paintedpaw
Retired NYSDEC Lake George Ranger
Posts: 691
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Post by paintedpaw on Jul 21, 2023 11:59:11 GMT -5
For years I used the running pole set for fisher, however Bob Noonan has come up with what I think is even better. He has come up with a wire cage, open on the bottom, hinged door on top, a and a shelf belw the top. Notches are cut in the bottom to accomodate the trap springs and trigger dog. The cage can be hung on any tree without having to look for the right pole. The springs are bent back tight against the cage with a small stick run through the springs and cage to stabilize the trap. The top hinged door can be opened to place bait on the shelf.I place a piece of political sign on top which makes the set weatherproof from rain, snow, or ice. Forest moss can be used instead. Some think that you can catch more fisher on the ground. Maybe so,,but I don't like lugging boxes, or the possibility of catching a dog. I do use the small 155's at holes in stone walls. I like to pre bait.Once they come, they will be back.
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Post by trapperjack on Jul 21, 2023 19:53:32 GMT -5
I still use the old style Noonan cage set. I made 40 cages from chicken fencing and have a separate area for the bait at the back. It has a piece of fence for a flap in the back which prevents bait from being stole. I was using 160’s but now use 155 ‘s with a couple sticks across to fill in gap. Works for me. Getting my blood going now. Finally somebody taking time to talk trapping!!!! Thanks. A little over 3 months away.
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tomsnare
It's a good time to be a trapper!
Posts: 514
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Post by tomsnare on Jul 24, 2023 17:27:30 GMT -5
In my other life I used a white square bucket, a KB stableizer, a 160. I drilled two holes in the back of the bucket run a wire through them to hold the bait, Staple the stablizer and the trap chain to the pole slide the bucket under the stablizer to hold the bucket firmly on the pole, set the trap on the stablizer Worked well for coons and a couple fisher and one grey fox, i showed this at the trapper training classes, one guy and his kid used this and caught a bobcat and a couple fisher plus some coon and possum. Never caught a lot of fisher but his seemed to "flag" animals, and of course thieves, I used the wire cages for mink had to put the trap back in the cage or coons would reach, put the fish I used on the trigger, used a lot of 126s, found this to work good on skunks and "field lions",as well as mink.
Tom
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Post by Adirondack-Jim on Jul 24, 2023 17:38:55 GMT -5
Tom, if you don't mind sharing some additional information, how deep were your mink cages and how far back were the traps to avoid the coons reaching in?
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Post by trapperjack on Jul 24, 2023 19:54:53 GMT -5
The good old white buckets!!!! Still finding them in the woods and ponds. Some trappers never retrieved them and then forgot-them or just gave up trapping. I have a good collection.
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tomsnare
It's a good time to be a trapper!
Posts: 514
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Post by tomsnare on Jul 24, 2023 22:41:53 GMT -5
The cages were 16 or 18 inches trap was 8 inch back, I would use a flat rock if it was handy for a roof, I also used a 220 or 160 on a stablizer with a fish impaled on the trigger, it made a difference if it was on land or in the water. I prefered to set in water either with the fish exposed or submerged the mink would be in the trap on land I found that sometimes the mink would be dead a foot or so away. For coons and larger animals I would set the trap so the springs were against something to throw the trap at the animal, would catch several animals by the foot every year and lose a few too. I lived with the misses and loses, you can set a lot of traps so I did, killed a lot of possums in those 126's. I miss the mink out here, we have lions to keep it interesting a real PIA to release. I used salted bullheads for bait, me and Kurt caught barrels of 'em, I think most any fish works used to catch herring and use them---smear the fish on the side of a tree set a trap, the scales would glow on a moonlight night,first fisher I caught was on a herring in a 126 on a beaver dam. Hot and dry here last rain was late May!
Tom
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Post by Adirondack-Jim on Jul 25, 2023 15:55:26 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips, can't imagine the challenges of releasing a lion...
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