Sometime ago, I had a post on one of these forums under this same title. It was basically about sets that were quick and crude but still took a lot of fur. Be great to see some of different trappers sets...or if you can't post one, just descibe it. I think most of us will "get the picture".

some pocket sets are crude but extremly effective maybe you rushed in the building process yet it keeps taking countless numbers of coons?

the one place i trap is in a peat bog the owner has filled in some of the areas with concrete blocks with maybe about a foot of sand over top so it is very hard to anchor any trap here one particular sandy spot the coyotes always visitso i just double wire(14 ga) a trap to a concrete block works as a drag but i only have about 6 inches of chain between trap and block the farthest one has gone is 15 yrds from orginal spot

LT,
This past January we had a cold snap with about three inches of dry powdery snow. I noticed some coon tracks along two nearby creeks which were frozen, so at one I pounded a trap bed into the frozen ground deep enough to slide a 1.5 coilspring with 4' of chain and a grapple into and covered it with sifted peat moss. The grapple was wrapped around some small trees and I then punched a hole with a rebar stake big enough to hammer a 8" piece of 1" PVC into to where about 4" was above ground and angled toward the trap. The trap was about 8" back from the opening of the PVC pipe.

At the second creek I repeated the process, except the PVC pipe was angled in under a 12" diameter log that layed across the game trail on an inside bend in the stream. Both sets were baited with a ground fish bait and some of Dobbins Purrfect lure.

The sets were embarrassing to look upon but where punched in in short order. I hoped no one would see such shaudy work.

However, the next morning I had two XXX large boar coon, each of which brought $38 at the March NAFA sale. While I had figured on back foot catches given the distance back from the attractor that I placed the traps, both were solid front foot catches.

zip tie burlap to a sapling, fuzz the burlap up with a wire brush, bed a trap under it and slap a nice glob of castor on it. A shot of pee at the bottom. Sharpen the skinnin knife....takes greys, reds, and...............meow. Once ya get use to doin the set it takes maybe 3 minutes and poof you are gone !

LT now ya know why all the castor LOL

Hey Dirt, how about some specifics on that set how high do you hang the burlap and far back do you bed the trap. I like the idea of that set. I have used a piece of beaver fur staked down to the ground with a spike and castor but I could already see advantages of the sapling.

Pretty easy Grinner, we cant use any exposed animal parts here so burlap it is. I wrap the burlap a 1 1/2 foot up to 2 foot. I pick a sapling right on a trail or on the edge of dim road. Never put it more than 10 feet away from tracks. I am plauged with worthless yotes here so I go exposed with the pan around 6 inches from the base. I also carry pre made oak sapling stakes with the burlap stapled on. I drive these dead center of a track. I am not a drag man, but I see where they would work well with this set to keep the post in good shape.

Phil Brown is a beleiver of this set now.

BTW the stake in the pic was a hoe handle LOL Use your imagination.

Thanks Dirt, I have a couple spots where I think that type set will fit in real nicley.

would that set only work for cats?
and, do you put gland lure on the burlap? or food lure? or curiousity lure?

I am not bein a smart eleck but I think the answers to those questions was in my initial post.

Here is another I know is a simple killer. It hides a trap in plain sight and puts a bind on canine, feline, and coon.
.........
.........
.........


New meaning of "Trash Set" , anchor a yogurt cup and bed your trap as normal. Use your favorite lure in the yogurt cup a little shot of pee on the side. Humans think it is just a piece of trash, animals think its a piece of trash another critter left a little of somethin in. The white cup is an instant attractant to any critter. Murder on coon.

Cant believe I told that !

Worst (effective set) was used by some of boys I knew of in S.W. Ohio. It was a (fresh dead) chicken hung upside down from a tree limb......One guy I knew claimed over 25 Great horned owls... and countless numbers of 'coon hounds...and yes, he caught a number of foxes....and got lots of his traps stolen....duh!

It should be noted, that set was and is illegal in Ohio.

sorry about that dirthole
i am dumb

you aint dumb you were just messin lol

Spoken like a true squirrel trapper there, Ben!

Illegal in PA also. I new a trapper that used it somewhat successfully on fox 40 years ago. Bare trap on the packed, bloody snow. Crow magnet comes to mind also.

and we can only guess what they did with the owls?

Yeah, were did those no good rabbit and mink killers go to? LOL

LOL, a buddy of mine still uses that set LOL

Luke

early in the season here before the deep snow flies hang a grouse wing in the same application as the burlap and bed trap underin the center of pine needles or other duff.

Dirtholeman 1 your set sure sounds good to me. I'll be trying it this next season. Never heard of fluffing up the burlap with a wire brush before but sounds good. Stakes are my preferred way of anchoring also and at the price of cats I don't care if he destroys the stake with the burlap. I'll bet I can staple some more burlap to it for the remake.
As for simple sets I like remaking the sets. just build a small mound behind the trap 8" to 10" place any turds that are in the trap circle at the edge of the mound facing the trap. then a small amount of gland lure behind the turds and you are in business. I had one remake last year that caught 5 coyotes and 3 cats. Life time record 18 coyotes in one trap. Now I don't have a lot of luck catching gray fox in remakes but catch cats and coyotes in remakes of gray fox sets. For grays I make a set out side of the trap circle. Good luck to all of you!

Thanks barewire, that remake sounds good too, I will place it in my arsenal.

Hey Dirt, ever since you posted that statement, my phone has been ringing off the wall!

dirtholeman1 both those sets look really great, i use one simlar where i fuzz the heck out the stake to where it reminds you of the top of a pineapple.yours looks like it wood take much less time to set.getting hard to find burlap sacks around here i wonder if the white poly sacks would work.you were generous in letting out your secret.if these work as well as ithink they might i will be indebted to you and will find some way to pay you back

Heres a crude set and a way to get rid of that old X-mas tree. Place the tree on a angle across the frozen stream leaving enough space for a K-9 to comfortably get between a vertical bank and the tip of the tree. Squirt a little fox pee on the tip of the tree. The placement of the trap varies from location to location from the approach the the gap area. Its a sure fire way to take them stream running K-9's
Troy

I remember seeing a similar set, where bush trappers felled a large pine tree over a trail and cut out a hole through the branches in the middle to plave a trap or snare.

Somebody mentioned on here a while back about nailing a hambone to a tree. LOL

hay set. I use it for winter fox. all you do is set two #2 traps on the ground 2 feet apart dont even bed the traps just cover with hay and put a matrix lure in the center with a few drops on skunk.



I know its not in the set but, I did get it in the hay set and many others.

I learned a set down in Oklahoma, that was nothing more than a beaver tail nailed to a tree with some good castor lure smeared on it and a trap out front. Caught a number of coyotes on that, as well as other furbearers.

I use A sement block with the 3 holes in the senter( IIII ) Put fish in the senter hole and traps on both sides. You catch coon on it. You can also put the block standing up and put it in a couple inches of water. Do you get what I'm trying too say?

What statement is that LT ?



kseric I Hope it works well for you, burlap is pretty easy to get her. One good thing about it also is it holds scent very well. I am not sure haow the poly bags will work but well worth the try.


good luck

...........dirt

dirt,... "Lovin' me some castor"...was what I was referring to, which was a post you made on Trap Talk. I take it you liked what I sent you ?
Must have slipped your mind!

After it snows get yourself a chunck of firewood Unsplit about 8 to 10 inches by 18in in size placed on the snow where there are tracks bed a couple traps on the sides and give it a shot of lure and pee and your ready to go

Seems like a good quick set.

I read about the PVC pipe set in FFG two years ago I think. Anyway, I went and bought some PVC cut it 12" long. Early last season I started pre-baiting them with Molassas and Apples. I was scouting and area I had never been before. When I found a area close to a stream with lots of over hanging brush. Getting in the stream, looking at the edges for sign. I found an area the was like a highway for coon, the brush opened up to a 5' Diameter clearing. Just big enough for one set, with tracks everywhere I was not going to pass it up. But with the pvc it was not going to work like I thought it should. But I wanted to use PVC ( Dont ask me why I was thinking again ) I ran back to my truck and grabbed my drill. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the center of the PVC. Put a wire through the hole, and hung it above the clearing next to the stream about 8" off the ground. With molassass dripping out both ends and a paste bait pushed into the center. Last year on that set I caught 10 BIG coon in ten days.

LOL LT ya know I love it, I keep gettin more lOL.

Best castor around. I like the "rain proof" he makes. heavy grease base and hard to wash off.

Was trying to catch nuisance skunks when I first got into trapping. Bought myself a 160 coni but had no idea of it's potential uses. I simply dug a hole about 6" deep and about 10" across. Dropped in some table scraps and laid the 160 on the ground over the hole. The springs themselves supported it and kept it from falling into the hole. Caught plenty of skunks with that crude set. Non target catches weren't a concern at this spot either.

i like to bed a trap then take a car rim and center it over the trap then put bait under the rim on the edges. coons will reach in through the hole searching for the bait. very deadly with no chance of chewing

Hollow tree base with a 6 - 8 inch opening facing the creek bank trail. I bedded a 1.5 coil in peat moss that was anchored with a berkshire earth anchor just offset in the opening. Squirted some fish oil on the rotted core wood inside and added a dash of red fox gland lure. Total take:
1 grey, 2 XXL coon, three possum and one red fox. One check had coyote tracks but the trap was three inches or so in front of them. The set went dead with the red fox; it was totally mange bare.

One little device, I saw, was used by bow hunters. It involved a film canister,( not real common in the digital age) black electrical tape, a 'gator stle' clothes pin and two small strips of velcro. Anyone ever use these for call lure?

LT,
I have used the film cannisters for making mock scrapes near my wife's treestand. A few holes drilled or punched into the plastic container, cotten in the bottom, a smear of deer in estros lure, cap it and hang it. I use a piece of wire to fasten them to a limb about 6' high. I usually place them the week before our antlered season. Seldom has she or one of our daughters not harvested a buck the first morning comming into the scrapes. I have been thinking of using them with some gusto or other loud lure to attempt to draw canines that regularly run a high visibilty locale further back into the brush this year. You are correct, with the advent of digital photography, the containers do not stock up near as quickly around the house. They are effective in keeping the lure working a long time, rain or shine.

Yep, it works wonders...and I use them with sheep wool and a skunky type call lure. When I'm done, I just pop the back lid on!

hang a snare and it might up your odds think i'll have to try this one.

Sounds like the old "Northern brush trapper's set" I read about as a kid!

hmm....... car rim. i think i have seen one of them sitting at one of my set locations might have to try it

Car rim? Who uses that one?

Its illegal here now,but Ihave heard of puttin two roosters in a coop. Set the coop up bought waist high and cover the top.set traps on drags or stake away from the coop. The roosters talk to eachother all day and start croin early every mornin, Old guy claimed he caught everything like that. every couple days give em a hanfull of corn and a little water. I always wanted to try it.

Well on a similar note, I read where a trapper took two seperate roosters in cages, set them apart in cat country....The crowing, he says really got the cats attention!

A 2" augered out hole with a brace and bit. Scratch area done with a kitchen fork (to emulate a fox sratching). Sheep wool, bait and or rabbit tail down the hole with lure.

You might be surprised at how many fox I caught at a set like this. Not your "text book" dirt hole, but none the less effective!

You wouldn't have to anchor the trap.

Im not suprised, I make sets ike that all the time and catch everything in em, The hole looks real and a critter will stomp all around it workin the hole till hes caught.

I agree....Looks more real than some of the pretty ones trappers make..not that they don't work too, but at times, coyote and fox will shy from the "textbook" sifted triangle.

Probably easier to make, speed wise.

You would be disgusted at the amounts of yogurt I have been eating since you posted this for the cups they come in. I have high hopes for this set when cage trapping urban coons.

Man, and I like the vanilla kind the best... This way you get to add your own fruit....ummmmmmm, peaches!

Feel free to donate all your empties to me LT. Washed out of course.

Oh, and this is the only garbage I'll ask of anyone here.

I luv yogurt but ya cant have my empties.

LOL

LT I am beyond broke, still want the goods, will get the $$$ to ya soon as I have it. May have to take it as castor if ya sell the other !


...............dirt

Still have the grey fox lure on hold and still have about 2 gallons of that type of castor you liked, left.

Dried cow pie makes a pretty good lure or urine holder,,break off a chunk and stick it in a hole or put some lure on a small peice and put the biggest part over it for a flat set, I like to have a clump or briars behind it in a flat set.Also set trap bout 6'' infront of cow patty,critters seem to flip the patty with thier nose and roll if the trap is too close,like other fox sets.

You must have some BIG critters if you are setting 6' in front of the cow patty!

I think you know that was a typo,Seems I make more of those everyday, Thanks for correcting me.

That's called a "trail set"!

On a flat set or post set. Where exactly should the trap be positioned in reference to the post or lure holding object?

Depends largely on the angle, size of the object. Also are you trapping for fox, coyote or a combination/anything set?

..and that last comment is a shame!

Lt Grey,

The big stone pic, is the trap front and center?

ALso, you show a pic of the hole w/the hay. I don't think I get it-Is the trap down in the hole itself?

Thanks,
CHris

I use a set similar to the burlap set. I usually use a stake for mine. I use a staple gun to staple a wad of sheep wool to the to the top ( or side ) of a stick. About 5 seconds to make these, if you already have the stakes ready. Works well on the water line when there isn't a suitable place for a pocket set. Much easier than messing with trying to make a grass wad. I use a shorter stake when I use them with flat sets.

Yeah, I recently saw in a video, a trapper using rubber bands to hold down sheep wool...I wondered if he didn't just have a stapler...lots easier!

I saw that one too. He was rubber banding it to a piece of bone. Might be hard to get a staple to stick to the bone.

That's why I pre-drill mine and stuff wool and/or pour lure into the hole. T-Bones have the hole already there.

stitchit,
Yep, the trap is straight out from the scratch marks, which were made by me with a common kitchen fork!

The "hay" set is just a crude hole set, which looks more natural than many trapper made dirtholes.

What is that? A bobcat walk through and a double mouse hole set?

Been seeing a lot of questions about trapping in deep snow, so thought this up. Gotta be honest, haven't tried it yet but think I'll give it a shot when I set out some more traps in about a week..if we get some snow.

Cut 5 gallon bucket down to about 6" tall. Drill hole through bottom. Trap chain goes through this hole and ties around small lenght of pipe that ain't gonna go back through this hole. This will become our drag.

Put about 5" of DRY dirt in bucket and bed trap in the comfort of your shed, garage, wherever. Make small hole in dirt and prebait and lure. Maybe a 4 or 5" lenght of 1" pipe would work great for a bait hole.

Find where target animals are and bury whole bucket under about an inch of snow and go.

Dang, I hope we get some deep snow, so I can post a "how to" set in snow!

Plastic film cans can be had at any place that prints photo's, Wally World, Walgreens, Sams, Costco etc.

Yep, use 'em for call lure with sheep wool, hung upside down!

Why are so many photos deleted from here? Anyone know?

THE STOMP SET....

no pictures fellas i dont have the time.you have to be set up for this set as well.i run 120 no2 bridger mods w/10 ft ext cable off chain swivel. find the coon trail get out grab 2 traps hammer and bag of dry grass.find nearest tree,bush,fense post, or big dead limb.hook cable,dig trap bed in trail,get rid of extra dirt,make sure trap is solid!!!!! i use the milligan stomp,cover trap with dry grass and get on down the road. no i dont use step sticks here,takes more time and in my own records could'nt see any change,except the stick had more front foot catches. it's fast and dig outs are very rare if you don't change the trail to much.....later charlie

Maybe oversized?

i always get high catches no chewin because of the os,wide jaws hold like a pitbull with no damage,and i catch coyotes in this set as well and refuse to put them in rat traps. later charlie

Good post Charlie V. Thanks!

Thanx LT,it's as basic and simple as a guy can get and it works.I trap literaly hundreds of black trails and this set gets me into those places conibears aren't wanted. later charlie

Yep, I met a guy who was a G-Man from NM in 1992..and that is how he set a lot of traps! Right on top of the ground, grass covered. First day I used it, I caught a beagle....
(I knew it worked anyway....)

Guys, got any pictures of your sets from from last year?
Anyone?

"Bait pen" set that has taken many a beaver.
Lure goes on fresh cut(transplanted) twigs.
Yes, it's gawdy but has lots of eye appeal and really pulls in traveling beavers.
I don't use it in ADC work but it's a proven fur taker during spring beaver season.

Took me a few seconds to find the pan. How far back from the bank would you say that is?

750 off-set in about 16-18" of water.
Can you also find the "poke stick?"
It is dead center ...about 18-20" in front of the trap and what pokes a beaver in the chest, causing it to put it's feet down.
Notice the dead wood blocking.
Learned that from Charlie, I did!

What kind of lure did you use there?

Aspen spice.
Only had one "first night", where I never took a beaver with it.
It is as good as any "food" lure out there.


You may notice that I lightly sift sand/soil over my beaver traps.
Is it needed?
Don't know...just always did it...and I don't miss many beaver.
In the ADC business, sometimes you get one chance to take a smart educated beaver.
I can't afford a miss.
Can you?

Anyone else have any pictures of some crude but effective sets?

How crude can I get here hhmmmm....I take a skunk carcass after I peel it and stake it down then hump debree over the top and bed my trap 12 inches in front of it,This works well in harvested soy bean fields along travel ways as the hump sticks out. later Charlie

Yep, skunk ,in many forms, has been the ill fate of many a canine, especially in winter months.

Every time I accidently tear the tip off a skunk pelt as I'm skinning, I save it to use at a flat set.
The black and white contrast gets many a coyote for me!

ya can,t just use this one anywhere but back in the day when there wont so many houses around here when we put out a crab pot we bait with undersize fish caught by commercial fisherman they are allowed usually around 10% of their catch to be small . anywhoo for a bait stealing coon you merely thread the small fish onto the trigger of a 220 coni sometimes I would "spike it " with a little molasses this is not a set to use anywhere near domestics thats about as crude as I ever got.

Lt Grey wrote...You may notice that I lightly sift sand/soil over my beaver traps.
Is it needed?
Don't know...just always did it...and I don't miss many beaver.

Absolutely a good policy that pays off in the long run with just about any animal. There is always some animals in probably every species that will avoid an exposed trap appearing unnatural. Once I started to lightly sift sand over mink traps or paper clip a leaf over the pan I noted a significant improvement in harvest numbers.
Asa

Asa has a DEEP bag of tricks! I like it!

Rust those paper clips first Blackdog or mink might avoid or step around a shiny silver clip. Asa

To keep my trap from freezing, I use salt mixed with dried cow manure. If it happens to get wet, it then has a cover scent of wet cow poop.

Interesting concept!

crude mmhh. catch a female coyote in heat and whack it.take her out the trap then cut ham snapper and bloody tail.swish this around and bury it deep.you cant be sex as an attractant and one of the boys will be danggling there in front of you,Guarentteed. later charlie

Charlie, I once knew a guy who....
..would to live snare a female coyote and collar her with a "stopped" 1/8th cable and stake her out and set snares all around on every trail!

(Go tell that to ye'r Tennesee buddy!)

I have been using a version of a dug-out nest/egg set...no lure, just on sigh... it's been working real well this spring.

Now that's about as crude and simple as it gets.That's what ya call survival take no prisoners trappin!!!!!!!!

Good post Charlie!

( How's the hip doin'? )

Well I aint lookin forward to gettin a new one in 15 years,lol.I'm walkin more and more everyday,pushin till it hurts then relaxin.I'm a walkin weather forecaster,only more accurate!!I threw out all helper gizmos last week and cowboyed up.I'll be in fine shape come oct.and really lookin forward to the big show.

later Charlie

LT Grey

Is the ASPEN SPICE a commercially made lure or something available at the grocery store?

Actually I make that lure, it is made from a ground aspen cambium as a base, with some other essential oils...so it's a food lure.

I like to collect mussle shells and throw em in my bucket when water trapping...lightweight..free...and have a great eye appeal for coons..ANYWHERE...I will use one large one or two smaller ones per set..If the weather is gonna be dry for awhile they also work well to hold the lure or bait...I just dig a small trap bed out...bed the trap...use the shells as backing

Good point! I use them in my cage traps for both 'coons and squirrel trapping in ADC work. They are great bait holders and have tremedous eye appeal.

Native mussel shells are forbidden to be owned or collected here in Ohio. I use ones from salt water.

You talking about turtle nests? I see alot of them dug up and egg shells scattered around. Do they sale a turtle musk smell lure one can use for dirtholes?

That should have read: just on SIGN.

No, but I make a natural egg that would probably work well in that situation.

USEFORE THE OLD #2 VICTOR COILS... I TIE BEAVER SCRAPS TO THE PAN AND SET THEM IN A WEASLE BOX WITH SHAVINGS COVERING ALL BUT THE MEAT. IT WILL KILL A WEASLE AND WORKS WONDERS...

Why the shavings? Most weasel trappers don't cover their traps.

AL Perry old tire set. Take a car tire add rice wheat any thing that mice like attach traps to drags set 2 or 3 traps around tire on the out side area make mouse hole under tire the longer tire set out the more mice will be eating the rice. Have land owner premission to put tire on and pick up when done for the season.

They had a similar one in American Trapper magazine by Major Boddicker.

I seen that . He use lure and attached the trap too the tire.

I'm starting to look at old tires differently now!

one i used for coon take some off a friends bait pilke was a few stick shaped as a v with leaves on top kinda and a marshmello or two in back i used a mashmelo lure i made myself just bored one day and next day caught one prety big ive never trapped before and it took only a few minutes besides having no stake and chaining with tow chains to a tree

30+ years ago me and my buddy wanted to catch a coon,we were in 6 grade,he set the trap on bare gruond and put a frozen fish stick on the pan with a rubber band tied the trap to a tree with rope. Next morning we had a very large coon. Dont seem right.But its the truth

thats hilarious nice ruber band trick dumb coon must have been oin sumthing

for my first coon i set a #11 on the ground. covered with a few leaves then a pile of marshmellows and mini hershey wrappers. 3 days later i had a big coon. not an effective set tho.

Used to have a feed lot that had tires piled off of there silage pile coon used one for a toilet,that had a piece of angle iron sticking up.Just threw in trap next to angle iron just to see what would happen ended up with 7 coons all caught on the back foot.Guess they used the angle iron for toilet paper

lol keep um coming

another one is wrap aluminium foil around pan in clear water I think coons think it is a fish or shell and grab it

Yep, I've heard guys swear by it.
It cetainly would reflect any moon light in running water...almost like a beacon!

Yep, I've heard guys swear by it.

dont know if this was mentioned but a cheap dog proof set is to take a piece of plywood (not real big about one foot by one foot) and drill a 2-3 inch hole in the center, dig a trap bed deep enough the jaws will still close under the plywood, and set the trap down in there with cotton ball or something under the pan or next to it, put the plywood over top and make sure the hole is centered over the pan, dogs wont reach down in there but coon sure will.

oh yea you might wanna stake the plywood down so a coon doesnt pick it up and then walk away with an exposed trap for someones pet to get into, and you can even camoflage the board into the surroundings

Wouldn't a staked down piece of plywood then become an entanglement for the trapped 'coon? I would think you would want a groove cut,( toward the hole in the plywood) so the 'coon could pull away...

you know lt i have never tried that, very good idea, and thats why we keep you around lol thanks

i did kinda same thing but used a cool whip container didnt fit right so used adjustments

wifes old metal cooking bowls just big enoungh to fit a 1 1/2 under stake the trap and the bowl and you got a dog proof trap thats how i bought my dog proof trap's. there wasn't a metal bowl any were at any of my famlies houses that didn't have a hole in the bottom covered in fish oil


any day is a good day trapping

I'd like to see a picture of that!

they have somthing like it on ebay now my wife laughed wish i you would have sold them

I dont know if its been said yet in this thread,but i like to use natural cubbies for coon and mink.it looks natural to both man and animal.and doesnt need built.

although ther'll be times when you cant do this.

I used to take a large flat rock and lean it at a 45/ on a straight bank and set a trap on each end. Caught a lot of mink and muskrats that way.

Bobcat / grey fox set.

OK, where's the guy with the tire set!

Gotta catch something first : )