Jack Mackerel ?

[seldom]

Sept 27, 2011 10:55:47 GMT -6 trappnman said:

seldom- don't you have something to say about "edible" baits.....?

:)Ah Ha she was heard to holler as she threw her leg onto the kitchen table, peg-legged girls can have fun too!!

Two or three years ago there was a similar discussion on here concerning taste of bait and lure for coon, in fact, Stef was an active participant in the discussion. I offered this same experience as I am now making this the second time I've replied to a coon discussion.

I'll tell you right up front I do not like to trap coon and don't have to pretend I do and I only do it for some of my farmer-type property owners who want the coon out of their barns and since I'm usually driving past the barn, I set some live traps.

I use strawberry marshmellows or white ones rolled in strawberry jello dust, I drop a half dozen in a pint Zip Lock bag. I then pour in a mix of Pro Coon and fish oil and toss the whole works in the back of the live traps. Every coon that I've caught apparently has eaten the doped marshmellows AND the Zip Lock bag because there is never any sign of there ever being a bait and bag in the trap. Now it might be thought that the coon destroyed the whole works to such a degree that the little pieces blended in with whatever is beneath the trap and that might be so, except my traps are either sitting on concrete floors or wooden, haymow floors!!!

In addition, I catch every frigin barn cat as well and though they don't eat the bags, the bags are usually empty.

So it is what it is whether the bait/lure taste sweet or bitter it apparently makes do difference to the coon I've been catching here!

[trappnman]

In my opinion It's a total waste of time running around the woods following helter skelter coon tracks and try to lure them Into your set when they may never come back to that area. But If that's the way to trap coon In your area then go for It.

talk about spin- first of all, I agree on the helter skelter-

but more importantly, I think you know, or should know since I have been stating the same from day one of debating winter coon with you-

and that is I don't as you stated, but instead set where I know, from experience, they will go.

I've already said, that if your coon are leaving beaten down winter trials, then oyu have a tremendous populaiton of coon, and enough extra warmth, to get them all moving like freight trians.

I defy you to find a creek side or anywhere close to the creeks, in dec and jan where such trails exist in my kind of conditions- heck, just show me a trail alone a creek with even MULTIPLE coon using it at that time.

[Rally Hess]

Anybody tried that coon candy Pete Peterson sells. They look like giant gummy drops and are fruit flavored? I could smell them this last weekend in Ne. from about 10 feet away. They smell good enough to eat! I'd have to take an extra lunch along to keep from testing a few.

[RdFx]

I have to agree with Steve on seeing multiple coon (tramped down trail) in my part of state of Wi also at time of trapping season.... see the tramped trails when corn is still up in fields ect but not later in season.... only occasional wandering tracks

[thebeav2]

Well since your on the very edge of the coon belt your probably In the same situation as Steve.
Around here once we get some snow and the coon get acclimated to It they are still running those high trails along the creeks.

[trappnman]

I'm pretty much in the heartland of coon country- its just not FLAT coon country where often once crops are out, habitat becomes limited, and concentrations occur.

and its not limited habitat coon country- meaning that there are miles and miles of similar habitat. so while we don't have the populations of southern climes like parts of Iowa, we still have a lot of coon-

so the number of coon, is really mute-

its the actions of those coon.

a more correct comparison is, that your coon, do very little hibernating per se it seems.

How much snow do you get?

here, we always have it seems a foot or more on the ground- and in that type of snow- coon do not, unless going from barn to barn or hole in the wall to a nearby hole in the wall, concentrate enough to make any type of trails, let alone worn down trails- once past the bloom of harvest.

we have talked about this before- and I cannot speak of your area- but here, coon are solitary during their wanderings, and they are true wanderings insofar as defining such. random, helter skelter as you observed-

and they are NOT, wandering up and down creek banks- tracks show, they are coming out of the woods, rocks and spend most of their time wandering , yes randomly, across what I call "walking snow" meaning either an inch or two, or hard enough packed where a coon can move on top.

If I've seen it once, I've seen it a thousand times where coon come out of a field of woods- and come to the creek, spend a brief period there-, and then, going off in another direction AWAY from the creek. Only in late winter on those 40-50 degree days, do you see coon working the creeks where the tracks follow the creek line.

and that corresponds exactly, to the time where you cannot keep coon out of rat/mink sets, because now, they ARE hungry, and therefore, are WORKING the creeks.

you mentioned a while back, on how you noticed that in certain times during fall- coon readily pass up food baits. What trapping all winter shows me, is that as winter comes on, that action increases more and more, and that winter coon, not only are not working baits as much, and investigate edible baits but often drop them a few feet away, but their actions SHOW, by their random nature and WHERE they are wandering- that HUNTING (meaning looking for food) is NOT a priority-

and that setting traps on traditional early type locations, now covered in 2 feet of snow, are no longer productive. and that their patterns ie using trials heavily, changes dramatically.

for me-

my average winter temp, is in the upper teens to low 20s, and our deep snow cover is usually mid Dec to late Feb early march.

in those type conditions, you cannot set, with much success- how they are getting there- only that they are, there.

I think the value of open water, meaning a source of drinking water, is vastly misunderstood and/or ignored.

they come to the water during that period of on and off hibernation- for the WATER, not the food. IMO, of course.

I've garnered this info from trapping coon every year, in my conditions, during the entire winter. From Thanksgiving until late Feb/early march, I have coon traps set the entire period, and am walking those creeks in some cases daily, in others every three days.

what I see, tells me the story.

if your coon do not react to deep snow, hibernation, food the same, then the only answer can be your coon hibernate rarely, if at all in the sense of being inactive on and off for a week or two, out for a few days, and so forth.

[thebeav2]

Coon aren't true hibernators. I've seen them curled up In a fork of a tall tree In mid day and It might be below zero but the sun Is shinning and the coon are out sunning themselves.

I'll take some pictures of beaten down coon trails In Dec In the snow.

[Rally Hess]

The coon here are true hibernators, and it is a rare warm spell where they come out and wander around on the ice. They evidentally are quite hungry when they do come out, and I seen them eat the nose blood spots from beaver I caught under ice.
We had one such warm spell and a friend of mine and I were running a beaver line together. One pond we were on had coon tracks all over the ice. I ran back to my truck and got 3 buckets and 220's. The only bait we had, without skinning a beaver on the ice, was a tunafish sandwich my buddy had brought. Divided it up into 1/4's, and he ate a piece and the coon got the rest. Caught three coon and still call his wife Coon Bait Fay to this day. LOL

[thorsmightyhammer]

Rally, I've said it more times than I care to remember.

Over here if a coon comes out and a 220 and a bucket is there he's dead.

They will move when its warm here. But it has to be warm for several days and cant be much snow.

And by warm I mean in the 30s or 40s.

[blackhammer]

Buckets down here in the banana belt are much more hit and miss.

[trappnman]

definitely a true "hibernator" here, insofar as not moving for days and weeks time.

and their actions, are far different as well during cold weather- its very common, indeed expected, for coon to move in the low to mid 20s

agree 100% blackhammer on the hit and miss of buckets in cold- not sure what the bridge setters are using as lure/bait when they come out during a warm spell, but except for felixs, not much action in them that I observe.

[rionueces]

Great posts, I have been searching for information on DP traps. I have never used them before, but I am going to buy a couple of dozen this year to thin out the coons in advance of setting my cat and coyote sets. Coons pay the same anyway....

I have access to a plentiful supply of bait. One good cast of the throw net will yield about 10 lbs of mullet in the canal behind my house.

A couple of questions for you guys. Do you use some type of setting tool for the Duke DP's? Would you recommend putting surgical tubing on the trigger?

[RdFx]

THey make setting tools and alot of trappers make thier own. I use tubing on mine and works well.

[trappnman]

as far as the tubing- some say no

some also say they have such a problem with missing coon, that a push/pull is needed.

I've never had a problem with coon not firing the trap.

I use tubing.

[trappincoyotes39]

I like the push/pull design on the dagger so says TC who has yet to use them on a real line LOL. I just see an advantage to something that will fire either way over having to rely on a one way trigger and that being a pull type. They all work I'm sure but for max efficantcy I will play the odds for a few bucks more per trap and go with the daggers. That said I have purchased a few Dukes and will compair them and see what works best for me.

I like the circle trigger on the dagger as well, more trigger surface area should make a differance and no tubing needed. I messing with them think it mighty hard for a coon to steal things from a dagger what so ever without firing the trap.

They will all be preset and all have cable stakes hooked to them. Pound, squirt and go should make them very fast to set up. A few weeks and it is go time down this way.

[trappincoyotes39]

Here is the pre set feature pretty slick.



Here is that trigger that leaves little room for a coon to get around to hook anything out of the tube with a 2 way trigger system.