Coons Tipping Over Traps

I’m a fur trapper, who casually uses cage traps when I can, or need to. I’ve never staked my cage traps down. But recently had two of them tipped over. Do you
guys think this is a result of educated raccoons, those that have been caught before? And how common is it? Any opinions would be welcome. Lepus

They could just be trying to get the bait from the "wrong" side, reaching, climbing on top, etc, according to my trail cam pics.

Thus, I've always staked them and have never had that problem.

If you are in a city, coon may have been previously trapped. Or the coons may be used to dumping the trash can rather than crawling inside. Stake or weight cage.

I would say this raccoon has been in a live trap before. I run a rod through the wire to stop the trap from tipping over. There are a great many do it yourself trappers around and find it easier to take there catch out of the area and let it go to live another day.

Was the coon caught and then tipped the trap and got out.

Seriously guys, you don't need a cage shy coon to tip a trap over. We stake a lot of them but probably still get a hundred tip-overs a year. And the culprit is usually waiting for us in a Wickenkamp, which you better stake pretty solid.

We run a 36" T handle rerod stake through every trap we set on the ground,even for Squirrels. One missed animal buys alot of stakes.

Its standard procedure to stake all cages with T-Bar stakes to hold them fast or some weighted object as Phil stated.Not doing so will cause miss fires and roll overs often enough to waste your time and cause call backs to correct what should have been done from the beginning.Lesson learned. The reason could be an educated raccoon or just understanding the manipulative nature of the animal to get at something that they want.Even a family dog or such trying to get at something attractive to their nature.

wire and secure all cages. You need steardy traps to succeed

I dont get enough tip overs to worry abot I guess... especailly if I had to carry stakes in the truck... she is pretty full now

Comstock, and forget it.

Said Dave, until his Comstocks got rolled over! ( Man, I'm on a roll today )