Trapping Help

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Ive recently done a BASC course on live squirrell trapping and they have given me 10 traps . Ive started trapping in the woods of the farm where my daughter has her pony . After a week of naff all i moved a few traps around to different areas and ive started getting a few . got 6 in the last few weeks which im happy with to start with . I dont have a trapping mentor or anybody to show me the hard and fast way of doing it so im just going to ask a few questions regardless of if their stupid to try and get better at my trapping .

 

1. Im using peanuts and corn as my bait . Some people have suggested peanut butter on the pad at the back of the trap , any other suggestions for me to try

 

2. For a cover i use old black bin bags which i put over the trap and it covers about 3/4 to the whole trap . In one of my shooting magazines theirs a picture of people using traps and they just have a black cover wrapped around the back 1/4 of the trap thats taped around to stop it blowing away . The back of the trap is open to view and the other 3/4 is open . I am covering the whole trap if possible to try and make it less visible but in the magazine they didnt seem to worry about it . I cover it with leaves and twigs etc but if i had 3/4 of the trap showing all the foliage would drop through etc

 

3. In picking a area to set the traps im mainly looking for the wooded areas with leaves all over the ground and putting them at the base of big trees that ive seen some sort of bark missing at the bottom . Im not 100% sure if thats the best indicator or squirells being there .

 

4. How close do people set traps next to eachother . Im thinking if they are covered enough then it shouldnt really be a major problem ? i might be wrong

 

5 I have taken 2 of the traps down to the wooded area by the stream in the hope of catching mink . I put a mackrel head in the trap and covered as normal . They are about 3-4 metres from the side of the river . Where should i thinking of setting a trap for mink . People have told me theirs mink there but it could be tall tales .

 

 

All in all im loving trapping . My 2 kids (6 and 4 years old) come with me after work every day and come down to check the traps . ive let them pick a trap each and find somewhere to put it . They bait/rebait the traps for me and enjoy running through the woods checking the traps . My daughter is extremely excited about catching a mink . Ive told her they smell and she walks down to those traps holding her nose. When i shoot the squirells i make sure they are away from me incase of any accidents etc but they have no problem carrying a dead squirell up to the farm for the farmer to feed his cats . Promised my boy id show him how to make a fish trap out of a 2 ltr bottle of coke and we could catch little fish for him to have a look at. Great to have the kids in the woods with me . When i was a kid i lived in the countryside and id be out our garden building dens or up in the farmers fields playing in the woods and streams . Moved to town when i got older and suddenly realised my kids are going to be brought up with tarmac and concrete as their play ground . Nice to see them pissing about in the woods . My boy has a HUGE arsenal of sticks down their and he takes one on our journey back and walks in front of us as a "ranger" and used to sticks to fight off the tigers and lions if they try and attack us

[J Darcy 5,870]

Get your money back from the course matey.....

 

What traps have they given you?

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Get your money back from the course matey.....

 

What traps have they given you?

The course was free mate , didn't cost me a penny . I only went on it because it was free and a friend of mine had already done it through his work and told me if I was interested he would get me on the next one . I've been given 10x trap man live catch traps to use.

[Phil Lloyd 10,736]

Good to hear that you are enjoying your trapping young man,...it really is an absorbing pastime, and the more you do,..the more proficient you should become...but,.beware of following the wrong path,..cos it will only end in tears and frustration...

 

Did you get awarded the 10 x cage traps, free of charge from the BASC trapping course,.or did you have to pay for them ?

 

Grey Squirrels are a good target to begin your trapping career on,..

They are a curious sort of critter,.. it is this basic nosiness that gets them caught..

Try to make your sets interesting,...but keep them natural,.don't overly complicate things..

Location is a most important criteria...

 

Observe where the chosen quarry prefers to hunt,....the rest is easy...

Edited July 4, 2016 by Phil Lloyd

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Good to hear that you are enjoying your trapping young man,...it really is an absorbing pastime, and the more you do,..the more proficient you should become...but,.beware of following the wrong path,..cos it will only end in tears and frustration...

 

Did you get awarded the 10 x cage traps, free of charge from the BASC trapping course,.or did you have to pay for them ?

 

Grey Squirrels are a good target to begin your trapping career on,..

They are a curious sort of critter,.. it is this basic nosiness that gets them caught..

Try to make your sets interesting,...but keep them natural,.don't overly complicate things..

Locationis a most important criteria...

 

Observe where the chosen quarry prefers to hunt,....the rest is easy...

Its a loan scheme type thing . I don't pay anything for them or the course but they ask that I record data on the squirrells that I trap . weight ,sex etc . im more than happy to do that as ive seen the price of the traps and without getting paid for trapping I wouldn't have given it a go considering the price . what I like about the traps I've been given is the fact the door is solid metal and not mesh. That way I can see if their set from a fair distance

[EDDIE B 3,118]

With reguards mink trapping, you said the traps are set 3-4 meters from the river. You'd be lucky to catch mink that far from the river bank. As Phil said "location is the key" and that is so true.

 

Set your trap close to the water, for that is where the mink will travel. Well for the most part. Pick a location with some feature. Like where a drain enters the river, overhanging root system, or rock pile. These features slow a mink down. He'll sus out these places.

 

Place your trap on a nice flat surface, half way down the bank, or on the bottom if it suits. Keep it tight to the bank, and cover it with grass ect. Keep your bait fresh, and you should catch some mink.

 

You might want to leave the kids at home when your doing this, especially if the waters deep.

 

Good luck with the trapping!

[foxdropper 17,092]

Signs of mink are quite easy to establish and once seen ,will jump out at you in the future .Footprints along the waters edge ,same as a ferret ,scat sometimes very visible on a tuft of grass other times under an overhang .Two traps back to back will sometimes catch dog and bitch . when I was at it often lol i used to pin the traps with a spike in case of water rise and the chance a mink might turn it over because they are quite active for a time once caught lol.If you do catch ,squeeze the urine over the trap to which there is no finer attractant .Good luck .

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Signs of mink are quite easy to establish and once seen ,will jump out at you in the future .Footprints along the waters edge ,same as a ferret ,scat sometimes very visible on a tuft of grass other times under an overhang .Two traps back to back will sometimes catch dog and bitch . when I was at it often lol i used to pin the traps with a spike in case of water rise and the chance a mink might turn it over because they are quite active for a time once caught lol.If you do catch ,squeeze the urine over the trap to which there is no finer attractant .Good luck .

Thanks for the advice . been down by the river earlier and saw a hole under the fence which runs alongside the river with a muddy path into the water . thought that might be a mink sign . I'm closing the traps tmrow for 2 weeks and I'm going to have a thorough look along the river to see if theirs anything I can notice .

[foxdropper 17,092]

The most effective set for mink I found was a fresh created site .Dig a level platform into the bank,having first got permission of course then site trap pinned down .No need to cover for a minks benefit but you might want to cover for the two legged vermin .Double check that slide you found mate as could be an otter .No mistaking though on pad size and drag width .Second to squirrels ,mink are I would say the easiest to trap as their inquisitiveness is boundless.I once saw one go into an empty rabbits bury on the river bank whilst trapping .I placed an open cage trap over the hole it went in and turfed in the other few entrances. On my return I had him .I've squeaked them too and shot them ,very close .

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Another question . I've moved the traps to another part of the farm woodland as theirs now horses in the field adjoining the woods and their in and out of there all the time. Although no injury can come to them from the live traps I dont fancy waking thru the field daily with the kids and the boisterous horses

 

I pre baited the traps for a week , tying the door open . Every day I went there the maize/peanuts was gnawed and eaten inside and outside the trap. I thought "great" I'm going to get awesome numbers in this wood . Since I've cut the tie holding the door open and the traps are now active I've caught 1 in 4 days which isn't the end of the world but what's doing my nut in is that the bait at the back of the traps is eaten and gnawed . The traps are on a hairtrigger so any weight sets them off. Every day I'm coming to each of the 9 traps still open with the bait missing or half eaten inside. I'm thinking little birds or maybe mice but I'd have thought a mouse would trigger it.

 

Anybody got any ideas?

 

[DIDO.1 20,802]

It will be mice or voles. Are you seeing many squirrels?

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Not many. But in the last location I trapped I didn't see many at all but got 14 in 2 weeks I think

 

Any way of desuading mice and voles or is it just a case of keep trying . I've got 1 squirell already was just wondering what was taking my bait

[gnipper 5,944]

Slugs?

[Welsh_red 4,298]

Slugs?

Havnt seen My slug trails in there

[DIDO.1 20,802]

If squirrels are there they should be going in. They are normally keen enough. Leave it a few months till Nov/Dec and try again with your prebaiting , no need to worry to much about squirrels this time of year