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.