Does anyone have any experience trapping in their deer hunting properties? I'm just curious to find out if anyone has had any before/after info on trapping for coons/skunks/opossum/coyotes in their deer bedding areas. I personally don't get too worried about the extra pressure in my woods this time of year, but I want to know if anyone else has any experience with this. I stay out of my deer bedding areas from April - December except for maybe a day or two in a treestand with perfect wind conditions. I also like turkey hunting, so getting rid of next raiding predators is also important. I have a friend trapping my woods now and he rebaits/checks traps a couple times a week in December and January during warm spells. I'm not concerned about blowing deer out and getting shot by late season bowhunters since there is essentially no daytime buck movement and few hunters now anyway so to me the risk is worth the gain. I also do all of my habitat improvement in the woods during this time frame, which I would be doing whether he traps there or not. So far he's taken out 4 opossum, 1 skunk and 1 coon and I'm hoping he'll have 15-20 critters killed in the next month or so. What do you guys think about trapping and habitat improvements in bedding areas this time of year?
Trapping impact
- Thread starter Ben.MN/WI
- Start date
Jim Timber
5 year old buck +
You can trap along your trails without going deep into bedding. I have trail cam pics of coon 1/4 mile from water. They get around!
Terrific_tom
5 year old buck +
I have been trapping for the last 3 years. The trouble with trapping this time of year is that most of the critters except for the yotes don't move much except for warmups and that is on a limited basis. You would be more effective to trap the skunks, possum and coon earlier [Oct., Nov.] on your trails so as it would not impact your deer hunting. I have done this the last 3 years with no effect that I could see on day time movement of deer. The yotes move year round and love to travel trails also so there should be no need to set traps in your bedding areas in my opinion. When checking traps check them late morning when deer are most likely to be bedded so as to not disturb them.
I started trapping on our 80 acres 3 years ago. My goal was to help the ground nesting turkeys, quail, and any other bird out. I didn't start trapping untill after the last season was over for deer which is around Jan. 18. and continue until the close of the season which is Feb.28. I didn't want to push deer off to the other properties nor push the does off until we had taken our management goal quota. The first year I trapped over 50 coon and 30 other vermin(possum, skunk, and ferral cat)
We saw a few more turks and poults that following spring but not a major improvement. The second year I trapped a little over 30 coons and 20 of the other vermin including 3 bobcats.(bonus) That following spring we noticed double the number of turks/poults. Rabbit numbers also exploded.
Last year I only trapped a total of 22 critters of which 14 were coons but no bobcats. The turkeys numbers were the largest we have seen them in the 8 years we have owned the place and the neighbors have commented on how they have been seeing a lot more turks the past couple of years. I believe it has to do with the trapping. I also saw the first covey of quail on our place since the winter of '09(very cold and lots of snow) Rabbit numbers are still high. I am guessing the bobcats will take care of that in the near future.
The coons and other vermin on our trail cameras greatly diminished from 5 years ago. It is rare now to have a coon on camera. i don't believe it negatively impacted our deer hunting.
This year I will be again be trapping but will be targetting coyotes as my shooting a couple a year isn't getting the job done and from the sounds at night there is a load of them. That can''t be positively impacting our deer hunting.
We are a quarter mile from a creek and I just trap along a 300 yard by 200 yard route along a ridge paralleling a food plot of corn, beans, brassica, rye, and clover.
We saw a few more turks and poults that following spring but not a major improvement. The second year I trapped a little over 30 coons and 20 of the other vermin including 3 bobcats.(bonus) That following spring we noticed double the number of turks/poults. Rabbit numbers also exploded.
Last year I only trapped a total of 22 critters of which 14 were coons but no bobcats. The turkeys numbers were the largest we have seen them in the 8 years we have owned the place and the neighbors have commented on how they have been seeing a lot more turks the past couple of years. I believe it has to do with the trapping. I also saw the first covey of quail on our place since the winter of '09(very cold and lots of snow) Rabbit numbers are still high. I am guessing the bobcats will take care of that in the near future.
The coons and other vermin on our trail cameras greatly diminished from 5 years ago. It is rare now to have a coon on camera. i don't believe it negatively impacted our deer hunting.
This year I will be again be trapping but will be targetting coyotes as my shooting a couple a year isn't getting the job done and from the sounds at night there is a load of them. That can''t be positively impacting our deer hunting.
We are a quarter mile from a creek and I just trap along a 300 yard by 200 yard route along a ridge paralleling a food plot of corn, beans, brassica, rye, and clover.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I had a year after college and before moving away for work. I spent some time trapping as well. I found it rewarding and a fun way to have an extra reason to get outside. Where I was, I only got coon and possum. I never got to really put time into it to see if I could bring back the pheasants in our area over a multi-year period, but it felt good to knock the raiders back a little anyway.
