Trapping finally

SDJIM

SDJIM

New member
Well I've tried everthing else so this time I looked for and found a local person who is going to trap my land. I would but it's a 300 mile one way trip there--kinda hard to run a trap line.

He did a through inspection and thinks there are to many coons and badgers and has found 4 fox dens--I sure hope he can bag some the critters, oh yea thinks that there are a dz or so feral cats at one of the farm sites--go get I told him but don't say any thing to the brothers in laws wife (cat lover).

It will be interesting to see what he can catch.:thumbsup:
 
haymaker said:
What do you base that on? Personaly I think that coons and skunks are worse as they are nest raiders.
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I had a old mother cat that keep our five acres around the house DEVOID of mice,birds,snakes,rabbits--you name it and she killed and ate it--good thing the deer were big enough to be safe---didn't have and coons or skunks either.
 
SDJIM said:
I had a old mother cat that keep our five acres around the house DEVOID of mice,birds,snakes,rabbits--you name it and she killed and ate it--good thing the deer were big enough to be safe---didn't have and coons or skunks either.
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I am not sure that five acres out of however many to the next cat is that representative. No doubt that cats are effective but where I live for every cat in the neighborhood thare are probably 20 skunks or coons or weasels or mink. If they find a nest of a dozen eggs they are gone. Just my thoughts. You say you have fox dens, does that mean you don't have that many coyotes. If I see a fox a year that is about it. Coyotes on the other hand are thick.
 
haymaker said:
I am not sure that five acres out of however many to the next cat is that representative. No doubt that cats are effective but where I live for every cat in the neighborhood thare are probably 20 skunks or coons or weasels or mink. If they find a nest of a dozen eggs they are gone. Just my thoughts. You say you have fox dens, does that mean you don't have that many coyotes. If I see a fox a year that is about it. Coyotes on the other hand are thick.
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You realize the solution to the fox problem is coyotes, and the solution to coyotes are wolves, since the bigger canine predators won't abide the smaller ones in their territory. wolves probably don't account for many pheasant deaths, but might be an inpediment to making a living with livestock!
 
haymaker said:
I am not sure that five acres out of however many to the next cat is that representative. No doubt that cats are effective but where I live for every cat in the neighborhood thare are probably 20 skunks or coons or weasels or mink. If they find a nest of a dozen eggs they are gone. Just my thoughts. You say you have fox dens, does that mean you don't have that many coyotes. If I see a fox a year that is about it. Coyotes on the other hand are thick.
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Yotes are somewhat scarce around the farm in Platte, killed one bird hunting in 2010 and you hear one off and on but not that many.

Now in the Black Hills where I live there use to be lots of yotes, it was a regular howl fest 7 or 8 years ago---I heard one last night but thats become rare--know why---CATS great big cats. With the explosion of Mt Lions in the Black Hills the yote population is really down along with the deer and elk.
Now my friends that hunt lions tell me that there is a small but growning number of Wolf. The GF&P is mum on this but then they were 15 yrs ago when people started to report seeing Mt. Lions.

What the trapper is after is coon fox badger yotes and similar type fur bearers and I hope he is really good at it:thumbsup:
 
oldandnew said:
You realize the solution to the fox problem is coyotes, and the solution to coyotes are wolves, since the bigger canine predators won't abide the smaller ones in their territory. wolves probably don't account for many pheasant deaths, but might be an inpediment to making a living with livestock!
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Well I hope that the solution to coyotes is a predator control district that we are just putting the finishing touches on. When we get the Ts crossed and the i s dotted then the local airforce will move in. Hopefully that will help.
 
I am becoming more and more convinced it is about nasty winters and wet springs and less about predators and habitat.
 
moellermd said:
I am becoming more and more convinced it is about nasty winters and wet springs and less about predators and habitat.
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Absolutely. If they have habitat they will do fine. But if they can't find food because it is buried by snow what are they going to do.
 
How about bobcats

Several of the responses list cats (is this domestic, feral or bobcats)? I have resident bobcats on my property as well as coyotes in the area. At the same time it seems like I have few coons and skunks. If the bobcats and yotes kill the coons and skunks maybe they are worth keeping around.

What about weasels, I would think they are nest raiders?
 
I have to say habitat. As that shrinks, bird numbers decrease & the impact of predators appears to be more devastating. Coyotes around here are preying more & more on pets, fawns, and livestock/poultry. Wet Springs & adverse Winter weather play a part, but even in good Springs we don't see a significant boom in chick numbers out here. Too damn many subdivisions & fields planted road to road has created a huge impact. Agriculture is a tough business, the human population keeps growing, the world is changing, and God isn't making land anymore. Oh to go "back in the day's of my youth." Now I will admit that cats, both feral & domestic "outside cats" as well as the growing numbers of semi-residential Crows have devastated Quail populations; where there were once multiple large coveys in the area where I have lived for 30+ years, now I feel fortunate to see the occasional (and lucky) adult bird. I haven't seen chicks beyond a few brief sightings when newly-hatched birds are in the golf-ball stage for years . . . Crows get both the eggs & young and cats kill-off the rest fairly quick.
 
It seems like lots of people want to point to a single factor and claim that "THIS" is the reason for declining bird numbers. I think it's more logical to say, "all of the above." Maybe predators aren't THE reason for declining bird numbers, but trapping them sure doesn't hurt anything.

I hope your trapper is successful and the relationship benefits both of you.
 
All right, not sure where to find the info any more but, surveys were taken some how some where a long time ago. Back when the smell of money was the trapper. And they did have a nasty mink smell. Those were the days people crashed cars trying to run over a coon, people had hounds and fur was booming. The study was for coon, and they determined that combined with hunters and trappers, they only accounted for 10% of the population harvested. Now we have hardly any one doing it. That would suggest a population boom for varmints is eminent. I keep my traps active around home now as needed. It has worked great keeping them under control, including cats.
I can tell you when I ran a long line, I kept track the last year of cats. I had a couple hundred sets out. I counted skunks,coon, and fox as one number. I caught 13 cats for every fox, coon, and skunk combined. Cats are in fact one of the worst. They kill chicks in droves, they love the play and pounce as we all know. Sure mice are one of the favorite games as well. But when they encounter chicks, their dead. The rest yes are the nest raiders and hurt that way. My theory has been, kill every feral cat you can, and control the rest as best you can, cause your never, never, going to get them all. It has helped me maintain a few birds at home.
 
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