Favorite Animals to trap and Favorite Methods

[BKS]

What is your favorite animal to trap and how do you prefer to trap them?
My favorites are Beaver and Otter and I prefer to catch them in leg holds.
I have caught them in conibears and snares but a big leg hold is my favorite.

[trapper9260]

For me it is coyotes ,I use snares and footholds.Beaver is fun ,but when you have a smart one then that is better to keep you thinking ,I use footholds and snares and conibears on them and then otter it is foothold and conibears. the thing about them is to find the spot they go by and hope it dose not change from year to year.I go with blind sets on them.

[472x1B/A]

I'm kinda partial to coons. Lots and lots of 220's in trail sets. No baits or scents to mess with. Got to watch out for the hounds though, cause they can be a real problem. I always asked if the land owner had anyone hunting with dogs on their property before setting any traps.

[trapper9260]

I like coon also with 220's and foothold and snares .but to me they are not as much fun like coyotes,they keep you thinking all the time.

[472x1B/A]

I like coon also with 220's and foothold and snares .but to me they are not as much fun like coyotes,they keep you thinking all the time.

Well maybe. There is A WHOLE BUNCH of work involved in this 'hobby'. Unless one is going to do a 2 or 3 gang set at each pocket hole set, then you need a lot of land to do yotes. On the other hand with coon runs, say from a barn to the timber, then 5-7 220's and down the road to the next run. With 6-10 220's in 100 yds. you can have 4 or 5 coons the next morning, weather cooperating.

[trapper9260]

I do not do hardly any pocket for coon mainly blind set high and dry now.That s when you get mainly the large ones. As for coyotes It is on privet land and they come in even after you clean them out that is about 5 to six at times and give it less then month and you will have new ones move in there is that many around here.But I do not just set for them I also set for every thing else.I a mix bag trapper not just one thing.So when I trap a place I set for every thing.

[Stub9111]

i havent trapped for a few years now but iused to love to look down in front of aq bank hole and see a 220 wrapped snuggly around a big male otter.

[NavyVet1959]

[trapper9260]

I know that set will always work thanks Navy Vet

[w5pv]

We have had so much warm weather that I haven't made the 1st set yet.The coon hides would be blue and not worth the effort but I have to use dog proof traps or I would catch the neighbors mutts and have the whole community pissed.I have boxes built but the mutts still get in the way.

[472x1B/A]

We have had so much warm weather that I haven't made the 1st set yet.The coon hides would be blue and not worth the effort but I have to use dog proof traps or I would catch the neighbors mutts and have the whole community pissed.I have boxes built but the mutts still get in the way.

It's real easy to get around the dogs even with box sets. Use plastic buckets tied up on tree trunks.Or in the case of smaller trees wire them up in the insides of them. I had at least 3 dozen buckets set up for 220's in high dog areas.

Using really sweet baits or lures, no problem with cats.

Will have to admit that sweets drew A LOT of grinners tho.

[Rally]

Snaring beaver under ice. Lots of work but the beauty in the winter and the fur is at it's peak. Love snaring red fox too, or otter. A couple weeks of chasing rats from a boat can be fun too.

[RSB]

Although I haven't trapped since moving to Georgia, I still have all of my trapping and fur handling equipment stored neatly in the shed. When I did trap in east Central Illinois we had a huge water shed. In that I mean we had creeks and drainage ditches everywhere and I was between the Wabash and Embarrass rivers.

To this day my favorite critter is Mink. My favorite and most productive set is a 110 dry land set.

The story goes that a mink will investigate every nook and cranny (roots and holes) along his nightly travels. The onter story says a buck mink runs 12 miles a night.

Think about that a minute. Have you every been fortunate enough to sit and watch a mink work an undercut bank? I have. While fishing once I saw a female and her kits high tailing it along the top of the bank.

If you add the stories the together you have to come to the conclusion that the two have to meet in the middle. So if you see mink sign around water, set there, but if there is no mink sign, look for small runs on top of the bank. These set are over effective, so don't be foolish. know when you have caught a limit and leave some seed stock so you can consistently catch mink in the same places year after year.

[Ivantherussian03]

My fav is marten caught in tree set, using snare and 110, or small leg trap and catching a double. Snaring red fox on trail set next fav.

[BKS]

I’m gonna try #5 Duke DBL on 10ft chains this year, be like the mountain men did it, except I’ll have waders, where those tough sob waded out in leather pants or nakid I guess. Haha

[GregLaROCHE]

I guess marten were my favorite to trap because they made me the most money for the time and effort. I used no.1 Victor traps. I had several hundred. Fast to remove the animal and/or reset. Most of the time the marten were dead and frozen, but sometimes I would come across a live one in a trap. A marten is one of the most vicious animals for its size. I would have to quickly grab it and squeeze it’s heart down until it stopped. You couldn’t shoot them or the pelt would be ruined.

There was only wilderness where I trapped, so no domestic animals to worry about. Sometimes there was collateral damage. Owls, ravens and once a moose got in a wolf trap. Did he ever tear up the place up, before getting free. I never found the trap. I guess he wore it home. I once had a sled dog get loose and run off. He came back several days later with a paw missing. He must of gotten in a trap and finally chewed it off after it froze.