OCTOBER 26th is trappin season

[toadyoforangeville]

I wonder how many people trap here on the forum. This will be my second year. any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.( any critters)

Thanks in advance

[XD40coyote]

I have been trapping since 2000. EVERYTHING legal LOL! Red fox, grey fox, coon, skunk, possum, 'rat, mink, beaver, and my MD river otters. I have trapped in PA too, but otter is a no-go in PA. Haven't caught a coyote or weasel yet. MD has another furbearer that can be trapped, the fisher, but they are in the far western counties, not around me. Bobcat is closed here except if its nuisance control ( like its killing a bunch of poultry or something) and you have a MD nuisance controller lisc. Not sure what one does with it after killing it though. I guess DNR can grant you a possession permit, you can keep it, but not sell it. We had a bobcat about 15 years ago, it was killing mostly ducks, but the DNR wouldn't allow even nuisance trapping of them back then. Things have changed, there must be ALOT of bobcats in western MD now. The one we had was an odd migration. I haven't seen any sign of another since though, not in my trapping grounds anyway. I have seen coyote sign though, just a few times, and once saw a live coyote out back here, again about 15 years ago. I'd swear there are more otters around here than coyotes, but then otters are simply easier to catch!

[toadyoforangeville]

I started last year and only got 3 possums. I found a farm to trap that has sign of coon, foxes, rats, and mink. I'm the only trapper around it.Tonight im gonna boil my traps: black walnuts, dirt, leaves, and branches.I just don't have a basket to keep them in. Not quite sure bout my skinnin though. and its a 15 mile trip to my collector.

[toadyoforangeville]

whats the average basket cost nowadays??

[XD40coyote]

You don't need a basket, use a clean 5 gal bucket for clean stuff and another for stinky stuff. In fact I use little 1 gal buckets for the lures, or a backpack with side pockets for walking in.

Coons are easy to catch, and mink can also be incredibly easy to catch, but they take a while to come through again, and often times they have slippery feet and the tracks will show they went right over the trap! Best way is if you have a drainage cut they travel and there is a narrow spot with high sides. Set a 160 or 110 in the narrow and brace the springs, and put a stick over top and some grass and stuff aroud the sides to kind of blend it in. These cuts can be found within the watercourse but are sometimes dry. A narrow trickle ditch also works if you see tracks in it. These would have shallow water in them. The mink may be swimming but will swim right into the bodygripper. I have also caught mink at pocket sets. I have one spot that has a narrow ledge along the creek edge that mink and rats travel, and last year I made a pocket set and a blind set there and caught something like 6 rats and 1 mink, as well as a raccoon. I also got 2 otters and 5 other rats and a 2nd mink at other sets nearby on the creek. The year before I caught a red fox in a mink set LOL, it was down the drowner and everything.

[toadyoforangeville]

Made a mistake . I boild my traps and forgot to set my triggers (the nut and screw) so now i have to set them and boil them again.. most rats I'll get are from holes w/ a conibear over them ther is lots of holes over there And black walnut stains your hands pretty good too.now i need more streachers and a scraper.

[toadyoforangeville]

So far its not going good at all two coons last week and one this morning a possum and a possum thats about the size of your average barn rat. I have to go to my main aera and check them tonight. Hpe there is a few coons in my sets.also, the #2 coilspring traps are a bit painful if they get your fingers..........

Anybody else have better luck than me???

[XD40coyote]

I caught 1 red fox so far, only 4 sets out though LOL, started nov 1.