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Post by mustelameister on Jun 5, 2007 20:34:46 GMT -6
Why not? A thread devoted to the creation, invention, reinvention, or however you got to a particular tool you use on the trapline. I'll start. The simple way of making poke holes on the river bank is to take a rerod, ram it into the bank, rotate a bit, extract, then stuff some bait or squirt some lure into the hole. Too simple, right? Why not make it complicated? Behold . . . the dipstick: Plastic pipe, with a wooden dowel that just snugs inside. The rope keeps the assembly together. The dowel, inside the pipe, fits all the way to the opposite end. Step 1: Pull the dowel all the way back 'till the rope snugs up: Step 2: Plunge into soft bank, extract. You now have a pipe end full of mud. Stick pipe end into river, and push the mud out with the dowel: Continue to hold dipstick in the river, while running the dowel through a couple of times cleaning out the mud. Step 3: Pull dowel all the way back, plunge dipstick into ice cream pail of favorite bait. I like ground carp with a dash of Old Spice shellfish oil! Step 4: Extract dipstick from bait bucket. You now have a tube full of bait. Step 5: Insert dipstick into hole in the bank which you've just created. All the way to the back. Step 6: Now this is the magic part: Slowly extract dipstick, all the while pushing the dowel into the pipe. Result: A "bead" of ground bait from back of hole to front, if done correctly. I like to use this in those unique situations where I've got a vertical dirt bank and I know the 'coon are walking in the water alongside this bank. Quick drop off, keeping them close to the vertical bank. Larger foothold for hindfoot catches. On longer stretches of vertical bank with good 'coon sign, I'll punch these holes all along, and set foothold after foothold all connected to drowner rigs. Often I've come to check with 'coon at the bottom of the drink and the bank raked where the kin have followed later and taken advantage of the goodies. I think Red Green would have been proud if I would've substituted duct tape for the hose clamp, eh?
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Post by Stef on Jun 5, 2007 20:49:35 GMT -6
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Post by huntinglonewolf on Jun 6, 2007 15:23:14 GMT -6
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Post by CoonDuke on Jun 6, 2007 17:55:10 GMT -6
For those that use peat moss or cover hulls...this isn't "homemade" but is a good idea and I wouldn't want to trap without it. I keep the hulls or peat moss in a large rubbermaid tote in the back of the truck. For carrying it to the sets, I use a flip top coffee or cereal dispenser. The white lid pops off, and can be easily refilled by scooping it into the rubbermaid tote. The flip top makes it real easy to work with at the set. www.alwaysbrilliant.com/aa/aspx-products/1-1926/2-54049/3-1/bb/cereal_&_snack_dispenser,airtight,_easy-pour_convenience.htm?
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Post by CoonDuke on Jun 6, 2007 17:57:27 GMT -6
The link doesn't work but the cereal dispensers can be found on the site if you look...
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Post by rk660 on Jun 6, 2007 20:12:53 GMT -6
stopped digging holes years ago too, but just ream out with trap stake beings Im carrying one to every set anyways.
CD, ever open that tote in a 30 mph wind, LOL, I aways cover 1/2 acre with hulls when I do that. They make a cool thing for hauling hulls, called an extended cab truck, fill up 10-15 gallon jugs or whatever works best for pouring at set, and heave them all over the seat into extended cab. reach back and grab one when one goes empty. ;D
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Post by Stef on Jun 8, 2007 13:29:51 GMT -6
Anybody else?
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Post by trappnman on Jun 9, 2007 6:56:30 GMT -6
nope- I'm just not a tinkerer on traps, trapping stuff. I use what I have, and if someone else invents something neat, I'll buy it.
but keep the good ideas coming!
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Post by bobwendt on Jun 9, 2007 8:54:54 GMT -6
very simple thing. just a square 4" by 6" by 8" block of hard wood to use as a fulcrum when using the "T" handled wrecking bar as a stake puller. keep turning sides as needed to pull out of stone or root. easier than running down a log or rock.
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Post by k9 on Jun 9, 2007 11:53:38 GMT -6
Put one in my truck after seeing your video Bob.
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Post by seldom on Jun 9, 2007 13:18:53 GMT -6
Here's one for Steve. I mentioned some time ago when Steve was complaining about those "undrivable" HD Berkshires! LOL Just a simple 1/2" center punch welded to a piece of 1.2" cold-roll. It's got several hundred HD's under it's belt and as you can see, I've not had to work the point over at all. It'll also drive the regulars as well Steve. Before I put the cap on my truck, I'd been using a couple of those $15 rummage sale special, HDPE toolboxes for my trapping gear. The problem was that my arms aren't long enough to reach to the middle of the boxes to retrieve gear. If that wasn't bad enough, I had to stand on my tip toes to try and see the stuff that was in tight to the rails. Before I put the cap on I'd had this thought about building something that would let me use the WHOLE box and allow my wife to put groceries in and out instead of piling them on the seat and floor. As it turned out I made up acouple of brackets that allowed the boxes to cant to the outside alittle over 20°. Cut the top out of the boxes and removed the lids, works perfectly!! I still have room for my animals and my homemade deer hauler down the center for hauling gear where I can't drive. Several years ago I got tired of frigging around with building up "top edge" sets (subsurface foothold tight against the brige wall) under some old, straight-sided bridges. I set up cement blocks in the summer but we have quite a bit of rain before freeze-up and it was an everyday task either raising or lowering my footholds because of the water fluctuation. I gathered up scrap I had laying around and built some adjustable "top edge" frames. When I built them I Incorporated the design to allow me to experiment with a bottom edge set below. The frame is just re rod, the trap pad is just pieces of old plastic water main pipe, a pipe nipple a 1/4" nut & bolt for a homemade thumb screw and you have it. These things work great with or without a sod pad!! ;D ;D They well so well as is that I haven't found a reason yet to make something more pretty then the out-of-scrap-protypies! LOL
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Post by trappnman on Jun 9, 2007 17:53:40 GMT -6
very nice!
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Post by coonhangman1 on Jun 9, 2007 18:26:28 GMT -6
A "Bob Wendt" Style trap basket. Chemical jug bolted on as well, lol.
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Post by coonhangman1 on Jun 9, 2007 18:27:49 GMT -6
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Post by musher on Jun 9, 2007 19:19:00 GMT -6
Hangman: Where'd you find the shovel? I lost mine last fall and now I see that you've found it!
I haven't invented anything that I can think of. I do know that I showed quite a few people how to use old garden hose, split on one side, as a small BG holder. You just nail a 2-3 inch section of hose onto the log or tree. The lower jaw of the BG clamps onto the hose. The tighter you nail, the fatter the hose becomes. You can go up to a 160 easily.
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Post by bobwendt on Jun 10, 2007 4:56:36 GMT -6
I prefer 2/3 of a heavy duty small barrel, same set up tho. the waste baskets don`t hold up. the 2 and 1/2 gal. cut in half chemical jugs bolted on last a year or three and can then be replaced. I also put the typical back straps on, same ones as a woven wooden basket. the lady on he phone was rude to me at ishmans in pa about 25 years ago. at the time I was buying 3 baskets a year and I told her she just messed up bad acting nasty. it`s cost them sales on ~75 baskets so far. the barrel one is still going strong. same one, well worn but solid as a rock. been thru several straps and 1/2 jugs bolted on.
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Post by Bigfoot on Jun 10, 2007 10:01:16 GMT -6
Ditto on the dipstick aplicator
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Yodog
Skinner...
I'll make the last dirthole trowel you'll ever need.
Posts: 82
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Post by Yodog on Jun 10, 2007 12:48:54 GMT -6
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Post by CoonDuke on Jun 10, 2007 13:15:34 GMT -6
Rich, The cap on my trucks solves a lot of the wind problem with the hulls, but they can be a pain sometimes to work with at the set.
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Post by coalminer on Jun 10, 2007 17:25:56 GMT -6
yodog, how long is that shovel. Where you from and how much? Going to the Pa conv.?
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