Angle the DP slightly, put a corn cob in the DP and pressure it so the bottom goes to one side or the other…..coons will pull the cob out and fish for the bait…. It really cuts down to nearly zero on non targets… also, a corncob in a ditch won’t draw the attention a golf ball or paper cup on a DP will….. also no litter, … great place to put a dab of fish oil if needed

I use a piece of PVC but instead of putting a cap on it I just fill it with that expandable foam.

Used to be able to get sandwich bags non-ziplock slip one over the trap

I use the same set up. But not for rain but to keep the pack rats and mice out. Last year I went without any caps and was plagued with either empty DPs each check or pack rats caught by the head. I set four at each bridge and went 4 for 4 on two bridges with head caught pack rats. And digging a frozen, head caught pack rat out of a DP isn’t near as much fun as you might think. I’ve considered cabling the caps but haven’t tried it yet.

Im not following you Kieth, do you have a picture?

What do you think you all are gaining by using these things on top of your DP traps?

less rodent problems?
we hate golf?
we are dumb?

LOL.

Free tip that is worth three times what it cost you. On top of this trap is a walnut . Not as high tech as a golf ball, but in about 20 minutes I can find an ice cream bucket full. That is more then enough for a season as I don't use them very often. To be fair I don't have pack rats, so I don't know if it works everywhere. Cheap, effective and no garbage left when I pull the trap. You can dribble a little Smuckers ice cream topping on it to really perk the coons attention. G.

Just saying, if they can roll a spool, they can roll a golf ball. lol



I don't bother with the sweet on it, but I like a big marshmallow on top at times, just to be able to see at a glance if they are still set and baited.

This^^^^

But, I do like the pvc/caps as I can bait and "half set" the DPs at home or tailgate (spring holds pvc pipe nicely.)

No bait can spill and speeds up setting out a bunch of them.

Gonna rig up a few dozen with longer chains and drags to speed it up even more.

I didn't know you hated golf.

I used an eye screw and screw it right into the golf ball. Attached the cable to that and then to you trap chain. No more searching for golf balls after a catch.
Jim

Golf....

I've never played a full game of golf. Did take a golf class in college...because I needed a PE hours.

Never have understood why someone would rather hit a little white ball around on a lawn when they could go fishing or hunting instead.

If you guys have water in your DP's from rain (or snow) I will send you some drought if you send me some of that rain. "Exceptional Drought" category here with less than 1" of total moisture since Dec 1 (includes snow melt). Creeks are drying up and you all saw what the fires did to western NE the last few weeks. Use wax paper cups for a cover - disposable, organic friendly, ready made and cheaper than anything mentioned (even the walnuts as it takes me less than 20 minutes to buy some and I don't hurt my 72 yr old back picking them up). My experience. ......................the mike

I rarely play casual golf where anyone can just play and have fun. I play competitive golf almost exclusively. Money is involved in almost every match I play. Cant really get that in fishing or hunting outside of tournaments. Plus I run into more people that have land for trapping and hunting,

Gives me an idea.
These golf clubs I can't give away might
work for whacking the walnuts out of the yard.
The pro Tman DEE-PEEers are brilliant.
I should take lessons.





chew guards are better

had a neighbor who got his dog to pick up all the walnuts , he would have a bucket of them for me to use for squirrel trapping and trap dying.
I think he would pick up 3 then start fetch , and by the 4th throw stop throwing anything just pretend to in the direction of the tree , the dog would run over grab a walnut and bring it back he could basically sit in his lawn chair beer in hand and fill a bucket.

I had a dog that went ice fishing with me. He had this habit of picking fish from other anglers and bringing them back to me. Most of the time no one came after him but there were times when someone would come running after him wanting thier fish back. Everyone thought it was funny.

These are my experiences in SW Ontario having had fair success trapping raccoons in DP traps over 15 or so years... I am not a 1,000 a year guy, so take it for what it is worth.
I use marshmallows almost exclusively as bait. One behind the trigger and one stuffed in the top of the tube after setting the trap. Probably worth noting that until recently, I used Lil' Griz and Duke DPs only... Bridgers were added to the arsenal a few years ago but I slowed down trapping significantly due to the realities of my current life.
I would occasionally run into issues with rodents stealing bait. I trap primarily agricultural areas on a corn, wheat, beans rotation... there are lots and lots of every kind of rodent imaginable here but issues with bait stealing were uncommon and often resolved by moving the trap away from things like wood piles, farm junk, etc. and into the places where they should have been set in the first place like the center of raccoon trails or a few feet away from denning locations. I found that mice really don't care to risk the exposure to raptors and owls so if you set the trap in more open area without harborage or shelter nearby the problem disappears.
To clarify, when I say "nearby" I mean from a mouse sized animal's perspective... I always tried to think like a mouse, how far away from this grass tunnel can I scurry, grab food and scurry back in less than the time it takes for an owl to silently drop from above and end my life? What about a cat or a fox? If I was a mouse, I wouldn't want to wander more than about 3 feet from my hidey-hole.
You see the same behavior with woodchucks, I rarely see one wobble their chubby butt farther than 6 feet or so from an escape hatch (except during mating season).
I would think that anything covering the trap is a potential deterrent, especially in areas where raccoons associate humans with danger.