck. Maybe it will get better for you.

Day 5......Another ofer.


I'm beginning to think that maybe there just aren't that many coons on this property for whatever reason. I'm gonna ride it out in the new locations for 4 or 5 days and if the catches don't pick up then I'll just pull the traps and call off the dogs on this one.

I’m not for sure if that makes a huge difference or not because I’ve caught them both ways now at home…..but when I go back tomorrow I’m gonna take a few of the trap pairs and hide one of the two traps and leave the other one just stuck out of the ground in plain sight. I’ve just been playing around with my sets at home and making them more like a natural hole. It’s more time consuming but if it had a big influence on catch rates then it may be worth the time. It’s definitely working but it may make little difference versus just leaving them exposed. I just made a little trench to put the trap in then laid a few sticks over it like a roof to keep stuff off the trigger. I then covered it with a little debris.

I started off sticking mine in the ground with the whole trap above ground. Then I started laying them on their side and found no difference in my catch rate.

CNC,

I don't know what you're using for bait, but I had all my luck with marshmallows.

Yeah, I’m gonna have to try those. The knock on them from what I was reading is that they can get real messy in the traps if they melt or get rained on. That was really the only reason I was avoiding them. I’ve just been using corn with a homemade lure of coconut oil and vanilla extract. It’s working great here at home but not getting any action on the 200 acres.

How bad could it melt in 24 hours? You gonna check them everyday. I never poured anything on mine, either.

You may want to paint your dps white.

I use cheap dry cat food in mine and catch a whole lot of coons. They are above ground but I have modified the trip so it is a cross or replacement trigger that is a circle.

Day 6......No catches again.


I took the can of salmon with me and baited half of the traps for possums this time. I'm gonna see if maybe this property has way more possums for some reason. Something small had worked my yote set and gotten the bait out of the hole but didn't set the trap off even though it looked to be all over it. I think I'm switching to wax paper for a pan cover. I'm just not happy with how the other options are working. Whatever it was that worked my set should have set it off I think. I also don't like the way things are easily getting the bait out of the hole. There needs to be some way to make them dig for it more. I'm thinking about maybe trying to sharpen a stick off on one end and jabbing it down into the center of my bait hole to hold the bait in and make them work around the stick.

I use the cheap cat food and have caught lots of coons. I picked up a bag of name-brand high price cat food (that's all they had) and only caught possums.

I've got to run by Tractor Supply and pick of some dog food today....I'm gonna go ahead and buy some cheap cat food while I'm there to see if we can switch it up on the bait and have better success. I may go ahead and stop by the dollar store as well and get some marshmallows. I thought making a trail mix of corn, cat food, and small marshmallows.

Adapt, improvise, and over come…………

Here's my new coon bait we’re gonna switch to and see if it has any better drawing power.



Here’s my “sharp sticks” that I’m gonna try and use to hold my bait in the back of my dirt holes for yotes. I hope it make them have to work for it……Testing 1,2,3….Testing.

Weather proofing idea. If you’re gonna set up a property to trap for two weeks then it’s very likely gonna rain sometimes within that time period. I don’t won’t to spend all day setting up chit loads of traps….only to have it rain on day 2 and turn my cat food to mush and my marshmallows to sticky goo. I think I’ll put a little bit of bait on top of the tin foil as well. I bought some big marshmallows along with the little ones. I may just set one big marshmallow on top to help cast scent out in the air. In addition, I thought the shiny foil might give it some eye appeal to the coon. I have no doubt they'll tear right through this thin foil. If you could keep from tripping the trigger then you could pre-bait the traps like this before you ever go out. Gonna make some changes tomorrow...........

CNC,

I have been using tin cans that canned food comes in to do the same thing. I usually peel the label off which provides a nice shinny can that they investigate out of curiosity. They don't seem to have any problem flipping the can off to get at the food.

Thanks man…..that’s a good idea too. I wouldn’t tell any of these guys you have a cat though.

Day 7.......3 male coons


Adding the fish definitely seemed to help out. It does draw in ants though so it may be better to just buy some fish oil and use it for the scent. I rebaited everything with our new mix and added some fish back to each trap as well. Something small had worked my yote set again. I had fish all over my hands so I didn't mess with it while I was there. I'm gonna ride back later on and remake my set....doing things a little differently this time.

Can you put up a game camera at your coyote set? Might be interesting to see what it is.

I just went a scooped mine up to take back with me.

Alright we’re reset and have a camera on it this time. Here’s my set. I used some natural structure to try and help funnel them into the trap. Those are old Otis turds in front of the hole. The pan is sitting just in front of the turds and stick.




Once the hole was baited….I criss crossed two shish kabob sticks down in the hole to try and make the animal have to work a little harder. We’ll see what happens………..

Day 8....……Caught 3 possums and 1 coon

Total catches to date: 8


I think my yote set robber is a possum. He didn’t mess with my set last night though. He worked a DP I had set up nearby but didn’t get caught. Just about every set location had been tampered with. The new bait combination seems to lure them in much better.

We actually took out 19 possums this morning but it wouldn’t be fair to count it like that. I kept them this time to try as bait in my dirt hole sets for yotes. I should be able to stake them down in the hole with my skewer sticks. I think I’m gonna let them lay in the sun for a little while and the put ‘em in a ziplock bag to freeze.

They do count though for your predation control. If they are getting your bait you need to dig your hole deeper so they really have to work it. I never have anything but buzzards and flies eat the possum carcasses when I throw them out. About the same with coons. Occasionally one will get drug off but I think there are a lot better baits. You only need a small amount of bait in the hole. You got some good experiments going though.

Yeah, I thought about making the hole smaller in diameter as well. The one in the pic has already been dug out twice now so it’s bigger than I’d like for it to be. I believe it was that possum doing it because it looked like a small animal doing the digging. Last night just about all of my DP’s had been messed with. I’m pretty sure one of the local yard dogs worked several sets because they were completely pulled out of the ground and triggered. I saw some big dog tracks too. A lot of other traps were eaten out of but not triggered. I think the possums are more reluctant to reach way down into the trap.

My thought on the baby possums is that if there’s that many babies hitting the ground across the landscape then they likely have a pretty high mortality rate…..which means something is likely eating them. I read that coyote diets vary a lot with the seasons. It looks like we’re on the front edge of baby possum season. Maybe that’s the current hot food source. Interesting note about the study I was reading…..deer was #1 on the list. It was found in something like 47% of all scat piles tested over a 6 year time period I believe it was. I believe rabbit was second. I'm using some bait I bought from the trap store right now. Another idea though was to put a piece of deer meat on one of those skewer sticks and jabbing it into the back of the hole.

I’ve been giving thought to the overall layout of my coon/possum traps and I think we’re gonna scrap the idea of running traps in a trotline pattern like I just tried……..

I think instead I’m gonna run bait stations close to the road on main travel ways like creek branches and such. I’m gonna consolidate the same number of traps into less set locations. I’m gonna approach it more like baiting in bears. Right now I’m running 2 traps at each location. I believe I’m gonna up that to 4 or 5 and figure out a way to increase the scent I’m putting in the air. Again, I’m thinking of bear baiting on a smaller scale.

One idea I’m thinking about is cutting the top off of a 2 liter coke bottle maybe 1/3 of the way off...basically cutting a slit in it.... filling the bottle with fish heads or something.....duct taping the cut area shut…….and then hanging the bottle near my gang set of DP’s. Maybe drilling holes in it to let more scent out. I’m guessing this is gonna be a matter of 1) Good location……2) Scent…….. That fish drew in the nest predators like magnets. I think I can quickly concentrate them to something like that the same way they eventually get concentrated on a corn feeder. At night the air sinks and scents are held to the ground more. I bet a good strong fish smell would flow down a creek bottom for several hundred yards.

Day 9…….2 more female possums……1 big boar coon

Total catches to date: 11

Took out a bunch more possums this morning with two more female catches full of little ones. That’s around 35 total possums in the last two days if you count all the little ones. The coon was probably the biggest one I’ve caught yet. That sucker acted mean too. A dog or dogs are messin up several pairs of traps. I may just have to pull ‘em up and move ‘em now that that they know where they’re at. I'm thinking that from a bait perspective.....fish and catfood may be about as complicated as we have to get with it.

This fish draws in ants to the traps so I made me some homemade scent lure that I’m gonna just squirt around the set each day. The oil is some old used oil I fried a turkey in a while back. I added 1 can of mackerel and one can of cat food……turned it into a slurry and bottled it up in some squirt bottles I had handy.



I didn’t clean out the bottle is why the one has a red look. The other one has a little syrup still in it too. I’m just gonna put dry cat food in the DP’s from now on. The marshmallows started melting on me in the bag and turned into a gooey mess. I think I’m out on those. The new lure must be pretty strong smellin cause my wife is bitchin like hell at me now for doing it in the house.

Day 9.......1 male possum.....2 male coons

Total catches to date: 14


We're running a pretty steady 10% catch rate now. All coon catches are male coons though. That's probably not a good thing as the females of a specie tend to be the more important targets. I guess the females are still denned up with babies. The female possums are definitely out though.

One adjustment I'm making is the amount of cat food I'm putting in my traps. I've had some of the targets, and I believe its likely the possums, clean out the top part of the trap and then move on. I'm only filling it up to the trigger now so if they're gonna get any bait, then they're gonna have to reach around the trigger to do so.

The possum continues to work my yote set as well without tripping it. I just pulled it up and I'm gonna reset it in a different spot using different bait. I may try deer meat this time.

If you are having a problem with ants use some Raid ant spray under the trap, the coons don't care.

I think you'll see the females and her litter on the ground sometime in June. Good time to gang set.

Thanks….that’s a good tip. To try and keep everything as simple and clean as possible, I think I’m gonna leave the fish out of the trap from now on though and just put dry cat food in the bottom. The fish is gonna be pureed in oil and squirted on the trees and grass around the traps. What I really need is some used grease from a fish fry. Something else I’d like to get too is some leftover shells from a crawfish boil. Them things throw off a real loud fishy smell.


I’ve seen deer smell me before during the daytime at distances of around 250 yards. So, I know if my scent can travel that far during the daytime….then a fish scent at night could easily travel that far. Realistically, I’m betting it can travel much farther and be detected by coons/possums. I’m thinking that 500-1,000 yards might not be unreasonable with good humidity in the air and enough scent being cast out along a creek drainage where the scent would likely flow in an undisturbed line the best.

I talked with my buddy who traps coons to check for rabies and ticks. He said he just finished a 34 mile line with over 200 traps. I ask what bait he used and said sardines in water for cold weather and sardines in oil for warm weather and corn soaked in used cooking oil for hot weather. Any time the ants are a problem he sprays Raid under the traps.

You ever try menhaden milk. It stinks pretty good.

Oh, I wasn’t doubting what you we’re saying at all…..I’m just honary and stubborn by nature. I agree with you that the fish smell is likely a big key. I’m guessing coons and possums hunt with their noses. The only thing I’m really doing differently than what you’re talking about is not putting the fish scent directly in my DP’s. Instead I’m still casting the scent out but using the cat food in the trap since it’s a little cleaner and as simple as grabbing a small handful out of the bag and tossing it in. I believe the fish smell is what’s hollerin ‘em on in though. We'll see. I may change my mind by tomorrow.

For an easy bulk bait…..I’m thinking you could boil some carp and can it. It may be simpler though on a tracking job to just to chalk up a little bit of the proceeds to “supplies” and buy canned mackerel at $1.75 per can and mix it with some cheap cooking oil. You should be able to make a gallon of fish lure for less than $10 easy. I want used cooking oil though. You know I really like the corn soaked in oil idea too .....

Why is your buddy using cage traps instead of DP’s??? Is it a requirement? It looks cumbersome.

I’ll check into it for sure…...

I picked up another practice property in the neighborhood today of 500 acres…..woooo hoooo! That should keep us busy practicing for a good chunk of the summer. I think I’m starting to get honed in now on the coons and possums….I’m gonna soon switch my focus more to getting the yote sets right.

One thing on the coons and possums is that it’s not just a matter of bringing them into the traps with the DP’s. I’ve got stuff working pretty much every pair of traps now but they don’t all just blindly stick their hands in the trap and get caught…..some do…. but others try different methods of getting the bait. Some are pulling the traps completely out of the ground…..some are triggering traps but not getting caught……some are trying to dig under the trap as if they think the bait is buried…….some are just eating bait down to the trigger and stopping, etc,etc…..

I think there’s a certain amount of tweaking our setup that can be done to increase catch % above just bait/scent selection. I think it's like what was mentioned earlier by someone else....it's a game of percentages. Catching a coon or possum is one thing…..consistently pulling high % catches is what we’re shooting for though.

He uses the cage traps because he has to do sets within the city limits. City people don't mind a cage trap but would have a fit if they saw a coon in a DP trap.

Damn, that's shame folks have to be like that these days. You fit that same amount of DP's in a five gallon bucket.

Day 10........1 female possum......1 male coon

TCTD: 16


Catches may start getting slim quick since there are no female coons running around. One interesting thing I've seen over the last few days is that 3 of the males were caught in the exact same trap. There's 2 traps at that location and they've all went for the same one. Makes me wonder if the first one pee'd a bunch or something and it attracted the other two to that trap.

Start looking for fruit coming off. Blackberries, Mullberries, plums etc.

I've got a couple of mullberries I intend to set up on in a couple of weeks.

I did some scouting today down a firebreak that I haven't went down yet and found some new sign of coons. I'm gonna move some traps to that area to pick them up. This property is mostly one of two things.....freshly burned pines....or swampy hardwoods. I'm pretty much concentrating in the swampy hardwood areas.

Alright, new idea for fish scent. I think I like this one I like the best so far if it works like I think it will. This is an 8ft metal pole I had leftover from putting up some chain link fence. I cut it in half to make a pair of 4ft pieces. I’m gonna mount the can of fish onto the top of the pole and then slide the pole onto a good stiff sapling that I cut off at about 3ft. I’ll just punch holes in the can to let the smell out and the coons shouldn’t be able to get to it being that it’s on a metal pole. That would skip the whole process of getting oil and making lure, etc…..it would be as simple as taping a one dollar and fitty cent can to the top of one of these 4ft poles. It would continually cast out scent for the whole trapping period and likely only get riper smelling with time. It may require using some of that bug spray squadron was talking about.

Right now I’m just thinking about a more secure way of sticking the can to the top of the pole. Duct tape is simple but might not hold well enough. 4ft may be too short as well.

Nevermind, I was just having a brain fart……you can attach it very securely with 3 pieces of duct tape like in the pic below……


Alrighty then…..two scent poles ready to deploy. A 16 penny nail should do to knock some holes in it when I put it out.

The two scent poles are deployed. I went ahead and moved a few traps too so that I have one pole gang set with 4 traps and the other one gang set with 3. Let's see how they hold up tonight and if they get any action. That fish sure is stanky.

I’m thinking this may be the fastest, simplest means of setting out these DP’s. I need some electrical tape instead of that gaudy duct tape but you get the idea. This is some cable I already had….I could probably step down to smaller cable and be fine. Just wrap the cable around a tree and stick the DP through the big loop. When I bring all of my traps back in….I think I’m gonna rig them all this way. I was playing around with the big loop end trying to unbraid it and remake it into a loop. It's just about as simple though to use a little cable clamp like I did on the opposite end. It's a little bit of a pain in the arse to unbraid that cable.

I like it! that is quicker than what I'm doing with the chain and probably cheaper too.

That's the way I do mine but I use snare cable and double crimp on ferrules that I hammer on. They are pretty cheap from the trapping supply house.

This ^^^^^^

I make adjustable loops with a double and a single ferrule. You can find them at Tractor Supply but much cheaper through F&T or other trap supplier.

Thanks fellas....I'll check with the local trapping store and see if they have the stuff first. I know they have the snare wire.

Day 11......Nothing

TCTD: 16

Got skunked this morning. Not even the least bit of activity on any set. There was a possum run over in front of my house though. Maybe the ones at my home property are just giving up now.

Day 12: Nothing again

TCTD: 16


That may about wrap it up for this property until the female coons become more active. I'll probably start pulling traps tomorrow if we come up empty again.

I haven’t put my yote set back out yet but I have a different idea for making the animals really have to work at getting my bait out of the hole. I think I’m gonna try putting the bait in the back of the hole and then filling the hole about halfway up with gravel or small lava rocks over the top of my bait....packing it in good and tight. That should make them have to work for it a little bit anyways.

I’m smoking a Boston butt today and it reminded me that the smell of raw pork is pretty dang stinky. I was eyeballing some chitlins in the store the other day to try as bait and I may go ahead and give it a try in the hole with some deer meat….covered over with a few inches of gravel. I just can’t help but to think about all the deer me and Otis find while blood tracking that have had yotes on them within hours of dying. There’s no special recipe or proper “tainting time” or anything like that…..just deer meat and gut smell.

Do people ever use a scent drag line for couple hundred yards or so to a coyote set? Seems like it would give a greater chance of the coyote finding the bait???

I’ve been pondering over how to do something like that but I’m not quite sure what yet. A foam couch cushion soaked in used cooking oil would probably be a pretty simple drag to pull behind a 4-wheeler or something.

Day 13: One more big male coon

TCTD: 17

I bet them big male coons like I caught this morning are some of the worst ones in the bunch as far as predation goes. They just seem more aggressive and mean. The one this morning would have given some coon dogs one hell of a fight. He looked like a little bear in the trap. I need to get some digital fish scales to see what they weigh for sure. I had two male coons in my hands this morning and the big one felt like it weighed damn near double of the little one.

I think some coon urine might be a good addition to our scent bag. I bet these big males are a little territorial acting and a little urine around one of our DP’s may help entice them on in. Speaking of scent….I went ahead and ordered a gallon of salmon oil last night along with a small bottle of shellfish oil. I want to go ahead and test them out to see how concentrated they are….and if they work above and beyond other things. It would likely be the simplest route for sure. I’m thinking about having a cotton ball under the trigger with a squirt of salmon/shellfish oil on it….topped with just a little cat food…..done. Still gonna test out the scent pole idea more too though because it’s starting to get pretty rank now after a couple days in the sun. It may get real loud in another few days. I bent the sapling over today and poured some of the juice out of the can and Wheeew! it was getting ripe.

I had ordered some salmon oil a while back and mixed with fish flavored cat food, liquid smoke, and vanilla extract! The salmon oil doesnt have much smell to me! I cant say it increased my catches but don't think it hurt either! I've about decided if a coon finds it...he will eat it and the cat food seems to work the best for me with a couple marsh mellows thrown in the mix!

Try a honey bun and report the results.

We'll see if this salmon oil turns out to be any count. I might have to give the honey bun a try too. I've got some in here now.

I’ve noticed that some of the coons and possums I pull out of the traps have a piece of food still clinched in their hand. Which leads me to believe that they’re probably not actually grabbing the lever inside the trap. They’re reaching around it, making a fist, and then it’s their fat fist that hits the lever on the way up that sets the trap off. It won't fit back around the lever as a fist. For that reason, I think we’ll really be better off to keep all the bait below the lever. Make them reach around it….make a fist….then pull up.

Something like a muscadine or grape in the bottom of the trap along with some fish scent lure might be deadly. Something they make a fist on that won’t easily fit around the trigger. That would get everything the first time a hand was stuck in the hole. I think a cotton ball or small sea shell might work as well. I think it’s the location and scent that are really bringing them to the trap and once the animal is there……it doesn’t really matter if we have cat food or what in the bottom of it…..it’s more important that when they reach into investigate it….they make a fist and their hand doesn’t come back out.

Day 14: Nothing this morning

TCTD: 17

Gonna pull traps in the morning and get things ready to move to the 500 acre tract. If we don't get another catch then that will mean we've taken out roughly one nest predator per 12 acres on this property. That's not counting all the little possums. That's not too bad for the first go around considering there are no female coons being active right now. I wonder what the true density would be? At the rate I caught them on this property it would be around 54 coons/possums per sq/mile.

The honey buns would catch me! I cant bring myself to feed it to a coon when I could be eating it myself! LOL

Day 15.......No additional catches

Final Talley: 17


Pulled my traps today to get ready to move to the 500 acres. Gonna make a trip back to the trap store this week and pick up a dozen MB-550's so we can really start testing yote sets now.

One note before we finish up with the 200 acre project.....cat food turns to chit really quick when it starts raining. A lot of mine was mush this morning after the rain we got. I think I'm gonna switch to floating catfish pellets instead. I'm guessing they at least have some minor waterproof qualities about them.

CNC if you want cheap dp bait that works go buy the cheap cans of Jack Macheral from the dollar store and a bag of mini marshmallows.

I've tried just about every commercial coon bait on the market, I've mixed cat food with everything imaginable and used every type oil for trailing scents.

Canned Macheral and mini marshmallows have produced more catches than anything else plus it's cheap and easy.

I tested some canned mackerel and salmon both and they definitely like fish for sure. I got a lot of action on the salmon when I put it out. The mackerel isn’t getting as much action but I think I’ve about got most of the active critters out already is the only reason. I’m actually hanging my traps up right now to clean out before moving to the next tract. Some of the fish I put down in the traps has gotten nasty. I was hoping that the salmon oil would do the same thing as the canned fish.