I'm wanting to try out 1 or 2 cage type traps that are legal for Ohio. Does anyone here make them or know of someone who does?

very easy to make your own if you can find the right gauge wire. does your law require a certain mesh size, or just certain size holes cut into the panels?

Tomahawk Live Traps makes two different styles of turtle cage traps one a repeating and one a trigger device. I prefer the repeating style.

If you have less than 4" mesh or wire you have to have a 6" hole in it for the itty ones to get out.

Do you like them John, do they hold up ok?

what was in the burlap john? bluegills etc? nice video

mn requirements were the same as yours, but 4x4 holes required in the top and side panels instead of your 6 inch ones. we used the 2x4 mesh and cut out a wire here and there to create the required holes. I still have a bunch of mine from back when I trapped them commercially. shipping on them would be spendy.

If ya leave now I'll take ya out for lunch tomorrow I figured shipping would be a deal breaker, hoping someone close has some. New or used is fine. Maybe I should post on the shed.

Did I miss a video?

id need to eat a pretty big lunch to come out on that deal. haha. to ship one of ours would be a package about 40x46 and about 4 inches thick, so spendy. that's why I suggest making your own. all you need is a roll of wire and a pliers.

you tube john-chagnon

I'm trapping coons and groundhogs among other stuff and didn't want to build them but I just might. It sure would be cheaper and I have about a month before season starts.
Anyone have any good designs? And thanks WRR, I'll check out the video, I always have enjoyed John's stuff.

Fur Fish & Game has an add on turtle traps. turtlecrazy.com also has free dvd with purchase.

Is there a reason you don't want Hoop traps particularly D shaped hoop traps with spreaders??

We can't use traps with wings or leads here. And not really Horn, I'd use a hoop trap. I want to mess around with a cage trap though. I'm sure the hoop style would ship cheaper.

Trapping Turtles with John Chagnon using Tomahawk's 410 Repeating Turtle Trap- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXF7EdpDiRI

Thanks LA, I really liked that trap, looks like it's built real good. But a little pricey, especially when there's a chance of some knothead taking it lol.

as stated,,i would build one for theft reasons

that tomahawk trap is very close in size to what everyone up here used to use. 28 wide, 36 long, and 16 inches high, and of course they would collapse flat. doesn't sound very big, but look at that tomahawk trap and all the room left over with the 4 turtles in it. if you build, be sure to get the 12 1/2 gauge wire. the wire stocked in farm stores is 14 which is way too light, and they can order you a roll of the heavier stuff from their supplier.

also, I should've mentioned that turtle nets, hoops, don't have wings or leads on them, so they might be legal there. weve used them up here, but anywhere theres beaver or rats, they'll chew them to pieces.

I belt Keith Daniels still makes hoop nets. Youre probably close enough to drive to his shop to pick em up.

Turtle traps in Ohio need either a 4inch mesh or a 6 inch escape ring.

I made my own traps, it's not hard. They are 1 foot high, 2 feet wide and 48 inches long. Net throat (you can make it from a landing net replacement net) ( or buy a real good one from Nichols Net) and a hog panel flap door in the rear for easy turtle removal. I use 1/2 inch galvanized electrical condit for front and back frame. 4x8 opening on top reinforced with a piece of hog panel lets out small turtles and allows you to set the trap underwater and hide it with seaweed so it is not visible to passerbys, turtles stick out their heads for air. Also allows for a rise in water levels of 12 inches or so without drowning turtles. Bait goes under a wire flap in the back of the trap. I use 1x1 or 1x2 wire. Using 2x4 wire or even 4x4 wire will allow turtles heads to get stuck underwater and then they drown. I also use net traps but prefer my cages. 13 keepers in the one trap shown. Eric

Shipping costs as much as the trap. I used to sell them and send them all over the country till the shipping went crazy. I made mine collapsible and they had to be put together. I sent instructions on how to do it with a VHS video.

MN DNR decided there weren't that many snappers in MN and if you had a commercial license you could keep it unless you ever let it lapse. Then, it became non-renewable. If you want to trap a turtle to eat you have to buy a recreational turtle license. You are allowed 3 turtles. I bought a recreational license, set two traps. In one trap was 4 snappers; the other trap had 3. This was an overnight setting. That same year I set a trap in the Mississippi river by my home. I had 7 snappers and 3 rubber backs in one of the traps. So much for the DNR's shortage of snappers.

BTW,

I made my traps out of 2X4 mesh. The trap is 2' wide by 2' high and 4' long. I made it so it would collapse making it easier to haul more than one. I never liked the net style traps.

we used to make a plywood cap for the truck bed, bungee cord 40 collapsible traps on top of that, and toss the turtles in through the tailgate, under the plywood cover. bait went in 5 gallon buckets just inside the tailgate. mostly all bridge trapping. traps were all 2x4 mesh with a few 4x4 holes in the top panel, no webbing was used. usually set a couple inches under water to hide the trap, and allow turtles to reach the surface to breathe. very efficient.

Eric, so much great info, thanks. Was wondering, instead of using the net throat would it be possible to use the front panel as the in and then make the side with the throat on it a access door?

When I first started I used a flap style front door but often the first turtle caught would jam up the flap door and not let others in. The only way to get a better catch rate was to face the in-door towards the bank and the back end toward deeper water. When the turtle realizes he is caught he stays on the end of the trap closer to deep water and not plug up the flap. Only thing was not as many would go around to the shallow end to enter the trap. Net throats are the way to go.
I have played with snaring snappers, using all different things to make a cubby out of and snaring the front. Problem is you need a big loop (so small turtles do not knock it down) and the bait pretty far from the snare as the bigger the snapper the longer the neck.
Sometimes the best bait is a female turtle in the trap. I had a big snapper in a small pond once that I was called in to catch. He would not enter a trap for fish bait so I brought in a female from elsewhere and put her in trap. Big one was in trap before I could get the truck started.

Thanks eric, is it a big deal to make the throats?

I used to make turtle traps by taking a 4' by 4' piece of chicken wire and making a tube out of it. I would tie a flat piece of heavy, black plastic mesh on one end, so that I could easily untie it, by loosening a few metal bag ties. On the other end, I would wire on a small landing net. I would stretch the net towards the back with a string on both sides and tie the strings off. I would then cut a slit between the 2 strings, to let the turtles through when they pushed. I put an empty 2 liter bottle, in the back end, to keep it above the water, so the turtles could breathe. It cost about $10.00 to make a trap.

I usually used half a carp or filleted fish carcasses as bait. I targeted mostly painted turtles, but would catch large number of snappers and softshells too. I never caught more than 1 large snapper at a time, but would catch lots of smaller snappers at a time.

If I made a snapping turtle trap today, since I can no longer keep and sell painted turtles, I would use horse fence for the tube and top flight netting for the throat and back. Made that way they would be fairly indestructible, still relatively cheap and I could make them much bigger.

Keith