Been trapping for over 40 years. Not as an occupation. I worked in a power plant for 33 years for a living.

Hopefully, I can answer any question about trapping problem animals you may have. Almost anything that moves.

Disclaimer: I would never condone doing anything illegal. It is up to you to know your states laws.

Hey MSC, thanks for the offer to share your many yrs of experience. Now, do you know if ducks trap fish eggs in their feathers and then release them into other bodies of water?

I would say this is inevitable.

MSC -- welcome to Pond Boss.

Years ago I spent a lot of time in your neighborhood. I had an office across the "Nice" bridge on the Virginia side, but spent a lot of time in the St. Mary's area, and in Waldorf when there were just a few tobacco barns and a few taverns there.

So -- do you have any good recipes for marsh rabbits. If so, do you serve them with the head on, or with the head removed?

They don't show up in the fish markets and local diners much anymore.

Regards,
Ken

Ken, any recipe for Maryland Terrapin will do just fine.

Sorry trapping is my expertise, not cooking.

But for marsh rabbit I would suggest the same recipe you use for muskrat.

Thanks for sharing, MSC.

I have a 500 gallon decorative pond in a suburban area of San Jose, CA. My pond went unbothered by raccoons for 6 years. Then all of a sudden they "discovered" the pond and began to come regularly to try their hand at fishing. The pond is only two feet deep, so they did have some luck on occasion. So... I bought a Havahart model 1079 and baited it with cat food. On the first night, I caught the neighbor's cat. :-) Caught an adult 'coon almost immediately afterward and gave it a new address about 10 miles away on the banks of Lexington Reservoir. A week later, I caught an adult skunk and relocated it to Lexington Reservoir as well. Unfortunately, not two weeks passed when the pond was again disturbed. In spite of the fact that I keep the trap baited, I haven't been able to catch any critters for the last three months. They are still coming around, disturbing the fish and plants big time... yet I'm unable to catch them. Sometimes the trap is sprung but empty. More often, they haven't even gone near it. Any ideas for how I might get rid of these critters???

12 gauge

Try coon cuffs?? or a foot hold with something shiny on it underneath the water.

I'd box the live trap in with plywood or something similar so the only open area is the side where they enter. They are trying to reach into the box trap to get to the food.

Welcome to PB!!! MSC, you probably will be a busy man on this site. Thanks for your advice.

Akatengu, First congrats on successfully live trapping and relocating the skunk. If it did not spray There is a certain knack to that. Landowners watch me do it from a safe distance and they say it was amazing, and you are crazy.

First off. I would have set 4 cage traps all around the pond the first try. The trick is to wipe them out fast.

It is possible that the coons are educated about cage traps. Maybe when you caught the cat, skunk, and coon, several other coons came by and saw that during the night.

Anyhow, Do not despair, I wipe coons out with cage traps.

Coons will try every other option before going in, like reaching in from the sides to get the bait. And they will climb on top, and even rattle the cage. That is why sometimes your trap may be sprung but empty. Sometimes it is a good idea to cover the cage trap and sides with anything available like plywood. But I usually don't have to do this.

Make the trap level and sturdy so it doesn't rattle when it moves.

Cat food is deadly for coon bait. However, in your suburban area, it will also bring in non targets from far away, that might have not even been there, if they didn't smell that.

Put a white egg in it. I use hard boiled so they don't break as easy. White shows up real good at night and once a coon sees it... it's on and he will not give up until he has it.

Next best bait would be fish similar to whats in your pond.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions.

Are you close to water, or is your pond fed by a creek? Are there otters in your area?

Best raccoon bait I have used is apple slice with peanut butter on it. Skunk and cats will leave it alone most of the time or just apple slice then.

Skunks do not like to spray unless in an open area and will not get any on them self. A nice quiet blanket covering the live trap making it nice and dark you can take that skunk anywhere with out spraying. Just let light in the exit and open the door. Skunk will only spray you when he is looking at you. If you can see his tail as they are running away your good. If you can see his head then his ass your dinked they squirt over their heads.

Cheers Don.

MSC, regarding the egg. Peeled or not? Ass soon as the 'coons are prime around here they're getting thinned out. Not too many 'rats, but tons of 'yotes.

Got any suggestions for 'yotes? Including trap specifics as I'd have to buy them. All of mine are pre lamination days.

That's it. I just walk right up and cover the whole cage trap with a blanket. Skunks wont spray you if they cant see you. I then pick up the cage and carry it to my truck and put in in. Bungee cord that cage in or if something happens and you slam on your brakes or make a sharp turn and the cage slides across your truck bed, and bangs the side, you might have a smelly truck.

Any other suggestions on trapping coons. I have a ton of them around the property but last year I tried trapping them and never got a one. Use the handcuff type of traps baited with dog food. Wrong bait? Wrong locations? Also interested in coyotes, they woke me up twice last night not 200 yards from the house. Not to mention the one yapping last night at sunset 100 yards away while I was deer hunting

No need to peel the hard boiled egg for coon bait.

If you want coons and not your neighbors cats or dogs, here is the absolute best bait for coons, make it yourself and very cheap...

Get a jar of Kraft marshmallow creme, mix in a few drops of vanilla extract and a little bit of honey. This stuff is so sticky it will stick to anything and it takes a hurricane to wash it away. It smells very sweet, which coons go nuts over, but not cats and dogs. Smear this stuff on the cage trap pan and even some on the bottom side of the pan. When I use this, in combination with the white egg for visibility, it is bad medicine for the coons.

Personally I use Safeguard pro model cage traps. This model has a smaller mesh around the back where the bait is, to keep coons from reaching in trying to steal the bait.

OK, as for coyotes... To be honest, I have never trapped one. They just aren't around here. I have trapped a chitload of fox, reds and greys.

But I do have advice from the best yote trappers. Forget cage traps for coyotes. That ain't happening. I suggest a #2 coil spring, I have Bridgers, they are a heavy duty trap made just for coyotes, used with a standard dirthole set. If you set for coyotes like this you have to stake the trap down very good. Ask if you want specifics.

MSC, it won't be long before coyotes are in southern MD. They are all over the place in western MD and just started showing up a few year back where my dad lives at the mouth of the Potomac River. He has caught several coyotes in his area now.

MSC you are right my dad has trapped for 40 years and in that whole time he has only caught on coyote in a live trap and it was so maingy that it was almost dead. It was starving so bad it walked into a live trap. Snares work really good in kansas in trails and on fence lines.

The best skunk trap I have used is the pvc pipe ones. If the skunk can't see you or pick up his tail he won't spray you.

Yes, we have had very scattered reports of sightings. I know a turkey hunter popped one here in Calvert county several years ago. I just have never seen one here yet.

Yes, some people do real well with skunks with those type traps. I just have not used them.

I'll have to disagree with you on staking leghold traps when targeting coyotes - and most other critters for that matter.
I trapped many yotes in my youth; both for pelts and to reduce their predation on cattle during calving season (btw: cows are loners when calving - and defenseless during the act, often yielding a gruesome outcome when discovered by a pack of coyotes).
As for the traps (which I still own), I used #3 jump-springs and #3 dbl long-springs.
Securing the traps to a heavy object (or "drag", ie. 40lb+ rock or green log); versus solid-staking the traps, allows the animal to move away from the site and eliminates pull-outs and chew-offs. Rarely did they move more than 50' from the set-site, and they appeared to remain relatively calm throughout the ordeal. It was easy to follow the drag-trail to locate and dispatch the trap's tenant.
I eventually switched to sodium cyanide devices as a much more efficient, target-selective and humane means for thinning the coyote population. These devices never miss; so the yotes never got the second-chance "education" that LH traps sometimes provide.

Sorry but when I set a trap I want it right there when I come back. No drags for me. No matter what steps in a trap this size you don't want it leaving with your trap. You might catch something much bigger and stronger than a yote.

Point duly noted! Hadn't thought about bears up there, which are extremely scarce down here.
Still, all of the trappers from whom I learned the trade back in the 60s/70s never condoned stake-downs on the basis that a stake-anchor gives the critter leverage to pull out - although usually absent a digit.
Staked trap-sets also increase the risk of a coyote's "liberation by teeth" (a trait that prompted the phrase "coyote-ugly", in reference to waking up in the morning after a night of heavy drinking, with your arm pinned beneath a homely stranger ).
To each their own, but it's always good to know the merits and drawbacks of various options.

I always used to give all my sets some runnin' room also....including when I used longsprings for rats, before conibears came into vogue. Build in right, and give em'some space, and a muskrat will try for deeper water, tangle and drown long before chewing a leg off.

I used a drowning-wire setup for both rats and beaver.

Now that's fancy! We had to hunt up a limb, about 1.5-2" in diameter, with a few branches coming off at differnt angles. This would be stuck into the pond bottom, out in a little deeper water. There would be enough slack between the stake and the trap to allow the rat to reach the limb... any other limbs or logs that protruded from the water in the area of the set needed to be removed.

When the jaws clamp down, they would always head for deeper water, and right for the limb that you placed earlier. Nine out of ten times, they would circle the limb and become entangled in the branches which would of course..hold them down.

Hopefully, you had the limb shoved into the bottom well enough to hold em' until he ran out of air.

Crude, but poor people had poor ways and made do with what they had.

Use fish !! Yotes are a different matter. This one ate to many fish.





Dead fish that had been in an ice chest for a week - no ice. There was ice to start but relative they were left for did not come pick them up. A week later - yuck. Dumped them behind the block house . Yote came in and ate to many or maybe got a bone stuck. If you look close you can see fish on the ground and no marks (wounds) on the yote.

I have one! Otters! I have a pond that is frequented by those SOB'S! I find no obvious slides. I think I have found scat areas in the past. I know they visit, as I saw their rompings in the snow last winter, and a hole in the middle of the pond, where they were entering the water.

Do they like to eat freshwater mussels? I also found a new area with matted down slightly muddy grass, with the leg bones of a bull frog picked clean. Is there anything you can use to bait them? I guess my question is will they eat things they find laying that they did not catch themselves? I saw some videos of a guy catching sea otters by placing a 220 conibear over a bucket with fish in the bottom.

I find no fish parts, but am always finding freshly eaten mussel shells along the bank.

Coons eat shellfish (clams etc). Otters often don't eat the whole fish. Otters get steel or lead here.

Muskrats love mussels also, but usually leave the discarded shells in (under) the water.

Okay LOL Coons and muskrats love mussels, but what about river otters? Are mussels on the menu? I'd love to have the opportunity to fill em full of lead, but I've only seen them 2 times. I don't believe they are residents, but only visit frequently. Do they operate at night?

The trick to holding fox and coyotes in staked traps is to short chain them. You want only a 6" chain with a good swivel in it. This way they can't lunge or jump with any momentum. They can just basically sit there and go around in circles. Very rare for canines to chew their foot to escape foot traps. But some other animals will.

Otters. Now your talking... Bad news for ponds. Otters love all shellfish and fish. I use 330s and 280s and they are very effective. I would say 220s are too small. I know 220s can work but its easier for me to use bigger.

I do not target otters with cages or foot traps. I know that both have successfully been used for otters.

Nothing is better at slipping a foot hold trap than otters. I catch them with missing toes sometimes.

I am on my phone know and I can't do it here but when I get to my puter I'll try to show specific otter sets I make with the 330s and 280s

If your pond is fed by a creek or stream, it is easy to get them coming thru there.

My pond is actually the head waters. It has a 12" i.d. tube. I know coons use the tube. I would truly appreciate it the info!. I used to trap some when I was a teenager, but never tried for otters.

To answer James question, otters are the most efficient killer. But yes they will come to fish something else killed. And they can be baited. I do not use bait or lure. Don't need it with conibears.

I've always been nervous about using conibears larger than 110 above water. I'm afraid of catching dogs and cats, maybe my own! Not saying I wouldn't do it.

I use 330s mostly.

In my state you can set 330s as long as the trap is "partially" in water. Many other states it must be underwater.

They are indiscriminate and deadly. Be very careful. The first animal that comes thru will be dead right there.

For me personally, I rarely try for the otters in a pond or lake. They could go anywhere once they are in it. It is easier for me get them as they come or go from the pond. Otters use creeks as highways. Even very small shallow creeks.

You simply make the otter swim through your 330 or 280 as they travel the creek. Use sticks or whatever is natural to block the creek except the gap where your trap is. The otter is moving taking the path of least resistance he will not plow thru brush or sticks. He will go for the opening.

Very important... I use a 10ft 1/8" cable attached to the trap with a swivel. It has a loop and quick clip that I attach to a tree on the shore. Otters will fight like crazy even if suitcased by a 330.

Which came first? The chicken or the egg.

test pic



If anyone can see that pic, it is a small feeder creek right before it enters the pond. Anything moving down that creek, guess where its going?

Here is two small creeks coming together which are the overflow from the beaver dam in the background. I just used minor fencing with sticks that were right there. Anything swimming down this creek is coming through the gap in the middle. And it will be their last swim.

MSC I do mine like that as well. I use small dog chain for secondary anchor. I have only lost 1 trap in 20 years. Fairly sure it was to humans. No bears here.

Place is remote so no pets around just beaver , otter and other problem species. Here is one strange catch for you.







Trap was under water due to high water and I assume this bird chased a fish but got more than what he wanted.

Ewest cool pic. That's the thing about conibears, they do pick up non targets. You can imagine looking at the sets, around here, ducks and geese are going to occasionally get popped. I have even heard of trout being caught in conibears set for otters or mink.

Here are some tips for conibears, for those looking at these pics that have not used one before...

You cant see it but I use an H type stand for the trap. The trap attaches to the top half and you push the 2 bottom prongs into the creek bottom, it holds it there nice and sturdy. It makes placing them much faster.

By all means I suggest a tongs type setter and a safety hook for the bigger ones like 330s and 280s. Once you set it, if you get your hand in the firing zone, you will wear it home with you.

Here is a pic of me relocating 2 otters . I'm the one with the funny hat.


^ the otter whisperer.

Do you have a problem with debris clogging or firing the trap when set in the stream that way?

I once caught a small Northern Pike in a 110 set at a 'rat den entrance in the run.

In VA and PA where my dad does most of his trapping, anything 220 and up must be completely submerged. The power of those traps is amazing! I wouldn't want to get my arm in their... OUCH!

When I was in my teens I had a relatively new Conibear 110 snap on my ungloved fingers. Not a pleasant experience, all the more so because they were COLD! That was the first and (so far) LAST time that's happened. It seems the more painful the experience, the quicker I learn.

Yes, in some creeks I get the trap plugged with grasses or even fired by such debris.

Connibears are an amazing trap that get respect. My wife is not strong enough to set them so I have a new crop of beaver to harvest after returning from a summer overseas\.

There are strong opinions both for and against solid staking. Myself, I prefer a double staked leghold with two inline springs and swivels. There is little to no chance of pull-outs. Chew-offs are just part of playing the game, but one can certainly limit them by making their rounds as quickly and efficiently as possible to limit time spent in the trap.