Looking at getting some of the dog-proof raccoon traps and giving them a try.

Curious what kind of bait y'all would recommend? Marshmallow with scent on it in the tube? Just a squirt of scent down there? Dog or cat food?

Also, would you anchor it with a cable and stake or maybe a cable around a nearby tree?

Will these also catch possums? If so, is the bait different for them or could one be attractive to coons and possums?

Thanks for any advice.

I chain mine to a tree. Put a cotton ball under the trigger and dry cat food on top. It'll catch both coons and possums. You could spray a little fish oil around but not a fan of it in the trap itself

I use the cheapest cat food and some fish oil. You can buy a big can of mackerel at dollar general and bait a lot of traps if you want something a little more smelly.

I caught 5 possums around a deer carcass last week with just cat food.

I also have a 6' chain on my trap so I can set them out with very little effort.

Thanks, guys. I have some coons and possums that I fear have contributed to low turkey numbers, along with some other issues, so I want to try my hand with this.

Also considering live-trapping and releasing them elsewhere (so we can hunt them in season). Would something like the Hav-A-Hart type traps need to be covered with brush or anything? Seems like just putting a rectangular cage out with cat food in it would be out of place.

Clem,

You may not care but just thought I'd share something with you that was told to me by one of our local GW's here a while back.

I had a huge problem with coons getting in my barn and getting into my cattle feed.

GW came out to my place and he wrote me a permit to trap them in a live trap.

I had plans of hauling them a few miles down the road and turning them loose in the Sipsey swamp.

GW told me that in Alabama it was illegal to trap them and transport them to another location to be released.

He suggested that I kill every one that I trapped.

I wound up catching 25 or 30 of them out of my barn.

I killed MOST of them.

you will catch plenty in the live trap. no need to brush it in or try to hide it. go to dolla gentral and buy a bag of the big marsh-mellers and the cheapest kippered fee-lays and sardines you can find. throw a couple of them marsh-mellers to the back of the trap. open a can of the fish and slide it to the back with a stick. set the door and your golden.

you can catch fox and feral cats this way too!

On the dog proofs, I like to spear a marshmellow onto the trigger and then add some canned mackeral, sardines, fish oil or vanilla extract on top or it. This will catch coons and possums. I have 6-8' of chain on mine that I chain to a tree or log with a quick link. You can also use cable by attaching one end to the trap and crimping a loop big enough to run the trap through on the other end. Put it around the tree, run the trap through the loop and cinch it down. Beware that it is addicting, it will start with coons and then you will want some coilsprings to go after yotes and cats.

Thanks for the info about the release stuff, Cuz-Pat. That rings a bell now but I wasn't sure. I wouldn't mind releasing them elsewhere to be able to hunt them but putting a .22 in their head is easier.

Thanks for all the other advice, y'all. I appreciate it. I doubt I'll get into more serious trapping but y'never know.

I think the law actually says you can't release them across a county line or river basin or something like that but I agree it's better to not relocate. Some people I have trapped for want them released but I never do. Even had a guy that works for city animal control tell me to take them out of the city and release them since the city won't take wild animals here anymore at the pound. I used to drop off the ones caught in town there and let them deal with them but they now claim they can't handle them because they are afraid of getting bit. My taxes haven't gone down any though with their reduced service. Live traps work fine out in the open. I use tuna or sardines in live traps and marshmallows with some kind of call scent in dog proof traps. Sweet baits seem to catch less possum but if they are around you will catch some.

I used dog proof traps last year for the first time. The best deal I found for a dozen traps was online. The website offered a free bag of Ausable Coon Chow with the purchase of a dozen traps. Our area biologist suggested baiting them with a cottonball soaked in fish oil. I only ran them during turkey season. I can tell you that I caught 8 or 9 on the food and only 1 on a cottonball with fish oil.

I used chains and stakes when I first started. I quickly learned that I could drive an 18" stake about as fast as I could locate a good tree and chain the trap down. The stake doesn't have to be long. It works because the coon is not tall enough and doesn't know to pull straight up. The coon gets caught and tries to pull away from the trap, not up.

Lastly, one little known law about trapping is the requirement to carry a catch pole. I can only assume it's for the purpose of releasing by-catch. I did catch 2 possums and a feral cat last year. The feral cat was to toughest to dispatch. I didn't use a gun. Since a catch pole is required, I just used it along with a ball peen hammer. There's no need to waste ammo.

Cripes, I didn't even think about a catch pole and possibly a license. Got some checkin' up to do. Thanks, Yelp.

In the dog proof we cut marshmallows into small pieces and soak them in vanilla flavoring. Had 7 on the camera. And caught all 7 in a week. With just one trap.
As for the live trap same thing or little Debbie honey bun. We just make sure the trap sits flat on the ground and don't move or rock as they walk in.

Pork skins also work good as bait inside of live traps.

A catch pole doesn't have to be fancy especially for dogproofs. Just a piece of pipe with a rope or cable running through will work fine. If you are running traps where you might have to release a dog I would spend a little more time or money making a decent one.

I put a marshmallow under the trigger of my DP, scatter one or two around it, and chain it to a post at my barn. I only set it when the coons start making plays at my ducks. No oil, fish, or anything else...never taken more than 2 days to make the catch. I'm not a trapper by any stretch of the imagination...I only own 2 DP's, and I only use them at the barn, but they haven't failed yet to make the catch when I needed them to.

CATCH POLE IS TO HELP YOU GAIN CONTROL OF A "COLLARED" DOG OR CAT" FOR RELEASE....

Geez, y'all talking about marshmallows, sardines, pork skins and honey buns. I ain't going to have any bait by the time I get to the woods.

LOL, I had the same thoughts. I'd be the one wound up in trap.

I made mine from a chain link fence post . stop ferrules , peice of cable , and a close line tensioner JB welded into the end of it . I will see if I can find the YouTube video .