trapping foxes

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

any ideas for a neophyte? i'm game for anything except poison. from bouncing bettys to hava heart trappsi need to cut the depredations on my chicken flock. i'm assuming fox  since so far it hasn't been tagged by the hava-heart. could be coon or possum or cat for all i know

if it turns out to be a cat it better have a collar if it wants the geneva convention adhered to

[Matthew Carberry]

Pit trap

spikes at your discretion.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

how do i teach goat to avoid punji sticks?oh yea  and the kids and wife too

[280plus]

Hpw far from ct do you live? I have several different devices at hand for dispatching whatever's messin' with the chickens. 


Oh, you said TRAP. Ooops, my bad. 

[Matthew Carberry]

how do i teach goat to avoid punji sticks?oh yea  and the kids and wife too

See, that's application.

I'm really more of an "idea guy". 

If you are going to use any sort of trap or snare you will still have the same problem to one degree or another.  If the chickens are roaming free it will be tough to control and trap the approaches whatever-it-is is using.

How about a camera with a time stamp to take regular pictures, like the gametrail ones I see in Cabelas.  Then you'd have an idea of what you're dealing with and if there's a pattern.  Maybe with bait.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i 1/2 way admire what ever it is  its getting in the chicken yard through small gaps  i lock the birds in coop they aree safe i'm lazy  like letting em self regulate though. i've got a cam i'll set up if needed

[Desertdog]

If you want to live trap it, start by putting something out for it to eat, with the trap a few feet away.  Each night move the trap closer, until the trap is next to the food.  The next night put the food at the door of the trap.   Move the food into the trap and each night move it closer to the trigger, until it is put on the trigger.

[charby]

fox=canine hense hard to trap

chickens.. I'd hedge a bet on raccoons or maybe a skunk. Probably raccoms, but below will work for skunk also, but use a shotgun for skunks.

Raccoons can be a bitch to live trap.  easiest way I know for summertime is to lay a 110 conibear flat into a large dog dish full of shelled corn with some sardines thrown in to seal the deal.

The 110 on its side with be a fast leg old trap, dispatch the varmit in the morning with a .22

repeat until the chickens aren't molested. More than likely two sets will get momma and a kits, with in a week you should be able to get the 2-3 straggler kits.

how do I know? I used to trap vermin when I was younger for dairy farmers.

[stevelyn]

1 or 1 1/2 coil spring jumpers placed along the approaches where they're getting in. You may even be able to bait them toward the trap with something they're familiar with. For me it's easy, I live in the salmon capital and foxes out here understand and know fish. For you it may be a little more difficult since they seem to have developed a taste for fresh chicken.
Canine critters are also very wary when something in their environment changes especially when they smell the steel of a trap where they've never smelled it before. Wear rubber boots to and from the set and rubber gloves when handling the traps.

[ilbob]

I trapped a couple of coons that lived under my porch a few years back. Borrowed a trap from a friend. I don't recall what I baited it with. Neither of the coons was especially happy about being in the trap. I took them out of town about ten miles and let them off in a corn field. Toughest thing was getting them out of the trap. Was easy to set with no nasty critter in it, but with a swirling dervish in it trying to bite me continuously, was not as easy to get it out.

Around here you can borrow a trap from the county animal control and they will dispose of the critter once it is caught. I think they just put them in a park.

[Tallpine]

Foxes, schmochses - anyone know how to trap a cougar ?     

[Matthew Carberry]

Foxes, schmochses - anyone know how to trap a cougar ?     

Be a hot young college guy. 

[charby]

Foxes, schmochses - anyone know how to trap a cougar ?     

probably similar to a canine set but with larger leg hold taps

[Stand_watie]

Foxes, schmochses - anyone know how to trap a cougar ?     

A pack of dogs and a carbine.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i apologise to foxes  caught a smallish coon last nite.used chicken flavored canned cat food. will repeat till i think problems resolved. still can't figure how he got in  we looked he must forse his way through gap where sheets of wire are joined

[Azrael256]

still can't figure how he got in

Did you ever see terminator 2?  The one where the guy turns to liquid and oozes through stuff?  'Coons do that, too.  It's where the writers got the idea.  They'll squeeze through a keyhole if there's something tasty on the other side.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i hear ya!  3 of us went over the chicken yard and we couldn't find a hole we could fit a fist through  but he was in the trap in the yard. once had one that opened barrel bolts to get in.

[Silver Bullet]

Interesting.  I know hardly anything about raccoons, but I guess that won't stop me from throwing some ideas out there. 

1) Can a coon dig a tunnel through the ground ?  I've probably been watching too many news reports about illegal immigrants sneaking in underground.

2) Is it possible he is climbing a tree and dropping in from overhead somewhere ?  I'm actually guessing that's not possible because the top of the coop is screened off; otherwise he would just climb the fence. 

3) When you say no holes big enough to put a fist through, isn't that big enough ?

[Silver Bullet]

4) Let him loose inside the coop, and see where he runs out.

[Ron]

4) Let him loose inside the coop, and see where he runs out.

Then blast him with your twelve gauge.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i guess a fist sized hole must be big enough. i more than a lil admire the lil sob's drive and ingenuity.  train a couple to hang drywall and i could retire. at first he was just getting eggs and i let that slide  when he moved up to birds he hada go.  and i intend to further harden the pen  i'd rather not have to hurt em.

[Balog]

Dunno about raccoons, but a cat can get through any space it's skull will fit through. Their collarbones aren't firmly attached (I believe the term is "floating") so they are much less rigid than humans.

[Azrael256]

Dunno about raccoons

  It's not much of a step from cat to 'coon.  They're both evil little creatures made for sneakin'.

Cat's just don't carry rabies as often.

[LadySmith]

It's not much of a step from cat to 'coon.  They're both evil little creatures made for sneakin'.

I knew there was a reason I liked 'em so much! 

[charby]

I've seen kits squeeze through 2.5" diameter holes, I believe they are like cats, if they can get their head in it, they are getting through.

Also skunks are more apt to rabies than coons, coons are more likely to have distempter. If you have a dog keep his shots up to date.