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My first Woodchuck
Posted By: WPS
My first Woodchuck - 08/11/14 11:04 PM
I have been doing ADC work part-time now for almost 4 years and I received my first woodchuck nuisance call on Friday. Poor lady's yard is a shamble! I set a couple live traps Friday evening and used good ole cantaloupe for bait.... he visited everyday but finally decided to step over the line!
Posted By: Kirk De
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/11/14 11:18 PM
he visited everyday but finally decided to step over the line!
Do you have video of that?
Posted By: WPS
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/12/14 12:39 AM
Sorry.. no video, home owner tells me she watched him everyday go under the fence and scamper around the live trap
Posted By: Cooner22
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/12/14 03:21 AM
I hate using live traps for woodchucks, they just don't seem to be productive.
Cooner22, that's exactly why i talk about the Comstocks so much. They're like Conibears that don't kill. I used to feel the same way you do.
As much as I like Comstock's and Advance traps, had a cemetery job with 6 active holes. Three days of positive sets and one chuck. Change to conibears and four the next day. Everything has its place and job. Good job on your first one.
Posted By: Kirk De
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/12/14 11:38 PM
I hate using live traps for woodchucks, they just don't seem to be productive.
What traps were you using and how did you set them?
Posted By: Cooner22
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/13/14 02:06 AM
Just single door baited live traps, set in about every way imaginable, covered them, you name it, but I had homeowners tell me they ignored them. Those Comstocks would work perfect, but the downside is the price. I'm not going to spend 90-100 dollars on one trap, i could get 6-12 conibears, or 6 padded jaw or a bunch of regular footholds for that money.
Posted By: Getting There
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/13/14 02:45 AM
Most of my sets are in town. I use a Advance trap with a nose cone if I can. In town sooner or later you are going to catch a cat or dog in a conibear. I think my biggest problem was I was pushing the woodchucks. When using bait I set back and let the woodchuck fine the trap on it own. That way maybe they think they have found something on there own. LOL. I had a job and before I could set the trap the owner decide to fix the sprinkler head and moved rock and dug next to the hole. The woodchuck did not like and moved. Just so I do not get in trouble, I used Advance trap just because I did not know about Comstock traps. I read a lot of good things about both.
Cooner, if the service call is $150 and the woodchucks are fifty bucks apiece, I think you've got the price of the cage pretty well
covered. ( And it's okay to use them more than once )
Posted By: Jim Comstock
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/15/14 12:03 PM
Conibears are great for all kinds of nuisance work, no question about it. I will even use foot traps when necessary. Caught 2 chucks this year with my old Northwoods bobcat traps. Of course the big reason for using cage traps in suburban and urban areas is to calm the concerns of all of those watching eyes to see that animals are captured humanely and also that kitties and puppies are not injured. Double door cage traps work as well as conibears in most instances, truly a conibear replacement. It's a lateral move giving up nothing. I have done almost no conibear work for chucks in the past 6 years, but after a few chucks are caught in a cage any animal can be wised up.
When I read the part about "under the fence" there was no reason for that chuck to have enjoyed one more day in the garden. I usually ask a client if there is a den or a fence. Either will do them with a double door cage, usually first night, same with skunks. Just had a pretty much all fenced in yard in which a skunk had passed through. I go to the periphery, find an opening for a chuck or a skunk. This one was in the corner. Took three skunks in a bit over a week.
Most people compare single door trap prices to double door trap prices. Single door traps are a lot less expensive than double door traps, but far less effective, very limited. You just have to ask, is your time worth anything? If you tell customers conibears only, you will be parked in your driveway a lot of the time. There is a big difference between expenses and investment in tools that make money for you. The investment makes you money, the cost of wasted time and effort is a loss.
Posted By: Getting There
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/15/14 12:37 PM
Conibears are great for all kinds of nuisance work, no question about it. I will even use foot traps when necessary. Caught 2 chucks this year with my old Northwoods bobcat traps. Of course the big reason for using cage traps in suburban and urban areas is to calm the concerns of all of those watching eyes to see that animals are captured humanely and also that kitties and puppies are not injured. Double door cage traps work as well as conibears in most instances, truly a conibear replacement. It's a lateral move giving up nothing. I have done almost no conibear work for chucks in the past 6 years, but after a few chucks are caught in a cage any animal can be wised up.
When I read the part about "under the fence" there was no reason for that chuck to have enjoyed one more day in the garden. I usually ask a client if there is a den or a fence. Either will do them with a double door cage, usually first night, same with skunks. Just had a pretty much all fenced in yard in which a skunk had passed through. I go to the periphery, find an opening for a chuck or a skunk. This one was in the corner. Took three skunks in a bit over a week.
Most people compare single door trap prices to double door trap prices. Single door traps are a lot less expensive than double door traps, but far less effective, very limited. You just have to ask, is your time worth anything? If you tell customers conibears only, you will be parked in your driveway a lot of the time. There is a big difference between expenses and investment in tools that make money for you. The investment makes you money, the cost of wasted time and effort is a loss.
Jim:
This is not to plug anyone traps but this is good advice to people that are thinking of going into ADC work. We have to do our best to keep a good public image and do our work a humanely as possible. JMO.
Jim, your PM box is full. Send me your # I need to talk to you please. Thanks
Posted By: Cooner22
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/15/14 07:50 PM
Excuse me for not responding, I've been very busy lately.
Paul, if I serviced big cities and made millions like you, I wouldn't have a problem buying comstocks.
I think I've mentioned it before, but i'm just doing a handful of ADC jobs a year, I'm in a very rural area, and I wouldn't be able to get away with charging that much. Most everyone is ok with me using a conibear, and I'm not trying to make it into a business venture so I just charge to cover my costs (which are pretty small) and a little extra for profit.
I run a lawn care business, and I don't have a problem with spending extra dollars for better equipment to do a job as best I can there, but I'm not as interested in putting money into something I don't have a need for.
Not saying the comstocks are bad, they look pretty serious.
Posted By: Dave Schmidt
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/15/14 10:49 PM
Conibears are great for all kinds of nuisance work, no question about it. I will even use foot traps when necessary. Caught 2 chucks this year with my old Northwoods bobcat traps. Of course the big reason for using cage traps in suburban and urban areas is to calm the concerns of all of those watching eyes to see that animals are captured humanely and also that kitties and puppies are not injured. Double door cage traps work as well as conibears in most instances, truly a conibear replacement. It's a lateral move giving up nothing. I have done almost no conibear work for chucks in the past 6 years, but after a few chucks are caught in a cage any animal can be wised up.
When I read the part about "under the fence" there was no reason for that chuck to have enjoyed one more day in the garden. I usually ask a client if there is a den or a fence. Either will do them with a double door cage, usually first night, same with skunks. Just had a pretty much all fenced in yard in which a skunk had passed through. I go to the periphery, find an opening for a chuck or a skunk. This one was in the corner. Took three skunks in a bit over a week.
Most people compare single door trap prices to double door trap prices. Single door traps are a lot less expensive than double door traps, but far less effective, very limited. You just have to ask, is your time worth anything? If you tell customers conibears only, you will be parked in your driveway a lot of the time. There is a big difference between expenses and investment in tools that make money for you. The investment makes you money, the cost of wasted time and effort is a loss.
Well said; can't use coni's on g-hog burrows here.
Posted By: run
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/16/14 10:59 AM
What size coni-bears work best for groundhogs? farm country trapping. Does anyone use an H-stand for dry land coni-bear setups?
Posted By: Bob Jameson
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/16/14 12:34 PM
160
Posted By: Kirk De
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/16/14 01:11 PM
Robert Waddell did some videos for Fur Takers several years ago. He showed what many that use conibears in numbers take for granted. That was placement to avoid none targets. He showed simple sets on land to avoid catching non targets with conibears. Key was the size of the body grip in relation to the best place to set it to avoid problems. He used a dog to show the response.
I tried to find. The video should be available somewhere. He did an excellent job.
Most that use body grips in numbers, use stands or supports that allow the trap to fit the situation best.
Posted By: Eric Arnold
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/16/14 01:30 PM
Here is the link to the Trapping Chronicles episode with Robert discussing using bodygripping traps on land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uaZ_-tmMUA
Posted By: Jim Comstock
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/16/14 02:41 PM
The two things at the top of the list of considerations for trap usage are public perception along with danger, which has been covered and no less important, effectiveness of the device, catch / loss or miss ratio. In nearly 50 years of using conibears it seems that sprung traps are in the mix, not all the time or a lot of the time, but sometimes, for whatever the reason. When they are sprung, it can be the targetted animal and the beginnings of a nightmare with a wised up animal, no matter what the critter is. As anyone in the business knows, there is just about no room for error in nuisance work without running into negative numbers quickly, in extra unplanned trips costing in time and fuel.
With that said, a double door wire triggered trap functions much like a conibear with a deeply recessed trigger. On the other hand, the conibear is on a plane, a flat surface that springs outward, reaching away from center to catch the animal with the possibility of a spring actually pushing an animal out of a trap as it fires. The opposite it true of the cage trap with doors outstretched that actually push an animal to center into the catch box as the trap fires. My experience over the past 4+ years with cages shows sprung traps to be very low, lower than a conibear and when they are sprung it can usually be attributable to an intended non-targetted animal. In a nutshell, though cages are large and require a larger investment, they are not a lesser device, but have outperformed any other device I have used.
Is a 110 to small? its all i got, or i can use a foothold.
I think the size is fine but I worry about the strength. I found that adding another spring solved all the problems. We have gotten
really populated and I haven't used a Conibear for woodchucks in fifteen years or so. It works really well if you don't have to worry
about non-targets.
155's work best for me. Wire over hole so only the chuck can enter from bottom. But again use only were it's out of sight and safe from non target animals and kids.
Posted By: Jim Comstock
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/17/14 02:17 PM
Ditto on covering the den opening. With a conibear down in the den hole the opening can be covered, hiding the conibear to take chucks exiting the den and even entering a den while avoiding pets. I have used 1" pine boards because I had them. After placing the trap down in the opening several inches or more below the the ground level, just cover the opening with the boards and cover the boards with dirt, but leave a small silver dollar sized opening at the end of the den opening. The chuck will locate it easily. You will of course catch chucks coming out of the den and even catch them coming back when they dig out and open up the small opening you left and head into the den.
I try to put the trap down as deeply as what can be done easily to do all I can to avoid conflicts. Cats don't dig, while there is little of real interest to a dog and kids won't find it.
Posted By: run
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/17/14 07:37 PM
Thanks for the help.
Posted By: Jonesie
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/17/14 08:11 PM
Jim and Paul you should be proud of me I am staying QT on this one!!!!!!!!! Jim ready to do another show?
Posted By: Kirk De
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/17/14 09:02 PM
A blind set using the entry or hole for bait. Cover it with a coni if ethical, a double door either the advanced, a comstock, a traditional trip pan they all work fine. I T stake it to make it difficult to raise of the hole.
If a blind set isn't an option I clean the trap unless its last job was a groundhog. If I am going to use cantilope, cabbage or any other fruit or veg I sprinkle it with salt as it preserves the freshness. I also like to cover the trap because the shade keeps the food fresh longer and it makes the ground hog look better if some one sees him in the trap. Sweet feed for cattle or horses is a great ground hog attractant. If I use a lure I use jamesons formula one and his trailing scent. I also like pro line sweet sabotage but it is very atractive to non target coons and squirrels. I also save ground hog poop from previous catches to put in the trap.
When I catch a ground hog I transfer him so I can keep using that trap on site.
A silk flower with formula one holds up well.
_________________________
Trapperpaw said this a while back. I thought was a very good answer and seemed to cover the points we mentioned in a few words.
I don't know why, but my skill with the traditional one door cage on woodchucks was always below par.
Posted By: Jim Comstock
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/18/14 05:22 PM
We will be at the New York convention end of next week. Have gone to most of them since the 70's at Piseco Lake in the Adirondacks. Cool summer so far and don't expect anything much different, should be nice. Hey Jonesie, hope to see you there.
Posted By: Jonesie
Re: My first Woodchuck - 08/18/14 05:59 PM
If not there, I will see ya in oct.