The box sets work, I caught three wolverine in them last year, 2 males, one 39.5 pounds and another 36 pounder, and a 19 pound female, just running about 50% refusals or more!

One more thing on wolverine passing up you milk crates. I use a couple types of bait in the same box. As a wolverine can be fussy. So maybe tainted bear meat, fish and Muskrat in the same box. Make sure he gets what he is looking for that day. Also lure on a ball of hide just to keep his attention and scraps or dog feed on the ground make sure he spends some time in the area. Turn them Old Golu eyes to eating and you will do good.

Great advise! Thanks!

I'm at the extreme end of wolverine habitat so we don't get large catches. My buddy who use to live in Haines Junction Yukon. He said they get big catches of wolverine there. He said they get refusals so to reduce them they use deadfall triggers.

They run a wire through the back of the milk crates then to the bait. The other end goes to a hole where the trigger wires use to be. So when the wolverine pulls on the bait he triggers the 330. He showed me how but I m scared to stick me arm through the 330 like he did
My buddy don't trap no more because his wife has a Yukon Vet showing Animal Planet.

One more thing I like to raise the crate a little off the ground so the wolverine does not have to bend down.

Has anyone got a picture of your milk crate set they could share?
Thanks

I don't catch many wolverine, usually 1-3 a year, but I use mostly footholds due to refusals on box/bucket sets. I tried some crate's early on and didn't have much luck. Made some boxes out of weathered plywood and covered them with spruce boughs to make them look more natural and have caught a couple younger ones, and one mature adult, but he was thin and hungry looking. I still have boxes out just for coverage and to hedge against weather issues, but they are not very productive. I've had them check out and pass by a 330 box and end up in a foothold a couple hundred yards down the trail. As others have said I would imagine its related to educated critters, the more remote you are crates/boxes probably work fine.

I am not convinced that avoidance is caused by having been 'educated' previously.

I have never trapped in an area where wolverines were likely to have encountered another trapper. Even though they can have very large home ranges and travel a heck of a distance looking for love, I believe that the average wolverine is pretty much a homebody as long as he can find groceries. Especially the females.

I can recall when Gulo was the area biologist here. He was having good luck catching wolverine in bucket sets. He was trapping mostly with the airplane but still was at least a hundred miles from my line. The difference , I believe, is that the individual animals he was trapping had encountered man-made things before. The individual animals in my area had not.

I believe that the critters closer to civilization become more familiar and at ease with things that are, or look to be, out of place.

A bucket or a milk crate are not things a wolverine normally encounters in his lifetime...........unless they live closer to a community.

I also believe that mama wolverine teaches her kits travel routes through the country and also things to avoid..........like a bucket or a box. That's why I think my luck with buckets changed after I eliminated the older cohort in the population, with footholds.

I also started leaving buckets inverted over a stump during the summer. Maybe the critters became habituated to seeing them and thus lowered their avoidance behavior.

Look how common it is for wolverines to circle a set. That isn't 'hunting' behavior, it is caution. If something appears natural, I think their alert system is at a lower level. I also believe that if you can focus their attention higher than their normal line of sight, it gives you an advantage.......particularly with footholds.

Many of us remember Piper9er on here. He used mostly 330's in buckets and crates but they were elevated on a couple of leaning poles. I believe that was mostly due to wind and drifting snow on his line but I think it also aided the animal's ability to see the bait without "scrunching " down a bit.

Who knows ? That's what makes these guys such an interesting animal to pursue

Just my 2 'scents'

This thread brings back fond memories. The days when the WT+L section of Tman was most active. So many participating and offering their experience. For those who are interested, go to the archive section ie - wilderness trapping and living archives. All of the topics offer a wealth of information. There are several sections that pertain to Wolverine. The buckets that White referenced are shown in the archive thread titled - Wolverine thread archive by trapper Joe. The pics were posted by fisherman 222.
Bucket sets don’t seem to work for some, but my experience was positive. As you can see, the elevated sets are positioned at a downward angle. In theory, the animal has all four legs occupied as it sticks it’s head into the bucket. A loud skunk call always helped draw them in. Consistent behind the neck catch. Often, you would get them on their first curcuit, other times months later. But who really knows, it could be a new animal entering the area.
All sorts of methods work, but the nice part is the drama of foot holds is avoided.

I agree. And the drama is real!

I agree that footholds cause far less avoidance, but are higher maintenance in freeze/ thaw that I trap in. Buckets with 330’s angled slightly downward are almost weather proof and milk crates with a good covering of hemlock boughs prove almost equal. I just have not had a single wolverine make the final step into a 330 with a bucket or crate. It seems like what White mentioned, in that our wolverine invariably end up running the coastal beaches and encounter all sorts of flotsam along that fringe. Plastics and rubber are all over.

My sets that produce with 330’s are ones that use a natural feature to craft a cubby from. Minimal additions are needed, mostly just to stabilize and somewhat fence the sides of the trap.

I've had luck with buckets and boxes or crates. However I've gone to mostly this type of set due to restrictions where I trap. The bait is covered to help it last longer when it warms up and keeps the birds out. I've had them circle this and leave too.

Funny as I have caught many in lynx sets with completely exposed traps, no bait, and just a wing with or without lure
. The good thing about those has been that I use mainly Jump traps for cats, and the under spring keeps them from chewing of their frozen toes and pulling out.

nice shed and wonderful pattern on that animal

I had poor luck with V-14 jumps. Several pull-outs, and a couple toes.
Since switching to NO BS CANINE EXTREMES, that Kendal made with no off-sets, for MadMike, and I, zero loss.
I will say, those traps have held everything, including wolves, for MM.

Cytex: Sounds like you are trapping lazy not putting the effort in to make the box area attractive to to the wolverine to mill about and work the area. But if you catch him further down the line it's all good.

That is a sweat set Nooksack I would love to come on a Golu hung up like that.

Yes I too had several V-14's completely disassembled by wolverines.
But I have never lost one from the MB-750's . In fact I have never lost anything from an MB-750.

That is a nice set Nook. I prefer to use a snare rather than the 330 in that situation. That drop off of the bank is a great place

Wow what a shed. Wouldn't surprise me if that a 70"+ moose.

Thanks for all the great info! Merry Christmas to all!