I’m declaring a holy war on coons

[Howboutthemdawgs]

So how do I do this and be effective? I live 6 hours from my property so while I am gonna start trapping after the meat of the season is over, i have some dukes leg hold traps, used them once this summer and caught two first try. Is that the most effective way? I only run 2 small feeders to get pics and the coons are out of control. 7-8 at a time on both feeders and for hours. Doesn’t matter where on the property I have a super healthy population of these rat bastards. I love my turkeys and I know this has a negative effect on their ability to successfully raise poults. Anyone have much luck?

 

[Catscratch]

Hit them hard when they are birthing. One momma can make a lot babies.

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[Howboutthemdawgs]

Hit them hard when they are birthing. One momma can make a lot babies.

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when is that? I want to kill 50 before turkey season. The sad thing is I think I can.

 

[Barndog56]

Do you know anyone in the area? Sounds like a perfect situation for a high schooler who likes trapping coons.

 

[Catscratch]

April, May, June?
I take it back.... in your situation go after them anytime you can. My dad went heavy trapping them and was catch somewhere around 50 a month for several months, but he lives on his place and can trap every day. You might want to check fur harvester laws and seasons. Also, dogproof traps work well.

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[Howboutthemdawgs]

Do you know anyone in the area? Sounds like a perfect situation for a high schooler who likes trapping coons.

good thought but I don’t trust a soul in the area and I wouldn’t ever, never ever, let one of the locals run my property with me being away. Unfortunately that isn’t an option.
The situation isn’t a huge headache for me it’s just one of the chores I have for my place and I want to be as efficient as I can be within reason.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

April, May, June?
I take it back.... in your situation go after them anytime you can. My dad went heavy trapping them and was catch somewhere around 50 a month for several months, but he lives on his place and can trap every day. You might want to check fur harvester laws and seasons. Also, dogproof traps work well.

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that’s the ones I have I just didn’t explain it well.
50 a month! Wow

 

[Suburbhunter]

Today I bought a 12 pack of Dukes Dog Proof Coon Traps off of Amazon, let the fun begin.

 

[Catscratch]

6hrs away. Do you have a place to stay the night? I would plan a couple of weekends to go there and carpet bomb the feeder areas with traps. Set as many as you can get, see if you can catch 10 or more a night.
Ive never done it but I've heard that the can be a blast to hunt with a squaller call during their rut.

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[Howboutthemdawgs]

6hrs away. Do you have a place to stay the night? I would plan a couple of weekends to go there and carpet bomb the feeder areas with traps. Set as many as you can get, see if you can catch 10 or more a night.
Ive never done it but I've heard that the can be a blast to hunt with a squaller call during their rut.

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yes sir I have a house there. I will hit it hard once im not super concerned with deer season. Yeah I figure if I can set 6 traps on each feeder Friday night and Saturday night I should put a dent by April.
I heard Grant Woods theorize one of the reasons for a decline in Turkey numbers is correlated with the decline in coon trapping, largely due to not being financial feasible among other reasons. It makes sense to me as one of the major factors. They just don’t seem to be kept in check.

 

[Catscratch]

God luck and have some fun with it!

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[SD51555]

I think you may just invite the next group over to move in if you kill every single one on your property. Until you disrupt their food chain, they'll just keep moving in and breeding back up to carrying capacity. Can you shut down the feeders for a period of time, preferably when they're most vulnerable?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I think you may just invite the next group over to move in if you kill every single one on your property. Until you disrupt their food chain, they'll just keep moving in and breeding back up to carrying capacity. Can you shut down the feeders for a period of time, preferably when they're most vulnerable?

good point. Yeah the feeders are just there to get some pics for inventory but they are not essential to anything. I don’t hunt over them and most of the time they are empty.

 

[davidhelmly]

We had the same problem a few years back and hit them hard several weekends in a row, we caught somewhere around 40-50 and haven't had any trouble now with them going on about 5 years. Get as many Duke dog proof and live traps as you can and set them every chance you get.

 

[Boll Weevil]

We use Duke 330 kill traps and just keep them set the entire trapping season...not unlike a mousetrap in the garage, attic or basement. I wouldn't recommend using these if there's a great likelihood of pets or curious children nearby...they are terminal. That being said, they are extremely effective managing nest raiders like coons, skunks, possums and will crush an armadillo shell like a marshmallow.

 

[Telemark]

Belisle body gripping traps in boxes with tapered sides. Throw a handfull of mini marshmallows plus whatever bait you are using in your feeders in each box.

 

[Redonthehead]

I started with dog proofs but have gone to body grips inside a cubby box for a number of reasons. Dead animal is the main one. 5" is the max size allowed on land in MO, works fine on coons. Walmart Ol Roy dog food for bait.

 

[Baker]

Trapping season opened today for us. Caught 6 first day and will get some hard hitting brothers to go medieval on them for the rest of the year. Fine, protein fed coons will be very popular. Duke traps for us.

 

[Catscratch]

Trapping season opened today for us. Caught 6 first day and will get some hard hitting brothers to go medieval on them for the rest of the year. Fine, protein fed coons will be very popular. Duke traps for us.

Get the Gimp...

 

[SwampCat]

I use dog proofs in the spring - starting in late March. The point is to reduce coon numbers just prior to and during turkey nesting season. If I trap in Nov - Jan - a lot of coons have moved back in by April to replace those removed. I am not saying dont trap now - a dead coon is a good coon. Our coons will bear their young late spring. It is important to remove the females prior to that.
As said before - check your regs - some states dont allow year round trapping and some states also do not allow you to discard coons. Our coons are worthless. Local fur buyers no longer buy them