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Lots of talk…

For everyone trapping to help the turkeys. PLEASE make notes on # of critters caught, # of turkeys seen, and most importantly keep track of the poults and their survival year to year.
THIS data will do a lot to help sway other hunters to start trapping varmints to help the nesting birds.

9 years ago when we moved to the farm, there was a group of about 8 turkeys that used the place in the spring. ZERO poults made it to July. That was the winter I started trapping. Caught 2 dozen coons and 22 grinners, + 5 skunks on 68 acres. Almost every one had some sort of damage/disease/sores on them. That next spring I saw the same group of turkeys (still 8) but had a 21 poults running around in July. I think around 12 made it to fall. Next winter I caught slightly less coons and possums, 2 skunks and all but 1 looked pristine. NO fight scars or damage.
That spring the turkey flock was up to 18 and a second flock started using the property. That winter I trapped 12 coon and 9 possums and started getting coyotes. That spring we had a bunch of poults running around. Probably 20+ in one group and 8-10 in the other smaller group that only came on the property occasionally.

I have barely trapped the past two years and the turkey flock and poult survival has crashed. I think 50% is the changes in habitat on the farm (owners next door have cleared all the fencerows and underbrush) and 50% is the boom in nest predators.
Started trapping again this year and have caught 9 coons and 5 possums in one spot! Havent even started trapping the "good" spots along the creek yet. ( I need to buy more traps)
This is by no means a scientific study or conclusive evidence but I am convinced that trapping the nest predators has helped the turkey population on our small farm.
 
hammer33 said:
For everyone trapping to help the turkeys. PLEASE make notes on # of critters caught, # of turkeys seen, and most importantly keep track of the poults and their survival year to year.
THIS data will do a lot to help sway other hunters to start trapping varmints to help the nesting birds.

9 years ago when we moved to the farm, there was a group of about 8 turkeys that used the place in the spring. ZERO poults made it to July. That was the winter I started trapping. Caught 2 dozen coons and 22 grinners, + 5 skunks on 68 acres. Almost every one had some sort of damage/disease/sores on them. That next spring I saw the same group of turkeys (still 8) but had a 21 poults running around in July. I think around 12 made it to fall. Next winter I caught slightly less coons and possums, 2 skunks and all but 1 looked pristine. NO fight scars or damage.
That spring the turkey flock was up to 18 and a second flock started using the property. That winter I trapped 12 coon and 9 possums and started getting coyotes. That spring we had a bunch of poults running around. Probably 20+ in one group and 8-10 in the other smaller group that only came on the property occasionally.

I have barely trapped the past two years and the turkey flock and poult survival has crashed. I think 50% is the changes in habitat on the farm (owners next door have cleared all the fencerows and underbrush) and 50% is the boom in nest predators.
Started trapping again this year and have caught 9 coons and 5 possums in one spot! Havent even started trapping the "good" spots along the creek yet. ( I need to buy more traps)
This is by no means a scientific study or conclusive evidence but I am convinced that trapping the nest predators has helped the turkey population on our small farm.
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Thanks for sharing! That's awesome. Although, as you say, not scientific…..but there's no better truth to the matter than your first hand experience.

We used to have tons of turkeys. I'd say around 2016-17 was the peak, then it all came crashing down…why? That's the million dollar question. From then until 2022, I may have heard 2 gobbles altogether and no turkeys were seen anywhere. We started trapping in 2021 and caught about a dozen critters. Really ramped it up and ran 18 traps in 2022. Caught 93 critters. Spring of 2022 we actually had a few birds to hunt and we saw the first poults we had seen in years. Lonely hens all over the place nesting. We now have multiple flocks utilizing the property. Some contain up to 26 turkeys. We have a group of 16 gobblers. Many groups of 8-12. Who knows if they stick around in the next several months, but I have to think we had something to do with their, what appears to be, a rebound. We got a dozen more traps and have been running 30.
 
19E78947-0D98-498F-96AE-0456504942D8.jpeg

This one couldn't tote off the double staked trap, lol.
 
So I've had a skunk eying my trap from trail cam, how do you get one out?

Edit……I just read in the trapping forum to shoot them through the lungs to keep them from spraying. I'm gonna now get to try it out because I just got a pic from my cam that I've got him. Wish me luck. Lol
 
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megalomaniac said:
As you said, lots of talk, not much action. And the ones who need to thin the most (baiters who artificially inflate the nest predators by feeding them incidentally) are usually the least likely to trap.

Most turkey hunters are takers and leave the flock in worse condition than when they started never doing much to help.

I started running traps every time I come up to hunt or visit. Set them the first night up, but have to pull in 2 or 3 days when I head back. Sometimes I get one or zero, sometimes 5 or 6. Dunno if I'm making a difference being so inconsistent, but it makes me feel like I'm doing a little on that end. My biggest contribution is habitat management and self imposed harvest restrictions.
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what kind of trap do you use for coons? we have an abundance of coons on our lease.
 
RobDooley said:
what kind of trap do you use for coons? we have an abundance of coons on our lease.
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Dog Proof. Either Dukes or Bridgers. I prefer the bridgers just a bit over the Dukes, seem to have a more sensitive trigger.

Crazy easy to set and take up.

Lots of folks stress out about having them close to a tree, but I actually anchor mine to a tree and haven't lost a trap yet (I did lose one coon to a ?coyote... checked it the next morn, found a coon paw and forearm bones in the trap, so obviously some predator took the coon.

I take a piece of quarter inch cable and put clasps on each end. Wrap the cable around the tree and clasp it around the cable. The other clasp I attach to the trap.

Advantage of that setup is I don't have to tap in or remove an anchor. It literally takes me 30s to set a trap, and 30s to remove one.

The disadvantage is that the coon has often wrapped itself around the cable and tree and is completely immobilized by the next morn. Easy to dispatch, but takes a minute to untangle the mess. Haven't lost a trap yet.
 
megalomaniac said:
Dog Proof. Either Dukes or Bridgers. I prefer the bridgers just a bit over the Dukes, seem to have a more sensitive trigger.

Crazy easy to set and take up.

Lots of folks stress out about having them close to a tree, but I actually anchor mine to a tree and haven't lost a trap yet (I did lose one coon to a ?coyote... checked it the next morn, found a coon paw and forearm bones in the trap, so obviously some predator took the coon.

I take a piece of quarter inch cable and put clasps on each end. Wrap the cable around the tree and clasp it around the cable. The other clasp I attach to the trap.

Advantage of that setup is I don't have to tap in or remove an anchor. It literally takes me 30s to set a trap, and 30s to remove one.

The disadvantage is that the coon has often wrapped itself around the cable and tree and is completely immobilized by the next morn. Easy to dispatch, but takes a minute to untangle the mess. Haven't lost a trap yet.
Click to expand...
I was looking at those traps earlier today online. I'm going to order some. what do you bait them with, tuna, marshmallows. thanks for the info.
 
Basically anything with a fish smell is nearly impossible to resist and scent travels a long way. Locals down here wear them out with crawfish heads in the spring (crawfish season)
 
megalomaniac said:
Dog Proof. Either Dukes or Bridgers. I prefer the bridgers just a bit over the Dukes, seem to have a more sensitive trigger.

Crazy easy to set and take up.

Lots of folks stress out about having them close to a tree, but I actually anchor mine to a tree and haven't lost a trap yet (I did lose one coon to a ?coyote... checked it the next morn, found a coon paw and forearm bones in the trap, so obviously some predator took the coon.

I take a piece of quarter inch cable and put clasps on each end. Wrap the cable around the tree and clasp it around the cable. The other clasp I attach to the trap.

Advantage of that setup is I don't have to tap in or remove an anchor. It literally takes me 30s to set a trap, and 30s to remove one.

The disadvantage is that the coon has often wrapped itself around the cable and tree and is completely immobilized by the next morn. Easy to dispatch, but takes a minute to untangle the mess. Haven't lost a trap yet.
Click to expand...
The biggest thing about setting close to a tree is they will get enough leverage to break their leg and they will pull it off or chew it off and get out which may have been what you experienced
 
Rockhound said:
The biggest thing about setting close to a tree is they will get enough leverage to break their leg and they will pull it off or chew it off and get out which may have been what you experienced
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Yep, had one yesterday that had done that , I had set up on a tree. He was still there but if I had checked later I may have found whatever the trap had left in it. First time I had seen that.
 
megalomaniac said:
And dry cat food also seems to work great for skunks and possums, as I've caught plenty of both
Click to expand...
There are times, actually much of the time, I want to focus on catching racoons, and simply don't have the time, or have the time to take the risk of messing with a skunk.

For this reason, my main raccoon bait has become tiny marshmallows.
Marshmallows will mainly attract coons, and an occasional possum.
Skunks are more drawn to fishy scents.
 
Rockhound said:
The biggest thing about setting close to a tree is they will get enough leverage to break their leg and they will pull it off or chew it off and get out which may have been what you experienced
Click to expand...
Yep - usually one of two things will happen. They will break their leg and pull/eat their way through the paw to get free or two, they are pulled out by coyotes. My uncle dispatched #13 for 2023 yesterday. He didn't know how to use the trap and has some health issues. He left the coon lay and my cousin went back this morning and yotes had pulled it out, with just his arm remaining in the trap.
 
TheLBLman said:
There are times, actually much of the time, I want to focus on catching racoons, and simply don't have the time, or have the time to take the risk of messing with a skunk.

For this reason, my main raccoon bait has become tiny marshmallows.
Marshmallows will mainly attract coons, and an occasional possum.
Skunks are more drawn to fishy scents.
Click to expand...
I've found the skunks really like those sweet marshmallows too. I really think it just depends on the type of critters in your area. If they find it/smell it, they are going to it, no question.
 
JCDEERMAN said:
Yep - usually one of two things will happen. They will break their leg and pull/eat their way through the paw to get free or two, they are pulled out by coyotes. My uncle dispatched #13 for 2023 yesterday. He didn't know how to use the trap and has some health issues. He left the coon lay and my cousin went back this morning and yotes had pulled it out, with just his arm remaining in the trap.
Click to expand...
I'd try and bait a coyote with a trapped coon. Trap a coon and then have a #2 trap under the leaves just out of reach from the coon but close enough a coyote will step on it fighting the coon.
 

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