Finished a coon job today and both coon caught had dug under the cages. Homeowner was a little perturbed, but said it was ok. Anyone got a solution for keeping the critters from digging under and around my cage traps? Spent the last few hours wrapping the bottoms and sides of some of my cages with 1/2X1/2 hardware cloth, but wondered if someone had a better solution?

When trapping raccoons outside I either put my Williams traps in tipped over garbage cans or I use 1/2" mesh Comstock traps, both set ups very much limit digging of lawns.

Plywood under trap is what I did before I started buying Comstocks with 1/2x1" wire. Hardware cloth works for a while but it hangs on stuff in the truck and snags you while carrying traps. You'll get tired of it soon.

Plywood.

BTW Advanced traps now come with powder coated 1/2"x1" wire all the way around.

Anyone got a picture of a Comstock cage?

It sounds like you solved the problem on your current traps. For any new traps, look at models that have 1/2 x 1 wire. Prices range for coon size traps with 1/2 x 1 from $40 - $120 and are available from Advanced Trap, Comstock, SafeGuard, Tomahawk, and probably others.

There is a side by side review of the 9 x 11 x 30 powered double door Comstock and the 10 x 12 x 30 powered double door Advance Trap in the upcoming (July/August 2014) issue of WCT Magazine that is currently being printed.

I have never seen digging like this year. Any tiny crack, even in the 1/2 x 1 inch cages and you have a six inch hole in the ground.

I take this into consideration when setting my cages. ( Like asking the customer if he's got a lower 40 that needing plowing )

Caught a skunk once that pulled about 20 lbs. of dirt and grass into the cage. Luckily the homeowner was so happy to have the skunk gone they didn't care about the digging. I'll see how the hardware cloth works and try to work out something long term later on.

I have used no tab roofing shingles with good results, less visually obvious than plywood.

Those roll up kids snow sliders work good.And they work good for a lot of temporary fixes. Cuts with a jack knife.. Rolls up easy.. On sale every spring

On comstocks you still need to prepare for digging out the front-- there's enough gap at the bottom and both sides for a coon to "crater-ize" whatever is 5-6 in front of the cage. Otherwise all good.

I've been thinking I ought to just buy a roll of 1/2X1" cage wire and cover the bottom and about 5 or 6 inches up on sides and back of my cages. I could use cage clips to keep the snag factor down even though it will add extra weight. But just like 22mag stated, they will still be able to dig at the front door. Although any digging from there would be minimal and definitely preferable to the major digging I have had to deal with before. In a perfect world I would just replace all my old cages with the newer smaller mesh cages made today, but getting the CEO (wife) to go along with that would be like saying a corvet would make the perfect trapping vehicle. Appreciate all the information.

Coons and skunks all dig when caught and held overnite in most type cages.They have alot of time to fiddle around until you get there.

So it is either set in a non sensitive area or protect the ground surface area with plywood a good six inches wider then the trap width or some other heavy duty drop plastic that cant be pulled into the cages. Just standard proceedure for most with a couple of coon catches under their belts in this line of work. Thats another reason you should not set cage traps for coon on roofs. One to prevent roof damage the other to prevent roll offs and property damage below the fall impact area.