weasel Q's

[JWarren]

What are you folks using on the triggers of the rat traps for bait? Will any old meat work or is does t have to be extra bloody?
Also, are you using lure on these sets and if so what general type of lure

[bobm]

You'll have better luck if you put those rat traps in a box, and put the bait ( i use red meat) at the back of the box. I run a sheetrock screw through the back of the box and put the meat on it. The Weasel will move around enough inside that it will step on the trigger, thereby getting caught. I've increase the size of the trigger by cutting 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" pieces of aluminum and fastening them to the trigger. I've not had a lot of luck with baiting the trigger.

[Stef]

Beaver and liver work well.
Any strong lures, castor and cheap perfume work well too.
As always... be on good location is the key.

Stef

[JWarren]

If you have them in a box on the ground isn't it a problem with mice springing the rat trap? I put wire on my rat traps and wired them to branches and stakes about 10" high to try to keep the mice away. I think the weasels are an untapped resource around here, we have the big ones mostly too.

[livefreeordie]

J, I know most guys use boxes, and are very succesful with them, but all I ever did was use the rat traps tacked to fence posts or trees, and I would use Beaver or chicken livers if I wasn't taking Beaver yet, they are easily obtainable at the grocery store. I had some kind of lure sometimes, but it was long ago, and I can't remember which lure I used, but I know I took them without anything but the bait.

[garman]

I know for the big ones I was quoted a high of $9 a piece this weekend!

[bobm]

I started using rat traps fastened to a piece of lath and then would put bait on the trigger. I caught a few weasels but I also caught a few birds. I'm guessing that technically (at least in this state) you would be violating exposed bait laws if the meat is simply on a trigger and exposed.

[livefreeordie]

bobm said:

I started using rat traps fastened to a piece of lath and then would put bait on the trigger. I caught a few weasels but I also caught a few birds. I'm guessing that technically (at least in this state) you would be violating exposed bait laws if the meat is simply on a trigger and exposed.

Would tacking a fir bough over the top of the trap satisfy your law?

[musher]

I've done lots better than 9 bucks. $12 for a big one is not unusual the past few years.

Any bloody bait will do. Location is the key. If you set in brush piles you'll avoid birds. Using windshield washer containers or coffee cans will do the same thing.

My son has caught mice in trees while trapping squirrels.

[Stef]

Bait on the rat trap trigger is just so so for the long tail weasel.
Short tail no problem at all.

For the long ones.... best thing is to trap them like a marten.
A #110 or #120 with a wire mesh pan trigger works well.

[JWarren]

stef said:

Bait on the rat trap trigger is just so so for the long tail weasel.
Short tail no problem at all.

For the long ones.... best thing is to trap them like a marten.
A #110 or #120 with a wire mesh pan trigger works well.

Why? Limited attraction of the small bait?

[bobm]

I'm not sure about the pine bough. Sounds like it probably would meet the law. Not alot of them (pine boughs that is!) around out in the swamps though.

[livefreeordie]

Mushers idea with the windshield washer bottle would probably satisfy that as well, maybe some cedar or hemlock would do as well.

[JWarren]

I'm good on the exposed bait because it has to be 5 lbs or more to be illegal here, I thought about the birds so I put them up in thickets and in culverts with the trigger facing into the culvert. Hopefully I'll snag one, I saw a huge track that looked like a small marten the other day.

[Zagman]

I found the new possum of the weasel trapping world......mice. Since I switched to rat traps, I can't keep them from pluggin the traps up.

Mice are amazing creatures.....my sense is they find the box and bait within about an hour of it being there.

Tried polyfil under the pan of the rat trap....

My boxes are built short, so I cannot avoid the pan being directly under the entrance hole. I picture the little vermin parachuting down and onto my pan.....

I think if the trap was further from the hole, the mice might not hit the pan so heavily. However, I figure based on the tracks in the snow, that they make multiple trips, in and out. That many trips probably gradually pushes the pan down and one of them eventually breaks the proverbial camel's back and snaps the trap.

I think just like any trapping, to catch a lot of weasels, you need to set a lot of boxes out, play the odds with incedentals, and hit a certain small percentage of target kills.

MZ

[Stef]

Why?

Its just like that ;D
Never been lucky catching long tail weasels in Rat traps..small = no problem at all.
Most trappers "from here" would tell you the same thing as I did

Same thing happens with grey and black squirrels.

Limited attraction of the small bait?

?

Stef

[livefreeordie]

He means the bait on the trigger of a rat trap would be smaller than the bait that could be used in a box Stef.

[Stef]

I wrote ? because I just don't know
But i'm pretty sure a bigger bait helps

Its like in most thing... the bigger the better ;D

[livefreeordie]

stef said:

Its like in most thing... the bigger the better ;D

Nicole made you say that didn't she.... ;D

[HappyPlumber]

Stef, With the 110's are you using a box or are they just set on a branch with the bait out from the trap?