Hey guys,

First post here, though I was on the forums years ago when I was a kid.

I mainly target raccoons on private land. I have a long stretch of rocky creek in southeast Indiana that feeds into a much larger creek/small river near the Ohio River. The creek itself is solid rock, which makes traditional water sets impossible. Because of that, I mostly trap the banks using bait stations, but I feel like I’m missing opportunities in the creek itself. Even on the banks, getting cable stakes in is difficult.

I trap casually on weekends, so bait stations and gang setting have been my go-to for efficiency. I currently run DPs and conibucket sets around the bait stations. The bait stations are 30-gallon buckets screwed about a foot off the ground and filled with corn, cat food, and black oil sunflower seed. When I won’t be back until the next day or two, I run 160s in the buckets; when I’ll be back the next morning, I set everything.

Because the bottom is all rock, pocket sets aren’t an option. There are a few sandy spots around pools that are loaded with coon tracks. For DPs in the rocks, I’m considering concrete blocks or stapling to trees or logs that wash down during high water. Any concerns with giving coons something to grab onto?

What set ideas would you suggest for a rocky creek like this?

Would a #1.5 in a makeshift set on the rocks be too obvious? Again in the solid rock there would be nothing covering it unless I put leaves and such over it and anchor to a log.

Thoughts on cabling to one of the big rocks? Next year I could preset some rocks with cable as well.

I’ve also thought about leaning pole sets on angled tree trunks that wash down. Would a 220 (legal on land in Indiana) on each side of the bait using a killer clip work?

When gang setting, I keep all traps within about 30 feet of the bucket—no traps directly on it. Is that too close? I’m seeing more possums than coons on camera, though the coons that show are big boars. I’ve caught 1 coon and 7 possums so far, and even get coyotes checking the bucket.

I’ll try to get pictures next time I’m there.

Thanks for any advice or ideas.

You're probably not missing much on the creeks this time of the year. Most of the small coon are denned up. If you're interested in mink and muskrat you'll be missing them, youll pick up an odd mink in dryland pockets.

Even rocky creeks there's usually dirt somewhere farther up the bank you can dig into to make dry pocket sets or dirtholes. Just run a longer slider to reach water. Kinda hard to stablilize a foothold in the rocks anyways. For anchoring, I would probably wire off to big rocks. cabling to rocks is a bit riskier as it doesnt cinch up as good as wire can even when using a snare lock to hold the cable in place.

Carol Black's(Blackie) claim to fame was running a canoe line in somewhat similiar conditions, his interview by Clint Locklear is a good one and covers some of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlOBd9cAQ2s&list=PL5YP5pO2Puqoum8BmiF58NNnReQwnEm2F&index=5

For the dp's, I will cable them more more times than not. I'm happier when I can use a drag. I dont worry about them being able to grab on to something. I try to avoid cabling to really bigger trees because they could possibly get the spring against the trunk and get some compression.

As for your feeders, I try to backset away from the feeder, at least be out of sight of it and blind set the trails leading to it (my pet peeve with guys running deer feeders and wanting me to trap coon there is the grass is mowed to nothing around them so trails cant develop)

Thank you for the helpful and thought out explanation SNIPERBBB, and for the interview link.

We are getting a big warm up this weekend and hoping to do some additional scouting.

Interesting on getting the traps out of sight of the barrels. Usually the first night setting I get lots of catches, mostly possums haha, then it will go cold. Animals are not dumb and I assume it scares them. I do toss a little bit of bait into the empty buckets and unset DPs in an attempt to get the animals accustomed to it. I did find one trail coming in with the las snow so getting one set there this weekend.

Thanks again!

Find something suitably heavy to cable to. Logs, rocks, concrete blocks - whatever works.
You can make makeshift pockets by moving rocks around to create a hole to place bait in. Stuff bait into gaps in the rock, or just slap some bait on a flat rock and set another rock on top of it.
Don't worry about covering your traps in the water - there is no need to do so. It is important to bed traps solidly, which can be hard to do in solid rock, obviously. Here you gotta get creative by wedging pieces of flat rock under springs and such. or maybe find a hunk of sod somewhere and bed your trap on it. Hope this helps a little.
Good luck!

What I did when I had to trap those rip raped banks was to make some sandbags. Take some old jeans or sweats and cut them down so you have a 8" section. Then sew one end closed fill with sand and sew the other end closed. Use just enough sand so you can wiggle the trap down, so it's stabilized on the bag.

Great idea, Beav.

That's what I like about #11s. You can just lay em on rock and they work fine.

I get rolls of sod from the garden stores at close of season free. Cut the sod to fit your trap and bed them with the sod. Great for mink sets also.