Yeah apparently this guy didn't get the memo that a two door cage will make him wanna go in and get caught easier what's he do ? Eats some bait from the side ( yeah looks like 1x1 is still too small for my bait gaurd lol )

Goes to the back goes in , litterly just sits at the edge of the pan and eats

Come back out walk around to the other side sits at the other edge of the pan and eats

Then he just waddled off after probably 5min at the trap total doing that

On the bright side I can tell the trap isn't too small length wise and the pan tension is good ( was having problems with it being too light before. But yeaaahhh I think the next 16' pannel I buy is gonna be made into nothing but single doors with .5" gaurded sides . I love this part of trapping but at the some time I really wanna throttle this little smart Alec

Here a little video with the footage

maybe hang the bait from the top with a bit of sheet metal blocking the reach in

make them work for the bait a bit like in a tuna can wired above the pan

the longer you keep them dancing and not eating the more time to step on the pan

We always suspend the eye appeal and bait from the top of the cage. In the rear for a single door trap and the top center for a double door trap. At times a small depression under the trap pan on the ground with bait / lure / eye appeal.

Put your bait In a can then crush down the edges just enough so the coon has to work for the bait.

Wolfdog, you may try some smaller opening wire around the bait if you decide to hang/suspend it as we all know coons are only 2nd to us primates when it come to the dexterity of their fore paws (hands), so smaller mesh (on the outside) fastened to the heavier panel may be all you need to keep the existing ones (traps) in service.............................. the mike

When I was a kid, dad and my great grandad built some double door live traps. The pan was in the middle with a 1/4-3/8 inch lip front and back and had a hardware cloth cover that fit over that. No easy stealing the bait in them

Use to have bait stealers every now & then without firing trap. Now i use peanutbutter on baits to secure to pan

Shut one door

So funny thing I I went to check it today and something told me to check the trigger mechanism, dang thing was locked solid, would not trigger, had to rebend the dog a bit

So let's see if we can get some different reactions with one door down

Looks like a fairly young coon, that might be educated. I would dig a hole UNDER the pan for the bait and stake that trap so it can't roll over.

LOL, well done!