...by our old friend

Seldom is a thinking trapper. He analyzes every aspect of his trapline.

That’s pretty slick idea!
Jim

That was worth the price of admission this morning.

Thanks!

P.S. Wish my work area looked that organized.

I did that a few years ago after watching his video. Works alright but you still need to check the bait on occasion as mice will steal it without setting off the trap.

I would have no use for it due to the above.

I would have no use for it due to the above.
Same goes for any type of bait in an eclosure set.
Unless you can visually see the bait you will be riding by unbaited traps that are still set.

If you are having issues with the mice stealing bait. I do this and it last a bit longer this way. I run a wire through the top of my boxes and tighten the bait to the bottom side of the lid. I do this with my fisher boxes as well as my coon boxes.

Pic?

Ever try a screen wall between bait and trap? Say maybe hardware cloth?

I've started doing this but quit using a flagging system as I find I prefer something simpler. The more complex things get, the more things can go wrong.

I do the tip down thing for weasel boxes, seems a bit simpler to me. J1 explains it in this video fast forward to the 6 minute mark if you want to straight to the tip downs
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/TPbLLMPKqRwXs6Uk/

Pretty slick.

Yes that does look simple.

A suspended bait will last longer than bait in a horizontal box or a box with the opening up or in a ground hole.
I want the microtines and birds working the bait,it is as much or more of an attraction to target furbearers than the bait itself because the microtines and whiskeyjacks and chickadees provides visual and sound lure not just smell.
The trick is to use a good sized chunk of bait,at least fist size better double fist size.

Screening off the bait completely is not something I would do since it would slow me down considerably. In the cold climate here bait gets frostburnt and looses some attraction,In warmer weather bait also needs changed. I change out old bait with fresh every second or third check(10 days to 2 weeks) and toss the old chunk on the ground Most of my boxes will have a couple snares set in close proximity for ground fur that I can open up when I notice them taking the old dropped bait.

Yes, I often don't bother to wire my bait into my marten boxes, but rather take a square of heavy wire screen (1/4" squares aka hardware clothe) cut a little larger than the box and drop the bait in the box, then shove the screen in after it, holding the bait in the back of the box, visible and smellable but not stealable by small critters.

As Boco says this does slow a guy down some when rebaiting, particularly in vertical boxes with the opening down, which is the way the majority of mine are set. But I find I have to rebait so much less often that it makes it much faster to me. Plus I can go by each set and just get close enough to see the trap is still in the box and know it is still baited, instead of either having to peer up in each box to check the bait, or risk checking unbaited sets. Which speeds up my checks immensely.

There are other ways of protecting and extending bait to keep mice, voles, shrews and such from robbing your bait BEFORE your target animal arrives. This is not Canada but we have winter weather that is cold (-20 to -25) and dryer than most (snow--- isn't that moisture). In counties here that are 90+% ag land (corn, soybeans, alfalfa), I would wager a stale donut to a Montana bobcat that we have as much or more bait robbing vermin than anyone. If you use 1/2 of a muskrat carcass w/o some way of keeping it isolated/protected from these "little creatures" it will be nothing but bones in a week or less. Makes it tough to keep ANY trap set working at PEAK odor and site efficiency so you rebait often or use other methods of non-access/availability. S. Fales' idea seems to have merit, its finding a weasel here that is the difficult part. My experience. ..............the mike

Have done a similar thing with cage traps using car antennas pulled off junkers at wrecking yard.
My cages all have power doors and the little knob on the end of the antenna is usually enough to hold the flag in place without interfering with door operation

To boil it down-maximum attraction means bait that is acessable to birds and microtines,change out bait regularly to keep it from drying out and use a big chunk of bait that wont be consumed overnight by the voles, shrews.
Type of bait is important also.Beaver is king in cold weather,muskrat,rabbit grouse scrap etc dry out too fast and loose their attraction.
If weasels is your target animal you will catch them in a day or two if your set is maximum attractive since weasels have such a small home range and great hearing and sight senses they will zero in on all the activity at the set quickly.

Good point. How small would you estimate to be average?

In my area there will be several overlapping weasel home ranges in an acre of ground in good habitat(cover)Dispersing weasels in late fall and early winter are quick to fill in vacant habitat also.