I'm having issues with what is very likely an extremely large raccoon. It tore a huge hole in the wire on my back barn and I lost around 40 white homers, 30 guineas and 20 Bantams. Something smaller got in and killed about a dozen rollers on the other side, likely by squeezing through the Top Flite.

Then something tore loose and bent the siding on my breeding barn and killed at least a dozen rare colored homers, birds I sell for $40.00 to $200.00 each. l think a lot of birds were carried off, maybe as high as 60. I shot 2 small coons in there last night. They likely got in through another piece of metal siding that was pulled loose.

3 days ago, I set 5 coon sized box traps. I caught one 20 some pounder. Something bigger is going in the traps, taking the bait and backing out. It's apparently long enough the door is held up by it's back. When this has happened before, I usually set 2, 1 1/2s right in front of the door.

I bought 4 dog proofs at auction a few years ago and just set them near the box traps. How full should I fill them with bait? I just put dog food in them.

There's also a chance I'm having trouble with a small black bear. 2 sealed 15 gallon containers and 1 sealed 5 gallon bucket of feed were moved over 30'. The siding that was bent is a heavy gauge. I have a small number of bears in my area.

I am having a crappy last few days. Diane is in the hospital with a blood infection, infection around her kidneys, fever, dizziness, disorientation and dehydration. I took her in on Saturday. Her chores, plus mine in this high heat and high humidity is wearing me out. I didn't need to lose $5000.00 plus in stock.

Keith

Go ahead and fill them up, Keith, and even leave a little on the ground.
I hope your wife feels better soon!

Sorry to hear of these issues. Dog proofs - I never filled them more than half way. I always put a marshmallow on top covered with strawberry syrup that the could easily grab and then something different underneath. Good luck

I only fill mine up a little ways over the trigger. I'd like the critters to keep looking for more bait and then get caught. I'm just trying to give them a taste, not fatten them up. My bait seems to go farther by limiting the amount used in each trap.

Prayers sent for your wife too.

So sorry your going through this Keith. I hope Diane gets better soon. I like to put a full size marshmallow under the trigger and then cover the trigger with cat food. You can use some jelly but I don't use it on the traps cause it gets messy. I put some on a cotton ball at the base of the DP for an added attractant sometimes but I don't think you'll need to.

Do ya have a trail cam you can set up and see what's going on?

I just fill to the trigger with fish food pellets.

Where's your camera??

Hope you are successful sooner than later.

Also hope your wife is on the mend soon.

Keep us posted

generally full , sometimes if I look like I should have made up another jug of bait the night before I go 1/2-3/4

they get greedy and not be shy by the time they get the trigger.

I like to make up my bait in a jug , windshiled wiper fluid and vinager bottles make good jugs

dog food and fish oil , started adding corn picked up from a spill to cut my cost and it seems to be good. a little bit of liquid smoke , like about as little as you can drizzle in , the shake it up good
good to have a jug more than you thought you needed made up

can pour right in from the jugs and keep it off your hands.

when I use it in cages I use soup cans I put some in the can and set the can all the way to the back , it makes them go farther in to get in the can.

I put it about trigger high with a little on the ground and some fish oil on the lip . Just caught 5 coons by chicken house

just to the bottom of trigger in my z traps and the a little around the lip. I use jack mackerel with liquid smoke in it and have very good luck with it

Thanks everyone.

I caught a milky sow coon in the very first DP I set.



I had a small coon in one of the box traps. It let me get within about 30' and took off at a fast run out of the open door. I took 4 fast shots at its center of mass with my Ruger 10/22. I found a small, weak blood trail.

I don't like killing coons this time of year, or when they're nearly worthless during season. I can't afford to let them kill so many of my birds. I'm going to have run dps from now on.

I had cats immediately investigate 2 of the DPs, as soon as I walked away. They stayed out of them.

2 of the other DPs had less food in them. Another was knocked over and bare. I can see why having something sticky in them would be beneficial.

The sow is to small to be what's backing out of my box traps. There's likely a big boar coon in the area.

I checked the traps early because I am worried about something tearing into my barns again.

I also shot a rat in a hole by one of my barns, in the center of its back, which is all I could see of it.

What brand DPs do you guys like best? I believe these are Dukes. I've always used 1 1/2s and box traps for coons before. The 1 1/2s work so well and I have so many, it seemed pointless to buy anything else. With the cats and the dogs on the farm, it seems like DPs might be the best way to go.

Keith

I'm convinced they eat all the bait in them before they pull the trigger. It seems like their hand fills the whole trap, so if there was any left down in there, it would still be there when I pul their hand out, but they're always empty. I think they work around the trigger to dig out all the bait, and then pull the trigger when they can't get any more bait out easily. That being said, it seems to me that filling them is a waste of bait, so I fill them just to the trigger.

Keith, check with Glen, Wolf Creek Traps, I think he goes by OHIO on here. He sells the Diablo DP's, I really like them. They have a bait door on the bottom and are great to prebait and to clean. They were priced right and do a good job imo.

… this man finally made some sense

Hope you end ur problem and praying for your wife's recovery

I use either fishy cat food or small marshmallows just to bottom of trigger. A little something sweet on the rim and sprinkle a few marshmallows or cat food on ground by dp. I use push/pull triggers. Works good for me but im not a master coon trapper.

Dangit. Sorry to hear that KeithC. Praying she gets better ASAP. Infections are nothing to mess with. When the right hand man/woman goes down, it sucks! .

You have much bigger coons than we do here if they can move all that around. Granted, they are notorious for breaking into chicken coops though. They do amaze me.
I can only speak for myself, but usually when the coons show up, there are little ones involved, and by that time, I've got possums, skunks, and even bobcats to deal with. I've caught them all immediately around the coop.

To your question, I don't put that much. Just about an ounce of small sized dogfood/catfood. I know you don't have the time, but if you do, it is important to lay out the DPs and don't set them. Just drip a drop of shellfish oil on the rim and put some dog food in it Get them used to it. It only takes a day, and then set it. If you think you have 4 coons causing the problem, then set 8 traps. They run in gangs like cartels around here. Really hoping the best for you and that everything works out.

Hoping she fights it off with a quickness Kieth

bait, goes below the trigger. Don't fill it up or to the trigger. An ounce at most;; about 1/4" full from the bottom. I like any DP that triggers both ways.

Just above the trigger, and I used rubber tubing on the trigger.

Like they used to use to draw blood
It gives them something soft to grab.
And some scattered around for them to get the taste.

It does sound like bear is your problem.

Prayers for your wife to heal and get better soon.

Thanks to everyone else.

I caught another, little bit smaller milky sow



And a young of the year.



I shot another rat too. I had a dead pigeon in my breeding barn on the first go around. I think it died from wounds from yesterday. On the second go around, it had been moved about 10', to where I couldn't see it. It gave me a scare that more coons had got in. When I inspected it, I could see that rats had started chewing on the head and neck. I couldn't find any holes big enough for a coon to get in.

None of the 6 coons I killed in the last 2 days has been long enough bodied to back out of the box traps, once they are set off. The biggest coon I ever caught was a tiny bit over 35 pounds. I'm guessing the problem coon is around the same size.

Chauncey, we have decent sized coons in my part of the state, but only the biggest dumpster coons here reach the weight of the Iowa and Illinois coons. I trapped beaver near Zanesville, Ohio, once, with a buddy who got drawn for beaver and otter. We camped in his van and trapped a lot of coon too. I think I caught 28 coon during the 3 days and the largest was probably less than 12 pounds. 20 plus pound coons are pretty common in my area. I think the difference comes from having an unlimited amount of corn to eat.

Keith

I only fill to the trigger or little above. try putting stick through the box trap 3 or 4 inches up from the bottom in front of the pan so they have to step over the stick and onto the pan. Wont.help if.they are to long but keeps them from stepping over the pan and geting the bait especially if they have been caught in a box trap before. Helps me when I have a smart one thats.hard.to catch. Then again it may make the come into the trap further getting
situated to step over over the stick. I have never had one to long.yet.
I hope you cats the probless quickly and he's get better and home soon.

I lost enough birds to coons I always end.up trapping them.this time of year.
they move back in to the open area created during trapping season it seems.

If you need any help around the place let me know. I'm scheduled for nights Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday off Friday sat and Sunday. I can take my days off off And could head up Saturday.

Prayers sent for your wife's full and speedy recovery!

I fill my DPs up to the bottom of the trigger. Mini marshmallows around the trigger and scattered on the ground. Whatever you are doing is working for you!

sending prayers for your wife, I use duke traps, never had a problem with them

Thanks Matt. I appreciate it.

Thanks everyone else too.

Keith

I had 3 more coons trapped this morning. The 4th DP was knocked over and set off.

A sow that doesn't appear to be in milk.



Young of the year.



Another young of the year.



I'm wishing I had started using DPs long ago. I like building sets, but these DPs are very quick to place and obviously effective. With my bad knee, these are a lot less painful to put in.

Keith

I use a combination of DP's and a box trap, Usually mini mallows just under the trigger with a few scattered at the base, same with the box trap, sometimes I'll add a hint of anise oil, but the coons are there so not much need to attract them from very far...I usually add a folded paper towel soaked with anise extract to the bag of mallows, the mallows absorb the scent, so your getting a "lure" combo, but we don't have a big coon here, 98% are under 20 #..

I did have 2 raiding the sun room through the dog door, they would roll around the dog food container trying to open it, it's a 5 gal. bucket. DP's ended that.

Does sound like a bear started your issues and the coons took advantage, or just one heck of a coon.

Hope your wife gets better fast...

Keith. Prayers for you and your wife.

If you need someone out there camping and drinking beer in your barn yard this weekend trapping and shooting critters while you are off taking care of your lady let me know. Happy to help and I will do what I can. Hope she gets better.

They been seeing bears in Huber Heights and Dayton the last few weeks. That's not normal around here, I've never seen a bear.

I use these and love them. Great traps.

I have always preferred paste type baits in my DP's. I don't want to feed them, just catch them. Give them a tasty edible bait applied under and around the trigger and its all I have needed. Some don't like paste baits but I have found what I use hangs in and on the trigger area for a few seasons. A teaspoon amount of bait applied with a butter knife to strike the bait onto and around the trap bottom and trigger.

I like to spear a large marshmallow on the trigger of my DP's. Makes em work a bit to try and pull it out. Most of the time the marshmallow is still there after a catch.

I smear some sweet paste bait on a second marshmallow and push that in the trap after setting. Sometimes those disappear without the lower marshmallow being touched.

On dog proofs you can still catch cats. I prefer pull only for this reasion and even with pull only yes you can still catch cats just not as many. So when around where the cats are likely to be I stick with sweet baits cats are more like to ignore.

Fill em up with bait.

X2 if you're using a dry bait.

X3

Please explain the benefit of filling a dp over the trigger with bait. My goal is not to finish out a coon before I kill it

WHERE'S THE LIKE BUTTON?

Because you'll catch more coons if you do. If you put crumbs in the bottom and mice find it its gone before the coons ever get there. If the coons have a hard time finding it in the bottom of the tube, they'll pass it on by. It's not about the coons you catch, it's about the ones you don't catch. Same as people using catfood or dogfood because it's cheap. You'll catch coons but not as many as if you use a good bait.

SALES PITCH?

Over 20 years experience and thousands of coons caught in many different DP traps speaking is all.

Never had a problem with coon eating cheap dry cat food , or dry dog food.
As a matter of fact I learned about dry dog food from the coons destroying hundreds of bags at a local grain elevator!
60 YEARS AGO.

Good for you. I could care less if you heed my advice, madam. I was posting for those seeking advice.

I didn't read all the replies on here so not sure if it was mentioned already. Something large under the trigger can be better sometime. There was or is a thing out there called coon grabbers for dps. I had some of the origals way back and have used them and they work. Th e y go under the trigger. When I was first messing with the original grizz dps. Someone suggested a smaller plastic tub bait or soft hose on the triggers. So I had done some up with tube baits like that. I never kept records on what was better than what caught coon in all of them.

I think the main thing is having trap where hungry coon goes by.

Mac

LOL ! SMH @ your sad response!

Hey a madam made more money than a lure salesman ! LMAO

I agree , anything that makes the coon work the DP harder.

A processed fish oil soaked square of sponge placed under the trigger works well. Some folks frown on this thinking the coon will eat the sponge, which I guess is possible, but I've never had it occur.

….OW and ADC yall apologize to one another right this instant…. You hear me

Lol, had lots and lots of sponges eaten. Never once saw the need for bait above the trigger. Smear of good tasting/smelling lure on lip or fish oil mix and then fish, catfood, jello covered marshmallows or all mixed below trigger worked fine. Coon grabbers had very little smell after few days and no positive flavors and never worked well for me. Too much bait caused more of a problem when encountering wet and freezing conditions and jammed up triggers and was a pain to clean out after catches. Only caught a few thousand coons over the years but never once felt need to add more bait than barely ti trigger level. Also never saw much difference when converting to push triggers or push/pull triggers or ring triggers. Mice issues robbing out bait solved after first night with small stone and smear oil on top bait still well down....
Be interested to hear from others who caught good numbers of coons if they felt more bait helped them. I really think more than trigger level hurt me and slowed me down cleaning out especially after muddy catches.

sponge jammed on trigger and soaked with flavorful fish oil probably my best results. Normal fish oil is nasty - yes I tried it - would add syrups, molasses, honey, jello etc until it tasted better and very easy and quick to set and rain never caused issue nor freezing

Care to elaborate on good bait?
Wild man’s hammer time
Billingslys dp bait
I’m all ears.

I can't say if those are good or not, I haven't used them.

She started it.

…. Is that true OW? Did you start it ?

Diane is home from the hospital.

I'm worn out.

I got the traps reset and baited. I expect I'll connect again tonight.

Is there any routine maintenance needed on dog proofs?

Keith

Glad she's home.


On my DPs when they don't trigger easily I rub an old wax crayon on the trigger contact point. Pressure wash with a battery powered/portable pressure washer when the bait gets moldy.

Glad she's home Keith. Get some rest.

Exactly.

Thanks Some Guy and Jeff. I'll try waxing the DPs when they get sticky. I'll try some fish based and sweet based lures too. I should pick up another dozen or two DPs and put them out at a farther perimeter from the barns to hopefully pick off the predators on my birds before they cost me more. So far, I'm only trapping near where my barns were torn into. I used to clean out all the predators i could catch during season, but haven't the last few years. i should have been more proactive on predator control. I had an expensive lesson.

I just ran my traps again. One of the box traps was backed out of again. The others were all set still.

I got another young of the year coon in a DP.



I got a decent sized opossum in a DP.



I shot 2 medium sized rats.

Keith

Way to tear at em' Kieth. I went to DPs in the summer on coon/possum/skunk at my farm also. Get around 12-18 coon a year, a few possum and a skunk or two.
Glad your Mrs. is home. Hope you both get some much needed home rest and can relax a little. Take care and good trapping

Im still using original lil Grizzs, the trigger pivot tends to freeze up, I add a drop of mineral oil to the pivot and loosen it up, and drill a small hole in the base to drain away rain and to make it easier to clean...I can see a little wax on the trigger latch would help too...it's another bind point.
I haven't caught thousands of coon,lol but never found loading the tube helping.... maybe it does, but my way has been working.

Nothing else got into my barns last night.

I trapped this young of the year coon.



I trapped this milky sow coon.



I trapped this huge boar coon. I think this is what has been backing out of my box traps and that it's probably what's doing the damage. I would guess he's over 30 pounds. He's the only mature male I've caught. I didn't think about weighing him until right after I chucked him in the woods.



I got the outside chores for the day done, except some late top offs. I'll reset tonight.

Keith

WTG Keith! Now, rest up and after Diane is better get up here and lets get after some Bowfin!

I caught another milky sow coon..



And an aggressive boar coon, that was a lot smaller than the big one.



I've killed 15 coons and 1 opossum so far. I am taking pictures to keep myself motivated, not because they are interesting. When I couldn't walk a couple of years ago, I picked a little over 500 pounds of apricots, while laying and crawling around on my side. I took pictures of every dang apricot.

I wish I had DPs back when coons were worth something. I figured out I can use the base to screw into hard ground, by turning it back and forth, earlier tonight.

Keith

Looks like Keith is putting it to them pretty good now. Am curious........what is the "Box Trap" that they kept tripping, but not getting caught in? Never seen a coon big enough to not get caught in a standard 10" x 12" x thirty something cage trap. Hard part is keeping a big boar coon caught if it's a cheap trap you buy at local box store. They will blow the door out of those.

Also sounds like most of the poultry housing was retro fitted into an existing barn? Making those secure to repel all varmints often harder than purpose built from scratch. Determined varmints can often find holes you can't see.

I caught a scrawny, probably last year's coon.



And a dinky this year's coon.



4 of the coon box traps are really well made. They are 12" by 12'' by 36" long. They are old, i bought them in 1995 and 1996 and need the rods sanded and oiled. I also have a Havajunk and a TSC Havajunk knock off, that were given to me.

Keith

Hope your wife feels better soon! Had a ton of luck with a marshmallow on the trigger, little cat food, and some fish oil.

One of the most successful DP trappers I’ve known just put a small amount of ground fish not even up to the trigger. I use more than that and like ground fish probably best with no guts included. Like cat food as well. Some areas I have trouble with cat food getting cleaned about by rodents less so with fish. Cat food is hard to beat for speed and simplicity. Not sure which one coon like better. Early season if you haven’t made a catch for a few days fish does rot fast in a DP Gets cold at night below freezing you better have fish below trigger so it doesn’t freeze up trap. You stay in one place for a while changing up bait will probably get you more coon. A couple drops of a strong sweet smelling lure on the outside not in trap probably helps attract a few more coon. Some use what is a commercial made bear bait for that purpose. As far as how much?Many good coon trappers pour dry cat food all the way up to the top of trap. Basically you have something they want to eat it doesn’t matter much other than more bait probably means more odor.

Thanks.

Just one young of the year coon from last night.



Keith

When it comes to bait for DP's, have heard a lot of theories. One of them is to put a big bait below the trigger.......say full sized marshmallow.......or as one guy insisted..........a piece of that gummy orange slice candy.......as coon can't pull it out without tripping the trigger. But after a closer look at the geometry inside the DP........a Duke one way pull trigger is only 3/4" or so above the bottom of the trap. In order to clean out the bait from the bottom, coon can't reach past it very well, so is going to have to run paws around trigger to scoop it up.......in a grasping motion........which means he grabs the trigger and pulls on it. Even if he goes to the side, a clenched paw full of bait probably won't come out of the bottom without moving trigger enough to fire the trap. Seen in that light, dry cat food is an ideal size, and attractive coon bait to boot. And if good enough for this kid.........good enough for me.........he kicks it up a notch.

Then If I wanted to get exotic around the barn in summer..........I might try some cheap jelly beans..............cheap black licorice jelly beans.

If I used black jellybeans there's a fair chance I would catch my wife, if she didn't eat them before I could use them as bait. LOL

Keith

I know next gen trapper catches thousands of coon and fills his DPs to the top

I didn't catch anything yesterday. I did shoot 1 rat and miss another.

Today I trapped 2 small, young of the year coons, the two smallest yet. Both got both front paws caught.




Keith

Have seen several caught both front paws. Must have trouble chasing the last few bits with one paw with trigger in the way, so use both in effort to scoop it out? Big coon would have trouble getting both arms in there.

Prayers for your wife's recovery.

I like to use mini marshmallows as cats aren't interested in them, but coon are. Put a couple outside the trap as freebies and put 5 or so inside the trap. I've always found that once they get a taste of the freebies, they will aggressively go after the ones inside the dp.

This is what I do, but I add a sweet paste bait to the mix. I dip around 4 mini's in bait a throw them down outside the trap. Then throw 4 un-baited in the trap and take a plastic butter knife and swipe a little of the sweet bait under the trigger. I've taken 100's of coon this way.

Thanks. Diane is doing somewhat better. She finished the last of the antibiotics she was prescribed, which should start making her feel better still.

Last night I caught the smallest opossum I ever caught.



Keith

Another yoy dink with both front paws caught.



Keith

Having survived floods, drought, wind, deer, chickens, japanese beetles, weeds and all manner of pestilence, the first planting of sweet corn coming ripe this week, and right on cue, here come the coons. E-fence I put up went dead, so they got a taste. Not good. Different fence charger now throwing a big flame on now baited fence appears to be repelling boarders........plus the traps went out. Winner at the DP buffet counter so far? Fruit flavored jelly beans. No hits yet on the licorice ones........yet. Corn stick set (like a fish stick, but using half eaten ear of sweet corn as bait.....corn dog set?) caught a rabbit. Forgot they like corn too.......just not tall enough to reach it.

Dps have been pretty well covered here as far as bears find the hottest pepper Sauce available put that in a ziplock bag put bag in an old sock pour molasses in the sock hang sock from a tree limb
Cant say for sure if it works but i can say if you have bear issues the first sock disappears rite away the second doesn't get touched and no more bear issues

… I like to pour a little whole milk over ADC’s bait and eat it for breakfast

Since I have cats I get cool aid a little water mix and poor it over marshmallows. Probably going to have some going out like that today. One of the king pigeons I my daughter got from Keith I I found like this this morning

LMAO , Sorry I hurt your feelings, didn't know about your insecurity issues.

…. Alright

… Now ADC… do you have something you’d like to say to OW?

No Savell. It was an honest mistake, I mixed him up with the Wi. guy that said he was a girl, or a guy, and its a dude, or whatever, who also tried and failed miserably to talk trash about football, that they took seriously when I was feeding them a line the whole time, as if I care about it at all. Apparently, I touched a nerve causing some of the less intelligent people on here to feel the need to defend their lowly football teams to me. ... Hook, line and sinker. Most everyone else saw it for what it was, like you did, a game I was playing. LOL

… carry on

LOL

… what’s so funny mister ?

Not going to tell you DD!

… carry on

The DPs have been empty lately until today. This is a prettier coon for my area. It doesn't have any of the yellow they usually have.



The big pile is just bones now. The insects cleaned it up quickly.

Keith

That's a nice one!, I have caught exactly ONE silver black coon....the rest here are yellow and dingy brown...

Only took 5 pages to say One Tablespoon!