Drift Fencing Grubbing Skunks

Drift fencing, as pictured, is common for armadillos, incredibly effective and efficient, so why not use the same method for other critters like grubbing skunks?  When skunks dig for high protein grubs it's sometimes difficult to entice them with baits, about like putting a hotdog next to a guy eating filet mignon.  Though many yards are fenced, leaving dig-outs and a great places for double door cage traps as animals crawl under fences, some yards are wide open.  Skunks often live under porches or out buildings etc., again providing super den or positive sets with double door cage traps to take skunks coming or going, but again, these sets are not always available.  In the absence of trail or den sets with grubbing skunks, drift fencing will limit the skunks access to prime "hunting" areas while funneling skunks into waiting double door traps.  In this case, with a large open yard, the fence was placed over the center of the property with funneled traps at each end and a little bait just as an added plus.  The first two nights without the fence did not take the single skunk doing the damage, a lot of damage.  First night with the fence, bingo.

Bull Snake Picture-Caught in Comstock 5x5x24 Squirrel Trap

This was the snake, about a 4 foot bull snake, mentioned in an earlier post.  He got stuck in the cage wire after crawling into the 5x5x24 cage, firing the swing panel trigger.  The door was tight enough to hold him as was the cage wire, at least half of him anyway.   Just a thought for anyone dealing with snakes, what it shows is that with the correct mesh cage wire, trap lengths and trigger set up, these traps could be used for taking snakes of specific sizes too, large or small.  

Dead Deer

On the lighter side, it's not always about trapping.  I had the honor of removing a dead that must have fallen through the ice over winter, washed up to shore.  Slipping badly, he was just about bald, but fortunately held together in one piece.  After moving him I couldn't figure out why it still smelled so badly, residual?  Nope, it was a nice rotting 10 pound carp.  It just don't get no better as they say.

Pictures of a large 'Coon in the New Chimney Trap

New Chimney Trap--Success

At this point there are less than a dozen of the newest compact chimney traps in the field, so we are looking for more feedback.   I just heard today of the first raccoon caught in the first attempt with this new trap, a large female coon that was said to have filled the compartment.

The first trap we built, a year ago, was 30 inches long and as mentioned, caught 3 for 3, all large 'coon, each first night.  This updated, simplified trap is about the same length, 29 inches long, with the same triggering, but new door system and lock.  Light in weight and smaller than other similar traps, this trap fits down inside the chimney out of sight.  This smaller 29" trap with a powered door will accomplish the same results as a longer 43 inch trap, easy to set and easier to handle on a ladder.    

Interesting Snake Catch

Admittedly, we don't make a cage trap specifically designed to capture snakes, but that's just what happened a couple of days ago.  We received a video from a Colorado trapper with a 4 foot bull snake caught in one of the  Comstock 5x5x24 squirrel cage traps.  The snake had crawled in and fired the trigger holding him inside.  Evidently the snake's head was small enough o fit through the 1/2 x 1 mesh to get stuck half way out.  At that point he could not go forward or back, which is how he was found.  With a snip of one wire the snake was freed and released.  I guess bull snakes eat rodents as a primary food source, but may also eat a rattlesnake, which I'm sure no one minds.  At any rate, this is the first known snake catch in a Comstock cage trap.

The list of odd or interesting catches and occurrences grows.  We have heard of Iguana, Snake, Piglet, Fish including Salmon, Carp, Bass, Pike, Suckers, Brook Trout etc., Turkey, Chickadee, Duck, Mice along with all of the expected catches, beaver, bobcat, otter, raccoon, muskrat, mink, squirrels including fox, gray, red and flying squirrels, fox-red and gray, fisher, coyote, skunk, woodchuck, armadillo, mountain beaver, rats, chipmunks and now doubt a bunch more we have forgotten or haven't heard about.

Spring Beaver with Cages

In an effort to get some more pictures and video I spent the weekend downstate N.Y. near Elmira trapping some spring beaver with Nate Brock using Comstock Swim Through Cage Traps.  We put out 15 sets for a couple of nights.  The water was high and then got higher, with overnight rains that swelled the streams out of the channels.  With clay banks and raging current there were a few places that weren't easy to cross.  At one point Nate did have to wring out his socks, but put on chest waders the following day.

Of course we had used conibears for years, but this time we would use cages.  Again, the stability, ease is setting and versatility of these swim though cages can't be matched with any other device.  First check provided 7 beaver, while the second yielded 6 more and a muskrat.  This was the tail end of 4 month season, the final days.  We were picking up leavings from the fall, which meant if we had started with a clean slate with virgin colonies, the catch no doubt would have been much higher.  But, we made a point, these cages have their place in both ADC and fur trapping.  Even tough spring conditions were not a problem for cages and castor.

This brings the total to 530 beaver that we have caught in the cages in 4-1/2 years.