beginner needing help

[squirrel hunter9292]

I am 13 years old and live in louisiana. I want to start trapping, but i have so many questions. First i wanna know what should a beginner try first coon or beaver. I have 80 acres of trapable land.I also have 2 beaver ponds. Also what size trap should I use. please help

[gmherps]

Congrats on catching the trapping fever. I think this site www.trapperman.com will assist you in getting a lot of good tips for trapping.

[Kusko]

Also, try traps4kids.com

They have a ton of good information. Good luck to you as trapping is a wonderful way to spend more time in the woods and is also very rewarding.

[Trapper7]

I'd start with something a little smaller than coon or beaver; like muskrat or mink. The traps to take these two animals are cheaper to buy. Plus, it's easier to hold these animals in a trap.

Coon & beaver are powerful animals and it takes bigger traps to hold them unless you're using a real good drowning set up.

Buy some books on trapping techniques and educate yourself some before you rush into trapping. Or, better yet, if you know someone who will take you with when they're trapping.

I've had a 14 year old tagging along with me the past two years. I told him next year he's ready to go it alone. This year, by himself, he caught 6 mink, 2 skunk, 5 rats, and 1 coon.

A 110 bodygrip trap is a real good mink & rat trap. It will kill either of these animals quickly and humanely. They're not that expensive to buy. You can get some good used ones quite often on ebay.

[justwannano]

I'd start with the coon.
Get a few 1 1/2 coil spring traps.
I started with 3 #2 coilspring traps.I found they had too big a jaw spread and the coon would chew on his foot.
Basicly you just do as my father in law told me to do. "Just put the trap where you find coon foot prints."
We road trapped setting traps in fence lines.
The coons will check out your beaver ponds so get yourself a forked stick about 2 inches in diameter and 2 1/2 feet long only with the fork going the wrong way. In other words it looks like a check mark.
Make it a strong dry stick or the beavers will chew it ,and make the short end big enough that the trap ring will not pull off after you pound the long end into the ground.
Now take a nail and drive it an inch or so into the end thats sticking up. Bait it with sardines or any oily fish and you have a coon getter trap set.
Oh yeah set your trap in 6 to 8 inches of water and far enough out that the coon can't reach dry land.
I caught a lot of coon with that set.

Later the Iowa DNR passed a law that you couldn't have exposed bait.
The set works by scent anyway so it wasn't a big deal to covcer the bait but I had started looking other places for making sets because of too much walking and not enough time.
Start small and see if you like it. All my other traps were bought with money I made trapping.
Like the others have said buy some trapping books and read read read.
Pretty soon you'll find yourself asking Now if I were that coon where would I be going and what would I be doing?

Best of luck
just

[squirrel hunter9292]

hey thanks everyone for giving me these tips. i think i will start reading before i go out and buy some traps like you all suggested. i love reading f-f-g magazine, so i might purchuse some books from them. i am still open for tips and good reading material, so please post back. thanks again everone.

p.s. i also was wondering how painful a steel leg trap is to a pet,
say a beagle.thanks

[Skyline]

Well up here in Canada where I trap, leg hold traps have to be off-set or padded. I can stick my hand in one no problem, a dog might get a bit sore but shouldn't be hurt too bad. We actually had one of our healer dogs go out and get caught on two traps set for coyotes at a bait.

With the new off-set traps it still remains that a dog caught in a trap in cold weather, if not checked frequently, may freeze a foot.

[squirrel hunter9292]

I know nutra trapping closes on Feb. 28, but possum and coon are open all year long. Is coon fur still good in spring and summer??? Also I was wondering when does muskrat, coyote,
and beaver seasons open and close in Louisiana??? I think me and my dad are going to buy our traps today. I have been reading trapping books like crazy. My dad wants some connibears
since the beaver are eatin up our woods, and I want some steel
leg traps. We both settled on buying half 1.5 steel leg traps ,and half connibears.And then half of beaver connibears, then half of mink.

[Trapper_Stephen88]

i've caught a couple dogs over the years and i was using regular 1 1/2 traps, they only had a sore foot for a 1/2 hour or so.

[squirrel hunter9292]

what brand of pistols do you all buy to kill your trapped game. [ prices] or do yall bludger your trapped game.

[justwannano]

Originally posted by squirrel hunter9292
what brand of pistols do you all buy to kill your trapped game. [ prices] or do yall bludger your trapped game.

LOL

Well since the range of the handgun isn't an issue -usually a few inches-it doesn't make any difference how accurate they are.
Buy the cheapest 22 you can find.
I have a Ruger that has a 3 1/2 inch barrel. I always wanted a 6 inch barrel for the occasional skunk but always seemed to do just fine with the 3 1/2.


I guess you are talking about bludgening the critter to death.

Sounds like some anti's comment so we just say knock them in the head.Its really effective especially when you drowned them as in coon in a water trap.
You'll learn just how hard to hit them so it doesn't draw blood and the cranium isn't reduced to mush. That makes skinning them difficult.

The Anti's are always watching and listening to comments so be careful to leave out anything that could be conscrewed as a gruesom comment.

best of luck
just

[squirrel hunter9292]

sorry about that. lol. i never thought about antis listening in.
i was also wondering what is the difference between selling beaver green or stretched. i see you get more for stretched.

[Trapper_Stephen88]

I tell you what, i'd love to get a pistol right now. I'm probably be going to get one soon. right now i'm using a .22 long rifle, which is somewhat of a hassle to get through dense woods. I catch alot of fox and one method i use for dispatch is this: Take a shovel or a hard, flat object and hit animal on the nose (it doesn't have to be to hard, this is only to stun them), then flip them on their back. put one foot on their throat the other on their rib cage and press down hard for a minute. this suffocates them quickly leaving no blood at the set. I wouldn't advise this for anything other than fox though and oppossums. raccoons can be mean and dangerous. as with all wild animals safety should come first.

The antis might not like that method ...... oh well

[justwannano]

Originally posted by squirrel hunter9292
sorry about that. lol. i never thought about antis listening in.
i was also wondering what is the difference between selling beaver green or stretched. i see you get more for stretched.

Actually green just means that it isn't dried.
It can be stretched and still be green.
I have to plead a little ignorance here never having "handled" a beaver hide.
I do know its a lot of work.
Thats why a stretched and dried hide is worth more money.
I would recommend starting out stretching and drying hides that aren't worth much like possum.
A mistake will only cost you your time not a lot of money.Then ask your fur buyer for some hints. He is the one you have to please.
You can sell everything in the carcass until you are ready to start handling your own fur.
best of luck
just

[squirrel hunter9292]

hey thanks for the info. i was just wondering if it is worth keeping possums to skin out. is it hard to skin them out. i heard they are very greasy and kinda nasty. lol. me and my dad might finally be getting our traps this friday. i cant wait. also i was wondering if coon fur is still good to sell in the summer, because you can trap them and possum all year round here in La.