DANTHEHUNTER

The badger is smelling your traps !! You need to keep them scent free.If there is a spot to do it (like a small hump or bank) Punch a 2 in hole at about a 45degree angle, about 6 in deep.(I made a hole shovel out of a piece of 2in pipe about 1ft long,cut the end to make a point)add your bait then make a hole plug out of some grass and put it in the hole.Set a #2 double coil spring about 6 in in front of the bait hole.Dig it in about 1in deep or enough to hide your trap,then sift some clean ant hill dirt over the trap.The ant hill dirt will not freeze cause the ants put wax on it as the make there hill.Dont forget a pan cover,I always use some wax paper.

Hiawatha

Possibly the badger was getting caught and pulling out of the trap? Dan had a good idea. I would add to anchor the trap very well, eg cement block. I have caught a few as a kid in my gopher traps with little #1 legholds, they held them there till I could whip home and get the .22.

wyote

I personally have never had a badger come to a call. BUT I have had them come out of a hole to see what all the noise is about. The biggest badger I ever killed was doing just this.

For trapping I just use the standard dirt hole set with earth anchors or double staked.

NMFowler

I have a couple of hole sets in the same area where the cubby is. For whatever reason he just wrecks the cubby, and seems to care less about odors. The area that he has been frequenting is well traveled daily by the land owner and his family (and they couldn't be less concerned with scent control). I went a bit outside the normal trapping protocol yesterday. I made a wooden box about 18" long X 8" tall X 10" wide with three sides and one floor. I sprayed it down really well with H.S. Scent Away, and flipped it upside down in a 2" deep hole I dug to the shape of the box. I placed 1/2 a cottontail in the back of the box after I drug it all around the site, and made my trap bed about 2" inside the box with a #2 Montgomery coil. Then I took an old steel wheel from a near by scrap pile and placed it on top of the wooden box, so that it can't be easily overturned. I wore a pair of rubber gloves and boots for the entire operation to try to keep human odor down as much as possible. The land owner said this thing has actually been eating their pet food off of the front porch, so I'm hoping that if he is that bold I can be too. Duty called tonight, and I wasn't able to check my trap or contact the land owner. I'll be there as soon as I can tomorrow, and if there is no badger, hopefully I have some good cuddeback pictures I can share.

NMFowler

I think you guys were right. I either went a little too bold, or I caught him and he freed himself. I went back this morning after two full days of the traps being baited, and no badger or pics. I'm going back this weekend to check for fresh activity around his den, and ask the landowner what he has seen. I knew better; lesson learned. If he is still around I'll start a new line of fresh hole sets and see what happens. Possibly more to come.

bigbucks98

Sounds to me like its time for some heavy artillery.lol I told you to set some bear traps,lol no youre doing great this thing is just a beast to handle. What you need to do, is try to get those pics and see what time hes coming out or coming back in. If its at night, if possible........ I would try to get a spotlight and do some late night hunting, not poaching, hunting.

NMFowler

I didn't get a chance to make it out this weekend. Between work and my honey do list; I haven't had time for much. I plan on getting everything reset this weekend to include the cuddeback. This saga isn't over yet.



And bear traps don't sound half bad right now!!

NMFowler

I have a few days off of work, so I thought I get after this badger again. I put out four hole sets yesterday with #3 leaf spring traps. Well I caught a skunk and a jack rabbit last night. The skunk sprayed everything!! Normally after I trap a skunk, I pull that set for at least a few weeks. What do you guys think? Should I pull this set, or do you think that the skunk odor won't affect my set? I have always wondered this.

Rammer

I'd leave the skunk trap set myself. Might be able to snag a wandering coyote looking for a meal!

If you know where the badger den is, get 5 gallons of water, and a half gallon of gas an a match. Pour the water down the hole, followed by the gas, then throw the match. Be prepared, either he will come storming out, or you will smell a badger filet

Or.....Get 10ft of barbed wire fence and twist it down the hole, and once you wrap him up in the wire, drag him out an be prepared for a showdown.

moose1915

why don't you just call in a napalm air strike, rammer?