Although I've been having very good success trapping armadillos with double door cages and drift fences, I decided to try the wooden armadillo trap by thearmadillotrap.com I ordered a "pre-scented" trap and set it on a woods road back of my house (my armadillo testing ground) and caught 3 "dillers" in 4 nights. It was setup in a trail but no funneling was used. Just might be something to it! I plan to try one on my future armadillo jobs. Will still set up cages with drift fence but will throw one of these in the equation and see what happens.

Understand that trap will certainly catch them.

I have been toying with making a wooden trap for years. I have felt best for the customer to just add a cloth or piece of plywood to the traps I sell or his existing trap, for the scent gathering ability.

The enclosed wooden box would hold the scent better,but I don,t think it would hold up as well over time, especially if the trap was to be used for other animals also.

I had a customer last year that had one that he showed me when I sold him the trap I suggested.

Had a friend and customer that called last night and was excited cause he caught his 9th armidillo in his. He just has a piece of ply wood in the bottom of his trap and sets the trap in the yard.

I have used plywood in the bottom of my cage traps as well. If I have to put the trap on turf I don't use plywood as it of course damages the grass more...same of course for the wood trap. For the record the wood trap snagged another one last night. Now 4 catches in 6 nights.

A question that I have is...if armadillo scent really helps the catch that much and it certainly seems to, then is anybody selling armadillo scent as a lure? I know there are some diller baits on the market but haven't tried any. I will be setting up an armadillo job tomorrow a.m. and will do my usual cage traps with drift fence setup but throw the wood trap out for a test.

Very interesting. Please keep us posted.

Go For It!

So you are setting it without fencing, just a set trap in the yard?

All catches were in the same place. Trap was set in a trail where it crosses a woods road so there is a bit of natural fencing but nothing else. When I set up the armadillo job tomorrow I plan to place it in the wide open where there is diller sign.

Here is the "woody" set for action on a job. In all fairness to it though, a diller will have a tough time getting to it with all the drift fence funnels I have elsewhere in the yard.

Neat.

Set the woody on a new job a few days ago and it has nabbed 3 dillers with zero funneling.

I would build them with a wire trigger 11-12" tall and 10 to 11" wide and 34" long. Steel quillotine door frames and bar doors flapper door lock.

When wood rots, take metal off and replace boards. Fasten frames and mechanism with 1/4" bolts with lock nuts and washers.

Doors would be faster and wouldn,t worp. Trap would be less cumbersome to carry than the standard one.

Bar doors wouldn,t matter to the armidillo cause they would be up when he went in and down after.

There might be other makers on here that might have a better Idea or could do it cheaper. It would be interesting to see other double doored designs.

Kirk, I might take you up on that if you can do cypress.

I have not worked with cyprus but I will see. I was going to use treated plywood.

Would cypress absorb the smell as the other woods? Is there be a "best" type of wood to use?

Cypress is naturally rot resistant and should absorb odors better than treated. It's also available to you locally, Fred Rossman in Moultrie makes all his bee ware out of cypress.

I built a couple nearly identical to the original. I would have to say that the steel door frames and bar doors would be an improvement and I intend to put bar doors on all of mine when I get a chance. I recently put a cypress floor on a porch and noticed that a piece of scrap that was out in the yard swelled considerably when it was rained on. My thinking is that it would have to be heart cypress which would be pricey. I had hoped to get 3 out of a $35 sheet of 3/4 pressure treated plywood but only got 2. Some pieces left over but not enough for a full trap. Maybe with bar doors you could get 3. The trap that I purchased uses lightweight metal rods to support the piece of wood that the trigger mechanism mounts to. I used 5/16 threaded rod so you can pick the trap up by that piece (like a handle).

I have had one instance of a mis-fire where one door hung up. Trap wasn't sitting perfectly level. I think the bar door and steel frame would eliminate that problem.

I have been rotating my "dillers" thru the wood traps when I have a wooden one at home to add scent. They are definitely well scented now! This is not the cure-all catch-all solution to armadillos but I'm definitely gonna keep putting them on jobs along with wire trigger traps with drift fence.

Will check tommorrow. Let me see about the wood. I have customers that I trapped beaver, have saw mills that saw cypress.

The guillotine door frames on the end would allow you to carry, but I would mount the same handle I now use on my tube trap.

It would essentially be a large double door tube trap.

They would be very positive functioning and should hold up fairly well.

Barehunter

I believe if they should have been made out of cypress, they would have come that way on yours.

I sure will give it a look tommorrow.

THE CYPRESS IS TOO EXPENSIVE.

That's what I would have guessed!