I always try to post something that may help someone else as I know I have learned plenty about trapping from this forum. I normally only trap our farm and do an intense trapping every other year. I normally set about 30 to 50 DP traps, 5 to 10 cage traps and 12 to 20 footholds on about 700 to 800 acres during the intense trapping. I normally catch between 60 to 80 critters. I’m retiring this year and I will try to catch 100 critters in the 2026/2027 season - my next intense trapping season. I firmly believe it helps the population of game animals.

1. Victor Out O’Sight mole traps work great - if moles are active and you don’t catch one after 24 hours, set a new spot
2. DP traps -my opinion work great on coons, fair on skunks and poor on opossums - I caught 41 opossums this year and only about 5 in DPs - I use 4 different brands of DPs- both push and pull only. Cage traps and a good coyote/fox set with a foothold work much better for opossums. I had cell cameras out last year and this year and watched many opossums walk past DPs and go in the cage traps. I bait heavy with dog food, cat food, fish and other stuff. I used about 200 lbs of dog food and cat food this year. I throw handfuls different directions as trailing scent for cage traps and DPs. I had several opossums feed around DPs for 30 minutes or more and not eat any of the food in the DP traps - Tractor Supply’s cage traps that they run on sale for $29.99 with the small bonus trap inside work great for opossums - both sizes catch opossums but you need the larger one for big opossums and coons. The smaller ones are great for squirrels.

I hope this helps someone. Good luck!

That is a lot of dog and cat food.

Critters remember where the food is and so I pre bait lots of areas before setting traps with the dog and cat food. I try to pull critters from miles away..

Missing possms is a good thing of you're running a fur line.

If you're running a control line, blind set foothols, snares, or body grips are the way to go most of the time of you have any trails to set at all.

Used fryer grease and fish can work well.
Sounds like your little area is managed.
Canines next?

I knew I had one other thing I wanted to mention.
3. I’m not a believer in the squeaker calls. I believe it scares everything but bobcats and I have not caught a bobcat using one but have had a couple of close calls. I tried the little green box ones and the red headed woodpecker.

When I ran my ADC business in SE Ohio moles next to bats were my most profitable animal.
I had over 800 Out-O-Sights. In the spring I often had them all in the ground. Did some properties of 10+ acres.
Caught on average 2,000 per year.
Best day 61.
Best week 161.
Best month for mole income just over $12,000
Had a friend that caught over 5,000 a year in Missouri. Charged a flat $50 per mole fee. $250,000 on moles alone. All with Out-O-Sights.
Yes Out-O-Sights are king on moles.

Wright Brothers - I’ve caught over 50 coyotes since I started trapping our property. Coyotes were the main reason I started trapping. I let an older man trap for years but he was not catching many coyotes. One year we didn’t have many fawns that survived so I started trapping. I believe I caught 8 that year and there were fawns everywhere in the summer. I normally give him the fur so he likes that I trap. He made some decent money years ago off of some of the coyotes, fox, coons and bobcats I gave him.

Sshaffer - great info. Thank you for replying. I was thinking about starting an ADC business but I’m not sure I want to get committed. Do you think the going rate is $50 for moles? I have one LLC business for the farm and don’t really want to start another one.

This was my first year using some. I caught coyotes around them if they were there. I did not put the traps right up close to the squeaker though. My thoughts were that the coyotes would hang back and try to locate or scent the source of the squeaker. YMMV

I've never ran an ADC buisness so take this for what it's worth. Be prompt to answer your phone and return calls and charge whatever you want, set your own pricing, provide excellent communication and service and don't worry for a second what the competition charges.

I've ran a service buisness since 2015 and until I leaned what I said above I never made decent money.

If you’re setting to help the “game” population on your place, why trap every other year? And why pull critters in? If you want more game, you want less predators. My landowners laughed when I told them if they wanted less predators, then quit feeding them during the offseason. I enjoy the money, but I enjoy seeing results more. More fawns, more poults, and more chicks is the ultimate goal.

As far as possums, please share your secret how to keep them out of DP’s!! I can’t set a DP without catching a possum unless a coon gets there first. I don’t “feed” them first though, lol. I put just enough feed to cover the trigger on the DP. A 25lb bag of cat food will last me a full year or more and that’s trapping literally all year.

Squeakers are deadly on cats and fox. Never really used them for coyotes. Most of my “cat” sets are next to small thick pines and I zip tie the squeaker to the underside of the limb hidden by pine needles. It gets their attention and then the lure does the rest. Works great when the wind isn’t in my favor.

Wanna Be I trap every year but heavy only every other year. I try to pull critters in from surrounding farms to help game populations around our farm when I trap heavy. I’ve caught lots of opossums in DPs but not that many this year in DPs ( I believe only 5 out of 41 in DPs) Set a cage trap and a DP and put trail camera up and see what happens. I caught 5 opossums in one cage trap with 2 DPs within 4 feet of the cage trap. The 2 DPs never connected. Cage traps catch more opossums than DPs based on my experience. I use the DP caps and golf balls sometimes to keep mice/rats from eating bait out of DPs and for quick checking. When I trap heavy it is only 9 nights or so. I like my cell cameras for checking coyote sets anytime I decide to set them during the year. We run 15 to 20 cell cameras about 7 months out of the year. This year I bet we didn’t have 20 coon pics on all the cameras but I caught 20. The critter population is low. I checked 11 dirt holes and none of them had been touched 2 weeks after pulling traps.