Trapping Season

I did catch 3 raccoons and an opossum during deer season whenever they started hitting the corn pretty hard.

Dog proof traps and seafood medley cat food. They cant resist it.

Whats the status on racoons and turkey? Do they have a significant impact?

The info is mixed. A raccoon will obviously eat turkey eggs, but there’s a lot of debate as to how actively they’re looking for them and whether or not they have the balls to push a hen off a nest.

The general recommendation is to not feed during the laying season as that draws coons and hens into the same place, where they otherwise have different habitats they prefer.

The data on how fast they come back after intensive trapping is crazy, but you can put a dent in them leading up to laying season. I’m in the black belt and our turkey numbers are very high, and we have no shortage of coons.

quote:

---

Dog proof traps and seafood medley cat food. They cant resist it.

---

That's what I use, I'll be setting a few soon. An old guy at work will take every one I bring to him. I usually keep 3 or 4 to cook when camping.

I am fairly convinced that trapping coons helps turkeys. I know some big landowners (over 10,000 acres) who employ methods that I will say some would consider....."aggressive" in the elmination of coons and nest predators And their turkey numbers have responded strongly.

The best way to do it on a small scale is DP (Dog Proof) traps that you can get online or at your local feed store. They're about $15 each last I checked. You'll need some thin wire to secure them to a sapling or something.

This is my method: I bait the traps with corn with a little bit of menhaden oil drizzled on it. This is just for scent to attract them. I bait the traps for a couple of weekeneds in a row before I set them. This is because I don't want to catch one or two at a time. I want to catch a bunch at one time because it's more convenient for me that way.

So I get them coming to the traps and eating out of the traps for a couple of weeks. Then I set them and usually go 100% the first night. Remove the coons and set again. You should go close to 100% the second night as well. Then I bait the traps again until I can get down there for the weekend and check them. Because I don't want them set during the week when I'm not there. That's too cruel, even for me.

So baiting keeps them coming in during the week and your set success goes way up on the weekend.

If they start getting shy and your catch rate goes down, it's easy to get it back up: Just use half a sardine as bait. Your catch rate will shoot way up again.

The locals in my part of the world will buy the fresh dead coons for $5. But your mileage may vary on that.

Had pictures of a coyote last night walk up to the back side of the set and sniff it. Had a backing to try and prevent this from happening. Put the trap on the opposite side because thats the way they had been traveling during deer season.

He came wind direction(should have known) and walked up from the back side. If he had come opposite way I'd be headed to dispatch right now.

This is the reason a catch is so rewarding though.

First coyote of the season has been dispatched.

Look into bucket sets using 160s if you are a long way away. Legally we have to check ours every 3 days, but they will be DOA.