Posted By: Jonesie
Dog proof traps past and present. - 03/10/22 01:52 AM
When we look at the history of the Dog Proof trap we can see those first trappers were thinking and figuring things out. Thinking out of the box. Catching coon without fear of catching dogs. The first DP traps, that I do not have, but wish I did and would love to add and show folks in my DP trapping seminars were a different mindset. The concept for DP traps was two mindsets. One mindset was to bury, out of sight, and the other just stick it in the ground. Over the years the standard set or what I call the stupid set took over and became the excepted way to set the traps, with very few trappers thinking about digging them in. I wish I could say that I came up with the digging them in mindset but I didn't. What I did do was take an older mindset and adapt it to a newer way. The reason was for a couple of reasons. One digging them in hides the trap from people. Folks can't understand the thinking process of NJ trappers, living in a state that has more people, dogs, and cats per square mile than any other state makes us think differently about how to get ur done trapping-wise. Where the critters are so are people and pets. Next digging them in, pocket sets, or mounds sets, can be put in a min to min in a half. So time is not a factor. Next, was catching the raccoon bang bang bang then no catching at all, yet the coon are still there got me thinking. Were they avoiding the trap or what? Most folks will say change the baits, yet the baits were making the catches at first. I took the same bait that was working and when the catches stopped, I put the bait outside the traps and the coon ate it, but not in the trap. So I went back to foothold trapping mindsets and looked at the presentation, and the catches started again with the same baits just different presentations. Only this time I noticed that better coon was getting caught along with the little ones. So enter the 80/20 concept. Next because we lost the foot trap back in 1984 and our grey fox population growing again snaring is slow with the little cat-like fox. I saw the grey fox will work the dug-in or other advanced DP sets. So I worked on making the DP work on them. Being a full-time ADC/Trapper for over 40 years has forced me to look at things differently when it comes to trapping and capture, in both fur and ADC. And yes I am crazy and I have papers to prove it. Thanks to the old mindsets new mindsets can be had. Also, the dog-proof trap is a great tool in ADC wildlife control or Fur trapping.