Hi Guys,

First post on here. I am new to trapping out here in California and have had my line out for about a week now and nothing so far. One night I had two traps triggered so something starting to poke around. I am trying for skunk/opossum and coyote. I need the skinning practice. So out here in CA I am restricted to box traps only if I want to keep the fur.

My question is what kind of baits would you guys use to target these animals?

Also what are some good trap locations. I am trapping in a national forest and there is a creek running through so I have been sticking to the creek beds but there is very heavy brush and steep mountains all around me. I am kind wedged in a canyon but there are a few meadows outside the creek bed.

Fur is no good this time of year and animals will soon have young.
Unless they are menace animals,wait until fall.

Yep. Spend your time looking for tracks, scat, etc.

Will keep looking, the ground is so hard no tracks left, not even mine. I though I read somewhere to use flour to expose the tracks but have not tried it yet.

I know but need something to practice skinning with.

Not a good reason and a waste of the resource.
Get some rabbits off a farmer-you can practice your skinning and have some good meat also,and will have some animals to trap when the harvest season comes on in the fall.

What kind of traps/sets are you using???

I think clearing out the non game and predators from the area will open up more territory and food sources for my game animals later on, always worked with hunting, changing the method of take wont make a difference. I just need to find a good bait.

I am using box cage traps, only legal method available to me here. Going to add anther four or five traps to my line this weekend which will get me up to 10 traps out. I have different sizes from 60” to 24” out, damm things aren't cheap either. I buy them off craigslist as soon as they get listed.

X2. Well said Boco.
Welcome to Trapperman JayRay. Lots of very knowledgeable folks on here and great info on the archives.

Roadkill is great to practice on. Just grab um before they look like party bloons lol!

Coyotes with a cage is a waste of time. especially on a recreational level. according to the CA regs. raccoon season ended on March 31. Skunks with a cage, any bait they can smell will work. I would be more concerned about dispatch of a caught skunk due to CA laws regarding such.

I think you oughtta listen to Boco on this one... the guy knows a thing or two about trapping and furbearers.

Yea, lots of regs out here, I know them backwards and forward now on what I can and cant do. Had to take a state written test just to get the license. They basically hand you a 200 page manual and say call us when you are ready to take a test. Only 128 licensed trappers left in a state of millions. What baits do you like to use?

Yea once I get this figured out it will be different, total green horn when it comes to trapping, skinning, tanning. Ill trade the resource for the education and experience right now.

Go to a trappers convention. You can pick some trappers brains once you get there.

buy a gold pan. do some prospecting behind some of those big rocks. buy a hunting license and a predator call. charge people to put your traps in their garage and remove nuisance coons skunks and squirrels.

if you want to trap coyotes buy some foot traps and go to nv. if you make a trip to wy you don't even need a license to trap coyote.

I have hunting and fishing license, been chasing spring turkey and shark fishing. I have been looking at some
Predator calls for yotes also.

I wish I could charge people for nuisance animals, if you profit from trapping here its illegal to keep the pelt, you just have to dispatch and trash them.

On ADC forum, they talk about baits that you use year around on varmints.

Seems like people already offered you a better option for gaining practice (but you don't want to seem to listen) where you wouldn't be depleting furbearers as a resource in a time of year when they are not worth anything and you aren't getting paid anything for them. That is a complete waste. Just my two cents though. I'll never understand the CA mentality.