....with the opening UP and body grip trap above the bait.

I know this is more common in Canada.....

I know not all fishers climb every time, whether on a tree vertically OR leaning pole.

That said, IF they DO climb and want to work the set, is this configuration (opening UP facing the sky vs DOWN facing the ground) in any way an additional disadvantage to success?

Thanks

Zagman

I would have the opening on top. It will be a lot eaiser to place and stabilize the trap.
You could run a few BG boxes on the ground. I have caught marten and mink and fishers on the ground.

I do set the NYS legal body grips on the ground but have some 220's and need to get them UP four feet and wanted to try some "upside/down" boxes. I've caught them in vertical cages with BG on bottom but have some thoughts on trying them opening UP

MZ

Zags do you have a limit on them?

If 160s work in box with open up end up it shouldn't be a problem using a 220.
At one time I just used those coni clips nailed to a tree and set the 220 so it was sticking horizontal out from the tree trunk. I would run a fish oil track up the tree trunk and hang the bait above the trap. I would use a wire mesh cage for the bait and just nail to the tree.
I caught lots of coon that way but never tried it on fisher.

I guess you could use a leaning pole set. And have the end 4' off the ground with bait in some type of cage to keep the birds off of it. Maybe hang a few limbs over the trap to disguise the trap.

Good luck.

Fisher don't eat/feed facing downhill , I am no Master Trapper or Hall of Famer but I have my openings facing down . Also the Fisher "Thinks" he is going to enter and leave with a prize it is more natural for any animal to turn around -back up downhill verses uphill . Try turning a horse around by turning up hill , watch a cat or a dog turn around never seen one do it up hill . Just my 2 cents.

I believe Boco set most his martin/fisher/weasel boxes with the opening to the sky. You could go back to a few of his threads and see pics

The ones I use for coons here in NE are always face down due to the windy snows we get. You can fill a box with snow in a few minutes with our wind and then it will be much less attractive. No fishers or marten as you can guess here. ................. the mike

Zagman writes: "That said, IF they DO climb and want to work the set, is this configuration (opening UP facing the sky vs DOWN facing the ground) in any way an additional disadvantage to success?"

That may depend on if you are trapping in the fall or when the snow comes.

Something to always keep in mind. The fisher is already on the ground. Why not meet them there? Or at least close to the ground.
Just a thought.

Your old pal
Mac

I actually read your post and realize you want to use some traps you own that legally you can't set lower than four feet above the ground. Now I prefer opening down because it protects the trap from snow and ice buildup, and your box won't get full of snow all the time. But opening up would have it's advantages, very easy to bait, just drop bait in, no need to wire it or use screen to hold it in. Same with the trap, easy to put in. You might have an advantage while hanging boxes to have the opening up also, you could hang the box lower because the trap is in the top of the box, as opposed to the bottom when the opening is down. I think you would have slightly more refusals, but I don't think a significant amount. You'ld have to test that and see though.

I know when I see some of the Canadian trappers pics, their boxes are set in the way I am asking about........

Chewk.....NO limit on fisher in NY......we have a short five-day season in my area.....but, by driving 25 miles north, I am in the northern zone which is a more traditional season length......Oct 25th-Dec 10th.

I, too, see pre-baiting and actual baiting advantages with opening UP......and it sure would be easy to slide the body grip down and use the advantages of gravity to help keep trap in place vs. the other way around.

We all want the target animal to come in straight, head at normal angle, and get that ideal hit behind the ears and on the throat.....or even a double strike with same top-bottom hits from the closed jaws.

On a vertical tree, with opening DOWN, it seems like that set-up would naturally align the target up for optimum strikes......feet being only on the bottom of the box, the face attached to the tree.

Conversely, an animal that climbs up a tree and then enters the trap from the top could come in on any of the four inside walls, and perhaps get side strikes on the side of the neck vs top and bottom.

I am confident in my Belisles to still kill the animal vs. some other brands that don't close as tight and/or have weaker springs......and in this specific application, they will be Belisle 220's.......

I'd love to actually hear from guys doing this way and their experiences......otherwise, I am speculating............

And YES I will put out some boxes this way before season with cameras to see what I see..............

98% of my fisher are caught on the ground, but its a relatively small sample compared to others........I have the numbers on coyotes to exude confidence in my approach, but I am near the beginning of the learning curve with fisher at this point! LOL

The Maine buds of mine ripped into me at Minktoberfest in a fun way, saying my cages are junk and boxes are the only way to go! I still went forward with them and had decent success, but am willing to change and adapt if boxes are the way to go........in that light, I am asking about vertical boxes on trees, knowing I will still catch the bulk of them on the ground.

Thanks!

Zagman

Can't speak to Fisher as we don't have any, but I have setup a number of various configured coni boxes with game cameras on them to watch coon work them, and far and away best option seems to be vertical box open at bottom........bait shelf up high......with an entry platform about 4 inches below the bottom. In MO, dry land body grips larger than 5 inches have to be set inside a building and 6 feet off the ground. Box set vertical, with platform blocking a straight in shot forces them to slither in from the front side........propelling themselves forward with back feet, pushing themselves up into box with front feet while back arches. Must lead with their head which tends to fire the trap about same time front shoulders clear. Perfect neck strike every time and they then fall out the bottom. My favorite trap for this is a 160 Belisle. A deadly hammer.

With just about any other configuration, a coon is going to setup outside the box and try to reach in. Prior to trapping mode, I pre-bait them. Once trained, they race each other to see who gets caught first.

When I trapped In Canada all our boxes were open end up and the bottom was 1/4 " hardware cloth. Never had any snow problems since we were setting under all those heavy spruce boughs.
90% of the boxes were only 3' above the ground why make the critter climb any farther then needed. WE caught cats and fox since the fox could stand up and get its paw into the box. And with the screen on the bottom allowed the birds to hang on and peck away at the bait. And the scraps that fell to the ground attracted mice and voles and they attracted the marten and the fisher. If I rember we caught 82 marten 12 fishers and 4 red fox and 2 lynx cats.

If legal I would do away with the boxes and cages.

Why Bruce

In the State of Maine the state has placed ridiculous restrictions on fisher trapping. Go to the website of the Inland Fisheries and Game.
Find the information about so called exclusion boxes.

While fisher and marten are captured with these ridiculously designed boxes, a lot of fisher simply refuse to enter the boxes.

When the trapper was allowed to set body gripes as should be, wood boxes were extremely effective. Now with the restrictions, the potential for success is greatly reduced.

Why all of this bunk? The blasted Lynx. All of this baloney is enough to make ones blood boil.

Mac

Much more simple and effective way to trap without the cages or boxes.

Funny about talking to experienced fisher trappers.......most conversations coming down to the animal NOT ALWAYS doing what we want them to do....

"Some fisher are hesitant to climb leaning poles............."

"Some fisher are hesitant to go into boxes............

"Some fisher are hesitant or even MORE hesitant to go into cages than boxes.............

"Some fisher are reluctant to climb vertical trees into cages or boxes............

I think a better way to put it would to NOT imply some individuals in the population are resistant, but the rest run in with reckless abandon.....BUT RATHER,.....ALL fisher, from time to time, MAY be reluctant to climb, go in box, whatever......as I am sure it gets down to their "mood" that day, or mostly likely, how full their stomach is......

I've had serious fisher trappers tell me they do NOT trap on the heavy mast years, the animals are not hungry, so they are not as susceptible to bait, and the catch shows it. Therefore, couldn't one deduce that on a smaller, more granular lever, an individual fisher with a full belly would react the same way the overall population acts in heavy mast years?

I guess in the end they are a wild animal that his little problem feeding itself and they just don't commit suicide like we think they should when we present them with a free meal.

If you saw the success PA trappers have with their ONE fisher limit and pretty much 100% usage of foot grippers, it would make one think THAT'S the way to go.......but that's not an approach some can do due to legal reasons OR others don't want to do because of check laws required on foot traps vs body grippers.

Johnny Thorpe told me something that probably cured all of these refusals.........he said at every leaning pole set with a body grip he'd have a foot gripper dirt hole near the leaning pole.......he wanted ANY animal that would come along the the dirt hole caught many of the non-traditional climbers OR was a back-up for the target animal (fisher) who more readily worked the dirt hole than climb.........

MZ

If you can locate any bear baiting sites, you will catch some fisher. Here In WI there are more fisher on those sites then bear. We are restriced to using bakery goods. But that bait attracts mice and voles and all kinds of other fisher food.
Or you can create your own bait sites. And make all kinds of sets at each site.