Coon Trapping

[bowaholic]

I was just curious if anyone has an opinion on coon trapping.  I am thinking about doing it this year but was curious as to how much  money they bring and also how much work.  I don't know anyone who does it near me so there are a TON of coons.  I work well over 40 hours a week every week and they are all 12+ hour shifts on top of an hour drive to and from work every day so id have to check my traps late and quick.  I've trapped muskrats and mink since I was about 9 so I'm no beginner to trapping but I am a beginner to coon trapping.  I want to get a few dog proof traps and get them that way.  Any tips? 

[phade]

I really like coon trapping - I don't get to do enough of it because of my deer hunting.

 

The dog proof traps (cage or coon cuff style) are expensive. They're good for those areas where dogs come into play, but otherwise, I like #1 and sometimes #1.5 cs...cheapies like Duke work fine for these guys. I like the #1 because they can't chew as easy. If you are worried about dogs, avoid things like cat food soaked in fish oil, meat based paste baits.

 

Sweet smelling baits in my experience will attract them and not the dogs (never a guarantee, however). You can use darn near anything to catch them and darn near any type of set, dictated more by the land you trap than anything.

 

If you have expansive areas to trap with road frontage or ditches, that'd be easy places to trap for them to save you time while setting and checking your line. A quick dirthole just above the water line, with a staked #1 under the surface and an eaten chicken wing from the night before dropped in the hole can be done super fast.

 

If you are near an auction house or a buyer...talk to them and see what market channels they have. I no longer put up my coon - I simply pelt them out and sell them green. I sell at GVTA and get to me, what are good prices for green pelts, enough so that the put up fur difference hasn't made me think the time invesement has been worth it. (That's different than say pride in work - it's a time vs. money thing for me). Enough buyers now know that manufacturers are starting to want their fur put up in specific dimensions (like NAFA). These buyers sell to those manufacturers at times and if they have one that wants it X way - they'll put up the green pelts uniformly or the manufacturer's employees will.

[Cabin Fever]

I dusted off the coon traps last fall, for the first time in years. The only reason I did it, was to take out a few nest raiders and help manage the population. I trapped all along my lane (~1/2 mile) at camp, as to not intrude in the woods and spook and deer, since I was out there to bowhunt. I got ~14 coons and opossums. The guy buying the pelts was right on my way home anyway, so it wasn't out of my way at all. I only got $6-$10 for every coon. Didn't skin 'em or anything. Wasn't doing it to make $ anyway...

[growalot]

out of 208 pics on an oak tree trail cam...8 deer...1squirrel...1 fox...and ALL the rest raccoons...done feeding them...BUT.. I won't skin a raccoon ...know anyone in the finger lakes area that will take them as is....

[Kludes]

I Would take them as is I am located in Farmington ny

[WesternNY]

Kludes.... I maybe getting into the coons in the next week or so... if you buy them in the round shoot me a PM.

 

Thanks

[Lawdwaz]

A friend of mine is up to 38 coon, 35 fox and 4 coyotes, as of this morning.  Not too shabby!