I am having trouble catching coons in my dog proof traps. I started trapping because we grow produce in several large gardens on our farm as well as raise cattle.Three years ago we caught 14 coons in simple cage traps with nothing more than a rotten tomato thrown in the back. I decided I would rather trap the coons in the winter and skin them out for a nice winter time activity instead of just wasting the animal killing them in the summer. So this is my first year seriously trapping coons, I am struggling. I feel as though I should be catching coons but so far have only caught one boar in about 2 weeks. I am using fruit loops in them and placing them close to water sources. I bought some lure I have been using as well but that didn't seem to help either. I know there as plenty of coons around and our farm is literally surrounded by 25+ thousand acres of woods that I know is not being trapped. I have read and watched video's on YouTube but just don't seem to be getting results.

I know I am asking for a lot here but any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

I'm no expert but for me in the winter you have to be way more specific in where you set your trap, find the food source, find the bedding\den area, toilet area, and find the trails they use to go back and forth to these areas. set your traps in spots where they will bump into them. also remember that the coon are way less active in winter, they do come out but i don't think that they wander around investigating near as much in warmer months. i do way better with fishy scents that have some scent to draw them in when it is colder scent does not carry as far. I look at it this way, in the warmer weather a person might leave there house and enjoy a nice wandering enjoyable trip to get where they are going, checking things out on the way, but when it is cold and nasty out a person is more likely to leave their house and make a direct beeline to their destination without slowing down to see the sights. same with the coon. just my .02

Go buy some sardines and dump them in a empty peanut jar 3/4 full or something like a peanut jar.Then add a little honey and a cap full of vanilla and stir up.Put a teaspoon of that in your dps.If its been really cold your coon may not be running much,they fatten up in the summer and fall and can stay denned up this time of year for a good bit if its really cold.

Got to set on sign. Areas like ponds in summer are not as good in winter. They are more specific about their travel. It is hard to draw them any distance. Got to put the traps almost in front of them sometimes. Scout the perimeter of your property then the areas that you plant. They have food and water sources somewhere. Find the trails and you will tear them up.

Thank you for all the great tips.

Put the trap under their nose or use flagging if open area. I use bait in the trap and 2 lures on each trap or 3 lures, 1 taste lure down in the trap and 1 lure one on the lip and one overhead a few inches. k9 or cat gland lures or urine over the DP really produces for me.

Put a golf ball on the dp

Also marshmallows work good, put it so half is sticking out.

Hard to beat marshmallows with grape jelly and a little molassis.

OK Jonesie
I know what you mean when you say " taste lure" I bet most trappers reading this dont.
You want to explan the differance here ?
They havent seen one of your demo's or attended our, SOUTH JERSEY TRAPPING and SNARING SCHOOL

IMHO ONLY Many will disagree or have a deeper thought. Taste baits or lures can be, say sardines, everyone loves them, the animal wants to eat it. Yet that same bait in 5 days with 90-degree heat and sun becomes a smell bait. and has a totally different animal response. it can still cause the animal to get caught just for different reasons for the animal. The attraction is still there but no longer will the animal want to eat it. Taste baits can be homemade, commercial or store-bought. taste baits can be used to trail or snack the animal into the set or trap. The animal will eat it and hopefully want more to keep reaching into the DP hole or cage if it did not grab or set the trigger off, step on the pan. A smell food bait or lure is made to draw the animal to the set and hopefully, the animal gets caught before they taste the bait or lure. and decides not to reach back in the DP or continue to try to get more. Both smell and taste baits and lures have their place as the best attractants to use. The positive with taste bait can be high when dealing with the pull-type only DP traps out there. Here in NJ we can only use pull types and coon can get in and out without pulling the trigger, so the more I can get the coon to reach in the better I feel any way LOL With foot traps smell baits and lures will always dominate because they tend to be stronger in reach out power, which is a positive for bait odor getting out of a hole or under or on a flat set. I break it down for DP traps as Call, draw or curiosity to get the animal there in case it is off track a few feet, visual added serves the same purpose. 2nd, a position or stopping lure on the lip that tastes good keeps it there to investigate. And a taste bait or lure down inside to make it keep reaching in if does not pull the trigger at first.

2 Examples of smell baits and taste baits. First is smell bait in tubes, Second is a taste bait in the tube.

https://www.facebook.com/235771349868366/videos/742639945848168/


https://www.facebook.com/235771349868366/videos/741738279271668/

You did not tell us which brand DP you have BUT
If it has a straight trigger like a Duke, you sposd to slide a 3/4" pc of surgical hose on that trigger
Then put a marshmallow under trigger
fill tube only 3/4"-1" with bait of choice (generic fruity flakes-cheap dry cat food, 50-50)
run a trailing scent from waters edge to trap
cover tube with golf ball or other item to keep mice out.
This is what works for me.

I think one of the biggest mistakes i have made in the past and still make at times with DP's or any trap is that it has to be set on sign. If it is on fresh sign and fresh daily used trail it is a lock up set. If I am making the assumption that an animal will want to come through here I am off base. Dp's for me are set dead on the trail that i know is active. Those hook up consistently. Other times i will try and expand that area to get stragglers that rarely work out as well.

I make my own caps using a screw off pop bottle cap and a flat washer and silicone the two together this keep all the rain and mice out of my DPs.

Jonesie knows whereof he speaks. If the coon like the taste, they’ll stick around to get more. If the bait doesn’t taste good, they’ll walk away after one taste. That’s what those videos show.

Try burying a DP right in the trail. Dig a hole wide enough so the spring won’t bind when it goes off. Put the DP on an angle deep enough so the entire trap is in the hole. Use a taste bait. This time of the year, make it a fox or coyote bait. Get it below the trigger. Turn the trap so the trigger is horizontal. Learned this from Jonesie, too.

Same story here. I forced myself this year to only set on good sign. None of the "man this looks like a good spot" stuff. I put the DP right in the tracks, or right next to the toilet area. And my catch percentage increased dramatically.

I also think coons are a touch more selective about DP's when it comes to smell. We want them to eat what is inside (at least reach for it). Its not just something for them to smell and investigate (like a dirt hole). If it smells bad, they may not want to reach in and taste it.

Made some changes to my trap considering many of the things said here. Thank you for all the advice!

X2 on dug in trap, or can just mound grass, hay, leaf matter or pine needles around the trap will work also if the ground is frozen. If we sit and think about it there is a reason why the bigger older coon are always plugging up the fox, coyote and bobcat sets.

Also smell baits and lure work great with push type trigger DP traps if the baits are below the trigger. The catch the animal before they get the bait concept is in play with the push systems.

To the OP, when did you start setting your traps? Two weeks ago would have been in Mid Dec?

I'm also in MO, and as I recall, about 2 weeks ago we had about 8" of snow and temps dropped to single digits? Coon activity around here slowed to a crawl during that and has not recovered.