Most of the time I like to simply swap out cages when a catch is made, trap for trap, super fast and easy with no worries about losing anything and still prefer to do it that way. When pressed for cages, now and then I do some transferring, but always end up with a crash course if why I prefer swap out. Last night had two baby chucks in separate cages, needed more cages so made the transfer, but not quite. I looked the other way, made a move and the little bugger slipped out and jumped off the back of the truck. Without going into the details, I did manage to get him, but it was nip and tuck all the way with the outcome uncertain and in doubt, a close one to say the least. At least there were no clients gawking.

Its surely is easy to make a costly mistake and end up with a wised up, educated critter to deal with, so I'm still on the side of swap out.

I wanna see the hidden video Jim!

Jim had his sneakers on, the poor chuck didn't have a chance to get away. had the same happen last night, had moma in one cage & three little ones in another, last one out of the cage didn't want to go in the holding cage, one second & he was free. went back this morning, he was waiting in a cage for me.

As long as it's the 4th and appears to be time for true confessions, I have one also. I was recently doing a five feral cat removal.

On day number three, cat #3 managed to escape the back of the van very similar to the way Jim described. The customers did not see

the escape and I didn't mention it. A week later I caught the same cat in the same cage ( Not a Comstock ) using the same bait. And

no, I did not charge the customer twice for the same cat. Unlike Jonesie and a lot of you guys, I have no trouble catching animals

that were caught by customers and got out. I have a theory that most animals let their desire for a free meal over-ride their fear of

cages. I know a lot of you will think I'm nuts but that should be obvious by now!

No arguments Paul. LOL. Glad to hear that Trapdye had the chuck. Don't think chucks are too bad a second time, babies especially, but do hear a lot of problems with coon after being released or escaping, will go around positive sets and tear holes in soffits to go around a trap. Tough to deal with. Find I still can, surprisingly, move pretty fastl, fast enough to avoid a rabid fox or regain a baby chuck, but something always hurts afterwards. Walking is less painful.

I guess I don't do a lot of transfer and usually have different cages so there is no routine, which is not a plus. Nothing fool proof for like double door cages to free up a trap. Just thinking that a wire mesh unit just larger than the cages to slip over both a foot each way might do it, no way out rather than butting cages and crossing my fingers that nothing moves out of place.

I think most of it is how long the animal is in the cage and its experience with being caught. Animals left for several days and/or harassed are going to be more of a problem to catch again. Those removed within several hours with minimal stress will be easier to catch again as there is not a lot of negative experience associated with the trap.

How do you know it's the same raccoon? Don't they all look quite similar Paul? Or do you tag them somehow? Usually, when I start catching too many at a place the customer thinks that I am catching the same ones over and over.

While I can't tell what the customers' raccoons look like because I have never seen them, they wouldn't call me if they could

recapture them by themselves. We catch every raccoon in the area and if we miss any the customer can call us back. I was carrying an

oddly marked raccoon in a transfer cage and did not notice it wasn't properly closed. The raccoon not only escaped but ran right by

the customer. I apologized and told her I would catch it again. Five days later that same raccoon was in the same brand of cage on

the other side of the house and I used the same bait. This has happened on more than one occasion and I'm not making this up. I don't

think that recapturing escaped raccoons is as hard as getting a lactating female into a cage even though she's never been

caught before.

I transfer most animals (except skunks) I catch using a PVC tube trap that I built with a plexiglas guillotine door. Wire cage traps are turned upside down and a cage separator is used to pin the animal in the back of the trap. the trapdoor is then opened and the transfer cage placed in position, usually on top of the trap door holding it open. With the tube trap door open, remove the separator and run the animal into the tube sliding the door shut behind it. My transfer cage also doubles as my euthanasia chamber and has a hole drilled in it just large enough to allow the hose from my CO2 tank to slide into.

Have I had animals escape? YEP!

As to chasing animals on foot, just did that last Tuesday. Chased a juvenile raccoon down in a grocery store parking lot. When I started to run out of gas I flipped him over a couple of times with a cat grasper until I could grab him.

I never transfer. I know I'd make myself look stupid infront of the customer.

Its easy to lose a critter for sure and can be embarrassing. Think I had a squirrel get out in front of a customer, makes a guy feel pretty bad. Guess I'm not the only one. I have successfully transferred a number of skunks from client cages so that I can just grab the skunk and go and don't have to make a second trip to return a trap, but don't transfer my own. I have several separators and may get some more, load up, so that I can make a more elaborate mistake next time, LOL.

Interesting about lactating females, which is where I believe I have heard the most complaints on problem coon, just never thought it. Good info. My friend Tim in Ohio always tells of coon ripping new holes to avoid a trap, a female with young. Agree that the longer animals are in traps or if they feel threatened influences how they will be for a second encounter after release. Best to be very gentle with them if they are to be released.

Jim, is that the same Tim in Ohio who invented eviction paste because he was too cheap to buy Comstock cages?

Transfer or swap.


In most of the cases I use my cage traps or conventional sets (for that matter), I seem to find the scent of a previously caught animal helps to catch the next one. I find myself adding filler to the trap, such as pine straw or grass, to absorb scent to catch the next one. On the half by one wired traps especially.

Here in late winter, the scent of freshly caught skunk in my trap is the best call lure I have ever used for skunks. It works the same for armadillo. That is why a board on the bottom of the trap enhances the set so well for the second armadillo. Just hard to beat.

On land trail sets for beaver, catching the second beaver is a lot easier after you have the smell of his buddy in the trap. Catching kits in late spring is much easier if you have the scent of the freshly caught mother in the trap or even used as lure for conventional sets.

Even adding a new trap in such a way the scented trap is your lure for the next catch in the newly added trap. You catch one in either trap and it enhances the other to catch, if another animal comes up.

I use traps that the door can be lifted and locked in place for removal as well as adjusting trigger and resetting trap.

If you swap traps, I believe you may be missing an opportunity in many cases.

I agree with Kirk. But if you need to swap, setting the new cage exactly where the old cage was, will also take advantage of the

odor. I have a great example of that going on right now. I'm trapping raccoons on an island and have three cages all baited the same.

Eleven of the fourteen raccoon I caught there were in the same cage and the other two are actually easier to get to. Lots of odor

coming from that cage and I always transfer. The fact that I have caught young and old, male and female, tells me that the smell of a

male will work on a lactating female only until the young are ambulatory. Once they start tipping garbage cans with mom, that male

smell doesn't seem to bother them at all. The males probably only kill babies anyway. A pack of juvenile delinquent raccoons is too

hard to handle.

Paul I think I should write a book here but I won't. Then again no promises!!! I believe that there are conditions that cause an animal to become trap shy or smart and conditions that they just except. I call it the 3 strike rule. I believe and no proof just something I have observed, that if an animal say coon, cat, hippo what ever goes into a trap the first time and gets caught and escapes, that animal will or may go back into a trap. There was not real negative on the animal that it could not overcome. Went in the trap grab a little taste and get back out on it's own with a little effort, no problem. If a person comes and lets it out at the spot, again I think there is a good chance it will go back in a lot of the time unless it is one of those animals that have a high strung behavior to it, if calm no problem. but the 3 Strike rule. Goes in the trap for a period of time and can't get out. Strike 1! Person picking up the trap and placing it truck or car. Strike 2! releasing said critter in a place it has no Idea where it is or how to get home STRIKE 3 I don't think most of those said critters will go back into a trap very easy. I may be wrong.

I believe the strike 3 is what some guys are running into now in some areas with coon. I am told that animals are not always responding like they should to cage traps in some places where there was no problem only a few years ago, reaction to cage traps changing more frequently, a problem emanating from transport and release perhaps, strike 3? Also, each area has different situations, no cookie cutter solutions across the board for every situation or condition, just trappers adapting to a new day with a new approach.

Using positive sets, trails sets etc. in places that provide little opportunity for refusal, I have not payed a whole lot of attention to odors, except that woodchuck duky really stinks up my truck. However, it does smell like money. I agree with the above in the value of the odor from a catch, a big plus, likened to foxes and dirt hole sets, only better after a catch is made. Cages can be used to that advantage in at least 2 ways, which really becomes a function of not cleaning traps. Traps left or swapped out can both be positive when traps are not cleaned. Even with a swap out traps can be used in the same manner. It doesn't hurt to get to a chuck trap late in the day as more odor is added. Odor is still in the dirt even when a trap is removed, but of course not at much as when the cage is left at the site. However, the uncleaned removed cage with odors can then be placed at a new location to be used as an attractant in the same manner, so the odors are not "lost" but simply utilized at the next location. The uncleaned cage can be left or moved to utilize the scent of a catch. With chucks, a bare double door cage brought from another location can be placed in the open with both doors opened to take the next chuck, no trail, no den, no bait, just a really nasty smelling trap.

A skunk in a dp has to be transferred. Makes an interesting morning, but can be done.

Love to see that transfer. Sounds like a case for some finesse in slow motion. If you complete it successfully you are a magician and if you don't, it goes viral and you get a lot of free advertising.

Was easy. 5 gallon pail with a notch in lip. Pail over skunk. Work trap out hole. Release skunk. Slide pail onto piece of tin. Chasing into a live trap not an option.