Dog Proof Traps

[airedale]

The only trapping I do these days is just enough to keep the varmints away from my livestock. I have always use regular conventional leg hold traps but have decided to give the Duke dog proof traps for Coon a try. Been reading up on them and most trappers give them a thumbs up. Don't know if there are many Coons in the vicinity but I will make a few sets and see how things go.

Al

[wolc123]

Dog-proof traps work very good.  I’ve taken and killed about (6) adult coons with them baited with dry cat food so far this summer (in addition to 3-4 in box traps baited with peanut butter wiped marshmallows.  I Al  as I took my first possum in a dig-proof this summer. 

The box trap / dog-proof combination works very good for getting the smart ones that figure out how to snatch the bait from the box traps.  I still like the box traps though, because they don’t need to be staked and are easier to check from a distance.  Cleanup is definitely tougher after a catch with the box traps though.  
 

I’ve been using dog proofs for about (5) years now and have averaged 5-6 coons a year in them, and about the same number with box traps.  I use (3) dog-proofs and (4) box traps on 34 acres.  
 

NY state allows lands owners to take and kill  “damaging” coons in unlimited numbers without a trapping license or any type of permit, but they need to be burried (they don’t say how deep) or burned prior to the opening of regular trapping season.  

In my case, the “damage” is always to the sweetcorn that I plant for the secondary purpose of my family’s consumption.  

I normally just dig a deep enough hole, to get about 6” of dirt over the carcasses.  All going deeper does, is makes it take a a little longer, for the coyotes to exhume them.  

I’ll usually use the same holes for the next ones, after the coyotes dig up the prior.  That saves me a lot of time.  The coyotes will usually start killing all of the female and juvenile coons on their own, without needing traps, after they dig up a few and get a taste of that delicious fatty coon meat.  
 

They won’t mess with the adult males though, so those have made up the majority of the coons that I have trapped in the summer over the last 10 years or so.

 

Local coon irradication is the primary reason that I plant sweetcorn every year.  That sweetcorn draws coons in from miles around.
 

 Extermination of the local coons allows my field corn to last much longer (I plant that for the deer).  No animal is more destructive on corn than the raccoon.  Getting rid of them is also a boon to the local turkey population. The raccoon is surely the top nest predator in NY state, since the collapse of fur prices, and consequent absence of any serious fur trapping.