My partner and I saw a Discovery Channel (or something similar) on how inquisitive coon are. They will play with moving box parts forever if they think the box holds food.

Twenty years ago, someone came up with the idea of a DP cap. Coon, being the inquisitive critters they are, have NO control over that curiosity. A movable metal, paper or plastic type cap on a DP is something to figure out. They touch them, play with them, take them off just to see what might be inside. My partner has been known to leave dry coon bait in a DP and the coon are still curious enough to see what’s in there 2-3 years later.

It doesn’t seem to make any difference as to the bait that’s under the cap. It can be milk replacer, cracked corn, Friskie’s cat food. Generic puppy chow (the cheap stuff). It doesn’t appear that the bait is what they’re after. It’s the movable cover that’s the draw.

Big possums and big skunks seem to be curious too. Cats and dogs—not at all. At least this has been our experience. The trick, if there is one, is to put the covered DP on a trail so they almost have to trip over it. The trap cover will do the rest.

I agree. We had a wet spell this season and I used a red plastic cup and set over the dp's. It just didn't seem right but I caught coon.

If you use something they can tear up, use biodegradable, otherwise you’ll have a mess to clean up!!!
Glad you posted this, now that I think about it, you’re correct. I caught more coons on covered DP’s than uncovered. Even switched to golf balls and what’s funny is sometimes they’d just take the ball. Definitely gonna start covering them again. Thanks!

I/we use Z-caps. They’re white and metal. Tied on with string we got from Menards. Even when the caps are coated with mud, they’re still movable and the coon keep fiddling with them till they get them off.

My partner Jon, caught more coon with capped traps than I did with open ones. Once baited, capped traps stay baited unless a deer kicks them over.

A capped DP keeps the mice out. And I've often thought capped DPs hold a higher percentage of bigger 'coon over uncapped.

It's interesting, but I'll need a lot more convincing based on what I've seen on my line. How could you test such a theory? How many coons passed the capped traps and didn't touch them? How many passed the uncovered traps? And saying cats and dogs aren't curious enough to mess with the caps? Curiosity killed the cat you know. I've caught coons in traps covered by a cup and Z-caps and golf balls, etc...... but the % vs. uncovered traps is by far in favor of the traps with good bait and uncovered. I'm skeptical, unless you have more or better proof. I'd love to hear it.

The best thing I ever used to cover a DP is a big marshmallow. If it's there, so is all the bait that was under it, but rarely mess with it.

I used to sometimes cover DPs if there was rain in the forecast, but I don't even do that anymore.
I can see the concept of a cover grabbing a coons attention so it stops to investigate. I can also see the open tube with good smells coming out of it doing the exact same thing.
Probably the most important thing with DPs is location - set them where a coon has to practically trip over them.
This is a great thread, btw.

There's several ways to do visual attraction with DPs. One of my favorite ways to do this is on softer ground , quickly kick out a circle of dirt on the trail to make it look like a deer scrape. The visual plus the soft dirt helps slow them down. Makes the DP stand out like a sore thumb.

Feathers if legal are easy to use with DPs, wedge them under the spring.

Coon density is a big factor. There are many places in Iowa where guys rack up huge numbers by putting out hundreds of traps and check them daily. Deaver and NextGen and O’Hearn are just a few. They don’t use caps and do just fine. I get that.

From our experience, the areas we trap don’t have the population of coon for a good comparison. Having lots of traps in road ditches isn’t in the cards because of the population of dog walkers along country roads. In my part of the state, the road ditches are mowed, too. So we’re often inside the fences. Caps have made a big difference for us.

Not to make excuses, but neither of us has the time nor the energy to put out hundreds of traps. Trapping is and always will be a hobby. To that end, simplifying the process is what we work for. DP caps keep the mice and weather out. From our experience, It appears that the curiosity factor is more important than the smell coming from beneath the cap.

alot of things YMMV...

I dont have a lot of mice issues here, or at least they dont seem to figure out how to get into dps here and I use loud sweet baits.

Anyone can have good catch rates in heavy used trail. When mice clean bait out before racoon find DP odds drop dramatically. At that point if no sent left good luck. Think mice also lick oils out cutting down the odds. I use golf balls but do not make waterproof and somehow lose 25% of balls???? Need to try tinfoil again.Easy and makes water proof but had birds poking holes in it and uncovering trap. Can also put puddle of trailing sent on top.

Sure would be interesting to set 2 DPs at all locations - one covered and one not, and keep track of what happens.

I don't know how you could do it fairly without video.

Final note. I can’t use marshmallows to cover the end of the tube—I eat too many of them! This, my friends, is based on fact.

That's too funny!

Got myself a Christmas present: 4-dozen Z-caps. It’s a good start. I was going to build my own. But when I added up the cost and time involved, buying them ready to go made the most sense.

That reminds me, I think I've got a bunch of those laying around somewhere. I'd have made you a good deal on them had I'd known.

I don't use DP's but am following this thread

After giving myself 4-dozen Z-caps for Christmas, I decided I wanted more. So I bought a bunch of fender washers, and a plastic pipe cutter and some E6000 glue. A little 16 gauge wire made up the handle. I figure I have less than 50-cents into each one.

My partner thinks the caught coon will chew up the plastic pipe part. They may. And if they do, I’ll just replace them. At this price, it’s ok to experiment.

You need to post a picture.

I have heated the tops of my DPs and dipped them in glo-in the dark powder paint for jigs then finished each one by baking in a oven at 275 for 15 min

Thats cool ,have you noticed more interest in traps?

That is a neat idea! Yes I am curious too, if you have seen a change in the numbers of them that you have trapped. Do you mind sending daylight and nighttime pictures of the finished product to show the difference?

I think I picked up this trick here but last year trapping several bridges I fought mice and pack rats constantly. Either completely cleaning out the DPs or getting head caught. Having to dig a head caught, frozen pack rat out of a DP isn’t anywhere near as much fun as one might think.

On two bridges I went four for four head caught pack rats. No telling how many coon I missed because of the pack rats.

Then this season I don’t know what became of the coon. No tracks, no scat and none killed on the road near these bridges. I did pick up one but he was the only one. But using this trick I didn’t have any issue with pack rats despite seeing lots of tracks. They did like to lick some of the trailing lure off but they weren’t able to remove the caps.

They’re just a short piece of 3/4” pvc and a cap. They’re hold the trap at nearly set and if you preload them setting goes pretty quick. Once the trap is set they sit loosely in the barrel and the pack rats cannot seem to remove them.

Great idea, what % disappear like golf balls do. If not seeing racoon sign three things come to mind. Other trapper, distemper, or someone in neighborhood bought thermal whether legal or not.

Not seen any other trappers and not aware of any guys hunting thermal for coon. This is pretty much uninhabited areas. Plenty of coon last year. None this year and I didn’t hurt them much last year. I’m thinking distemper.

As to the percentage that disappear. I had 30 DPs out. Caught one and the cap was gone. So 100% of the DPs that caught coon had the cap gone. Of course there pretty fair current along this creek. I made extras.

Of course I’d expect with numerous catches I’d recover many of them. One catch is not empirical.

BCbuck. I’ve never been good at posting pictures. Imagine a fender washer sitting on top of an inch and a half long piece of plastic pipe. With a wire loop sticking out.

I found it was much easier and faster to attach the wire loop BEFORE gluing on the plastic pipe. Making my own comes out to 5-minutes a piece and about 50-cents in materials. And that includes a doubled layer of kite string for attachment.

You've probably already considered this Marty, but on my line, those hot spots can change from year to year depending on the crop rotation and if the fields have been harvested and plowed.

While this creek does make it to crop land, these bridges are in pines and hardwoods. Not premium coon habitat with no crops but there has always been some coon there. Except this year. I usually see a fair number of tracks and scat and there are usually a few dead on the road through the summer in this area. The creek parallels the highway and is pretty close. I didn’t see any this summer dead on the road in that stretch.

Do you replace string after a catch? I was thinking of something like that but attaching with cable.

I’ve only lost one Z-cap because the string broke. My partner uses decoy cord. I use kite string. Obviously the decoy cord is better, but I didn’t have any on hand.

The metal Z-caps don’t get chewed on. My partner thinks the plastic ones will. It’s an experiment and something to do in the evenings. We’ll see how many survive next season.

Instead of gluing on a PVC cap just use some of that expanding foam to fill the pipe.