Made the rounds on some new trapping country

[mudmarlin70]

Sure was hot, but very beautiful country been meaning to get to for awhile. One place having a coon problem...buggers getting into the loft above a barn and running the whole length. Caretaker took five in the last two or three days in boxes inside the loft. Good canine country too. Edges and cross unders on edges...and a few stream crossovers.

Second piece in a different direction in bear country....holy crap!! Vertical doesnt begin to describe that place....very challenging to trap I think. Open woods, but with lots of blowdowns from our October snowstorn last year and vertical rock faces forming funnels, a little wider than I would like. Lots of coyotes running the ridge sides and denning in the rock faces....along with bears:eek:. Owner says the dogs are there every day yipping and carrying on and tons of mountain top coons eating at all his deer feeders. He keeps em running year round, and one was busted up today. Coons ripped the spiner plate off and separated the cage off the feeder.

Set a couple groundhog snares last evening at another place where he's getting uprooting in the fruit trees. Found a huge fox den in a peach orchard where they've built up a three foot high mound of dirt just outside the den. Set a camera on the den:thup: and will have plenty of pics in a day or two I'm sure.

[ub1243]

can't wait for the pics of the den.

getting new land is always great. it may take a few years to figure it out, but thats the fun.

[mudmarlin70]

Question for you....I had one triggered hog snare yesterday and two more today....One even had hair in it...Maybe got him around the body?

Are the deer stops (which may even be a bit larger than required) possibly restricting the snare from closing enough on the hogs?? My supports left something to be desired too...just used 12 gauge wire driven into the ground...they werent that rigid it seems. i fixed that today by using rebar and wrapping the 12 gauge tight around the rebar and i changed from the "s" to a plastic wammie..

Camera was a bit too far from the den and I only got a couple pics, so I moved it to get a few more....farmer has had it though. They got two more guinea hens yesterday and I think he's doing what needs to be done...That place is something though...despite him addressing the predation, within a few weeks more move in.

[ub1243]

if the deer stop is bigger then reguired they could be backing out, of a neck catch. i have had grey fox that could just about back out. the only thing holding the snare was the ear bases. you could see the bruise line. i haven't made snares in a year, but i think it's 6" from the end. you could open your loops a little and lower a bit and go for a body catch.
your using the drop ceiling wire? i use 24". most times they are good, depends on the ground. you could bend the ends to make a h. then there are two ground contacts, to keep it from spinning. but with a loaded snare, the moment the chest hits the loop, they should shut.
with the rebar the support wire is way shorter, which helps. but it's heavy. you don't want to carry 30 pieces around. the S is just as strong as the tubing. but find out what you like now, november isn't the time. but i still go back to 14ga on a branch with the S if the grounds frozen.
it's ashame to take out the reds now, but they are killing livestock. go get'em. but be able to prove damage is the CO find you.

[mudmarlin70]

Yeah, that's exactly why I'm messing with the hogs now to work out kinks in what I want to use. So far I'm just messing with washer locks.

I dont want any part of the reds right now. But I understand his situation. He's gonna take care of them I think. I probably should try and help him out, I dont know...cant bring myself to set on em out of season, even as an ADC issue, but I understand why he's gonna get rid of em.

[ub1243]

washers have caught plenty of animals. but not may favorite lock. i like the slim lock from newt, micro lock from the snare shop, and the bmi mini-newt and snare shop.
try moving your lock closer to 12 'o clock for a faster fire.

[mudmarlin70]

Supports made a difference....2 dispatched hogs, both neck caught and DOA tonight:)

I need to order some stuff including a couple different lock types to try this summer on the hogs. And I've been seting with locks closer to 1 o'clock. WIll make the change in the am.

I'll post some fox pics later tonight if I get a chance.

[ub1243]

i just got a 37ac place today.
same problems you are having up there. chickens, ducks, guinea hens, all getting heads ripped off, gutted, and just plain killed for fun.
guy has fox and coon hitting the place. he has a stream close, so he may have mink and weasles hitting him too. i pulled the place up on google earth. looks like a good bottle neck between a few huge farm areas, then the creek bottom funnels the critters past this farm. he may have coyotes hitting him too.
if i play nice, it looks like a great deer spot.;)

same road as mine, just a little run away.

score.:thup:

[mudmarlin70]

That sounds great UB, knowing how you feel about the canines. Be nice to see you back on a few next season. I've gotta follow up on a piece hopefuly this week that looked great on goggle and msn maps...the pics are alot better on that site if you go to "bird's eye view". Huge difference and a step up over google.

Think I'm makng some improvements on the setting as far as trigger speed. No hogs yesterday with the weather, but I did get a body caught cottontail. I've only had four and five snares set over there and I've gotten the 2 hogs and a cottonatail on a trail set out in the open.

Here's some more canine. Still stalking the chicken coup..right before the guinea hens went doa.
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/deer_0012.jpg

The den.
http://www.myfishpix.com/gallery/data/500/deer_0022.jpg

moving the cam to a different spot for a few days I think. One trai near the house here and then a spot on the edge of a pond that I know is a canine trail.

[ub1243]

i made the call to the game warden about the livestock damage. just to get the go ahead from him so i don't have any problems trapping out of season.
the guy has several different animals taking fowl. we both think he's got a weasle, coon and a fox hitting the farm.
i think i will set up a trail cam, along with a few snares. i just have to make a weasle box and get a victor snap trap.

big swing in temp in 15 days on that camera.

[mudmarlin70]

My farmer wishes he only had one of each!! LOL. I'm stickin with the hogs. I'm learning the basics on them. I'll trail cam the canines. He'll probably shoot the foxes on sight if given the chance and box trap the coons/grinners inside the fenced in coup or inside the barns. It's a never ending battle for him....not like he isnt trying to avoid the losses....the entire place is inside deer fencing and the birds are inside a fenced coup, with the exception of the guinea hens. Dont think you can stop the weasels other than kill 'em.

This guys has got a mess over there. He does firewood and stacks over a hundred cords on pallets inside the place. The rabbits have gotten so bad they are ringing his trees in the winter when it snows because they are under the pallets and in the log piles. He wont have the foxes because of the poultry predation....pick your poison, which are you willing to tolerate. It's a buffet for the coons and foxes. He wont tolerate either....it's money out of pocket either way. I get pissed when I lose garden vegetables!!! I'd lose my mind!

Guess the cams are a great way of proving the source of predation for the CO...

[ub1243]

Guess the cams are a great way of proving the source of predation for the CO...

can't get much better then a picture.

my orchard place has the same problems with the rabbits. any snow, then they start on the trees.
sounds like you have a great place there. the prey has the cover to hide. and the numbers are high, thats bringing in the prey. as long as the food is there, you should do good. it is tough to fence down the k9's in open orchards. hope you have hedgerows.

we don't have many weasels down here, but they are here. i've never trapped one. have to go on t-man and look up the boxes. not sure if it's a 1 1/2" hole in the front.

[mudmarlin70]

No real hedgrerows, but I know the trails. That is one place I actually have quite a bit of confidence I'll be able to snare them in the hardwood on their runs. And once the grass grows in some in the fall, I can find their runs even in the orchard. He's got blueberry rows I'm gonna use too. Plus the fence holes. Lots of options there.

You ever try baiting something like the blueberry rows?? Not with snares anywhere near the bait....I was thinking of leaving rat or coon carcasses well up the rows and snaring the same rows about 50-100 yards closer to the woods/cover. They seem to hit the rows and run the rows unless their blocked out.

[ub1243]

bait works good for coon. fish on a trail, cover both sides of the trail. i've caught reds coming to clam on lake shores.
last time i used muskrat i put it under a log, and set snares at each end of the log. they like to run the blowdowns. this is what i got.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h149/ub1243/SUC50209.jpg
but sometimes it comes together.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h149/ub1243/SUC50252.jpg
snaring a grey is like snaring a snake. they will come through, but 3" to the left or right the next day. then the next, then the next.

bait has it's place.
road kill skunks work good too, lots of call to them. but they bring in the big birds too.