Nice pictures PB! Looks like most of those were fairly large coons! I just snapped and left my traps in the middle of the farm where I intend on deer hunting in a couple of weeks. I'll re set them after deer season. I will NOT step foot in there again until I hunt. With the pressure of the gun season coming back in, and this cold snap, the deer will start yarding in there here shortly. They have done it the last 25 years anyway. THEN it will be my time to hunt!

I still have a coyote snare, and one dirt hole set that I can run with the bino's from the barn lot. I left a couple bridge sets in the creek until Sat. when the water starts icing up. I will pull those out then.

Another coon on the creek this morning and a coyote in foothold (pics in coyote thread). Beautiful morning to be out.

Good deal bean! I have four chances to catch one tonight. But I have a feeling i got the majority of em. So, Im not expecting much.

I always go ahead and skin, flesh and board them the same day I catch them. I don't really have room in a freezer to put them and the wifey don't want frozen coon or opposums next to her smart one's dinners. :)The last 3 I caught stretched xxxL. The grinners are pretty big too. I do believe though a opposum stinks worse then a yote. especially that green poo that comes out their arsh. Gag a maggot. I really cant see someone wanting to wear an opposum around your neck but hey if it fetches me a few bucks let'em use them as a hanky, I don't care. Speaking Of wifes I told my wife the other day she was prettier than a opposum in a trap. Sine I am into trapping pretty heavy she took it as a compliment.

You're a brave man PB!!!!

This morning, I got a whole dollar for the best opossum have caught this year.

Probably one of the largest best furred opossums I have ever caught.

Haha - got a dollar grinner today as well. Nothing else caught. Coyotes were really moving though. Track all over.

Cool. I got 6 coyote sets out this afternoon. It's been too long. I forgot my sifter and dirt hole tool...felt like I was working with 2 left hands

They DID move a little last night. This was near a culvert right across the road from a barn. Makes 18, not including the two released little fellars.

Cool Yaz. I bet he had a cold night laying there.

nice catch, you have to thaw him out to skin him?

Ouch, those buckets with connis are sure enough DOG KILLERS!

Nope! He was still in good shape.

livebait this is a trapping forum get that talk out of here. keep ypur dogs on your property and you will have no worries.

Yep, I got into it with them on this subject last year-they do NOT care. psearchery, this is an open public forum in the good ole USA and people can submit their opinion if they want.

keep your dogs where they belong and its prevented enough said.

We got nothing today. Did not even see any fresh tracks. Going to be a slow week possibly.

The dog/trap debate will always go on. I like trapping and I also like dogs. I DO care and really would NOT LIKE to catch one. However, I have sole permission to trap, by any means I choose, on private property. Does that mean I don't ever use a conni because of the fear of catching something who does not control their dog? IMO it would not be my or the dogs fault but the owners.

well said bean. i agree one hundred percent with you. i have had rabbit dogs and will be the first to say if it was my fault i would take all responsibility. i dont want to catch a dog as i am a big dog lover but thats not going to make me change my trapping routines because of someone elses neglegence.

Trespassers always want to blame the property owner for their own stupidity. h.h.

For those that say they care and are dog lovers my question is why take the chance? I have followed this thread from the start and noticed the vast majority of coon shown here were taken in foot holds or DP's, which have proven to be highly effective, so why do some feel the need to use a 220. We have even seen footage of a small coon that probably would only fetch $1 at market being released to grow another year because he was caught in a non lethal trap. Doesn't this make more sence?

All it takes is a few non target catches on the 6PM news to get things in motion to lose the right to set these traps (like Minnesota).

Or be restricted to the less effective 5x5 body grip trap like Ohio and Missouri.

They are very effective coon takers, just need to be smart where we set them.

Very logical response.

Although most don't understand Indiana's leash law, it's a good law that enables a process to have a individuals dogs removed from their possession. I agree with both PSE and Chevy on their comments and I personally don't tolerate dogs running loose on our farm, with no adverse feeling for the dog owner.

The leash law applies to ALL PETS not just dogs!!!!

Simple answer, responsible pet owners keep their animals under their control at all times. Its the owners that think Lassie or Ol' Blue can run loose that are the problem.

I dispatch around 20 feral cats a year that are on my property killing small game. Bucket sets work very good for this control. When I smell cat urine in the pole barn I set a box trap baited with KFC chicken bones and usually in a couple days I have fluffy kitty sitting in the trap waiting on me.

When something digs under my gate or fence I set a 220 on the hole on the inside of my fence. Since the fence has an electric hot wire on top no dogs can get in but whatever varmint goes under the fence doesn't come out.

Beside, once outlaw coon hunters who like to sneak in the back side of your property hear rumors that your property has foot hold traps, 220's and snares they tend to stay away. h.h.

35 years of trapping. NEVER ONCE have I caught a dog in a 220! A dog has a greater chance of getting hit on the road than getting caught in one IMO. BUT, I do not set one if there is ANY chance at all to catch a dog....of any kind. I don't run up and down the creek banks setting 15 to 20 220's. I maintain 3 or 4 in SPECIFIC spots like in cattle barns, and barn lots with livestock. Places where there absolutely should NOT be any dogs for ANY reason. If the sets are off our property, the landowner KNOWS what kind of sets I have on his place. There are MANY places I could use this type of set, but absolutely do not for fear of non-target catches. I am probably more sympathetic than most to coon hounds getting off property, because I grew up walking behind one. Its not the dogs fault. I take that into consideration with every set I make, just not my bucket sets! Your concerns are duly noted, and that is the end of this conversation for me.

HH,

Feral cats are rampant in our area. They do more damage to small game, and non-game birds than any of our fur bearers. I see more cats running the woods than I do deer. I get them on my trail cameras all the time.

Yep. Nice post Yaz.

And to answer "why take the chance" I will answer why take the chance by not keeping your dog where it is not controlled and where it shouldn't be?

Funny thing is, I don't even own any 220's but plan on buying a few in the future and be specific where I put them.

What I find out of line is someone calling out Yaz with "dog killers" before they know where and how the sets were made. Hunters vs hunters - we don't need anymore of that.

Back on topic.

I found a coon beside a DP today that was dead. It was not there yesterday and the set was located in a barn. My first thought is that it was sick or something and just died. No blood or anything unusual.

You guys ever have that happen? Should I even take it to my fur guy? Looked pretty healthy to me and the coat was nice.

Yes, I would sell it for sure.

Died of natural causes right next to your trap?

Had he been caught or shot?

weird....

It was not shot by me and was not 4' from my trap. Thought about skinning it and looking at the carcass. Easiest coon gotten so far .

bean the trapping gods sent you a present.

How does the saying go, "Don't look a gift coon in the mouth?"

=)

Maybe he knew it was a matter of time before you caught him, and he just gave up!!! I do find them dead in the barns all the time. I found two in two different barns about a month before the season came it. I'd sell it no problem. Could have been clipped on the road, and thats as far as he could make it.

Anyone know what these tracks are? Creek is frozen and tracks all over it. Very small tracks. Mink? Rats? Fox?

mink

explain if you would!!! not doubting you just try to learn something new....

In the last pic the tracks on the right are yours.

about an 11 or 12D?