I live in southwest oklahoma and I have just leased a new farm for cattle and there is badger holes all over the place. I am wanting to trap them, but I have never done much traping. Does anyone have any experiace trapping badgers?

Are you sure its not Armadillo .

I think the holes are way to big for an armadillo. I do have my fair share of those running around also. They are much easier to get than a badger.

when i was a kid, i just stuck the trap down in the opening of the burrow alittle ways, simple as that !
only had that opportunity two times over the years, but it worked.

Set my best looking coyote set and they will turn it into a crater.

In all seriousness use the same setup you would for a coyote. A dirthole would work just fine. Keep your sets in areas where they are obviously working. Make sure you are well staked and have enough chain for them to get away from the stake. They will dig at the end of the chain and pile it in the middle.

Have you ever tried traping them in a live trap? I have cattle on the place and I do not one of my cows getting into a foot hold trap.

A conibear, 220 or 330 in the hole is what I'd use. A badger in a leg hold trap will dig himself to China.

I would not worry too much about a trap holding a cow. Foot is cylindrical and jaws are still wide open. I would worry a lot more about a body gripper.

I have zero experience with life traps and badgers so have no advice there.

Set a steel jaw trap just inside it's burrow. if they are illegal, use a snare. if thats illegal. make a snare. if you are asking and on this site and all of the above all are illegal: then get your lawn chair and wake up @ 3 am... walk out there set out a chunk of food, meat, what ever, they are scavangers... and sit in a chair with a .22 till your problem comes to you.

Good luck.

OR: Call the state trapper

If you wrap a few coils of heavy gauge wire around the jaws of the trap it will keep it from breaking it's leg, and for all animals (AS [bleep] AS IT SOUNDS) it wount cut off the blood supply, break the limb, or damage any nerves... they wont chew it off or dig like hell. anchor it to a post.. in the ground or not i've done alot of trapping. 26 bobcats in 1 year.. in one spot with one steel jawed trap with no bait.

^MINE

This might help:

http://www.icwdm.org/handbook/carnivor/ca_c1.pdf

I know you asked about trapping, but the other thing that has been tossed about before is throwing in a loud firecracker, the louder/bigger the better, and wait for the critter to come boiling out of that hole. And a shotgun in hand should render that badger harmless when it comes to the surface.

First, leghold traps of legal size will not harm any cattle even calves, or even a pet seriously if checked daily. Very common for deer to step in yote traps and one jerk and they are gone without any harm. In 50 years NEVER held a deer, routinely release domestic pets unharmed. A 1 3/4 trap will work and rarely damages things even in the 8-10 pound range. Literally a cow wouldn't know it stepped on it. Even if stepped on perfectly it would not hold onto a hoof.

Badger are not difficult to trap because they are not trap shy and don't fear human odor, similar to catching a raccoon. A single badger will make an enormous number of holes in a small area, and the vast enormous number of them are hunting holes trying to catch their prey. If you just put a trap in the hole you might get lucky to choose a hole they revisit but you also might not and it might take a long time. Test it yourself by kicking some dirt back into as many holes as you can and see within a couple weeks how many have been re-dug. No way of knowing which hole the badger is in that particular day.

But they are easy to attract with lure or bait, especially if with recent fresh diggings you know one is actively working that area. Any kind of roadkill meat stuck well down into the hole, probably even kitchen scraps, or a few drops of commercial predator lure will bring them to the right hole. I'd cross stake (2 stakes angling different directions) or disposible anchors will hold them.

Here is a good read on trap choices.
http://www.fishwildlife.org/files/Badger_BMP-final.pdf

Whatever you choose others will replace them. If you want to get rid of them, get rid of their prey.

"badgers? we don't need no stinking badgers!"

I can't believe no one had posted that yet.

That is a good one. Thanks everyone for the advice.

Snared this one.

Badgers can be caught in any good coyote or fox set.

Great pics ranger!

Great pics. That is a heck of a hole that badger dug in the last picture!

+1 on this comment. Set your best *set* for coyote and you will catch a badger. Those suckers can tear up a ton of sagebrush and dirt in short order.