Help With ZTrap Issue

Hi all,

Looking for some advice or answers to use of the ZTrap DP trap.

I have been using them this week for raccoon on our hunting property using wire stakes and a cotton ball soaked in sardine juice under the trigger.

Question 1) I had an escape from one trap. It was obvious it was caught to some extent because the wire stake had made the classic "funnel" excavation of dirt about 4 inches down into the ground around the cable and the landscape was torn up around the trap. There were no trees or roots around for it to grab hold of after being caught. I guess it somehow pulled out. Is a raccoon strong enough to pull out of these traps? I have never grabbed one before and tugged to see how much force it takes to pull out.

Question 2) Last night I had three traps tripped with nothing in them. The traps were still standing up on their stake just like I left them but were tripped and the bait gone. The traps were full of big black carpenter ants but I can't imaging ants tripping them?

Any help or thoughts?

Coons in Alabama aren't going to be big enough to power out of a Z-trap, so my guess would be it had some help like maybe a dog pulling on it. The tripped traps are a bit of a mystery though. Are you 100% certain you don't have a person around there that is messing with the traps? Maybe released your other coon too?

If it were me I'd take those traps and wash them up real well, get all the nasty rotten fish smell off them, move locations some and use marshmallows for bait (Impale a big one on the trigger and put another in the top). Also when you set the trap don't push it into the ground beyond the bottom of the washer on the stabilizer. Keeping the trap up off the ground helps keep mice and ants out and does not effect the trap's performance.

I suspect if its not a person you got a possum licking at that stinky sardine juice on the outside the trap tripping them.

Set the dog deep in the trigger notch so the springs won’t make it creep. Don’t really know the actual reason why they will do it with the spring pressure over time but if you try to set them too lightly sometimes they will fire themselves.

I’ve never used a z trap but strange things happen sometimes. Maybe one did pull out, or maybe something killed it and took it from you. I’ve never had it happen, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Z-traps have a different push-pull trigger and VERY stout springs. That advice is good for pull-only type DPs but unfortunately doesn't apply to the Z-traps. A coon may twist out if the trap loses swiveling but its going to leave toes in the trap.

Thanks for all the thoughts.

I don't think a person is messing around, there are camera's on all the entrances and at various locations and I'm not seeing anyone. It's private property but that don't mean anything. I doubt they could find those three traps anyway as hard as they are to get to. The dog or coyote thing I never thought about. I guess I could put a camera on each of the traps for a while and see what's up.

I usually use fishy bait down by the creeks but I think I am going to switch over to the sweet bait and give it a try, maybe marshmallow as suggested tonight.

Was the cotton ball still in the trap? Maybe the coon was working that cotton ball up around the trigger and snagged it and was able to get most of its foot out before it tugging on the cotton ball fired the trap. If you only get them by the tips of the toes they can pull out.

Should have used a COON DAGGER !!!

Those z-traps are junk !!!!

w

Marshmallows shook up in cherry jellow


Yeah...skip the fish

This time of year I would not use anything fishy. Clean them (car wash) and use a sweet bait as others have mentioned.

Jmo best of luck
B

Youll have ants on the marshmellows too, but theyre still better than messy fish. Dip em in Koolaid powder...you pick the flavor.

Take a small file and bump the underside of the small round peg that contacts the dog (latch). That should eliminate any creep firing. A toe caught coon could have pulled out but its rare.

Z traps are not junk. I have 10 dozen....love em.

Keep bait down from trigger a 1/4". When you're setting make sure trigger swings both ways and isnt
impeded by overbaiting. Cracked corn, clean spilled grain, cheap sweet cereal, with a squirt of dollar store squeezable grape jelly inside and around rim with a golfball on top. A dab will do ya. Sprinkle a tiny bit of bait around. Golfball may be moved one night, but youll get them in another trap or the next night. Dependant upon numbers, gang set. Ive had groups set that ive just rotated by catch and reset as they get rained off from blood. I dont catch on remakes with fresh coon blood, so i dont bother until said rains.