x3 as close as ya can get it, dog pointed away from the backing.

mabe its the culprit. i don't see him taking 18 chicks in a night, but mabe they had a party!

Ztrap might still have some of the bigger (opening) Ztraps. Contact him and find out.

Try cable restraints. Then you can release dogs.

I’m facing a similar situation so rather than start a new thread I thought I’d resurrect this one.



I am interested in the elevated trap offset from the bait as suggested by Sfranks above. Has anyone else tried this successfully? It seems plausible and thought I might be able to use a couple of concrete blocks set about 15-20 feet downwind from the bait and just enough dirt on top to bed a trap, I figure a #1 ½ long spring or #11 double long spring would be easier to bed in this situation. I'm even thinking a Hagz bracket supporting a coil spring trap might work with the rod driven almost flush with the blocks and just enough dirt to cover the trap.

I’ve ordered Mark’s book “Fox Trapping in and Around Suburbia” to gain whatever knowledge I can on this situation but am really curious if anyone else could offer more or different advice on this problem.

The back story to these ramblings is I’ve gained access to 10 acres in a semi-rural/suburban area. The landowner has bobcat and foxes on their security cameras and they’ve lost several ducks to one or the other. After discussing the situation (neighbors dogs running loose, yeah I know…) with the landowner I only put in three heavily guided and flagged sets for bobcat in the hopes that they would avoid most domestic dogs.

After digging through the archives, my books and online I'm going to handle this with a blind set on a mound on the backside of a mock set. I'll use a cement block with dirt on top to build my mound and bed the trap on it. I'll put in a set with just bait and lure 10-15 feet upwind of the mound. I have 2 blocks so all I need to decide is whether I put in one mock set with the two blocks or two separate sets.

I'm pretty confident that I can avoid the domestics this way and at least have some kind of chance to catch the fox/foxes. If nothing else this ought to be interesting.

I don't have any Hagz brackets so ordered a dozen. If this idea works I'll have to work this out with a coil spring trap Hagz bracket and rod.

x3

Elevated setting has worked for me. Not Dog "proof" but close, IME. Works best with trap a safe distance from bait and bait as large as possible(not exposed) though most of the time trap is legal distance away anyway. I believe the behavior is fox want a good look at/around bait for possible larger predator present as not to be added dinner before committing to approaching bait. Small bait and too close don't seem to take advantage of it. Have never taken a bobcat or coyote in an elevated set. More grey fox than red also. Only one dog, a small one. Not the most productive fox set by any measure but it has taken me some and a few trap shy ones that I couldn't catch with other most used sets.

Thanks Drakj for bringing your experience to this set. Your idea on why a fox does this makes sense, I hadn't thought about the possibility of the fox becoming dinner. I'm guessing this explains why the small bait with the elevated trap up close doesn't work so well. Maybe a distance of 20-25 feet might be a little better.

I"m not surprised this set isn't real productive but its got to be better than no set, lol. I'm planning on putting either the 1st or only set fairly close to the duck pen and that it will be a flat set.

Well, I’m not so sure about my execution of the mound part of this idea but I guess we’ll see. You can just see the “flat set” at the top of the pic.

If I knew how to post pics I would show a couple of dp grey fox sets. We cover it in depth at the South Jersey Trapping and Snaring School. NJ can't use foot traps but can use DP traps. Where there is a will there's is a way to get it done. Some of the folks that have gone to the school are doing well with them for fox. But I will let them tell it if they want to LOL

That’s on my “bucket list.” I want to catch a grey in a DP! I can’t set footholds near feeders mainly because I don’t want to keep resetting them after the deer trip them, lol. Those greys seem to like protein as much as the deer and coons.

PM sent

i Think out of the box.

Here in New Jersey we have to.

Or snares

Can you cage trap red fox? I thought they ranked up there with coyotes as far as cage trapping.


How would you use snares for red fox and avoid dogs?

They may put their front feet up on that block but your looking for a place where the fox can stand on while looking over the surrounding area i've set on woodchuck mounds with no bait or lure with success and in the bygone days when everyone was a small dairy farmer every farm had a manure pile out someplace and fox would crawl all over them also seen sets on here perhaps where a haybale set out with lure or bait on the ground but traps on top of the bale have not tried that or maybe a urine post with no urine downwind of a skunky rotten lure not a big producer but dogs love to slobber and rub on it

Thanks Jeff, the mound definitely sounds better than what I've done. I'm wanting some method or set that would only be used on a small acreage where there are domestic dogs around and no natural mound. Maybe a mock stump 18-20 inches across. Make it reasonably light and put a cut out or recess in the top for bedding a trap.

I first learned to catch fox with a mound set , it only needs to be the one high spot within 30’ of the bait . Warning, wire your bait down. That concrete block won’t likely work the way you have it. Put a second block up tightly against the first one and completely cover it with dirt . Think of the blocks as a way to gain elevation without using 55 gallons of dirt. You can probably cover 2 blocks with 20 gallon of dirt . I used road kill as bait , a dead skunk for the neighborhood dog to roll on may serve a dual purpose.
I would just use a long chain and anchor with a stake or earth anchor. I’m not use what you intend with The Hagz bracket but It sounds like a way to break a leg if the trap does not disconnect from the bracket .

Good points Golf. I have a second block I could butt up to the first one.

I bet you're right about the Hagz and not a good approach. I definitely wouldn't want to break a leg. Thanks

Good luck to the both of you .