Checking my 120 boxes this morning, one of them was fired with nothing in it. I had beaver, peanut butter, and marshmallows as bait. For some reason, only the meat was eaten and everything else was left alone. The trap was outside the box, and there are a bunch of long dark hairs in the trap and on the ground. The set is for skunk, but I am curious about what got away from me. If it was a skunk, will I be able to get him in that box, or do I need to change it to a different kind of trap

Grinner

I’ve never seen em here, not roadkill or anything. I know a guy who’s lived here a long time and he’s seen only a few

Y’all don’t have Possums? Bet that makes for a boring line check, lol. So what clogs up y’all’s sets of you don’t have any?

Could have been a weasle or a mink also. Don't overthink it, Just bait back up and give it time. Trappin skunks isn't like trappin coyotes!

Okay, thanks. Didn't know if getting pinched by a coni would make em shy.

Rabbits

Bear reaching for the goodies , long dark hair ?

Could have been a bear. I've had rabbits hop into a 110 only to pull out. Doesn't explain the hair though.

Hodag

Moosetrot

I thought of bear, but wouldn’t it have also eaten the sweets which were mixed in with the meat

Small critters like mice, voles and rats, will sometimes hit the trigger wires. Most of the time, they just set them off, but once in awhile you get lucky and catch one. Just one of the headaches of trapping.

Don't know for sure without looking at the hair, maybe a fisher, 120 is a little small for holding an old fisher, little early for bear, and the bear would have torn your box to shreds. Never saw a possum up here.

WannBe: skunks

Do you have a picture of the hair?

I live in what I assume to be the same latitude as him. We have possums in the southern part of the state as stated in the trapper ed it says they don't move farther north than the south half of the state because of the winter killing off the grinners because their ears tail nose and feet are prone to frostbite.

Depends on when the 120 slapped his wrist

I do not have a pic of the hair. They were long black guard hairs, so it’s probly not shrews or those smaller rodents.The set is at a big rock pile where there used to be an old barn. I didn’t even think of it being a fisher. Could it have just been a skunk that managed to slip away

we have plenty of possum up here in the u p , I caught over 100 one year , i skin 72 big ones an that year they sold for 6 dollar avg. it was a while back

Oh dang, that’s odd. I talked to multiple people who have lived here for years and heard they rarely see them

It's also possible that one critter tripped your trap and then another ate the bait (like shrews or weasel). Shrews usually leave poop though. Any tracks?