I have a problem coon and have put out a Haveaheart box trap hoping to catch and relocate him. What should I use for bait? Currently I have it baited with sardines, suggestions sought.

Sardines work pretty well. When I trapped raccoons, I used to make a bait out of lightly tainted chunks of carp, mixed with honey, and a little beaver castor. Drove 'em nuts! Used a similar mix for fox, but instead of carp, used groundhog and/or feral cat.

Jeff

I use corn.

Anything sweet.

I use Jack Mackerel.

I've not trapped too many coons. Maybe 1/2 dozen when I was a kid. An old can of spoiled tuna fish did the trick... along with a handful of dog food leading towards the trap. I used a conibear 220 trap in a square 5 gallon bucket.

Take the top off the cheapest can of cat food you can find. Dig a little hole for the can.
Put the trap, with the trigger over the can. Anchor the trap so it can't be tipped over or moved.

Marshmallows work...

marshmallows, peanut butter, dry catfood, calf milk replacer, jelly donuts, draws them in and don't stink. I would relocate them to another world

When I trapped wild 'coons I used the cheapest sardines I could find. Trapping 'coons in a suburban setting, I use dry dog food because that is what they are shopping for.

RS

try the cheap honey buns.... trapper told me about it and they worked the few times I put them out.

A half a handful of cocktail peanuts sprinkled near the trip plate.
Even a careful coon will be overcome with greed trying to get them all and forget what's going on, snap!

I used to catch them, bring into work, let them loose in parking lot when everyone was rushing in. Fun to watch the guys dodging that coin.

I added some corn and dry dog food to the sardines and peanut butter, honey, molasses. This morning I had a nice big coon in the trap, he had cleaned up all the corn and dog food and appeared to have given the peanut butter some attention.
There's a nature preserve about a mile from the house, took him for a ride and released him there. He scampered happily from the trap to explore his new home. Set the trap again to see if there were any others in the area. Since many of the neighbors
have bird feeders at times we have several coons cleaning up what the birds drop.

Dry cat food works the best for me.

If the preserve was only a mile away, odds are good it is not new ground and the raccoon will be back in your neighborhood in a couple of days if not already. If I can't shoot them, I drop the trap in a body of water and drown them. There is no shortage of coons and "transplanting" them in a truly unfamiliar territory typically leads to their death due to traffic, predators, disease, elements, etc. drowning may seem cruel but it is no worse and often quicker than the other forms of death they will be exposed to.

Besides, you are merely taking your problem animal and dumping it on someone else's doorstep for them to deal with. Own up and deal with the problem rather than pass it off for others to deal with.

It will be back, as I said relocate the to another world

Had #2 in the trap this morning, a young female the first was a fair size boar. I am going to leave the trap set thru the weekend, I'm doing this as a favor to my next door neighbor, the neighborhood assoc. usually calls in a pro to deal with the problem. Last year they relocated
25+ coons.

The "pro" is a genius.

I like a mix of dry cat food, jelly beans and marshmallows in my dog proof traps

That is cool! No need to even bother with a trap.

This might sound funny, but watermelon or cantaloupe is the best. Especially if you are trying to get them to go into a live trap. Some are just too cautious. I have trapped coon all my life to relocate, or turn loose and train dogs. You can believe they will risk anything to get to the taste of watermelon or cantaloupe. If you just want to kill them use a coffee can set...find a stream, dig back into the bank so a coffee can will fit back in the hole, fill it with bait and set a 220 conibear trap in front of it. Make sure it is legal to use 220 kill traps on dry land in your state...it has been outlawed in a lot of places.

Edit; also, if you intend to relocate make sure it's legal to have them live in possession...many states have outlawed this too because of rabies. No sense solving one problem and creating another, like paying a usually big fine.

I have found that marshmallows and /or canned cat food and a 220 conibear works great.

Conibears are probably not a good choice in a residential area,jmo

Grape jelly, marshmellows, fruits/mellons and sweets will not attract dogs or cats.

Cheapest dog/cat food with small morsels, mix with grape or cherry coolaid mix, some cheap sugar, anise oil, mini-marshallows, and peanuts if they're cheap. Sprinkle it all with high-fructose corn syrup and mix it up.

Deadly, kinda like a party mix for raccoons.

Oh yeah, of course, cobs of fresh sweet corn cut up into pieces, if it's available.

Large marsh mallows with a smear of plumb loco will tear them up.

I have heard that a wadded up piece of aluminum foil works well. Curiosity kills em.

The peanut butter, honey and molasses mix was like coon nip, I had three coon in as many nights. I hung the peanut butter mix from the top of the trap far enough back that the coon couldn't avoid stepping on the pedal, a trail of dry dog food lured them right in.

Buy one or two Duke coon traps and bait them with small marshmellows.

They like anise and naturally black licorice. You can use anise oil for bait, and put some on a rag up on a branch to get the odor distributed.

I use dog proof traps and dry cat food. Have also used trail mix, with nuts and M&M's, and marshmellows. I do not "relocate".

Deer meat scraps, trout heads and an egg put in a glass bottle and buried for a month or two, deadly in a dirt hole set....

Peanut butter, honey and molasses worked like a charm. Three coons in successive nights, made a trail of dogfood to entice them into the trap.

Where do you find carp taint?

I have relocated many critters... usually the utilized variable is on the "Z" axis... you know, the one registering depth...

I don't know if it would work as well on a dry land live trap, but when I trapped corn, especially sweet corn, caught a 'coon every single time I used it in a water set.

Raccoons respond well to "eye bait".

My neighbor was a long time 'coon trapper and 'coon hunter. He used to use a Juicy Fruit gum wrapper in the back of a foot on 4 inch clay tile jammed into the bank for water sets. Cheap, no stink and it even worked on a mink or two.

Between the pelvic anal fins.

Me too. I put it in a small can like tuna or wet cat food comes in.

I agree with the advice about staking down the trap and also put it against a wall with a heavy bucket on the other side if it is on a concrete floor. The trap that I have the best results with is a Tru-Catch. They are really heavy duty and have a pretty much foolproof release system. .

He probably meant " 'taint carp".

Also, colloquially referred to as carp choat.

Hawbackers Wildcat works pretty well.....I can't keep the bastards out of my Cat sets.

I take a mason jar lid , turn it upside down and wire it down in the middle of the cage.Otherwise they will reach in from the outside. I put peanut butter and grape jelly mix in the lid for their last meal.

can of tuna always works for me

I will help revive an old thread by suggesting dry dog food with a splash of liquid smoke in my dog proofs.

I've found dog proof traps to work much better than live traps. I use dry dog or cat food and drip a little fish oil on it. Next I place a golf ball on top and drip a few drops of fish oil on the ball too. The golf ball helps keep the bait dry from rain or sprinklers and might discourage cats from getting caught.

I've caught 65 coons in my back yard in the last two years and I live in town. Got 32 last summer and 33 the year before. I don't bother to trap from Nov. 1 till March 1 because they aren't as active in my area.

I set six traps in clusters of three per set which helps to get more family members passing through because when one gets caught the others mill around it and get caught too. I dispatch them by bopping them on the head with a pipe while blinding them with a flashlight early in the dark morning. Their carcass gets bagged and put in garage freezer and then on garbage day they go into the dumpster. I imagine they are getting buried at the landfill before they even thaw.

If the ones that kept visiting Cookie's wall tent this past fall are any indication, anything from a bag of flour to an old copy of Readers Digest should work. I swear they will try anything in camp.

Sardines

Still miss ya Ol buddy.

I've found dry dogfood with bacon grease mixed in works well, damn skunks like it a lot too.

Cheap fruit cups to avoid neighbor's cats.

Sardines always worked for me.

judman he was the most down to earth man on the fire . i had a lot of pms with him about cat traping and just every day stuff .i miss him to wish i would have meet him in person

Anything fishy or sweet smelling. Use some sort of visual aid in the trap too. I've used Cotton balls, golf balls. Tin foil...

Check your PMs 44mc.

He was a dandy in person, wish there were more folks like him in this world

Marshmallows. Like crack to them.

10 g pm checked

And some grape jelly.


Cat food and fish oil catches cats better than coons.



Cats dont like marshmallows.

This cat does!

Captain Crunch.

a little milk replacer works good to attract

corn on the cob ,

The actual bait doesn’t matter a bunch if it smells or makes them wonder. Cheapest Vaseline with Watkins flavoring of many sorts; anise works really well. Very cheap and affective. Place a couple large marshmallows outside of trap, one in trap before pan, and one or two in back of trap...1 has your pure rubbed on it. The white marshmallow baits the smell and easy to see... they munch them down all the way to the back of your trap. I would suggest a Wickenkamp trap. Made for coon trappers by a trapper. My brother and him caught up to 190 some coons opening night and roughly 800 in a week to 10 days. My first year I caught 256.

corn and Minnie marshmallows

Best bait i ever used was persimmons and grandma's molasses stirred to a paste with stars removed first. Paid college tuitions that way.....

I use cheap cat food, open can a little bit, punch a couple of holes in the side, tie wire to back of cage.

Have wired t-bones to back of cage too

New Jersey must grow smart raccoons or I'm a dumb Pollak. I have been trying for months to catch a coon in a Hav a Heart and he either rips it apart to get out or grabs the food and tip toes out. I'll put some honey on the trigger tonight. Last nite he went in, took the sushi, and backed out. Can't shoot him here.

Never had any luck with the box traps. Can't legally transport live critters here either. Went to dog-proof (DP) traps and scored after they started to go after our layers. ZTraps with diced hot dog just over the push/pull trigger. Going to try small marshmallows with a slather of grape jelly as the weather dries out more. Get an old baseball bat from a thrift store if you can swing but not shoot....

That raccoon may have beat you home.

Tried baiting box traps with sardines/tuna, luck was so-so. Dry dog food got 'em every time. Leave a trail up to the trap and a hardware cloth bag full of dog chow wired to the back of the cage.

If you are near a residential area, I would be careful using dog or cat food or sardines as you might end up with a dog or cat in the traps. I use DP traps and marshmallows or jelly. Usually only a coon will go to something sweet like these.

Is there a bait that works on raccoons that doesn’t attract possums?

This works like a charm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
THIS

Marshmallows work great for coon and skunk and probably other critters.

A coon cuff trap is the best I seen yet. I use some old peanut butter.

before you reset your have a heart trap dig a small hole put half of the sardines in the can and bury them around a half inch deep,but before you bury these sardines put the other half in bowl ,then stake the trap down once its set, now put the rest of the sardines in the back past the trip pan pour all the juice on the ground back there too. this will catch any smart coon or opossum . deal with this problem a lot other wise i use a movement lite on my bird post and feed a few away and shoot coon,possum or whatever at nite but you gotten then leave window cracked and rifle ready i use a 22 Hornet always, 22 L.R. just is not enough to kill coons or possum as easy we get some good sized coons in Minnesota.

My favorite and most productive method was using a plastic pickle bucket with a fish wired to the back of the bucket. in the opening, I cut two notches to placed the cocked springs of a 220 conibear. I used some wire to keep anything that lived from dragging my bucket away. In two seasons using one bucket right out in plain sight I caught 35 feral house cats, 3 skunks, 20+ coons, a mink. and a beaver yes, a big beaver, by the head. Nothing was ever found alive, and nothing got away.
It was a lot of fun and the nearby neighbors thanked me for doing it.
If I was younger and could get around like I used to, I would do it again. I almost forgot-----I caught a hen Mallard there also.

I also used that same set up catching cats that were eating my son's chickens at night.

The pickle bucket was one of the 5 gallon variety---a similar bucket like a paint bucket would be the same. The 220's jaws filled the opening perfectly.

We have strong raccoons here. One literally pried open the back of the have a heart trap and squeezed out. Now he's educated and won't go near it.

I have the same trap, I wired the back door closed, permanently, I have caught hundreds of coons with it , they are great traps and well worth the money, mine also has a ten inch cement block setting on top of it so they can not roll it over, the only damage to it is the wire that I have shot off killing the damn things, they catch cats as well as skunks so placement is important, marshmallows seem to limit the skunk catches.

A racoon caught trying to walk through a 220 conibear is dead in a minute or so,. I have seen box traps get round (shaped) after having a coon in it for a length of time.

We have caught 10 coon out of the yard so far with a live trap and the best bait so far has been a soup can with nothing in it. No kidding. They can't stand not knowing what it is. Next is SMALL marshmallows

I use a 220 Conibear in a 5 gallon bucket set with dry dog food as bait. (I tried Live traps and the coons destroyed 2 different makes!)
Works like a champ. Dead coon almost every morning in the fall. It's nothing for me to get a couple 35-40 pounders every year.
This is next to my house in the far suburbs of Chicago!

I have a squirrel problem this year and have been trapping them in a cheap Harbor Freight live trap. I relocated 31 (so far) of them since I started trapping them in early May. I use a saltine cracker with a good dollop of peanut butter. I usually spring the trap at sundown, but sometimes I forget. When I do forget and leave them set overnight I catch raccoons. I've caught 5 or so this year and the cheap HF trap holds them. Peanut butter gets them every time for me, even though I don't want them.

Caught 20 coons, 14 skunks and a feral cat this month with DP cuff traps. I just use fish food (pellets) because that’s what I have on hand. I think we’ve got them thinned out, haven’t caught any for a couple of days now.

These DP traps are the schizzle compared to the have a hearts or ordinary leg holds. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to get on top of the coon population around the farm.

Cheap cat 🥘 food

Don’t buy a haveaheart trap. I would suggest if wanting a live animal trap… Wickenkamp. Made in Martinsburg, IA and you will not be disappointed. The coons will not tear them up. 2-3 adult men can stand on the trap and move it around and it won’t go off…lightly touch pan and boom the door is down. Head shots of n the trap are easy. The guy who makes them essentially started the live trap theme with his dad 50 years ago. Leon Wickenkamp. Best trap you ever should have bought.

Liver sausage and a swift, humane end.

Fruit cups to avoid feral and house cats.

I've found them especially fond of M&M's, but I think near anything edible should work.

Hang a plastic spoon or tin foil from the top of the trap. (Reusable) Then a few squirts of fish oil in and around the trap.

Just got through setting my dog-proof traps. I used dry cat food this time. Have used marshmellows, added jelly to them. used canned cat food, and sardines. I've also put a few drops of vanilla on the bait, and that works good too.

Most anything will catch a coon, but will also catch a possum and the occasional skunk. Since they all destroy turkey nests, and will eat my chickens, I'm just glad to get rid of them.

I had my son pull the traps last week when I was too sick to run them, and now that I'm over that crap, I'm ready to go back to catching something. Since Thanksgiving, I've caught about 6 or 7 coons, and a few possums.

I tried sardines and peanut butter, but found they simply cannot resist dog food kibbles. Make a trail leading up to the trap and hang a handful in a window screen bag just behind the treadle. Traps baited this way always had a coon inside in the morning.

The very first coon I caught was in a small leg hold trap that had the pan wrapped in tinfoil and set under a bridge in shallow water.
I was too young to have a gun so I tried to kill the coon by dropping a rock on it from the bridge above. I had wired the trap to a log and it gave the coon quite a range of motion, it scared me as it would lunge at me if I got too close. After several failed attempts with rocks, I decided to walk to my cousins about a mile away and borrow a gun to finish the job. I remember it like it was yesterday.

for a box trap I used lucky charms
worked great they get greedy eating all that sugar and forget about where they are placing their feet
spread a little on the outside to tease them and a handful inside