Belo's Trapping Adventures

[NYRuthunter]

I think you had a great start to your trapping endeavors.Congrats 

[Buckmaster7600]

For the last 3 years I’ve been trapping coons. Last year I got 81 off my 250 acres. This year I only got 8. 
 

Next year I might have to add a few coyote sets to my line just to keep me busy. 

[Belo]

1 hour ago, NYRuthunter said:

I think you had a great start to your trapping endeavors.Congrats 

thanks and I appreciate your advice and that from the many others along the way.

[Belo]

1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

For the last 3 years I’ve been trapping coons. Last year I got 81 off my 250 acres. This year I only got 8. 
 

Next year I might have to add a few coyote sets to my line just to keep me busy. 

are you selling the furs or just predator control? I want to get a few and send them off to make my boys some coon skin caps. Will be pretty hilarious to see the reaction around the burbs haha.

[Buckmaster7600]

4 minutes ago, Belo said:

are you selling the furs or just predator control? I want to get a few and send them off to make my boys some coon skin caps. Will be pretty hilarious to see the reaction around the burbs haha.

Predator control, I have an older fella that lives in town that I give them to. He trapped but is now disabled and still enjoys the fur work and what little profit he makes. 
 

It all started when I had 26 raccoons in a single trail cam picture on the edge of a corn plot. After seeing that I did my class online and started trapping. 

[Wolc123]

You might want to get a jump on the coons and hit them in the summer.  In NY state, a landowner may trap and kill “damaging” coons year round in unlimited quantity. The carcasses need to be burried (they don’t specify how deep) or burned, if it is outside of the regular trapping season.  During trapping season, they can be tossed out anywhere, to feed the buzzards and vermin.
 

For me, “damaging” always consists of pressure on sweetcorn.   That starts a few weeks before it is ready for human consumption.  Coon tracks are very easy to identify in the soft ground around the corn.  
 

You could always plant a few rows of sweetcorn, along the edge of a food plot or two.  Also, coons hit cherries very hard, when they ripen in May.  If you have cherry trees, you can get an even earlier jump on the “damagers”.

Advantages of this early trapping are many, but the main one is elimination of “interference” during deer hunting season.  Since the coon hides are now virtually worthless, even when “prime” in the fall and winter trapping season”, there’s really no good reason not to take them out early.  Thin “early fur” caps would be more comfortable for your boys to wear in warmer weather.  You could make “summer weight” ones, as well as later “prime” ones for cold conditions.  
 

When it comes to the burrying depth for the carcasses, I usually try to get about a foot of dirt on top of them.  In the late summer, it takes a week or two for the coyotes to find them and dig them up. 
 

I use two  different sets  for early coons: DP’s baited with dry cat food, or live box traps baited with marshmallows wiped with some peanut butter.  
 

Each type has its advantages.  The DP’s won’t catch skunks,  but are harder to check from long distance.  I can often check the box traps with binoculars from my house. The box traps are a pain to clean after you catch a coon in them, and dispatching the skunks can get messy (I’ve only had one spray when I used a shotgun from upwind but the shell was bad and delivered a very light load).  
 

For the last (20) years, I have taken out an average of (12) coons a year, in and around an average of (5) acres of corn (4 fieldcorn and 1 sweetcorn).  Usually there is a skunk or possum or two added to the mix, which may also be dispatched burried or burned in NY, under the “damaging” label.  

Creating a “coon-free” zone does wonders for the local wild turkey population.  I don’t believe there is a more effective nest predator, than those “masked bandits”.  That’s also the only downside I see with coyote elimination.  Coyotes are a highly effective coon predator.  
 

Once they find and dig up a few around my corn, they usually pretty much take over the live “coon control” by themselves.  I’ll still get adult males (the coyotes are not dumb enough to take them on), but they are murder on the females and the young ones.  
 

That might be another bonus for you of the early coon trapping.  Having a few coon seeds “planted”, before the coyote trapping season opener in October, could make that easier.  

 

[Belo]

On 2/17/2024 at 7:18 AM, Wolc123 said:

You might want to get a jump on the coons and hit them in the summer.  In NY state, a landowner may trap and kill “damaging” coons year round in unlimited quantity. The carcasses need to be burried (they don’t specify how deep) or burned, if it is outside of the regular trapping season.  During trapping season, they can be tossed out anywhere, to feed the buzzards and vermin.
 

For me, “damaging” always consists of pressure on sweetcorn.   That starts a few weeks before it is ready for human consumption.  Coon tracks are very easy to identify in the soft ground around the corn.  
 

You could always plant a few rows of sweetcorn, along the edge of a food plot or two.  Also, coons hit cherries very hard, when they ripen in May.  If you have cherry trees, you can get an even earlier jump on the “damagers”.

Advantages of this early trapping are many, but the main one is elimination of “interference” during deer hunting season.  Since the coon hides are now virtually worthless, even when “prime” in the fall and winter trapping season”, there’s really no good reason not to take them out early.  Thin “early fur” caps would be more comfortable for your boys to wear in warmer weather.  You could make “summer weight” ones, as well as later “prime” ones for cold conditions.  
 

When it comes to the burrying depth for the carcasses, I usually try to get about a foot of dirt on top of them.  In the late summer, it takes a week or two for the coyotes to find them and dig them up. 
 

I use two  different sets  for early coons: DP’s baited with dry cat food, or live box traps baited with marshmallows wiped with some peanut butter.  
 

Each type has its advantages.  The DP’s won’t catch skunks,  but are harder to check from long distance.  I can often check the box traps with binoculars from my house. The box traps are a pain to clean after you catch a coon in them, and dispatching the skunks can get messy (I’ve only had one spray when I used a shotgun from upwind but the shell was bad and delivered a very light load).  
 

For the last (20) years, I have taken out an average of (12) coons a year, in and around an average of (5) acres of corn (4 fieldcorn and 1 sweetcorn).  Usually there is a skunk or possum or two added to the mix, which may also be dispatched burried or burned in NY, under the “damaging” label.  

Creating a “coon-free” zone does wonders for the local wild turkey population.  I don’t believe there is a more effective nest predator, than those “masked bandits”.  That’s also the only downside I see with coyote elimination.  Coyotes are a highly effective coon predator.  
 

Once they find and dig up a few around my corn, they usually pretty much take over the live “coon control” by themselves.  I’ll still get adult males (the coyotes are not dumb enough to take them on), but they are murder on the females and the young ones.  
 

That might be another bonus for you of the early coon trapping.  Having a few coon seeds “planted”, before the coyote trapping season opener in October, could make that easier.  

 

yeah coons aren't damaging anything for me really, and I understand what you're getting it, but I'd also want to use their pelts to make some cool hats.

[Wolc123]

20 minutes ago, Belo said:

yeah coons aren't damaging anything for me really, and I understand what you're getting it, but I'd also want to use their pelts to make some cool hats.

You could still make hats from the early pelts but you would need to deal with ticks and bugs, which would be a deal breaker for me.  It’s easier to just dig holes and bury them whole.

[NYRuthunter]

6 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

You could still make hats from the early pelts but you would need to deal with ticks and bugs, which would be a deal breaker for me.  It’s easier to just dig holes and bury them whole.

I wouldn’t waste money on a summer coon hat.

[Belo]

hit 3 out of 4 on the trap line last night. Every few years they come back in numbers and I found they got into my candy bar I keep in my work travel bag. Still a ways off from that fur coat, but making progress.

 

Edited April 9 by Belo