I’m meeting a trapper tomorrow to remove wiley coyotes, an infrequently seen bobcat, a lot of coons, and one colorful,  red fox.  Have a picture of a coyote carrying a small, dead fawn in late summer on one of my cameras. Recent picture shows that he’s very big.  I’ve also found wings of 2 or 3 turkeys.  These wings were in the same general area, within about 60 yards of each other.  I’ve only got about 3 or 4 pics of the bobcat just strolling around.  I have got pics of a ton of coons.  I really didn’t know they came in herds of 10!  In my uneducated opinion, the coons are having a negative impact on my turkey population.  From what I’ve read, it seems coons are more detrimental to the turkey population than coyotes.  So, I guess my goal is get rid of the coons and coyotes, with the bobcat and fox taking a backseat,  as far as priorities are concerned.  I’m meeting a trapper tomorrow to go over his plan for eradicating these predators.  I’ve seen pics of the coyotes, bobcats, and coons that he’s trapped.  Looks pretty successful. The cost is $75 a day, minimum of 14 days, with up to 15 traps.  State law requires him to check them daily.  I would check them, but I’m 107 miles away. My question is, what should I realistically expect as far as the impact on the turkey and deer populations?  Is it better to wait for a different time of the year to do this? I’m guessing that this would need to be done at least once, if not twice,  a year.  What questions should I be asking?  I’m in the position of not knowing what I don’t know.  This is on 95 acres, with mostly pine and hardwoods, and a 15 acre pasture.  My part of the pasture is almost 4 acres.  The location is in middle Georgia (Baldwin County).

Why only 15 traps? Is that a law or his choice? If I was paying him, he'd put out 100 traps and/or snares. 15 isn't many at all. I used to trap a small creek bed and I would have just +15 dog proofs over .5 mile. Then I'd also have about 6 beaver slides.

IMO, if you want to put a dent in the population you have to kill them all, but without removing their dens, they will always come back. They meaning all animals.

Just my opinion.  Hope he does good work.

I'm a Wildlife Control Operator, but not as a main job.   The answers to your questions have too many variables, in my opinion.   What surrounds your property?  Is it isolated, or is it bordered by more land?  

You're trapping during the season, so you probably could have gotten a trapper (not a WCO which I assume this guy is) for free.   Looking quickly at Georgia regulations, it also looks like they offer a no-cost land owner trapping permit.  

All that said, if your property is surrounded by more habitat, then your solution is likely to be temporary without continuous maintenance.  You'll get a temporary reprieve, then more predators will expand into the open land.   If I were you, I'd either tell this guy you want to tag along and learn or find a trapper and allow him to trap your land in exchange for some education.   Then you'll be able to maintain your own land and get a few furs.

Unless you're just rich.  Then just sleep in while someone else does it.

Just what he has, not a law.  And I understand about the dens, that’s a very good point.  I don’t know enough about them to remove their dens.  I hope he does good work and thanks for the advice!

@DirtyHandsRob

When I had a guy on my property trapping he said more traps isn't better. He felt that too many traps would put out too much scent and the dogs wouldn't know where the traps were. Plus here in NY you have to check the traps every 24 hours so having a ton to check would be a pain in the ass. He put 3 traps on about 10 acres here and the first night we caught a fox which we let go.

He isn't wrong, but it depends on the type of set and what you're setting for.  With Raccoon, I'll load in the dog proofs.  They don't care.

On  one side,  the boundaries are houses with big, forested back yards.  From my logging road to their property line, varies from 40 yards to 100 yards.  On one side of the pasture is another farm of about 30 to 40 acres. That is almost all woods, that I can see.  There is no house there.    On the other side of the pasture is another pasture.  So, you’re right about being surrounded by more of their habitat and this being a temporary solution.  I agree with your assessment 100%.  I’m sure trapping is fun and interesting, but I’m not really motivated to get into it.  If I lived there, that would be a completely different story.  
Thanks for your viewpoint!

Yeah.  I missed the part about you living far away.   You should reach out to http://www.gatrappersassoc.com and ask them if they know someone who is looking for land to trap in your area.   I'll bet you can find someone to trap it long-term for free.   Most of the land I trap is from people similar to yourself.   Instead of charging them, I usually just ask them to sign landowner permission (can be rescinded at any time) to me.   It's a win-win.  I have a new place to trap, they get more than a temporary solution.

Yup, I don’t live the farm life, even though I would love to spend more time there.  I’m sure, on occasion, my wife would like me to spend the rest of my life there. By myself.  Thank you for that info on the trapper’s association.  I found the guy I’m using in an article about trapping in Georgia Outdoors News .  I would absolutely let someone trap here anytime.  I realize that my approach is like putting a band aid on a traumatic amputation.  It be’s what it be.

Let us know what he takes out of there.

Will do and I’m really looking forward to it, no matter how it shakes out.  Appreciate everyone’s response.

Met the trapper at 1100 and he put out 20 traps.  I think they are called mb550 traps and some other kind.  He could have blown smoke up my ass, but he seemed to know what he was doing.  He explained the process to me, showed how he placed the trap, and explained the reasoning behind the placement of the traps.  And he did say, like others here have pointed out, that it’s something you need to stay on top of.  Looking forward to posting some positive results.

Good luck!   the 550 is a standard coiled offset.  Anyone that's doing this for a living likely isn't blowing smoke.  Lots of trappers have moved into Wildlife Control since the fur market went to crap.  I only got my WCO so I could stay on top of my own (and neighbors) land.   Because I'm listed on the state F&G site, I get calls now and then.  Mostly from Massholes that moved up and are made the wildlife is eating their songbirds or pets, or beaver damming their favorite stream.   I usually turn those down.  They almost always want something live-trapped and relocated, which I'd have to charge a fortune for because I just don't want to do it.  If he gets a big raccoon ask him if you can have it to make a hat.  Southern raccoon aren't worth crap lately, anyway.

Actually, I just checked fur sales this weekend and while not incredible, it looked promising.

I’m gonna check out the hat idea.  That would be pretty cool.  I don’t have any beavers, that I know about, on my pond.  Seems like that would be better than the coon hat!

Beaver hats are the best, and many of the trappers I know are selling beaver strictly for hats.  Still, there's something I just love about a raccoon hat.

So after meeting him, what is he targeting with those traps? What is he using a dirt hole set?

I'm just curious.

Coons and coyotes primarily, with a scattering of one bobcat.  I’m more interested, at this point, to deal with the coons that potentially have a bigger impact on my turkeys.  He did drill a hole at 45 degrees to the ground.  He then put some goop into the hole.  I asked what it was and he said this one is a fruit mixture.  Might have been more to it, but I remembered the fruit.  Thought that was strange. Other locations had some kind of fox urine mixture.    The traps are put into a rectangular shaped area that he used a claw hammer to dig out. He then covered with peat (?) and sprinkled some vegetation on top of that.  A cable went into the ground, with some kind of metal piece on the end that is supposed to open when pulled.  I talked to him this am and there were 2 coons in the traps near the pond.  I don’t know many of the  technical terms in trapping.  I did see a big ass red fox on one of my cams that still remains at large.  He’s a frequent visitor.

Yep, he's doing dirt hole sets with disposable anchors.  The fruit is better to catch raccoons and avoid cats or other animals/pets. The fox urine will peak the interest in coyotes. That's probably what I would do, but I'm not expert and haven't trapped in several years.

Anchor is the right word. I asked about how he gets the cable out and he said he drills a hole next to the anchor, pulls on it somehow, and it comes out the adjacent hole.  I know I’m not explaining it correctly, but that’s the best I can do.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.  Supposed to get a lot of rain.

Has your trapper produced any results?

Sorry for slacking! Yes, the results are as follows:  8 coons, 2 possums.  We’ve been skunked on 2 days.  I’ve got a trail cam pic of a coyote looking at one of the traps (like he’s checking it out, knows something is there, but not sure what).  The trapper has been diligently checking and refreshing the traps as needed.  He’s added a couple and repositioned a couple.  Think we will continue getting coons, but at this point I would really like to snag a couple of coyotes and that fucking bobcat-he’s probably the most elusive.  I’m not sure which would have a greater impact on the future turkey population, removing coyotes or coons.  I hate them equally as much.

Wanna add this:  someone mentioned before about possibly doing this myself.  Once I saw how the traps were placed ( set?) and some of the reasoning for why they were placed where they were, I think I could do this. I would of course need a lot more education and experience to become somewhat successful. But I’m not close enough to check those traps daily.  Seems like a cool hobby to get into, at least upon initial thought.

Bobcats are tough...very elusive.


And you're right about how easy it is once you learn. When I bought my place I knew nothing. Had a friend show me how to set a snare. That year I caught 3 coyotes on my 53 acres with about 7/10 mile of good fence line to snare. The next year, having learned a bit about behavior and crossings, I snared 14, then 18 the next year (14 of them were females), then down to 12 the next year (no doubt bc I took so many females out of the gene pool the year before).

I know this won't help you as much but my single most valuable tool for finding fence crossings is fresh snow. Nothing gets 'yotes moving like fresh snow, and it's easy to find where they're moving. They're creatures of habit so I find a crossing and set one there, often those spots pay. One such crossing was a tiny hole in the woven wire fence 2 feet off the ground. They had to jump to get through it. I didn't even know a yote could fit. But sure enough there was hair around the hole. I set a snare and caught one that night. Another, on a very bad 3-strand barbed fence line, the fence is so bad it can't hold cows, let alone coyotes, they can cross anywhere they want. I saw tracks that crossed right beside a post. That yote could cross anywhere within 40 feet and it would be just as easy. But I have 50+ snares and enough supplies to make more so I set one there on a whim. That snare went weeks without a catch. I was just beginning to wonder if it was just a random yote passing through when I saw the tracks, then bam, got one!

I have the most luck on fence lines because deer jump it and coyotes go under or through holes. But I do set some on wildlife trails. I try to find a place where a stick lays over the trail at a height that a deer will jump and yote can go under. Stick some sticks along the side to funnel them into the snare if the trail is wide or it's not heavily closed in by brush and briars. I've got a fox and several yotes on trails.

Thanks for posting that.  I was wondering why a coyote would pick one particular area of a fence line to cross, out of allll the areas to cross.  You certainly did a job on those coyotes.  Fortunately for me, we don’t have much, if any snow here.  I really enjoy success stories like yours.  I might try to cultivate a relationship within that community that I can work with.  Someone that would like to trap and doesn’t have any where to go, and then he could fish in my pond, whenever he wanted.  Hell, I’d even let him use my boat.  If he was good, I’d let him use my little electric trolling motor!