Coon's how to trap em
 

I run several deer feeders and the coons are raping em and giving the electric motors hell. well, I have had enough so I bought a cage trap to get em. What type of baits can I use to get them. The first night I put the trap about 50 yds from my feeder with a can of mustard sardines (.79 cents) and caught a coon. I shot it and tossed it out. reset the trap in another direction and took 2 nights and caught a possum. moved the trap towards another feeder still using the sardines and caught another possum. my little girls calls em big rats, LOL. I am looking for something cheeper than the sardines to use as that can get expensive on bait. I see all types of scent type lures from liqurish ? spelling, to gland lures. Any one can offer some help I would appreciate it. I also thought of buying a steel jaw trap (#2 duke) to catch a few more.

Will the coons stay away from my trap when it gets bloody from me dispatching em?

thanks

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

It may be hard to compete with the corn. A friend of mine used honey buns to catch a few coons. You could use half of one and eat/keep the other half for later. I have used some of the commercial lures with good sucess and it won't take much a little dab will do ya! You could use #2 and use dirthole sets, but run the risk of catching most anything in the traps; releasing something from a box trap is much easier. Finally, it would be a wise idea to wash your traps after each time you catch a coon. If you could stop the feeders for awhile and bait the traps with corn you would really load up on the coons.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Plain old marshmellow. Sweet and they are eye appeal being white.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

never done it but i have heard that marshmellows work well i also believe in the eye appeal thing when i used to trap i wraped the pans in tin foil it was killer on coons if they can see it they will go for it curiosity killed the cat you could say also they love cheetos the puff ones the best i know a few people that have had pet ones and they go crazy for them

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

had a pet coon last year. He loved manderine oranges, cat food, and strawberry jelly. I trap the river and use fish oil and that gets umm real good.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Get you a Havahart Trap, punch holes on top of a sardine can with an ice pick and place in the trap.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

that is the live trap I have. keep the ideas flowing. like the marshmellows. a bag of those would be cheap.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

first of all the #2 trap is too large for coon .... go with an 11 longspring, #1 coil. or 1 1/2 coil with a mid-chain swivel .... coons are notorious chewers .... if they can get their teeth under the jaws they will chew their numbed feet .... not tryin to do anything possible to escape (as alot of people think) ... but they chew on anything near them due to stress .... and dont realize they are chewin their own flesh .... anyhow .... a 220 conibear set in a bucket cubby right by the feeders would do the trick ... just be sure that there are no pets around that may get caught .... if thats the case id go with the cage type or smaller footholds ..... but the 220's are the way to go when it comes to coon ... also ya can set them on the trails going to and from the feeders .... if ya interested in the 220's contact me and i can fill ya in on the diff methods of use ..... as far as baits .... it depends on the age of the coon and time of the year ... and ....well .... their mood at the time .... sumtimes its a fish based bait that will turn heads and others a sweet .... ya need to change up and use diff types to get the best results .... but i will tell ya that a beaver castor based lure or beaver castor itself will pull in sum coon ..... as far as sight attractors .... i used to believe in em and use em all the time for coon .... but they really cant see all that well .... (ps.... ya will pull in bobcats with those and birds of prey .... not to mention it may be illegal in your state) no matter if ya use em or not ya need to have the traps set right on their travel routes .... cant pull a coon very far .... anyhow .... like i said ... i may be able to help ya out .... good luck and by the way ... ya may be able to make a few bucks with the furs while protectin ya feeders

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

my favorite method is either using honey buns, or get you a cheap box of sandwich bags and a bottle of maple surype and fill the bag 1/4 full of it then poke tiny little holes in it. it will last for ever and i guarinte that you will catch one. i used it in all of my traps and catch one every night

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

I do the same thing, except I've usually used cheap cat food or tuna.:D

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Bears also love sweat treats,,Might cost you a trap if they pick up on that scent though...

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

I like to use #1 coils for coon. they are small and very easy to set. I have caught some real hogs with those things and had no trouble holding them. I think the steel legholds are going to be your best bet you can clean them out quicker. I also think gang setting is your best bet. Coons are pretty agressive by nature and can be caught very easily human sent doesnt seem to bother them as much as it does the fox and coyote. As far as a good bait to use try mixing some fishy smelling canned cat food with honey and a couple of broken eggs this has worked just fine for me in the past. Good luck I hope get rid of the coon problem you are having.
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RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

the store around here only sells the coil trap that has no gap b/t the jaws. when you set these traps do you put the lure on the pedal (trip). how and where do you set your bait in relation to your trap?? Do you have to check em daily? Can I go 2 days in b/t checking them? thanks for the help. p.s canis sent you email but never heard back from you.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

two years ago i live trapped coons for fun, and every night i set the trap i caught a coon. i had that exact havahart trap and i jus threw in one or two jumbo marshmellows. on occasion id add a apple slice to the marshmellows. anything sweet will work, but marshmellows are the cheapest/best bait to use.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Use the trap Rebel Hog said. They work really well. A can of catfood, sardines, bacon, or marshmallows are what I use.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

sorry man ...didnt get the email ...was out of town mushroom huntin over the weekend .... waitin for duck season to open back up .... as far as checkin ya traps check on ya regs ... i believe its illegal to check there every 48 hrs ... even with drowning rigs and/or killer type traps .... as far as bait placement .... ya can do it many ways with the footholds ... and if i were you id use a drag ... take 14 ga wire .... double it and cut a section that is 4 -6' long wire it to ya trap chain..... dig a hole 3" -4" in the ground ... hole being at a 45 degree angle .... dig a trap bed out .... just large enuff for ya trap to fit .... then cut a small trench for ya trap chain to lie in .... set ya trap in the bed .... make sure the trap is solid .... dont want it tippin at all ... if the trap moves push dirt under the loose jaw, frame, etc to get it rigid .... just make sure ya dont pack it under the trap pan ... reason for doing this is ... if the coon steps on any part of the trap besides the pan .... and the trap moves ...alot of time they will dig up the trap ... anyhoooo .... lay ya chain in the trench ya have cut .... and lay the drag (which ya wanna be heavy enuff for the coon to move it for a short distance then hang up .. for coons 5lbs or so will be fine can use bricks, log, etc) ....off to the side of the set ... the coons wont mind ... pretty stupid animal ... lol ... sift dirt over the trap and chain ... pack the dirt around the trap to make it solid ... again ... any loose soil the coon may step on before hittin the pan may cause diggin .... rember where ya pan is or leave it exposed .... reason for doing this is ya wanna know where ya pan is so ya can place guide objects to help guide the paw onto the pan ... as far as guides ... could be anything from a branch to a mud clod ... just make sure its not sumthin that will get lodged in the jaws when the trap fires .... place them to guide the paw .... if ya usin gloves .... take em off and place ya bait and/or lure into the hole ...if no gloves are used make sure ya wash ya hands before makin the next set ... dont wanna get any bait or lure scent on the next trap .... hope this helps a bit if any questions just contact me and ill try to explain more ....alot easier if i were there in front of ya showin ya how to do it .... i do have alot of video of me trappin and makin sets .... may be able to throw ya a vid together sumtime ...also ill be in ark in jan ... maybe if ya near the area ill be huntin we could get together and i can show ya sum pointers .... good luck and keep in touch

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

#1 coil springs and #11 longsprings are too small for coons. I always use a 1.5 or 1.75 coil. # 1's are meant for mink and muskrat not coon. a big coon will pull right out of a #1. Haven't you lost any like that before?

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Man me too the best i have found is peanut butter,,,they love it...

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

marshmellows work well, but old eggs work good. crack one and put it all over the inside of the cage and leave one or two inside that arent cracked. ull either catch a coon or a skunk...ivebeen doin it quite a while and havent caught a skunk,just have heard that skunks like eggs too.


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RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

i have had pull outs from 11's and 1's .... but would rather have pull outs than ring offs .... 1.75's are too hard on em .... the 1 1/2's will work if ya know what ya doin .... and the 1's are a lil small but with right mods, drags, and sets they work great ... its the space under the trap jaws that i worry bout .... coons are notorious chewers ... if it were up to me id go with sum 220's .... this is a pic of 3 weeks of trappin while holdin down a 8-12 hrs a day job ... http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i245/morel_2006/?action=view&current=mushrooms749.jpg&refP age=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

well,

set out my live trap and checked it 2 days in a row by a creek. still no coons. I put a can of tuna fish in it the first night. got a rain and second night refreshed it with more tuna that was left over. went last night to check it and still nothing. I had an old can of cat food and was gonna put it in the trap but the darn tab broke off and I couldn't open the can (LOL). will check them tomorrow. my wife sat on her deer stand and saw 3 foxes. HMMM, would like to trap one of them too but got to get these coons first. I have multiple feeders out and the coons are tearing them up. gonna get some marshmellows next time we go to wally world. I haven't purchased anyleg traps yet. may get a few this a.m as our local feed store has them. will keep ya'll up to date.

p.s canis nice picts and that is a whole lotta fur.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

thanx ark ....good luck to ya

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

The cat food works great. Like someone else has said, they will chew thier paws off from stress. Having the corn will keep them busy until you collect your traps. You could let coon hunters run thier dogs and thin them out also. That's what we do here.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

EGGS WORK GOOD

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

thanks for the replys. I haven't had time to rebait here lately. plan to soon and will post pict and success.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

its all about the little debbie honey buns.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

We use vanilla wafers. To bad you can't bring the coons to us!! We need more out here (no joke) to run the coon dogs on. We trap them and bring them to a safe farm to let the dogs tree.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

Hey guys,
I am looking to get a trap for coons that I can set up easy. I dont want to go into the woods and scare the deer and turkey, so I am wanting to put the trap in a field next to the cabin. I am looking at cutting into the coon population because the coons are cutting into the turkey and quail eggs.

Thanks for all the great info!

Willie

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

I have not trap but I really want to get into it. My Uncle is a avide trapper an tells me to use a #220 Conibear and a 5 gallon bucket. Cut slits in the side to hold the trap. Best bait choped up fish, go to the local lake and catch perch or blue gill. Throw in the back of the bucket, set and place near a hackberry tree or trees with animal droppings. Remember to stake it and lay the bucket down on the grownd. Best not to have dogs running free, good chance they will get caught. Other than that you will have the coons caught.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

The bodygripper in a bucket can be really effective, but may not be a good choice around feeders. Deer can be curious and while not normally inclinded to see your bait as something to eat, you don't want a small deer sticking its head in the bucket out of curiousity.

I'd shut the feeders down for a while and then use the corn as your bait. Gang set so you can get several in one shot. If using footholds, you could use a dirt hole set, but use corn down the hole instead of a more traditional lure or bait. The deer may mess with your sets though. A bit of molasses, maple syrup, and honey makes for a decent coon lure/bait. Add a bit of anise oil and/or vanilla.

RE: Coon's how to trap em
 

If legal in your area, a treestand, spotlight, and firearm may be the quickest way to clean a bunch of them out.