Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping checking traps

I may have got a little tunnel vision, but over the past two years, I haven't been trapping because I haven't been able to dedicate time in the mornings to checking traps daily, due to work.

Is there any reason, from a humane or other standpoint I can't just check them in the afternoon/evening?

It appears the coyodels have repopulated the area and these appear to be educated from calling efforts

I don't think NC has a law that they have to be checked every morning, but may have a requirement to check them daily.

I was told the morning check time was to try and dispatch the animal before the non hunting/trapping public (anti's) has a chance to find them first.

well no chance of that happening.

There's nothing wrong with checking in the afternoon.
Matter of fact, some critters are still roaming around at sunrise so you stand a chance of spooking one out of your area at that hour.
I'm retired so I check mine around 8-9 am.

A fox caught the night before will chew his leg off before you get there in the afternoon or evening, so yeah, they need to be run in the morning IMO.

Could be, but....

When I trapped in my school years, I could only check traps in the afternoon during the week. Never once did I have a critter chew a foot off. Fox caught by just a couple toes, there waiting for me.

I've trapped hundreds of fox and never once had one chew off a leg.

This kind of misinformation is what grinds my gears. I have never once had any animal chew its own leg off. I have had fox that were asleep in the trap when I got there, they couldn't be more relaxed.

Animals chew on feet not to escape the trap, they do it because their feet go numb. If you use the correct sized trap they don't even have room to chew on their feet anyways.

Never caught a Fox but I've never had a Cat or Coyote chew their feet.... I have had a couple of Coon chew their feet.....my understanding is that's why they make coon cuffs but I don't target coon so I can't say for sure.....

IOW.....I'm calling BS on Fox chewing their feet off.....

I know that a Muskrat can and will! and I have caught them healed up with 3 leg before!

Coon cuffs and other "dog-proof" traps were developed to be used in areas where dogs might get caught by accident. Most of them have a pull style trigger, dogs don't have the dexterity to set them off.

Cats however can set them off, and they do get caught sometimes.

No, muskrat do NOT chew their front feet off. They are simply delicately constructed and can twist off a front foot. The various styles of rat traps with wire bails prevent rats from twisting and losing a foot.

I have never seen foxes, coyotes, or cats chew feet, but lots of coons.

Impressive

90% of my trapping was with conibear traps, so it was a moot point.

Hard to believe you've ever trapped..

The only two animals that will regularly try to chew-off are raccoons and mink. Both can be prevented by using either a #1 trap, or a double-jaw trap, or a very large trap like #3 that catches them up high.

Muskrats only wring-off, they do not chew. This is easy to prevent by using a larger trap of #2 or bigger, since it gets them up higher on the leg where their bones aren't so lightweight.

I've never heard of anyone ever saying that a fox chewed itself. Canines don't do that.

The key to late-in-the-day canine checking is to place your sets in such a manner that the fox/coyote can maneuver himself around toward a "hideout" such as behind some brush or next to a log or lower in a ditchway. So long as the canine does not feel threatened externally, they will simply lie down and wait it out after pulling and realizing that they cannot get free. You can use either a longer chain, a slide wire, or a drag.

To say my post is "misinformation" just because you've never seen it is wrong. Perhaps you should ask about a man's experience before jumping to your own conclusions and telling him he's incorrect.

I've trapped for approximately 36 years and in this time I've seen it probably a half-dozen times; it has only been with red fox. I don't know why they do it, perhaps it's like you said, their feet go numb; I don't know.

And like others have posted, I've seen animals asleep when I've come to the set, I've had coyotes and fox held by two toes and I've also seen coyotes (male) that let me know he was going to chew me up if he got the chance.

ETA: I don't know that this makes any difference, but the times that I have seen this, the animal didn't chew his feet off, it was his leg (as I stated in my initial post) just above where the jaws of the trap had him held.

I only dabble in trapping, and other than some incidentally snared foxes, I don't trap dogs (way too big of a pain in the ass to deal with scent control). After trapping 50 or so coons though, I have never seen one even attempt to try to chew it's foot/arm off. Maybe it is a regional thing or some other site specific factor is involved.


As far as checking traps, I have never seen a reason to only check them in the morning, unless it is a personal ethics thing. You normally can hide traps effectively if you're trapping in an area where other may see a critter caught. If possible, I usually set them strategically so that I can check them with bios from a distance.

As an aside, as Hank mentioned, coon cuffs are great for coons (skunks get in them too ) but I have caught a feral cat in them as well. Dogs will just dig them up to get the bait, which is nice if you're trapping where yuppies let their dogs run around.

It usually only happens on critters that have been in the trap more than one day. And in a trap that is big enuff to allow them to get their jaws in, to work the foot over......

Kinda like this coon in a #4 montgomery. He didn't know it, but one good pull and he'da been free.....





contrary to studs vast 'experience', I've never even had one nibble on a leg above the trap jaws, even when caught for a week in subfreezing weather....