it ain't a bear, but I'm getting a little

[bonnie in indiana]

concerned. Over the weekend, I lost one of my favorite bantam roosters. He and 2 women were in a round pen made from pipe reinforcement wire. In the 25 years that I have had the pen, nothing has broke into it. It has been real dry here and I have fine sand, lots ot it in my dirt. Well, IT dug in.

Chapter 2. Set the live trap [coon size]. Baited with a broken egg. Monday morn the trap is 5 feet from where I left it and on its side. OK, I can believe a coon can do that.

Chapter 3. Set the trap with a dead chicken [the heat may have got her] and this AM the the trap is a good 75 feet from where I set it. And it had to go thru an obsticle course to get there. There was a little possum rooting around in the fire trash, but he WAS too small to drag a cage. Are coons really that aggressive in the middle of summer when life is good for them? Would a MAMA coon be that desparate to get food for her babes? I live in a woods and 2 fields away is a river so food is abundant even though it is dry.
I also have plenty of coyotes, but I Don't think they could move it.

Chapter 4. Any ideas. I just think it has to be a coon. A BIG one.

[Rocky Fields]

Hey.

You should have staked the trap, so it can't be moved. Your trap probably is too small for your preditor. Coons are aggressive...think about how they get garbage can lids off. If you don't have any of your keeper animals in the area, you could bait a deadpan trap...be sure to stake it on the end of the chain. I think coyotes are more likely to drag the trap 75 feet. A bear would smash/tear the trap open.

RF

[Rocky Fields]

PS

No wild dogs in the area?

RF

[peter nap]

I posted in another thread that live (Havhart) style traps aren't the best choice for Coons. Without anymore information, I have no way of knowing what you have. Any tracks in the sand?

If you really want to know what's going on, get a cheap trail camera for 50.00 at Wallyworld and set it out with some bait.

I would not;t set anymore traps yet because your educating it and will have a trap smart animal. If that happens you will wind up sitting on a roof all night waiting to shoot it.

PS ....Live traps can be made or purchased that work fine for a lot of animals but the ones large enough are expensive and building them requires some work.

[Lynnette]

Contact your wildlife control agency, they should be able to provide some insight and may know of others in your area that are having the same problem and therefore a better understanding of what you are dealing with. They may even be able to bring out a trap. Animal control in my county (granted this is aimed more toward dogs, although that may well be what you are dealing with) brought out a trap for a stray that was the size of a great dane (the dog), but the cage was relatively sized. I would start with that, it seems the most cost effective way of not only knowing what it is but also of removing it from your property and protecting your stock.

[EasyDay]

Originally Posted by peter nap

I posted in another thread that live (Havhart) style traps aren't the best choice for Coons.

Do you (and others) have problems trapping coons with live traps? I'm just curious. We have used them successfully many times, so am wondering why you say they aren't the best choice?

[peter nap]

Coons are smart, strong and fast. What I've found is that most live traps are too small or have the drop lock. When the coon feels the pan slip he starts backing up and keeps the door from closing ......or.......The door closes and locks and he rolls the trap and the locks drop out and the doors open.

Either way, The coon is trap shy and harder to catch.

My guess is that this is the case here, and the trap is getting rolled around so
the coon or whatever, can get the bait out by rolling it around.

[SHELBY]

My guess is that this is the case here and the trap is getting rolled around so the coon or whatever, is trying to get the bait out by rolling it around.


If it was an old worn trap, I could see this happening, but not with a fairly new one, we've had ours for over a year and it is really tight, /they would'nt be able to roll it to get it back open.

[peter nap]

I don't know that he is getting it open but I suspect that he is roiling it around from the outside to try to get the bait out. That explains why it has been moved so far and if he is rolling it from the outside, he's already trap shy.

Box type traps have been around lots longer than leg hold traps. I've never met a professional trapper that used box traps for anything other than an occasional rabbit or for live trapping things like bear.

There's a reason for it!

[peter nap]

Back to the trail camera. They are very useful tools and let you see what goes bump in the night :baby04:

Here are a couple of pictures from last weekend.

[CGUARDSMAN]

could be a bobcat.

[Reptyle]

Cool pics.

[scaryguyoy]

Try putting some dry cat food in a pop bottle with the lid off,it can smell it but has to go in to get it out.This has worked for me many times.
Scary