Join us Wednesday, May 7, 2014 from 6 - 8 pm at the Ohio Division of Wildlife District 3 Office for the first of several FREE training workshop for wildlife control operators and technicians offered by ODOW, OWCOA, and WCT.

This workshop will focus on selecting and using cage traps and will have a large variety of cage traps on hand for participants to review.

More details can be found at http://owcoa.com/Training/CageTrapFlyer.jpg

EXCELLENT!!! See you there!

If only that was not a 10 hour drive for me I would be there bummer.

huntin86,

This is really meant more for Ohio operators to give further instruction than the training certification they needed to become licensed. The current plan is to do rotating workshops on different topics throughout Ohio at the District offices with this one being the first to "test the waters" so to speak.

For others who are interested, WCT Group has been developing a more detailed cage trapping DVD with the help of several major trap manufactures that will be available in the next month or two as the final recording and editing will be done shortly. You can look for an announcement in WCT Magazine and elsewhere when it is done.

If someone has some earth-shaking ideas, cages, etc., about catching cottontail rabbits, please let me know. I've caught more missing parts from that plane they are looking for than I have rabbits lately.

ttt

Eric,
I e-mailed workshops@owcoa.com to reserve seats but never received confirmation. Same day you posted this. I'm going to assume they got it.

whos the teacher? Ltgrey? should be imo. paul contact Lt and get one of his wooden rabbit boxes. it is the best way to catch rabbits and has been shown on here. much better than wire cage traps.

Dave,

I believe so, but since I don't have a list of attendee names I'll check to make sure.

Mousie,

Presentations for this workshop will be by Geoff Westerfield, ODOW, Ron Krueger, A Plus Wildlife, and myself. If LT wants to help out have him contact Ron and we'll give him a section of the program to cover.

Hey, in the past i have seen people make a figure four deadfall and instead of using a stone or something heavy, use a cage which falls over them. This is a great way to catch rabbits. bait with anything you like.

Looks like I'll be bringing more than 20 different types/styles and sizes of traps from different manufactures (Advanced Trap, Comstock, Fields Development, SafeGuard, Snare Shop, Tomahawk, and Williams) so attendees can see and touch different models.

I'll also have the new Posi-Trigger from WCS that can be checked out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcLjPLpARi8

I wonder what it sells for?

ttt

DOW is currently sending out emails to licensed operators regarding the workshop. For those attending, make sure to register with Ron as we have limited seating available.

Got my email from DOW on the 30th.

Rick,

You'd need to address those questions to WCS for specific answers, but here are my thoughts.

1. The "bait" can be supported by string or wire as it gets placed in a slot on the trigger mechanism, so use whatever you want.
2. The tubing is mainly a cover for the cable that connects the door to the trigger mechanism. You could install a small wooden "rail" and place the tubing on top of it for protection, install 1/2 x 1/2 wire where the tubing is going to be secured, or you could replace it with metal tubing if you prefer. I've got it installed on a 1/2 x 1 Tomahawk with a bait door and don't see any issues with a coon ripping it up. Even if the cable did fail over time, I can make a replacement cable out of 1/16 cable in a matter of minutes.
3. At the NTA, they were being sold for $45 but what the current price is I don't know.

A couple more comments concerning the device. First, it is a lot easier to use on traps with a bait/release door as you need to run your bait wire/rope up through the trap and hang it on the firing mechanism. This also means that when the trap is fired the bait wire/string is going to be inside the trap and will most likely need replaced the next time the trap is set. Second, you disengage the door from the treadle when using the mechanism so not all trap models are going to be easy to setup or even possible to work with it. Third, the device works best with spring loaded doors with the door release on the right of the trap while looking at it.

I've set it up successfully on Tomahawk (the easiest so far) and Safeguard and a generic gravity door where I could disconnect the treadle from the trigger rod (connection was by S hook) but I had to run the cable with several "bends" to get past the mechanism and down the side of the trap so it pulls downward on the trigger rod to release the door. I don't have a lot of faith in that configuration always working like I do with the spring loaded doors so doubt I'd ever use it in the field. Since the Williams traps I own have the treadle connected to the trigger rod with a metal rod, I don't see it being able to work without inventing some sort of device to hold the door open and pull it away.

Reminder: Tomorrow night 6-8 pm.

Posi-Trigger is $49.95 (trigger & cable) plus shipping (according to the email I received from Jeff from WCS)

Nice work Eric and Ron! To bad it didn't last longer, went fast. Was hoping to go over a couple techniques on positive sets in simulated action. Next one I guess. Nevertheless very informative on different styles of cages and baiting with hanging wire (never thought of that one).

I appreciated the time you both put in along with the ODOW!

Nice to finally meet you both also!