# Trapping has started



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I finally put the house on hold and set some traps Friday. Saturday morning I started out with 4 rats out of a submerged culvert. Then I checked 4 body grip traps on a friends pond and pulled 2 more rats. The rest of the day was spent setting fisher and bobcat traps. Since they are so far from home and so far off the road I used 160 body grips on poles. That's to avoid hunting dogs and lets me check them every third day if I want.

Sunday I pulled 4 more rats out of the culvert and 1 more out of the pond. Nothing in the woods traps. In the afternoon I decided to look for rat dens in front of my house. I was surprised to find some so I set a trap and walked down the shore for a few minutes. As I walked past the trap on the way back I already had another rat. I set up a few more runs so I should have some more rats to skin tonight.

I may have to take off early from work this week so I can take advantage of the clear ice and no snow to look for more rat dens.


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## braggscowboy (Jan 6, 2004)

Sounds like fun, I have never trapped unless you count rabbit traps or rabbitt gums as we called them. I would sell the cleaned rabbit for .50 when I was a kid. We had grocery stores that would buy them. I enjoyed it a great deal and if lucky I would have two at a time.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

This morning I ordered a collapsible ice saw from Fish's. $140 but it always starts and never needs gas. I've been told they cut very fast. It should make setting up rat dens a lot faster than with a chisel.

http://www.icesaw.com/


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

I want to know how you're going to fit that saw in your trap basket.

Can't use bodygrips here, unless you have went to an ADC class and they're for beaver only. Plus also need the wardens permission to use it.

Have to wait another year before I can set steel again.

Also, are you setting any traps out for dryland ****?


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Our trapping season starts in a couple more days.(Dec.1st) Now that deer gun season is almost over, I'm going to start concentrating on setting traps out. Especially for raccoons. They are too thick around here.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The saw folds but even folded it's still about 4'. It will go in the sled or on the tobaggon.

I thought about trapping a bunch of ***** and even prebaited with hundreds of pounds of fish waste this summer but didn't get any sets out in time. Our lakes are frozen now and the nights are dropping below freezing so most ***** are sticking close to their winter dens.

Last night I checked the traps on my lake and didn't catch a single rat. I see the bubble trails so I know they are there. I did have a sprung #110 so I may have to switch to them.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The saw works great and I've only used it in shallow water where I had to use short strokes so far.

We finally got a 1/2" of snow and I saw where a fisher was within 25' of my set but the wind must have been the wrong direction. I had a big cat within 300' of another set. Unfortunately fisher season closes Sunday night at 10 pm. I added a new kind of cat call lure to the sets and I plan on leaving the set near the tracks until late Sunday afternoon.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

How do you get that ice saw through the ice to start sawing?


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

What cat lure are you using?


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Ed Norman said:


> How do you get that ice saw through the ice to start sawing?


It's got a sharp tip that you use like a chisel. We've only got 4" of ice so far.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

CoonXpress said:


> What cat lure are you using?


Snowcat by Grawe and Gusto by Caven. I also happened to find a nice skunk on the road and sucked out some essence that I mixed with warmed vaseline.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

porkypine is a good cat bait.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Well fisher season is over and I got skunked. When I got to the furthest trap I saw more fresh fisher tracks on the downed trees on the stream. Then as I was leaving I found what was left of a doe about 40' away. She was in a spot that I don't think I would have missed her if she was there Friday. All that was left was the rib cage, head, spine and leg bones. I'm thinking that maybe the wolves drug her to that spot from nearby before they ate the rest. Now I've got until the first week in January to catch some cats. We're allowed to take 5 but I'm restricted to body grip traps because of my work schedule and I won't set them on the ground.

I did end up catching a star nosed mole today in an underice muskrat set using a #110.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Oh well, there's always next year for the fisher.

About 5 weeks for the cats, 1 a week, you can do that.

Going to send the mole skin in for the NAFA auction? :spinsmiley:


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'm not sure what to do with the mole. It's such a unique looking animal I'd like to donate to a nature learning program but don't know how to preserve it. 

The biggest problem this year was the lack of snow so I couldn't find any tracks. We've got the same problem with the cats. I'll have to mark them on my computer this winter when I find them. I do have some cats located from toilets and tracks in the sand. Now the problem is figuring out how to get them to climb a tree and stick their head in a bodygrip.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Could always ask them about the mole, they might know someone that could preserve it.

For the bobcat, I'd try a scent and visual attractor, like some hanging feathers behind the trap. 
Trying to think of an electronic call that a friend made years ago for trapping, wasn't much but a few chirps every 5-10 minutes or so.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Was the mole swimming or in a muskrat tunnel under the ice? I never saw one close to water, I had a Weimeraner that could hear them in the garden and pounce like a fox, then dig them up.

See if you can trade him to a taxidermist for a hide tanning or something cheap.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

CoonXpress said:


> Could always ask them about the mole, they might know someone that could preserve it.
> 
> For the bobcat, I'd try a scent and visual attractor, like some hanging feathers behind the trap.
> Trying to think of an electronic call that a friend made years ago for trapping, wasn't much but a few chirps every 5-10 minutes or so.


I was thinking about some kind of chirping noise maker. That would surely get the cat up the pole. If you think of it please let me know.

I've got feathers on strings and 2 kinds of cat scent plus skunk at the cat sets.

The mole was caught in a #110 guarding a rat den under the ice next to the shore.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Not the one I was thinking of, but should work.
[youtube]oPezhO_sP7A[/youtube]

Edge Electronic Trap Bait$18


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks. That sounds like just what I need to coax the cats to do a little climbing. As it turns out it is illegal to use any kind of unattended electronic device to take animals. 

I may have a legal non-electronic alternative figured out.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Here's the Electronic Caller that I was thinking about.
Teaser


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

fishhead said:


> Thanks. That sounds like just what I need to coax the cats to do a little climbing. As it turns out it is illegal to use any kind of unattended electronic device to take animals.
> 
> I may have a legal non-electronic alternative figured out.











Would a wind up clock last longer than a day or 2?
Might get me a cheap clock and play with it.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

CoonXpress said:


> Here's the Electronic Caller that I was thinking about.
> Teaser


I used some Wasatch very early models 8-9 years ago. They had two rheostats you adjust and they made electronic noises from clicks to tweets to whines. It worked best to put it out in the middle then make sets in about a 200 yard radius around them so incoming animals would come by a set somewhere. Mehhh, I didn't use them much.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I caught my first mink of the season today in a cage trap. It looks like a large male. On the other wall of the concrete culvert I caught a rat. Then I caught a 1 1/2 lb northern pike under a dam in a cage trap. It got turned loose.

After making a couple of vertical wire cubby sets for cats on some large trees I set 5 fox and coyote sets. The ground is frozen and I didn't have the right tool so I was kind of sloppy and used some unclean tools but I figure in a day or so what little scent I did put down will be gone in our cold temps. I used 18" rebar stakes and it took a 4 lb maul a lot of smacks to get them flush to the ground. They may be there until spring unless I decide to open the J-hooks on the swivel.


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