I posted and article on using a garden hoe for water trapping earlier this week,unfortunately some people gave way to adolescent urges and their replies got it deleted. Paul told me to repost it and he would scourge anyone making suggestive or obscene replies. So here goes.

The common gooseneck garden hoe has saved me almost as much work as the ATV or boat water trapping. Below is a list of uses and I find more everyday.

Locating traps in high water
Retreiving traps and animals
Making castor mounds,scent piles and fake chanels,also making breaks in dams and wet trails for blind sets.
Hook a sapling or tree and use it to help climb a slippery or slick bank.
Run handle through spring eyes of BG traps and carry over your shoulder.
Tie beavers to gether and hook blade through wire or rope and drag beavers through the water, much easier.
There are many more uses for the hoe,I seem to more everyday. I speed dipped the head of mine, but thats optional. If you dont have one already,You can get em at yardsales for a dollar or two.If you ever start taking a hoe with you on your water trapline, You will see what I mean.

This is a GREAT tip Mike!! I think more people need to think a little outside the box and look at some of the different gardening tools out there as tools for the trap line.
IF you have good enough dirt that isn't real rocky, you can also use one of the round Bulb hole diggers to make dirt holes with.
I made one with a foot peg on it so I could drive it with my foot. But I have seen them in the store built that way too.

i have used a hoe on my bever line for many years now and i have started useing it on all of traps for over 5 years now as well. i use a file to keep it sharp so i can cut small trees and a sharp hoe makes working hard dirt easy.

Just because it is not seen in trapping supply book's or other's think it is not a good trapping tool as long as it work's for you that is all that matter's

I'll bet many of you are like me in that when you're in a hardware store, tractor supply, heck even Wal-Mart you're looking at all the things they have and thinking "how can I use that for trapping?" LOL

Good tip Mike (sorry).

~ADC~

Thats how I am always thinking as well...

Do you use the full size hoe, or the shorter sized?

LOL. ADC, Not just the hardware stores. I have trouble staying on the road sometimes as I am looking at fields, woodlines, streams etc. thinking, "Man, I bet I could clean up on that property. Look at that location. Bet there is a ton of (Fox, coyotes, Coon, Mink, Muskrats, etc. ) LOL. I am suprised I haven't driven into a ditch yet. LOL> Does everyone else find themselves doing the same thing. LOL>

LOL. ADC, Not just the hardware stores. I have trouble staying on the road sometimes as I am looking at fields, woodlines, streams etc. thinking, "Man, I bet I could clean up on that property. Look at that location. Bet there is a ton of (Fox, coyotes, Coon, Mink, Muskrats, etc. ) LOL. I am suprised I haven't driven into a ditch yet. LOL> Does everyone else find themselves doing the same thing. LOL>

A garden hoe has been my constant companion since Dad first introduced me to them in the garden. I also know that a hoe is one Dad's favorites too. (As an aside, Dad could swap ends with a hoe and reach across three rows to whack a non-working youngun faster than anyone I know LOL)
I use my hoe as a walking stick all the time. For digging channels, breaching dams, dispatching smaller critters, clearing sod, hooking traps in deep water. And more important a snake hook to move the scary but not dangerous water snakes to dispatching the scary and dangerous moccasins.
A couple uses that I use regularly use. It goes every time I go coonhunting and have used it to dispatch snakes, bang on tree to get the coon to look, tap stick to train a hound, tool to break up dog and dog/coon fights.
For ADC work I love it for placing out-o-sights for moles. I love being able to choke up on it and make clean slices into the soil with minimal disturbance to the tunnel. The only thing I would change in this situation would be to shorten the handle. I am looking for a good used hoe now to shorten for this use.
That leads me to another thing. Avoid like the plague most of those cheap lightweight metal hoes available today. Most will fail miserably if put to any sort of regular use. Look for those labeled as cotton hoes or older models with more solidly welded seams with thicker metal. And keep it sharp!

NYnovice I am the same way..lol..seems like once you get in the trapping mode, that's all you want to think about. Heck, I was in Hobby Lobby with my wife the other day and found a pack of 100% peppermint oil..You guessed it, 3 muskrats fell victem the next day. How many of you use your hoe to dig steps into a steep bank? This sure makes climbing it a lot easier.

JC Conners sells two real nice tools that will last a life time the "sod devil" & "the badger" .

Yep,Warrioor that very tool I loathed as a child is one of my favorites now. Great snake killer, My grandma would have killed the mythological hydra with a hoe if she had seen it. How many times has some adults threatened to ware a hoe handle out on a bunch of heathen younguns.

i have a badger by jc conner and wont leave home without it what a great tool a digger and hoe combined heavy duty type i use mine to help these old legs get back up when neeling and can just lean over and chop out a nice trap bed great trapline tool using the hoe concept

ttt

I use a gooseneck hoe without a handle in it to dig trap beds...

I don't think I could set a trap without it....

I have a maddock that I use to dig some trenches and step down dirt hole with in about a third of the time than a hammer. I do a lot of trapping old strip mine sites and the ground is rock hard a lot of times cut roots and pull rebar trap stake real easy just put it in the gun rack on the atv

Yep,im in the grocery store thinkin coon bait. Harware store, Trap fatening,drugstore,lure holders and dispensers, Victorias Secret, well you know what I mean.

Sling Shots, for dispatch?

~ADC~