Rabbit live traps

[wilbs 249]

Have just bought a load of rabbiting gear off a friend of mine who is giving it up due to ill health. There are quite a few live rabbit traps but it's not really my thing so am going to have a try with the kids. 

Does anyone have much luck with them at all, any tips would be most welcome.

[micky 3,325]

I have never set one but I have seen plenty and I do not rate them for anything other than Gardens but I know a chap in South Lincs who sets or used to set them by the hundred , he had the cream of the land in the Little Ponton / Newton  area which is South of Boston , he did not follow the advice of the Manufacturers of the cage traps who stated 10 yards out 8 yards apart he went his own way which was understandable  because he had been doing it longer than the people who made the traps , he placed his traps further out because he did not like putting the traps down on fouled ground he also placed them in a half Moon shape so as the Rabbits had to pass more than one trap to get to safety, he used Carrot  and Sugar Beet as bait and kept it fresh also he lived and worked in the area so checking was no problem . I often saw Rabbits in his traps at weekends and sometime two in a trap and these traps were down for a couple of Weeks so he must have knocked a few over but for my money there are a lot easier ways of getting a few rabbits than moving all that Ironmongery about 

[wilbs 249]

Cheers for that Micky. 

You're not wrong about carrying them about they also take loads of bloody room up.  I would never buy any and it's not something I would ever get into as it's too time consuming and there are more effective ways of getting the numbers down. 

My friend had some bad news about his health and was 2 hours from death and he is a fit strong chap! He had about 2 and a half grands worth of gear including 3 brand new Mk3 ferret finders, 3 x 100yd brand new quick set long nets, new 3 tier ferret hutch with 4 ferrets and loads of other stuff which I got for a good price just to sell on and the rabbit traps were in with all the stuff. I've already got too much stuff of my own!! So am just going to have a few goes with the kids and then get rid

 

[gnipper 5,945]

I've not done loads of cage trapping but every time I have set them at work I've caught on carrots, apple is meant to work well but it didn't for me.

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

I ve got some. Very mixed results.

Personally I wouldn't go down that road unless you live right close to the grounds.

Rifle and thermal/ IR night sights far deadlier.

[wilbs 249]

Will go for the carrot then lol

LuckOrJudgement - cheers for the reply. I always use rifle/thermal/night sight as well, as you say it's the most effective, I also do ferreting, long netting and lamping etc as I like to vary it. 

I'm only 10 mins away from where I plan to use them so can keep checking them regularly. On one of my permissions where I keep bunnies down on their fields they also have a lovely big garden with a well established veg patch with herbs etc and the sneaky little buggers like to chomp away, so will give them a try on there

[Phil Lloyd 10,736]

You have to be extremely careful where you site these traps Wilbs,...if someone spots one, you will lose the fecking lot...

I prefer to use such things, in private gardens and other secure areas.

I catch plenty alongside fence lines, walls and similar places where rabbits run...

But,...a brass wire is a whole lot cheaper...

[wilbs 249]

Cheers for the advice Phil, very useful just need all this bloody rain to stop now

[PLEDGEY 493]

Use  cheap economy carrots, these are grown with a high N.P.K. fertiliser. This gives the carrots a high sugar content and they have 27% more water in them than expensive organic carrots. Cut the carrots into batons, long ways, and not discs. Batons will stay fresher for longer. Change the carrots every day.

[wilbs 249]

Cheers for the reply pledge. Is this a wind up lol. Or have you got some serious trapping knowledge.  Lol. ?

[wilbs 249]

What about tinned carrorts from Aldi. i.ve got a week of work so will see how I go on. 

[leegreen 2,099]

I find spiralised Waitrose organic carrots work best. 

[wilbs 249]

8 hours ago, leegreen said:

I find spiralised Waitrose organic carrots work best. 

There is one big area where I go that I can pretty much go on except for one field where the woman who owns it loves bunnies so she wouldn't be too keen on us lot lol. I had the pleasure of meeting her a while back whilst clearing a load of bunnies in a friend's field close to her house. The first thing she said was that she had put spells on all the nearby landowners lol.  The next thing was two bunnies bolted out right next to her she was hysterical so as a gesture of good will I let her stroke the bunnies and then let them go. 

Anyway the point of this post is that she told me what she leaves out for the bunnies her field was covered in lettuce, carrots etc and she said she got most of it from Waitrose and how much it cost her just to chuck it out on the field.she thanked me for saving the rabbits and said not all hunters are c***s

Explained to her that I was just keeping the numbers down to reduce damage they cause etc.

[PLEDGEY 493]

On 21/11/2019 at 21:19, wilbs said:

Cheers for the reply pledge. Is this a wind up lol. Or have you got some serious trapping knowledge.  Lol. ?

No, this is straight up.  A friend who was a pest controller, 'bout 7 years ago, asked me if I would dispatch any rabbits that were caught in live trap cages that he had set up in a meadow behind a garden near Bridgwater. The house over looked country side and had loads of rabbits coming into his meadow and garden. I went past the place every day on me way home, I live on the Quantocks. Everyday I would stop and there would be rabbits in the traps. I would walk up to the traps with my .22 CO2 pistol and point it down at the cage. Wait for the rabbit to settle down then shoot it in the head. I would reset any traps with carrots prepared as described. I said I was surprised by how many rabbits were being caught and he put it down to the carrots not drying out so fast and staying nice and sweet. Could be bollocks but that was what I was told to do and it seemed to work.