Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Dispatching a catch

Ranger- How about the felines? Just for conversation, I trap Cen. Tx.- Lots of brush for my drags to hang up on away from the set. I usually hang up my drag on an 8ft. chain. The bob will find the most dense brush or climb a tree within 8 or 10ft. from the set.

Never trapped cats, but a good friend who catches a lot of them uses a catch stick to choke them out. Sounds like it is, again, just a few short seconds and the job is done without damage to the fur and no blood in the area of the set.

Thanks ranger.

As Ranger said, choking a cat out is the best method or just shooting them with a 22. You will only make the mistake of being in range of them once and you will never step in that catch circle again. I have learned to think of cats as a tightly coiled spring ready to go "sproooiiingg" at an second.

Which makes me think about leg catching a beaver that decided not to go down the slide cable and drown on a cold February morning. It is amazing how much freezing cold water they can throw at you with that tail.

Coon, fox, coyote and possums I usually just whacked over the noggin with a club. Skunks got shot from a safe distance. I don't give a rat's pink ass what anti trappers/hunters/bunny huggers think.

I use a choke pole. 30 secs or less, done. if you have a big fiesty tom it may take a bit longer. best part about using a choke pole, no hole to sew up.

I have a katch-all choke pole. worth the money if you ask me. positive stop locking system, pull it real tight - locks in place, hold the pole til the end, release with a simple lift of a piece at the end of the handle and spring loaded, opens right up.

I used to use a pole or "whack and stomp"..Now days they all get a 22 short.

Wolf and wolverine get a 22 through the lungs most everything else we use a choke stick. Mine is 4' white pvc pipe with cable inside,as we are in snow they don't try to evade capture very often.

For Cats (which is all I target) I carry a snare and a piece of wire in my pocket. Straighten out the wire with a little hook in the end, use it to slip the snare over the cats head, throw the other end over a limb and pull tight.
Death by hanging. Takes less than 30 sec.
For the occasional Coon that gets in my Cat traps. 22 in the cranium.
For Skunks. 22 in the lungs to encourage spraying. Hold nose and reset in the middle of the free lure the Skunk just deposited.

We used to club fox and coyote, but used a 22 for bobcat or most anything else. Bobcat was one thing we learned not to mess with.

Yea,, I used to shoot em too. Still do if I don't have a limb handy.
Very seldom do I see any blood from a 22 in the lungs.

To the OP,,,,, if you're getting banned from all those sites, you might want to rethink your "I'm right and EVERYONE else is wrong" philosify.
Just saying. ?????

I used to use a .22 but a head shot bleeds way to much and the more blood there is the more your trap area is contaminated. I purchased a catch stick two years ago and it has worked great. Bobcats are out in 30 seconds or less. No pain, just pass out and die. Coyotes are a little tougher and will fight a little more but 45 seconds they are usually done for. Plus no dealing with blood or holes to sew up when stretching them!

So for coon, coyote, and bobcat, shooting in the lungs is better than the head? I use 22 shorts and have always shot them in the head.

22 in the head for fox, no issues with sewing holes and usually little blood.

Depends, I have a little .22 revolver I bring but rarely use, only fired it twice last year. The only reason I bring it is for wolves that are still alive. Otherwise I have a 4 foot x 1 1/12in round piece of hickory I keep on the tunnel of my snow machine. I think you know where this is going.

Newbie question but if I catch a coon in a DP trap and I dispatch it with a .22 headshot, sure I'll get blood contamination, but then wouldn't that be an attractant for a leghold dirt hole coyote/fox setup?