Posted: 3/16/2012 4:54:37 AM EDT
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Hi Guys...
I am very much of the opinion that a decent box trap is a great tool for use preparation minded individuals. Years ago I started making homemade box traps, and have them in use a lot of the time. They are incredibly valuable for helping to protect your gardens, your bees, your trees, while obtaining the occasional meal. I often have coon trouble, skunks eat bees, rabbits tear up my garden and level my blueberries, etc. I do set snares for rabbits (works very well) but I am often hesitant to set conibears and leg holds due to very real concerns about killing the neighbors cats (I hate the cats but like the neighbor - USMC NCO Korean War vets who are great neighbors get a "free pass" at my place). A box trap allows me to capture and detain critters for identification before being dispatched. Anyways, if you have not tried box traps, do it. You can buy them or make them cheaply enough. A little apple with some salt does great for rabbits and purcupines. Nothing beats sardines (oily, fatty and smelly) for skunks, cats, and other predators. If you have not made one of these before, they are dead simple. I've been making them for years. You can find detailed instructions here. . They are nothing more than a long wooden 'tube' with a sliding guillotine type door, a lever to hold the door open, and a notched trigger stick. Plans often call for a roughly 6"x6" box opening for rabbits. I make mine more like 10x12" for skunks and cats. 
I've been having some serious cat issues. I have a couple of feral cats that are destroying my asparagus beds and generally just shitting everywhere. So, out went the box traps and sardines. I checked my trap this morning, and found, of all things, a damned rabbit in there. I never would have suspected a rabbit of being interested in sardines. The little berry-killing bastard looked a lot like this, except in killer camoflage brown. probably some damned sneaky Spetznaz rabbit.. 
If you anticipate use on skunks, you might want to open a large plastic leaf bag, and set the trap on the bag. Once your striped stinky friend is trapped inside, approach your trap from any angle except the screened end, gently pull the bag over the trap and tie closed. Tranport to a location far from home (but quite close to your local ACORN office) and dispatch there. A skunk load of 'perfume' in your trap will leave it stinking for the next 18 months (seriously) so I drive to the back 40, load the .223, open the trap and walk 40 yards away. Skunks never rush out. It seems to take them about 5 minutes to figure they are free. They walk out, wander a few yards from the trap, and then they catch sudden onset acute lead poisoning. Works for me. Fro |
I find this works best.
JK, I have had great success over the years keeping coons and possums out of my chicken coop and garbage with store bought box traps. I get them at Tractor Supply cheap enough. They are indeed a very good prep to have on hand. Along the same lines, I recently bought several fish traps from a local sporting goods store. It would be a great, easy food source. Just toss them in the lake with some leftovers in the bait box and collect your brim later. Seems very efficient to me. |
| My Granddaddy taught me how to build them as a kid. It is a cheap, quick way to add meat to the family pot. In a SHTF time, younger kids can build and set a few of these. Then check them twice a day. It would make them feel good to know that they are doing their part to help out. |
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My kids have built a few over the years, for grins, as 4H woodworking projects, etc
Couple sets of plans on Missouri's DNR website (more links to right of plans) http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/how/woodworking/how-build-rabbit-live-trap-i We have built some similiar, and they do work, but have had better results with larger, wire live traps. With any, set where they are running anyway. Find trails in tall grass, briar patches, etc. Youngest boy caught a female cottontail this winter, in what I thought was a poor, wide open location. It set for a good week and a half, before he caught her. Then caught males the next 3 nights, so I suspect her and/or her urine smelled GOOD to them. 
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