Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Trap-Smart Coons

I have a nusiance coon problem and up until recently have been able to trap them in DP traps. They're smart to them now. What else can I do? Other animals like possums, squirrels, and deer frequent the same spot.



Thanks, Dinny

I have switch bait in the DP traps and started catching them again. I used a concoction of the little marshmallows and grape jelly until I ran out of jelly. It doesn't work very well in hot weather and it attracts ants, but coons loved it. I've seen them get wise to the trap, and when that happens, you just have to keep switching baits until you find something they can't resist.

How are they "getting wise" to the traps? If my baits gone and the trap is tripped, there's a coon in it. I have never had a miss. I only use small dog food with a dose of liquid smoke and put bait no higher than the top of the trip lever.

If you have other easy food around, such as deer corn, they may just be ignoring your bait. If that's the case, cut back or stop putting feed on the ground.

There is always a certain percentage of coont that won't reach into a dp. Also other types of sets will have refusals. Doesn't mean their educated it's the nature of those coon.

I once had a coon take three sets to get caught. It was a creek under a bridge that was gang set. He pulled up a dp, ate the marshmallows off the top and tossed the trap aside. Walked over to a 5x5 baited cubby, reached in and was caught high on the arm but pulled out. The walked over to a dirthole intended for cats/fox and got caught.

One way you can educate coons at dp's is to use non-edible lure poured over the bait. Not so much educate as turn them away once they taste the bitter.

I would use blind sets at a location where dps were not productive but fresh coon tracks were turning up.

I have been using mini marshmallows and switched back and forth between grape drink powder, artificial vanilla, and cherry frostee liquid over them. Now they just ignore the traps and only eat the few mini marshmallows I chum the area with.

I pulled the traps and intend to soak and clean them thoroughly. I'll take them back in a few weeks when the deer corn is gone.

Unless your laws specify offset traps, make
your regular DP set with dry corn or something
similar, and make a set to either side with
the appropriately sized foot trap so smarty
pants will have a place to step while he's
eating the DP trap dry

I can do that but I worry about deer stepping on the traps and blowing apart the set.

I wouldn't worry about it too much
You won't run any deer off any more than the
coons already do. Neighbor gets deer stepping
in his varmint sets 3-4 times a year. They always
come back. Coons and hogs run off more deer
than us awkward humans do.
If not for a whitetail's curiosity, we wouldn't be
able to kill one without a few deer dogs running
one to us

Not sure how you're making your setup, but you
might try a couple of traps closer together.
I usually set 2 within a couple of yards of one
another. One hung in a trap doesn't discourage
another greedy gut coon from a free meal

Good Luck with it either way

I keep my DP traps anchored far enough apart that a caught coon can't get twisted up in another one. In fact, I make sure there's nothing in the coons reach after it gets trapped. I'll set a MB550 nearby to see if I can catch one in it. That should hold it well enough.

I really suspect the op has enough corn or other food thrown out that the coons don't need the food in the traps.

use some kind of motion night light on that feed pile , have a quiet easy window to open and a scoped 22 mag. or a scoped 22 hornet. lead does wonders on a smart coon ! always shoot the bigger coons 1st the little ones come back much easier.

The corn source is gone and whatever is there will be gone soon.


I have a 9mm AR with a thermal scope. JHP bullets have worked well but the coons don't come to the corn as often anymore.

Pardon my ignorance but what is DP set?

Dog-Proof. They are a special style of trap that prevent most non-target catches.

Thanks...I did not know that. It's been 40 yrs, but coons were always easy to catch with either live traps (18" cube, 36" long...home made) or #2 coil spring leghold traps attached to a drag. Catch a dog in a leg hold with a drag...they sit down as soon as it catches on brush. A coon will chew its foot off pretty quick(foxes too) so be sure to check them early daily.

Around corn feeders they are hard to catch on anything but corn. They got so used to eating corn there that’s all they think about. Let your corn run out and put a big marshmallow under dp trigger and then bait it with corn. I never would have guessed it either but game camera pictures don’t lie. IMO coons are not trap shy of dog proofs.

canned sardines always work

Coons are as easy as opossums. Bait your trap with what they are eating. It that simple.

Small dog food with peanut butter is key for me in Texas

Have you moved your sets further up the trail before they get to the baited area? Fresh set areas and first sniff of food vs buffet choices at the bait site.

My coon trapping was interrupted by deer season. I tagged out and may concentrate on coons again. By now they'll likely not remember my traps and I'll catch a few before I need to employ some of the tactics learned here.

Coons get where they will avoid dog proofs. I then move in with dirt holes. Then blind sets. 160 bucket sets. Snares on kill poles. If all u have is dp. Go in hit them heavy for a week. Pull wait 3 weeks go back in. Hit them with a different bait. And not the same spot. Back away down the trail from feeder.

I would put a leg-hold or two at the base of the trees in the pic.
Anchor at the tree. Small dirt-hole at base of tree.