I thought this would be a good post to add, as it might help some beginning trappers, as well as some of us seasoned veterans. I hope other trappers will chime in with some tricks and tips that help them on the trapline.

Here is a simle trick that came from Jim Cundiff of Ohio. That was to use,( un-used of course) popsicle sticks as a lure applicator. This was a handy trick and certainly cheap enough, as you can get a hundred at most craft shops for practically nothing. Thanks Jim....used it a lot!

Cotton balls work real well for luring PVC pipe sets. I make my pipes out of 1 inch PVC put a 90 degree elbow on top. Stick a cotton ball in the pipe and give it a shot of fish oil or other good stuff and your good to go.

I have been experiementing with using tiny plastic vials to hold urine in my burnt post set. THis way the urine will possibly last longer. Instead of disapating into the ground as fast.

Try cutting the bottom 2-3" off a RED plastic drinking cup (like you get at keg parties) and put your bait/lure in when using cage traps for a cheap, convenient holder with plenty of eye appeal to catch a coons attention.

I was told to put peanut butter smears on a tree and it would help me gain pictures of deer passing by. Well, all I got from that was about 200 photos of the coon eating it like a candy cain.

Q tips are also a good lure applicater.

Not as easy to re-use though....

Like my butter knife personally.... Kind of a flavor saver. LOL

Nother major tip is to not too much time on trick sets. Only if you feel personally affronted by a particular animal and got a grudge to settle. Pay atttention to where tracks are concentrated when misses occur and over the years alot of things slowly come to light.

1 ounce concentrated clam oil added to a gallon of vegetable oil makes an excellent thru coni trail set that is pretty coon specific. Read that one in an Austin Passamonte book and he was spot on.Feel he was underrated , caught many, many greys and quite a few reds with 160s and his methods.
One more quick one. Leave the baited coni cubbies at home and set trails with fresh type fish oil or the above mentioned mix and you will have a much higher coon/fox catch rate and amuch lower possum/skunk catch rate.
I was a very experimental trapper when younger. Still catch myself always trying new things, some work out some dont , but that made a huge difference.

Yep, I use a lot of vegtable oil as a cheap "cutter" for fish oils. I buy it by the 5 gallon pails.

Oil absorbent mats like used on oil spills, just the right size to wrap around coon hides while on stretcher. Clothespins hold them on and cuts drying time in half.



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

You can sharpen your pocket/skinning knife on the top edge of the car/truck window. Just run it across the window edge like it is a steel.

Now THAT is one I've never heard!

Buy a day/week/month planner. Most places carry them. They make for perfect trapping logs. You can record catches, locations, baits, lures etc. and look them up by the dates they were caught. Keeps everything organized.

Lt Grey

Try it out and see what you think. It will tune up a knife. Won't do much for the ones made out of car bumbers and fenders though.

I have 2 small plastic jars(peanutbutter) filled with trap tags,wire for tags,and j-hooks. one goes in my basket the other one goes in my pail. I never know when a coon wants to play with my tags.

MJM, the unglazed bottom of a ceramic coffee cup makes a great knife sharpener also.

When useing wire strechers on coon,when skinning leave some of the foot pad on the rear feet on the hide,then when putting on the strecher make a small slit in the foot pad to attach the hook too,the foot pad is really tough and you can really pull it without ripping as the hide itself would rip,then to remove from strecher after dry just cut off the legs above the foot pad,and discard the pad peice. looks nice and clean with no strecher hook marks on the leg too.

When useing wire strechers on coon,when skinning leave some of the foot pad on the rear feet on the hide,then when putting on the strecher make a small slit in the foot pad to attach the hook too,the foot pad is really tough and you can really pull it without ripping as the hide itself would rip,then to remove from strecher after dry just cut off the legs above the foot pad,and discard the pad peice. looks nice and clean with no strecher hook marks on the leg too

Now that is slick !

Now why didn't I think of that?
Good tip, dirt! I do the same on a possum's tail...but I try not to skin too many of those! Ha!