Well, even with that downpour rain I had another miss. I have it chained to a metal mailbox and it was drug about a foot or so before the animal pulled itself out. I would have to guess I have a smart raccoon that sticks its hand in there instead of its head to grab the bait? Reset and ready to go. If it happens again have to get the bait pretty far back from the trap I’m guessing.
I couldn't wait for this one to get to the trap and grabbed the air rifle.
The neighbor told me he saw a raccoon last night. I would assume that's what's been setting off the 110. I set the bait pretty far behind the trap this afternoon so hopefully it tries to crawl through to get it vs reaching in.
Another nuisance egg eater out of the gene pool with the 110. I must have walked up on it shortly after getting caught. It was walking around with the trap like this. I ended up dispatching it. That’s why I always anchor my traps.
I decided to move one of these traps since I haven’t been getting any action lately. There’s a bunch of tracks about 20 yards away so I figured I’d move it over there. When I set it off it stayed open probably about a good half inch or more. When I touched it, it snapped shut. I would assume that’s probably why I’ve been getting empty traps that whatever I’m getting foot caught is pulling out because it’s not completely shut. I’m doing an overnight vinegar soak to get all the rust off and then I’ll clean it off with my Dremel tool. I do have some Rustoleum clear paint and I might give it a spray down as well.
Normally, with my other traps like the 650s I give them a few days soak in vinegar and then I pressure wash them. They end up looking like new again. Then I dip them in wax, which I know I don’t wanna do with these guys.
I would have to guess that there’s probably a good rust accumulation that’s causing it to bind and not wanting to shut completely. Once it gets completely cleaned off from vinegar after a day, I’ll inspect it to see if anything is bent. I’m sure after a few bigger caught animals it wasn’t meant to catch probably takes a toll on these little five dollar traps. I’ll give it a little love tap with my hammer if anything looks bent. Worst case scenario is I’ll go buy another one for five bucks because it definitely paid for itself already. I caught a few dozen muskrat and countless squirrels with the 2 I have as well.
Just took it out of the vinegar and gave a quick scrub with a wire brush. The trap looks shiny brand spanking new again.
I did notice a little bit of orange rust that I missed inside the Spring which I'm not worried about.
The only spray paint I have is Rustomleum clear gloss...lol. I gave it a thick coat so at least it would keep from rusting.
I will have to look for some brown, green, or tan eventually. None of the animals I caught gave a crap that it wasn't painted to begin with.
I'm hoping the paint will keep it from rusting and to make a slick surface for a more reliable and sensitive trap.
I did notice the grips tight in the springs on only one side when its not set.
So it allows the other grip sides to move losely in the springs back-and-forth a half inch or more. i don't know if bending the grips will help.Or trying to give tje gip rivets some taps to tighten the slop?
If the sping is allowed to fold in (for storage) they grips go completely shut and tight.
I also notice the Spring can actually slide up-and-over the one side of the grip. if I squeeze it, it easily gets back into place.So they're both on the same side. if that makes sense.
I don't know if the rivets are starting to get loose that hold the 2 pieces together causing the uneveness in grip tension?... or maybe that's just normal?
I figure I can try and give some hammer taps to the grip rivets to see if it evens up the sides together better?
I guess it really doesn't move that lunch.Maybe about an eighth of an inch, but this shows you how much of a gap closed there is.
It's like this on the opposite side too but not opened as much.
I called Duke traps. Got to talk with Bill again....hes awesome. He told me to give it some hammer hits on the big loose grips on an anvil or flat surface and it should even out. If not ill buy a few more.
Well, I played around with it this afternoon. I bent 2 of the outside grip edges at a little sharper angle to match the others. Didn’t help. With the trap set I can wiggle the grips up and down. The rivets are super loose. I took a few minutes and drilled one of them out opposite of the spring. I then replaced it with the biggest diameter bolt I could get away with along with a couple washers and nut. It seems a million times better. I will go buy a couple replacement 110’s tomorrow, but it seems to have done the trick. I didn’t have any Loctite at the location I was at so I mixed up a little JB Weld and applied it to the threads and nut. I finger tightened it by hand just a little snug to make sure it moves loose enough without resistance. I figure that will keep it from coming loose, which is what I read happens when you switch the rivets out to nuts and bolts. Probably should’ve tossed it in the trash for all of five bucks and bought a new one but 10 minutes of screwing around and it’s back up and running. The grips barely seem to move now and literally almost touch each other versus before they were loose and sloppy.
I don’t use a lot of coni’s cause I’m not a water trapper and unless the rules have changed they can’t be used on land here so no help.
I will admit that vinegar will take an old rusted trap and have it looking brand new. I’ll also agree with a critter doesn’t care if that trap is shiny new or painted orange as far as footholds go…all mine are covered anyways.
I have 6 Belisle 280’s that I bought just because one of my landowners had some beavers and otters move in and had a couple EASY crossovers to set. I took them straight from the packaging and set them and caught that first night, lol.
Yeah we can use them on land here. I don't have aything bigger than these but I think you can go up to 160's. They either have to be seven inches inside a cubby...or deeper... or they have to be so far off the ground. so you would basically set them on a tipped over tree so far above the ground. I originally bought these for muskrats and they worked great. Then I decided to hang some off of the trees in the backyard to get rid of nuisance squirrels. they've been laying in the garage for a few years without any use and decided to pull them out when I had a mink come into the backyard and kill two different ducks on their nests. My dog's not much bigger than the ducks so I figured it was game on. It's evaded me the whole time and I've been catching everything else underneath the sun as you can see.
i figured maybe try a walk through set up since I was on a roll fixing this trap today. I always wanted to put a pan on one of these. i had one of the foam furniture sliding coasters is and got creative. seems like it will hold and should be waterproof. I figured the tan will look like sand or dirt.So I left it the fuzzy side up. i'm just wondering if that rotten little animal.Just didn't want to push through wire.So now it's gotta a walk through when I set it out. When the j b weld dries tomorrow I'll put the spring back on. That coater seems light enough that it shouldn't trip it. I will give it a test run when I put it back together to make sure it doesn't bind or hang up. i'll see how long the foam coater lasts.
I have this one set up inside of a metal mailbox. i made a slit. That goes back further than regulation, so if I do catch a mink....Or whenever I catch, it has to crawl in and threw it to get to the bait in back of the box.
I don’t use a lot of coni’s cause I’m not a water trapper and unless the rules have changed they can’t be used on land here so no help.
I will admit that vinegar will take an old rusted trap and have it looking brand new. I’ll also agree with a critter doesn’t care if that trap is shiny new or painted orange as far as footholds go…all mine are covered anyways.
I have 6 Belisle 280’s that I bought just because one of my landowners had some beavers and otters move in and had a couple EASY crossovers to set. I took them straight from the packaging and set them and caught that first night, lol.
Yep, beaver are not the sharpest tools in the shed..lol.
I threw a pair of Duke 650s a few inches in the water around a tree.In her backyard a couple years ago when the water was up and it was chewing the hell out of it.
I caught seven beaver in less than a week from the same spot. They just kept coming back nonstop and chewing on my tree. The biggest 1 was 87 pounds. The first 1 I caught was 63 pounds... on the very first night I set it. I just cut that tree down last week because it never survived. I figure I got the culprit with the first affender and pulled the traps They kept coming back and working that tree every night until they killed it. every time I caught a beaver, they chewed a little bit of the tree first for that week stright until it was completely chewed all the way around.
I haven't tried to set it off. I'm not going to worry about it because I know it's more of a hair trigger with that pad on since it adds a little additional weight.
That pad is three and a half inches in diameter. it looks like it should be a winner. It's set inside the metal mailbox. the additional width from the bolt wedges.It in place pretty good so I can adjust it up and down to make sure there's clearance on the bottom.
I caught a mouse in a trap last night. i'm going to try and suspend it in the back and see if I can finally entice that mink that's been raiding the duck nests in my yard.
Believe it's a harbor freight floor slider is what I used for the tray. i just heated the metal feelers with a torch and let it slide right in and melt on it to stay in place. I am sure to expensive if you wanted to do it in bulk. It's just what I had laying around.
I can move the Spring up-and-down to get it to suspend so the latch has clearance. I would say it's about a 1/2 inch from the base of the mailbox the way I have it set up in the photo below.
I found some coroplast material from a leaf bag insert. I glued 2 pieces together to stiffen it. Figured they will be waterproof and easy to replace for pan material.
I paint all my conibear type traps/dog proofs. Any type box/holder setup, trigger is down. Including beaver sets. I'll post a coon box pic later, with trap setup. I set for mink the same way, just smaller box/trap. We have much "looser" regulations on private land for traps than public lands and right-a-way.
I put too many coats of paint on my second 110 and had to scrape some off where the dog is. I have that one set in water right now for some nuisance muskrat that have been digging holes in my bank. Was hoping I would pick up the mink that’s been raising heck as a bonus. Just set that one up as a blind walk through set. I ended up catching a muskrat in a live trap last night. I haven’t seen one in a long time since the Mink has been around. Who knows, maybe when I cracked it with the air rifle a few weeks ago it did do it in. I figure I’ll use the muskrat for bait tonight. I thought I got rid of all the raccoons until the other night. Got one that’s been visiting the inside of my shed and pooping all over and started ripping down limbs in my fruit trees trying to get out my rip fruit. So I know I at least have a raccoon to rid yet. That furniture pad sticks out like a sore thumb so I think I might have to take that off and put a piece of coraboard in place of it.
I went out and did the blind walk-through set two days ago and set the other 110 up with the carpet coaster on it. I had a raccoon visitor that knocked over three live traps and never went in one and didn’t go near the 110s. Guessing maybe he smelled the paint? Normally raccoons don’t care imo. I’ll have to put some better bait in the mailbox, but he can’t resist tonight…a muskrat!
I made 4 doz of these for my paraplegic trapping buddy. 20-24 he could run out of the back of his pickup in one trip. He would set 2-4 at each stop. Usually he ran in Dec/Jan, wanting boar coon. We made our own bait. BMI 220. They allowed him to set/reset from his wheelchair.
Well, after 2 pull outs think the raccoons have my number. There are fresh tracks by tbe 110s and they just have been avoiding them. I set a live trap out and caught a fifteen pound female last week. I also still have a squirrel problem. they've been still chewing on the sofit and facia.
I've gotten a few with the live trap, blow gun and air rifle. I think one even ate the Decon block I had hidden for mice outside...lol
It's to the point now that they're all educated and won't go near the traps.
So I mixed things up this morning since every time I went out , there was a gray squirrel or two that would take off running and wouldn't go in my live trap. I also would step out with the air rifle and they were long gone a hundred miles an hour , so they had my number.
I set both the one tens with a carrot and peanut butter. Just standing up on the cement. I figured it was something new that they weren't scared of yet.
About fifteen minutes later it came back.
....I caught 2 more today. I don't know where they're coming from.But there about as thick as mosquitoes around here apparently. When my apples finally ripen and I pick them off the tree I'll leave the squirrels alone for the year.
Well probably my last post on this topic cuz I'm about ready to pull the trap for the year. I had to keep getting snapped off trying to get a mink. Going to guess the big giant possum got the other day with the blow gun probably was the culprit. Was either that or I know there's been some coyotes running around and they could have got caught and pulled out. I haven't had any action for weeks and was surprised to walk out the other morning to see this fat pig!!! I thought I caught all of my fruit tree Raiders... apparently I didn't.
