5X5 Conibear Catches (Pics)

Nice pictures . Got to love the double ,I've only done that twice . Never got a fox before ,was that set under a fence

fox was caught going under a barn in a den entrance

Nice

So that's the belies I've never used them ,they look like a strong little trap . Ok put them on the must have list . I was looking at getting some of there single spring for under the ice baited conibear sets .before next season

If I ever did that up here it would look like Frankenstein lived at my house with all the anti's out there with torches and pitchforks. I am jealous

some of those are bridgers some are dukes

usually i use conis as last resort for cage shy coon, and only with home owner permission.

The fact that they never moved much show the value of a neck catch and the 5x5 and 120 can be set to get that most of the time. I only do use coni's with the customers approval also and get them out asap with the customer calling or getting there daybreak or even at night. One other thing is I try to take advantage of natural cover or making some by attaching the coni with a cable so that he hits the ground and hopfully behind something. It seems that people walking or looking out their windows don't see them as often on the ground.
Good pictures and I'm proud that you are smart enough to post them. I can't!

There's nothing wrong with them pictures , he's just preventing road kill . You can clearly see they all died quick and even quicker than a 22 could have done it . Good pictures love the funnels /conibear holder thing. I do the same thing = the baskets ,I just wedge the conibear in the hole ,but with smaller hole my way would not work . Best post I've seen on here

For the record most of the coon that are swinging in the breeze are on the back of the house pretty much out of sight. The ones that are stuck in the green mesh box are in there because I zip tied the trap to the box to keep them in there, I do this if the location is in direct public view. I do however prefer to let them kick out and swing so the next coon can exit behind them through the box. FYI I named that box "Mean Green" and it has killed over 100 coon in the last 5 years.

They, R some awesome pictures, very interesting, I,ve been worring about those traps being to smal for bottom edge sets
for rats

Ya I see the green swinging , I

I know there are probably a bunch of visitors to this site and it must be really hard for them to believe that those traps around those raccoons necks are more humane than the live traps. But they are!

Thats a good point Paul. But honestly I dont care what they think. None of the methods shown in those pics are illegal in ohio, and none of them violate T-Man rules. Here in Ohio ALL of the racconns we nuisances trappers remove from private property legally MUST be euthanized, There is no relocation here. So it comes back to how you define humane? Is it more humane to confine an animal in a cage, then let it sit in the back of a truck being incredibly stressed until it meets its inevitable demise? Or is it more humane for the trap to quickly provide the end, with the animal not needing to spend the day in a cage prolonging its demise. I didnt start this thread to begin an ethics debate about conis. Get on the trap talk forum and you can find enough pics of animals in conis to fill an album. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, just showing how I use a tool that is legal in my state. Furthermore I started this thread in response to YOUR thread where you specifically asked what conis other trappers use for cage shy coon. Now you question the methods you originally inquired about? Interesting......

Looks like it works! Wow. In anything I do, first consideration laws, can be released or not, how effective it is of course, who and where the work is being done, and perception if there might be outsiders in the mix. Gotta love a coni. Had one day 35 years ago at the end of the day looking at the catch of the day, one red fox, a buck, mink, several coon, an xl beaver beaver, an otter, a few rats, all caught in one trap, a 220 conibear!

Trapper4hire good points well writtten and made. Jim I agree that the 220 is a great trap but I think the Comstock is a move forward as is the 5x5 and the use of the 120 for nuisance purposes. The increased neck catches and many non targets have a hard time getting in a fatal position causing a pr nightmare and the take away of a humane useful tool.

If I didn't release my animals that's. How I would be doing 100% of the time . You could always make the green machine with a cover to hide your catch . Make it a double chamber for a double catch as well . I bet you could sell the green machine

I use my wooden cubby's the same way I screwed some 1/4 by 1/4 ratwire wings on it to mount it. I also use it as a chimney trap and flush mount it to buidings with two rebar stakes driven thru it to prevent anything outside the buiding getting in. Some of them I modified to make them two way and some a trap on both ends.
As far as selling it its to easy to copy and trappers by nature copy and make anything they can. If you could add some moving parts maybe then you could sell it because we couldn't copy it. It is a dang good idea and I don't have any green wire so I'm going to have to call mine something else.

Sorry trapper4hire. I reread my post and it seems I didn't come across very well. I added a line to say what I had intended. But you were right. That's exactly why I posted in the first place and there's nothing illegal here either.

Thanks for the revision paul. No offense taken.

If relocation is not an option , then why not make a chimney cap for a 220.Be a lot easier to use.

I'd like to have seen that double catch as it happened. Looks like a once-in-a-million-years occurrence.

Good work!!

The double catch was because they were young critters moving together as thy often do. i have had several doubles in a kill with young squirrels in conies. kermit i have a kill set up with a 5x5 mounted in a nose cone on a 13x13 steel chimney cap. It works.

I catch 9 possum in one trap a few times ayear

awsom pics great job.....they work great only here in ct.i use wood boxes if i did that in the publics eye.it would make the evining news for sure.......even legal....we dont want that.....

I catch 10, 11, 12, sometimes 13 opossum in one trap each year. And so does practically everybody else!

Dave, I caught an adult female raccoon and her nearly full grown youngster in a 220 set in a coon trail. They looked like they were racing each other for the trap and it looked like both died instantly.

Does it look like a coon blew through this tape last night?


So here comes Mean Green to the rescue!

I'm sitting on a job right now with the same type hole . Wish I had one of them green machines made up . I got a nose cone rigged that will have to do . Should rig a sign on there fresh meat for sale .

I've used this method in the past and will again in the future when the situation calls for it. Personally I prefer to have enough wire/cable/chain so that the catch can reach the ground. IMHO Far less attention attracted by a dead animal on the ground than by one swinging from the client's house. I did read that the "hangers" were on the back side of client homes and mean no offense. Around here homes are close enough together that one could observe catches across house yards.

If you were in Down Town Detroit...you could start a market ! And.....have customers.

Do you accept food stamps ?

No they got rid of the food stamps to much black market trade , I did a remod for a Detroit cop a few years back , when they needed the land to build them two new stadiums they used food stamps in a under cover opp , after about 3 weeks of working for this cop we came to this hidden place in the house where he stored this arsonale of weapons , he then told us his store about him going under cover as a biker dude called griz , to make a long story short . He worked his way in deep using food stamps as trade for drugs to this land owner , the mob ended up putting a hit on everybody involed , and Detroit got there land needed , if I was a writer this story would make a great plot for a movie

And Mean Green strikes again.......


This one looks so peaceful

That was quick . I set mine with a comstock but dint get him yet . Did you buy the large size sofit vent and just screw that on

No just screwad it over the hole. the coon blew the vent off of the house. I'll replace it after all the coon have been introduced to Mr. Green.

Ya that's what I ment , looked like it had the smaller 4" before .

OK, that's to one's credit....however, here's my 2 cents worth...some will disagree, without a doubt...but...

Regardless even if it comes down to having to do it...( use a kill trap in an urban setting )

It is NEVER a "good idea" to have to use a kill trap in an urban setting for any reason...IMO !

I understand sometimes you may have no other choice...BUT EVERY 'COON SEEN CAUGHT IN THOSE PICTURES COULD HAVE BEEN CAUGHT
IN THE PROPER MOUNTED CAGE TRAP, ( such as a Kirk De or Comstock trap with the new wire trigger system )
PROPERLY SET, OVER THE HOLE !

They don't make animals ( except fox and / or coyotes ) that can not be caught... even FORCED... into a cage trap...they just don't !

To have to use a kill trap over a hole in a structure, suggest that the WCO either does NOT have the proper equipment to do the job or he does NOT have the knowledge !

Usually both !

Let the wrong people see a 'coon "swinging in the breeze ( and you know very well how many phones have photo and video capabilities ) and have the news media get ahold of it...and see what happens to your business !

Having an animal that won't come into a baited trap is one thing...but an animal that is in a dwelling and has a entry / exit point...well. that's another !

Now, I've used kill traps in the past...before I got skilled at catching any animal in any hole...even a hole in a soffit 3 stories high !

It's no different than catching a squirrel in a excluder trap, except, the trap is a 'coon size trap from someone like COMSTOCK especially made to be mounted right over the hole with a WIRE TRIGGER !

It is much better to have a 'coon sitting in a vertical trap with a stupid look on it's face than a dead bloated one with flies crawling over it.

And the first person that you don't want to see it, that does...will fast agree.

Somebody go ask Jameson how many animals in the ADC biz he uses a kill trap on...I'll bet it isn't many !!!

You've got trappers like VInke in Washington state who can catch OTTER, MINK, MUSKRATS AND BEAVER with ease in cage traps....Trapper's like COMSTOCK in N.Y. and KIRK De of Ga. catching beaver and otter quite easily...

LATrapper in Al. catching foxes with his system... It goes to show you what great minds can do, when they need to.

I have nothing against kill traps...I use them in fur trapping all the time...It would be EXTREMELY RARE however, that I would ever use on in an urban setting....it just isn't needed !

And, before this year, IN THE STATE OF OHIO....if you were using kill traps on squirrels and raccoons in ADC work, you would have needed a special permit to do so...Whether you had an illegal trap or not!

Many trappers did it and it was in fact, illegal in this state WITHOUT a Blanket permit !

Most of us did it, not even knowing we were breaking the law...


Maybe one of my students on here will show a few pics on how they were trained to "live capture" 'coons that would NOT respond to baited traps !

IN HOW MANY OF THESE PICTURES, IS THERE ANOTHER HOUSE IN PLAIN VIEW ? ( scroll down )

A HOUSE FULL OF PEOPLE THAT ARE MORTIFIED AT THE SIGHT OF A DEAD ANIMAL HANGING FROM A NEIGHBORS HOUSE ....
maybe. maybe not ....

It is , IMO never a choice that should be made when there is another, BETTER way...because every animal caught, could have been so in a properly mounted, proper trap !

( read above post )

For everyone giving me a hard time about these swinging coon. You are making an assumption that you know the type of neighberhood and how many people could see the capture. As far as you can see from those pics the only swinger that is in view, is the one at the appartment complex but you are not aware of is that the entire complex is vacant and being rehabed(look at pallets of shingle in parking lot). All of the others are in isolated wooded lots with no neighbors. Any location where there is possibillity of public view the coon is contained nicely in the box. Anyone who took the time to read the post would know that this is not my first choice for any raccoon job but for certain locations/situation it is a valuable option.

LT, Opinions are like anuses, everyone has one; and sometimes they stink!
Gross but true

LT what technique do you use on cage shy coon.

Hey does anybody know where I can get a bat call

I’m not arguing the effectiveness of 5X5 to 220 body grips on raccoons, nor am I disputing the humaneness of body grips vs. cages. Not addressing “what the neighbors think” either. My question is; why would any truly “cage-trap shy” raccoon enter any enclosure that is made of cage wire guarded by a body grip, but won’t enter a cage trap??? Are they really that smart? I don’t think so, at least not here!

trapper4hire, no one uses cages for raccoon more than we do but just this year we've had mother raccoons do unthinkable things to avoid the cage. We don't Conibear a lot of them but I just got in two 220 and two 160 Belisles. No wonder everyboby likes the 160 more. You can't set the 220 without a setter. I think those things would kill a bear.

Valid question LA I've wonderred that myself.I used to use a wooden box for fear of wire refusal. one day I was in a pinch and needed another lethal nosecone, so i through one together out of some scrap 1/2X1 wire. It worked on thta location and i liked the "workabillity" of wire over wood. meaning the boxes were easier to make and they were easier to install. I think part of the reason they work is its a posicatch scenario also the coon can see through the nose cone, it has an open front.I ve also had luck with wire triggered 2 door cages on coon that refused a traditional baited cage, these also were set up in posicatch fashion. but the larger cages are more limited to where they can efficiently be placed. But ultimately i guess i'll never know why some coon refuse a baited cage repeatedly only to dive through Mean Green

Take the time to step out of the fur trapping mindset, Especially in any City or area that "Might" be seen by neighbors... I dosen't take but one person with a smart phone to send the Swinging Coon to a T.V. Station and the Anti croud could be on the scene in hours. There are much better tools for a Professional around the Neighborhood. The Above picture is of a 36 inch Trap I had Jim Comstock make me ...I added a full set of Wings and created an Easy clear way for the female Raccoon to escape without it looking like a threat. The trap was set and cleared in a couple hours. Job done.

Nice pics 330 i like that use of a comstock. Already trying to decide which one of mine to modify like that

To honest I have three comstocks set on house right now and they just will not come out . If I had went with conibears I would have made money on these three jobs , I love my comstock traps but sometimes they just don't get it done . They do get done better than my other cage traps . That they do

If used 330 set which I stold for his face book page on a few jobs , the set rocks

If its where people might go poor coon . Just use a longer wire so it hits te ground or rope

We're...( at least I ) not trying to give you a hard time...you are a brother of sorts and that makes us a family...well, of sorts...

What I am pointing out is to give you an alternative and to educate you of another way...before you use a kill trap method.

If you /we have some animal rights activist see that dead 'coon and create a problem, then see, WE ALL HAVE A PROBLEM !

And eventually, that is going to be a problem if you trap long enough using kill trap in urban areas.

I trap in areas that you do...I know because on occasion our paths cross... I want nuisance trappers revered not looked down upon...

NOW, THE METHOD YOU'RE USING, IS AS HUMANE AS ANY I HAVE SEEN USING A KILL TRAP, AND I WANT TO OPENLY GIVE YOU CREDIT FOR THAT...

But, that wasn't my point. Humane or not...some...and it's many...people tend to "freak out" when they see you kill an animal .

This isn't like you or I, Chris...these are extremist who put animal life up with or above humans.

Do we kill animals ?

Sure we do..all the time !

That again, not my point...that said, I won't kill one in front of a customer...not on purpose.

Jim Cf. told we long ago that to be successful in this business, you have to put your emotions aside...or you can't do the job !!!

My point is, I want YOU successful...just like I want myself...my point is, AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN, to EDUCATE TRAPPERS on better , faster, more humane methods !

Many people think I'm an arrogant SOB who thinks he knows everything....and that simply isn't true !

I do pass on what I know...and in 42 years and 14 states, well..it's is quite extensive.

It's the reason people hire me to train them.

Am I above using a kill trap on a 'coon ?

Absolutely NOT...I hate 'coons !

I do think we are in the PUBLIC EYE far more than fur trappers, (which I 'm one too), so we must be careful with the methods we choose...

We deal every day with the public and what they think we do and what we do, is sometimes two different things...

BUT IMAGE IS EVERYTHING !

And the day you forget that is the day you will start to lose business !

Just as important, are the fact that there are certain villages, corp's, communities and suburbs where you trap that do NOT allow those type traps within their boundaries...REGARDLESS of whether it's legal state wide. That trap may be legal state wide for fur trapping but may not be in every city. It isn't like this information is posted either. It's only when YOU get a complaint, that you realize you're in trouble ! Some villages do not allow traps of any kind, even cage traps.

330 trapper showed what he was taught and the results and that is the method I use and have used for years.

If it does NOT work, would I use a kill trap ?

Yes, but I would be a bit more discreet ...and to be quite honest, I haven't seen it NOT work.

YOU SIMPLY JUST GO TO THE DOUBLE OPEN DOOR WITH THE WIRE SYSTEM, WHERE BOTH DOORS CLOSE AT THE SAME TIME...THIS ALLOWS AN ANIMAL TO SEE A CLEAR OPEN UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW...THE ANIMAL WILL GO RIGHT THROUGH !
HAVE 330 CUSTOM MAKE ONE FOR YOU....I KNOW HE CAN MAKE ANYTHING OUT THERE CUSTOM...I TRAINED HIM TO DO IT...HE HAS THE MINDSET OF A WINNER, DON'T LET HIS MODESTY FOOL YOU !
HE'S ONE OF THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS !!!

I want to give some credit, where credit is due...and that would go to Mr. Bob Jameson of Pa. ,who told me many years ago that he didn't use kill trap on woodchucks because :
" I don't have to ! "

What did he mean ?, I asked myself ...he doesn't have to.

Did he know something I didn't ?

He did !

And I wanted to know what he knew....was there a easier way ? A more humane way / At least in the public eye ?

There was !

And since that time I don't have to go around slapping kill traps over holes !




LATrapper made a very good point, which I will re-post.

Agree ! X2

Lt. I think you said the same thing in your second post as the first but I learned a lot more from the second and agree with your second post on this subject.

You know old people repeat themselves !

Very productive .

LT , In conversations Ive had with a coouple acquaintances that we have in common you have came up, prolly because we are both in the ADC industry. I'm well aware of your experience and in accordance with your experience you should have a degree of CONFIDENCE. At times I do feel you push the limit,maybe even crossing the line into the relm of arrogance. But in personal conversations we've had I realize thats just part of your personallity. And I do feel that your not trying to offend anyone (as a general rule). Maybe its just the BOLD type. Makes all of your posts seem like your yelling at all of us. Anyway its going to take more than a difference of opinion on coni sets to offend me.

PS I reffered you for a raccoon job in springfield today, the guys name was Osh or something weird.

Well not weird, just Arabic .

I've heard that BOLD type makes people think I'm yelling....I'm not.

I wouldn't get my blood pressure up that high.

I can't see the screen and the bold print helps me read what I wrote...now if I have my reading glasses, then I'm ok...( such as now)

People often say I push the limit...again, not my intention.

I do like people to think outside the box and that is difficult for some to do.

Few people realize that for years, more than half the post made by "me" were actually dictated over a phone and typed by someone else.
Same with answering PM's.

But, I digress...


Thank you for the referral.

I couldn't get to it, due to being swamped...

I referred it to a new company but explained if they didn't want it, I would understand...

A 10,000 sq. ft, house is NOT one you "cut your teeth on" !

Had to pull out the 330 comstock set

... and the whole building and set is sideways! LOL! ,jK

It works better that way . I just tilt the house a bit

How's this?

I don't know what you guys would do without me.

If you wish to check that trap every day I'll split the money

I know your joking brother . You don't have to say so . I know what a great honest family man you are . Scott is the real deal boys . I would drive a thousand miles at a drop of hat if he needed me to

Thanks Pesky! ...

and thanks chas3457 I was getting Vertigo looking at Pesky's sideways set...LOL!

You guys are killin' me.....