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Groundhog odor on traps #3163125
05/17/12 10:56 PM
05/17/12 10:56 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
1st RiverRat Offline OP
trapper
1st RiverRat  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
I always felt that a trap that had recently caught a hog was an attraction well today I checked a set . I had 2 den entrances set 2 comstocks one had caught a male that morning, in a different area. When I checked I had a male in one set but the other entrance was completely blocked and the trap fired , the first time by the way that I have ever found a comstock fired with no critter in it.


Adam Utterback
Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3163222
05/18/12 12:42 AM
05/18/12 12:42 AM
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 497
PA
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pick65 Offline
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pick65  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 497
PA
1st RR:
Would have been great to have a trail cam set up
to find out what went wrong that you did not
catch the second animal, but than we can not afford
to set a trail cam for each trap.

I agree that once you start catching g-hogs in a live trap
regardless of the type trap to keep those traps for g-hogs
only.

pick65

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3163229
05/18/12 12:53 AM
05/18/12 12:53 AM
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 30
south east michigan
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Peskycritter Offline
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Peskycritter  Offline
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Posts: 30
south east michigan
That does sound differnt . Almost sounds like human activity around your traps . Or a coyote or dog maybe


htt:// www.critterremovalmi.net
Free Trapper
Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3164384
05/19/12 01:08 AM
05/19/12 01:08 AM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
1st RiverRat Offline OP
trapper
1st RiverRat  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
It was not human , behind lock gates for a large company and inside more locked gates around a lagoon pump house.


Adam Utterback
Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3164480
05/19/12 07:36 AM
05/19/12 07:36 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,658
Minnesota
330-Trapper Offline
trapper
330-Trapper  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,658
Minnesota
Originally Posted By: 1st RiverRat
the first time by the way that I have ever found a comstock fired with no critter in it.


When you set that particular trap from now on, place the Trigger wires in a configuration that you can remember... if that trap has that issue again, look closely for the wires to see if they were different from when you set it... also look for other signs that an animal was in fact caught such as hair etc...


NRA and NTA Life Member
www.BackroadsRevised@etsy.com




Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3164714
05/19/12 12:24 PM
05/19/12 12:24 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
1st RiverRat Offline OP
trapper
1st RiverRat  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
place the Trigger wires in a configuration that you can remember

Allways do. The trap was fired from the rocks that were thrown in the trap from the bottom of the den I can only assume that it was done with the hogs head facing down the hole trying to plug it up with its back feet. No action since.


Adam Utterback
Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3166298
05/20/12 06:57 PM
05/20/12 06:57 PM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,361
mequon, wisconsin
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Paul Winkelmann Offline
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Paul Winkelmann  Offline
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mequon, wisconsin
Yeah, I had my first animal-less fire too. But by us it's almost always raccoons playing with the cage from the outside.

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3166852
05/21/12 02:57 AM
05/21/12 02:57 AM
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 30
south east michigan
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Peskycritter Offline
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Peskycritter  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 30
south east michigan
Take some crime seen pictures next time


htt:// www.critterremovalmi.net
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Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3167614
05/21/12 07:43 PM
05/21/12 07:43 PM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
Jim Comstock Offline
trapper
Jim Comstock  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
Wow, you have done super with but one sprung. I have had some sprung traps at times, but no camera to document. Crazy things happen. Once in the early going I had a squashed chipmunk in a trap with a wire trigger, power doors and 26 inch catch box. Who would have thought that possible? No idea how it happened. When we once set a hog trap with wire trigger it too was sprung. How would that happen with a trigger recessed four feet? Checked the camera. It was not sprung at all. Had two coon in it for hours, until they figured out they could simply slip through the wire and get out. They climbed like monkeys looking for a big hole until they realized that all holes were big holes. I believe a fired trap can be from a chipmunk or something small that slips out of the trap after it fires, not a targetted animal. Reaching in is possible. Wish I had a camera at every set every time.

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3167864
05/21/12 10:02 PM
05/21/12 10:02 PM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,361
mequon, wisconsin
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Paul Winkelmann Offline
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Paul Winkelmann  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,361
mequon, wisconsin
I completely agree Jim. When you have a cage that's fired and the wires are hardly moved, you know you had a small visitor inside or a raccoon with an engineering degree, outside.

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: Paul Winkelmann] #3167889
05/21/12 10:18 PM
05/21/12 10:18 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,658
Minnesota
330-Trapper Offline
trapper
330-Trapper  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,658
Minnesota
Originally Posted By: Paul Winkelmann
I completely agree Jim. When you have a cage that's fired and the wires are hardly moved, you know you had a small visitor inside or a raccoon with an engineering degree, outside.


Not Always the Case!


NRA and NTA Life Member
www.BackroadsRevised@etsy.com




Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 330-Trapper] #3167919
05/21/12 10:41 PM
05/21/12 10:41 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
1st RiverRat Offline OP
trapper
1st RiverRat  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
Originally Posted By: 330-Trapper
Originally Posted By: Paul Winkelmann
I completely agree Jim. When you have a cage that's fired and the wires are hardly moved, you know you had a small visitor inside or a raccoon with an engineering degree, outside.


Not Always the Case!


x 2


Adam Utterback
Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3167972
05/21/12 11:22 PM
05/21/12 11:22 PM
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 30
south east michigan
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Peskycritter Offline
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 30
south east michigan
I had a coon get out of my 24" comstock the other day . I had it set on the roof with the funnel over the holes . I figur it was not all the in the trap when it fired . . If it had been a little longer I'm sure I would have had him . I'm using the wrong size trap but that's been the only one . I have coons get out of the safe guards when they flip them over . The 8+8 tomahawk trap the coons will get out of them about every time if you don't add a safety on it like they have on there 12+12 trap . Animal get out sometimes . They fire them from the outside that's why I like to put a little bait right at the lip of the trap to feed them into it . Coons are getting smart to traps more and more . I have them reach in and fire my conibears . Coons have hands like us with fingers . They reach in and grab stuff .


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Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3168251
05/22/12 09:24 AM
05/22/12 09:24 AM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,361
mequon, wisconsin
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Paul Winkelmann Offline
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Paul Winkelmann  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,361
mequon, wisconsin
Okay Adam and Scott; what else should I be looking for?

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: 1st RiverRat] #3168290
05/22/12 10:08 AM
05/22/12 10:08 AM
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
Jim Comstock Offline
trapper
Jim Comstock  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 377
New York
We have bitten off a big chunk in one bite in experimenting, maybe too much at one time, going in many different directions while challenging tradition and conventional wisdom, pushing the envelope with small traps, and also in the use of double door traps which by nature are "smaller" than the same size single door trap in trigger placement. Pushing to the max for space saving in the truck and for that we have found some limits in what traps can do with consistency and can not do, a learning curve with a short size, double door trap and different trigger, a lot all in one shot. Our experiments and feedback has been as much about size and length of traps and about double doors, as it has been about configuration in triggering, just seeing what happens while using small, short double door traps. No one had ever used an 18 inch single door trap for chucks or skunks until recently, let alone a double door trap that short, many changes at once.

Though animals can be caught in the shorties frequently, we promote longer traps for critters like coon, 30-36 in double door traps most of the time since the trigger is at center, and even suggest 24 inch traps for chucks if someone has concerns about really large chucks, though I have not seen issues with 18's for chucks in our experience. Some like 36 inch single door traps with triggers deep into the trap and I will be the last one to disagree with success or talk anyone out of what works for them. A longer trap of any kind surely has a lot less chance in back out as the trap fires. I once put some blocking in a chuck trap, 18 inch double door, since the landowner said it was "a small chuck." It wasn't a small chuck after all. I used green stuff used for blocking and I think the chuck might have pulled it in toward him and popped the trap. Had some chuck fur that one time, but that was one out of many dozens, maybe 100 or more. Never had problems with skunks.

In areas where coon run small, a 24 double door will work a lot of the time as I hear from one trapper in Ohio often, but we point out, it's probably a close call, and yet there are pics and stories of coon in 18's, go figure. Though we had never suggested he use 24 inch double door traps for coon I guess he misunderstood, but that's just we he did and has had success, which surprised us, but his coon do not run large. The issue becomes trap size and door configuration, not a problem in the trigger or double door itself, as Pesky points out, just using a trap a bit short for a coon that time for what was perhaps a large coon. If traps with 36 inch catch boxes are used, I doubt there would ever be much of an issue, just that the trap takes up more room, but room has to be secondary to results, of course. In all of what is written, and what we hear, there are still escapes often enough in the standard coon traps that have been around for decades, so perfection does not exist in any of those as yet, roll overs, or something gets bent, leaving only some fur behind.

In a single door 30 inch long trap the trigger is about 2/3 back into the trap in any trap, 20 inches or so, as opposed to only 15 inches in the double door. Trigger travel can be extended for deeper penetration before the trap fires on some traps if need be, but that too is a trade in the fact that a smaller animal might just pass through and slip by the wire without firing the trap if the trigger swings too far before firing. When you have a smart animal or a large one, its best to err on the side of caution and go a bit longer. However, listening to Paul, he says he has better luck getting the animals into the smaller traps over longer. As always, lots to consider, nothing written in stone or the same always, just trade offs. Equipment is important, but there is a skill factor and also just being on your game. I know when I haven't gotten a good nights sleep I am more apt to have issues, just not sharp.

Re: Groundhog odor on traps [Re: Paul Winkelmann] #3171640
05/24/12 09:44 PM
05/24/12 09:44 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
1st RiverRat Offline OP
trapper
1st RiverRat  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 889
Tama country IA
Originally Posted By: Paul Winkelmann
Okay Adam and Scott; what else should I be looking for?


I been busy just now getting back to you. The only time it happened to me I saw rocks that were in the entrance of the den when I set in my cage that were tossed into the cage and the den plugged. This is the only time it happened took 1 male out and that was it.


Adam Utterback
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