Colony traps come in all sizes but for me they only come in one size - Big. I have for a long time said that every swamp has one killer set, the trapper just has to find it. Using a big enough trap, that can catch rats, mink, otter and beaver (up to 25 pounds or so) in that one spot allows for a quick check and a "down the road to the next location". Most swamps by me are 10 to 20 acres, not the monster swamps that are in other parts of the country. My traps are 10 inches wide, 6 inches tall and anywhere from 3 to 4 feet long. 1x2 inch wire, 14 gauge. All have multiple doors inside to create "kill chambers". Flap type doors are strengthened by bending them in a "U" shape, no mink can slip out alongside these doors. They are designed to catch from either direction but more than 90% of the time I set them to catch from only one direction. That end has a large piece of wire to act as blocking, the only way thru is thru the trap. We have a limit on beaver and otter in NJ so if I do not have a tag for them then the door on the "back end" is not wired shut, they can simply then blow the door out and escape. Mink and rats cannot do that so they are caught. All pics are on a 24 hour check.
First pic is a nice male otter. It shows the wire guide on the front. This trap was slid into a culvert connecting two swamps under an old railroad bed.

Second picture is 3 mink and a rat, again from that same location under the railroad bed.

20 pound beaver and a rat same place as above

6 black rats

Otter and a rat

This picture shows how to set a colony trap in a muskrat hole. always leave the trap back 8 to 12 inches from the hole so rats can enter and get caught on the way out. Jam the trap up tight to the hole and all you will catch is rats already in the hole.

Next 2 pictures are the same culvert. Always set on the downstream side if there is a current or chance of a flood to keep the trap from being pushed up inside the culvert and plugging it.


The last 2 pics are in swamps with a ditch thru them. wire front blocks off the ditch. First trap has rats and mink, second pic is only rats. In this situation I cover the submerged trap with grass, reeds or whatever is handy to keep birds of prey or herons from damaging caught animals. This covering also aids in catching otter and mink in them.

Many years ago a friend trapped rats in his farm pond using a crab trap baited with an ear of corn.

Really great info! Thank you for taking the time to post this!

Cool!

I like colony traps,, and the u idea.

Great tips on cage trapping. Sure wish I could use them here

thanks for sharing,

Wow, great post

Eric Cage traps are not legal in my state They where quite a long time ago I caught a few during that time From your pictures It is oblivious they work And some of the multiple mix bag catches show that clearly Sme of your catches would amount to a good week for me And your thoughts on just setting the major usage location and catching the majority of critters using that location is a good observation And it allows you to catch nearly alt the critters you would have caught anyway This a a great post with quite a nice number of picture showing some true hotspots And as usual some very good thoughts on the usage of cage traps Thanks for the pictures and info you provided Even though I will most likely never use them It is nice to see how it can be done

neighboring states and trappin laws are so different! I know of a few perfect spot for them but totally illegal. You are always thinking we like that. Keep up the great photos, would like to see all the photos you lost. As a kid in the 50's we never thought of taking a camera into the woods with us, nor would we be allowed to in those days cameras were family possessions and kids were not allowed to mess with them. Great group of post you have put up.......jk

Great information. Thanks for sharing.

Nice pictures and catches.

Great memories

Kind of like going to Costco for 'rats!

Colony traps are commonly used up here (on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta) to catch some of the finest wild mink in the world. Known on the Y-K Delta as fisk, or fyke traps.

Pete

To those that can’t use colony traps nothing says you can’t use bodygrips back to back to back in the same situation.