Got all but 1 tuned up and repaired I just need to make a door for it, I got a bunch from a guy that I have no clue how you can break welds and make a mess of a simple cage trap but they were cheap enough. I need to locate the ones that were lent out and never find their way back home again too.

Will start to cut wire for 25 more cages I have the frame kits to build them before fall comes around just need the wire cut and bent then it's a go.

Coon boom or no coon boom, I'm ready for colder weather and trapping season!

Me too! LOL

Me 3! Got a lot to do between now and trapping season, but I am sick of summer.

i refuse to buy or build anymore just to be lent out and never saw again.

Law Dog What ga wire and brand are you using? I have been thinking about getting some but freight is a killer.

Could not get the 12.5ga 1X2 I like but I did get some good 14ga 1X1 and some 1X2 tough stuff Riverdale brand galvanized and zinc coated after welding. I have 25 fame kits but my hand can't take the pig rings any more it's a slow process now.

I did pick up a air wire cutter that saves on the hands.

Was thinkin the same myself, why cages? I could fit the same amount of traps in three 5 gallon buckets

Cages are very universal and work well around the ranches we get a few fox in them every year, out here the farm places have a lot of shelter belts and the cages allow trapping in the adjoining trees without nontarget catches being a problem.

I target skunks and skunks love the home places and them haystacks that are all over for the cattle and feed attracts coons and skunks. I'm driving by the places so why not work on the gas money when it's there waiting.


As far as transporting them I load up the trailer and fill the truck up before trapping season and put most out before the season starts.


Cages will get you a foot in the door in many places here and once they get to know you the other opportunity's often open up from there.


Set and get Mama's Fluffy with your other traps and that may hurt you in the long run.

It will add 80 sets to my line that I'm already running!

A well thought out plan Law Dog

Those wire cutters are sweet! How much were they? I could find a price on the website. You can PM me if you want to.

I have always had bad luck loaning out cage traps too. Lots of cage traps I have never seen again and one idiot farm hand, of a friend of mine, blew large holes in a bunch of my cages, with a 12 gauge shotgun. You would think he would have noticed the holes he made after the first dozen or so shots he made. I have had a lot of people loan my cage traps to someone else, instead of returning them. One friend of mine loaned 8 cage traps of mine to his sister. I did get them back, about 4 months later.

Keith

Are you making or buying the frame kits?

I am a cage trap fan also, for skunks and coon. For the same reasons Law Dog states. I ran a dozen cages one year, which was less than five percent of the traps I had out. The twelve cages caught 25% of my skunks and coons. It was due to their location. They were set in farm yards. The other traps I had out were mainly body grips in boxes which could not be set in yards due to dogs and cats. Cages are a big plus in some areas. I can not say I would want to go to all cages, but they are a real plus and have a place.

Got to have at least a few cages mixed in every season. Some wet and frozen years they were the only traps working and catching fur for us.
Jim

I got one cage trap! Lol Tex Adams made it, very strong trap

The cutters are $150 ready to plug into the air hose I will talk with my Hoot buddy and see what place he gets them from.


I buy the frame kits from my Hoot buddy he has a jig so they are all a standard size 4 pieces back, middle and front frames with the trigger rod 14X14 I just add my chain to the peddles. He has a little army of younger Hoots that build the frames for him and learn skills in doing so.


Yes in wet weather the cages keep working I notch the triggers to handle the wind out here, keep in mind the home places hold the majority of the cover here with few "feral" trees here or older den trees away from there.


Out here the biggest cage killer is the tractor tire smashing them flat often you learn to set them in tighter places or under machinery where a tractor won't go.

I see that wire cutter on Amazon for $200 it's made by Riverdale Mills it might be cheaper to go to them direct, my buddy got mine with a wire order he had delivered!

Thanks