Comstock Double Door Swing Panel Cage Traps and Nose Cones for Chipmunks

The versatility of a double door live cage trap can not be matched with single door cage traps.  Chipmunks were digging holes in a garden and lawn, leaving the opportunity to set double door traps along the foundation of the home without using bait or lure, done in seconds, literally.

Like groundhog or skunk trapping at den sites with positive sets using nose cones and double door wire trigger Comstock Cages, the same thing can be done on a smaller scale for chipmunks.  We place wire nose cones over den holes, then slip a 5x5 or 6x6 Comstock Double Door Swing Panel trap into the nose cone, done.  Again, the same concept used in woodchuck trapping, while using a small wire nose cone and double door trap, without bait or lure.

I set 3 unbaited traps the other day, one along the foundation, with two positive sets, three for three the next day!

   

Large Comstock Cages for Coon

Tim in Ohio generally uses 9x11 Comstock double door cage traps for raccoons without issue, but at times chooses a larger Comstock double door trap.  This time Tim used a couple of larger 12x15x33 cages set tall, 15 high and 12 wide, in trail sets in the grass.  Designed for beaver as a smaller alternative to the larger 12x18x39 traps, Tim sometimes uses these larger traps in dumpsters and in trail sets.  Tim has learned to set them with the trigger coming up from the bottom with a door that closes from the side.  It's nice to have traps that work in any manner of set, options.  With the trigger coming up from the bottom, Tim has found that the raccoons do not fight the trigger once the trap is fired, while is makes it all but impossible for a 'coon to pass over the trigger bar without firing the trap.

Sight Hunting / Trapping Groundhogs with Double Door Cage Traps

This sort of sight hunting for chucks integrates hunting with trapping and adds an element of excitement to the experience, while it both speeds and enhances the process.

I know I have mentioned a lot of this before in different posts, but would like to tie it altogether with hows and whys on some important aspects of groundhog trapping with double door cage traps.  Like beaver, along with morning, woodchucks are active in the evening up until dark, making late day a great time to check and set traps, while locating "new" chucks and dens, chucks that can get overlooked.

When checking in the evening its not uncommon to see groundhogs moving and feeding.  You will often see chucks you were not aware  of on large properties  When I spot them running I will jump out of the truck and follow them until they dive into a den, unknown chucks and dens for the most part.  Since evening is the time chucks are feeding before they bed down, if you push them into a den before they have finished, they will be eager to come back out and finish supper before turning in for the night.

Last evening, as hoped, I ran into a chuck crossing a road and followed him until he holed up in a den that I was not aware of.  I a minute I had a double door Comstock 9x11x18 covering the hole.  After checking a couple of traps I returned about 10 minutes later and found him in the trap, as expected.  What it comes down to, if you see a chuck late in the day, he's yours.  Just follow him and set.

I know some will set single door traps at chuck holes.   A single door trap will take only chucks in the den at the time of setting.  Where chucks are often in the den, not always be a long shot.  Transient males will have dens or dive holes scattered everywhere, long distances apart.  A dive hole is a quick safe haven for chucks to hide in when they feel threatened.  If you set single door traps at these locations you will short yourself.  Last night two of these holes that had remained vacant for a couple of days each had nice fat groundhogs.  Of course these woodchucks were caught re-entering the dens rather than exiting, chucks single door traps would simply have missed.

Woodchucks, Territoriality, "Dirty" Double Door Cage Traps

Like beaver that respond to castor scent nearly 100% of the time in an effort to assert themselves with territoriality, while maintaining boundaries with intruding beaver, likewise woodchucks are also territorial.  Woodchucks can be be caught in positive den sets with traps set right in or over the den holes of course, with bait in single door traps and even with "dirty" free standing double door cage traps.

When woodchucks are caught at a den sight, which is the set of choice, and remain in the traps for a few hours, they often leave a lot of excrement in the bottom of the trap, a dirty trap.  Woodchuck feces really stink, quite loud as they say.  The first instinct is to clean the cage, remove all odor.   But, if you leave the smelly cage as is, the cage with natural odors is a ready made set in and of itself.  I usually look for dens or trails, but in the absence of either a smelly trap may do the trick.  Just take the smelly double door cage, level up a spot and plant the trap, done!

The indigenous chucks will often come to investigate the odor to find out who is moving in to their area and simply walk into the cage without bait.  Like a baited trap, nothing special is required for location, just a place where the woodchucks have been frequenting.

George Gardener, a nuisance wildlife trapper here in New York, had turned us on to this method having left smelly, set 18 inch double door traps out over night at his home while he cleaned out his car.  Twice he unintentionally caught woodchucks this way, so why not do it on purpose?

Baitless Trail Set for Coon, Just can't help myself

There are few 'coon in our area due to rabies, but we do get a job now and then.  A few years ago 'coon had infested a warehouse.  I followed the tracks from the warehouse outside in the dusting of snow and set along a fence line.  If 'coon travel a trail once, they will be back.  We caught 2 outside in trail sets.  The 'coon were traveling along the eves also, so I put a couple of 220's in their path and nailed the rest.  Think we got 6 or 8 when it was over, again no bait.

After inspecting a 'coon job yesterday I found raccoons living in the ceiling of a modular home, but again I opted for a trail set outside of the home.  The normal method would have been to use a positive set on the soffit with a double door cage, but since the soffit was missing in many places around the house on all four sides, at least 30 feet of it, there was no narrowed single location to set.

With that, I noticed a well traveled trial in leaves leading from the porch steps through some brush to a small tree that was an access point to the roof.  Like the old days, it was back to "trappin'."  I just placed a trail set with a double door 30 inch 9x11 Comstock Cage and had one today, which was the good news.  But, the homeowner said she saw another large one.    

Touch Up Painting Cages

Comstock Cages now come powder coated completely from the factory, frame and cage wire, beginning more than two years ago.  In time there are wear points that need a touch up no matter what the coating.  Even powder coating can chip.  Custom made cages made in New York are spray painted with Rustoleum.

We began touch up painting with Rustoleum primer, both the red brown and black years ago.  (The red blends in with red brush very well, another story.)  I was later told that primer actually absorbs water.  Primer holds for a while, but not as long as I liked.  We have used the Rustoleum flat black, which was similar to the primer when sprayed.    

You can also use speed dip, the gasoline mixed product, but make sure the traps are dipped on a hot dry day and the traps dry well so as not to be sticky.

Recently I bought some Rustoeum Satin just to try.  Satin is a bit shinier, dries more slowly, but holds up pretty well, I think better than flat or primer.  Animals don't pay any attention to it.  I have not used gloss, not wanting anything that shiny, but that too could be an alternative especially if another coat of any non shiny paint is used afterwards.

I'm often in a hurry and often just spray whatever is handy, but if the metal was clean, primer applied before painting with Satin sprayed on after as recommended, I think it would last quite a while.  The Satin seems to offer a harder finish.

 

Speed Trapping Groundhogs / Woodchucks with Comstock Double Door Cage Traps with Nose Cones

Many of us know that groundhogs are diurnal, daytime feeders, usually out foraging in the cool of the morning and late evening just before dark.  I have often mentioned that if traps are set early or late in the day just before woodchucks emerge, they can be often be taken quickly, sometimes in just a few minutes.  Of course during cool weather stretches woodchucks can be out at any time of the day, but never at night.

When trapping groundhogs, to prevent catching unwanted non-targetted animals, you may simply cover the traps at night.  The reverse is true when trapping nocturnal animals like skunks.  Traps can be covered during the daylight hours to prevent woodchucks from entering.

In hot summer weather groundhogs are often out twice a day, meaning there are two chances to catch them.  If a double door trap with nose cone has captured an animal in the morning after the trap has been set and not checked until the following day, you can lose the opportunity to catch more woodchucks in the evening because the trap is full.  By removing animals quickly and resetting you will have yet another opportunity to catch a second woodchuck at the same location in the same day.

With a mini infestation at a recent location I did just that, set 11 Comstock Live Cage Traps and checked them twice in one day and again the following morning, leaving traps open for catching during each of the 3 prime catch periods.  The first check in the afternoon netted 5 groundhogs, while the second check just after dark produced 3 more.  Traps were left open and working during each of  catch period.  With a late morning check the following day there were 2 more groundhogs, meaning in just over 24 hours 3 catch periods had been utilized to take 10 woodchucks.