Sore Head Stoat can you hang a weasel above a leghold, might get number one predator
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Sore Head Stoat can you hang a weasel above a leghold, might get number one predator
I have just made the first boxes for my Doc200 traps. I noticed a few thinks when they were finished. One of the traps needed a hammer adjustment to the trigger mount which was too high. When the trap was activated the trigger arm snaped to the rear of the trap but the trap didn't slam closed. That was an easy fix. I bashed it lower. The other thing is they are both difficult to set. When you lift the wire setting loop the trigger doesn't locate on the sear and you have to get your hand down there in the danger zone to get it right. Is this normal? or is it me or the traps?
Thanks
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I have never had to bash a trap , they have worked perfectly esp from new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TaZxIHtsMo
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Another question.. I have done this more than once. The other day i cleared one of my high country lines, the half stoat line lol.. On the way back home i pass another of my lines and i stopped and checked a few of those traps. I moved 1 of the traps 10m from where it had been for a couple of years and when i checked them today it had a stoat in. Now i have done this before, moved a trap and whammo next check it has an animal in. i have also put a new trap 30m away from a long established trap and the new trap has caught something.. Do you think the animal caught had been in the area all along and knew the other traps were danger but this new object was worth checking out ? Thoughts please.
Attachment 143995Attachment 143995Sorry don't have enough experience to answer your query sore head stoat.
Rats can be smart but also really stupid. I noticed my fake eggs in my chook coop going missing. One was hard hollow plastic the others solid rubber. I guessed it was a rat. So I put a fenn in a box in the coop and a couple of days later got it. The rat was taking the fake eggs out of the nests about three feet off the ground and down a ramp and disappearing with them somewhere. Why? It couldn't eat them.
A thieving dirty rat. Orcrist you wouldn't believe he was capable of carrying off hens eggs.
He looks so innocent swinging there.:thumbsup:
KH
Speaking of eggs..... A few years back I saw a stoat running across the road rolling a chook sized egg in front; it didn't even break stride. Pretty impressive when you consider the off-centre shape of an egg
I don’t have the experience to answer your question @sore head stoat – I could count my mustilid kill numbers on one hand – but one thing I do know about ferrets and cats – patience is a virtue! – you know the buggars are around but you just can’t catch them – but they usually make a fatal mistake
I like the concept of moving trap boxes slightly and kicking the ground clean so they can see something has changed – but most of my trap tunnels are fixed on roots or branches – so they always look the same – moving rat boxes successfully conflicts with the often held belief that rats are neophobic animals – not in my experience – they seem to be curious
Some of us are still trapping around our street – we have 280 entries in the PFBOP system so I would guess that is well over 300 kills. About two weeks back - one of our neighbours who looks down onto the estuary spotted a ferret running around on their lawn in daylight – so I put a cage down there with a fresh rabbit leg on the rear mesh – we got a cat first night – then another cat – then nothing – both released unharmed – it took about ten days to trip up the ferret last night – I left a leg in the cage and a tail in the freezer – maybe he will have a mate. It is good that we got him as there were 18 fabulous Royal Spoonbills sitting near the cage yesterday – they live around the estuary so we need to make it safe for nesting this year
So at last I have an entry for the swamp comp – pitty they don’t take cat tails!
I love to see the Fenn traps in action – they don’t take prisoners! – well done @Orchrist
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1+ on fenn, like that ferret timeout.
KH
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Nice ferret Time Out.
They can be pretty clever Bumblefoot.
We occasionally are visited by a stoat. Several times the Neighbour has called out and I will rush over with the shotgun but haven't managed to shoot it.
However we have a stream at the back of our place so I put a trap by the foot bridge as I figured they that they are smart and would use it rather than swimming. It's the only bridge for quite a distance.
Well its my first one so I'm pretty stoked.
I remember a mate saying that stoats love running over bridges and a trap either end of the bridge is the deal. He would often drop a log over a creek to make a bridge and place a trap either end of the log bridge.
I am using eggs as bait/lure and when i take out the old egg i have started putting them under the trap box and breaking the egg. I also like the idea of scratching the dirt up around the trap.
Today i went and checked and replaced a few eggs in one of my high country lines. Eggs this time of year freeze and crack with the expansion when freezing.
After checking the first 6 traps i had already caught 2 stoats, a standard coloured stoat and a real light ginger one. I had to wait another 30 traps to get another... Every year i seem to catch one with what i would call a genuine winter coat on.. Cue in time out . I am crap at running any sort of technology and so hopefully time out will add the photo for us.
Cheers s h s
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Danger at trap No 73 – definitely a sore head stoat
Amazing colour in some of these animals that live in colder climate areas – great work sore head stoat – and you to Orcrist
On the edge of the estuary - I got the old fella nine days back - now the young fella today
The old ferret leg had gone from inside the cage – he had torn the manky old rabbit leg from the rear mesh but soon lost interest in that
Cut off his tail and four legs for the freezer – some skin in the top of the cage - dribbled pee all around the trap area - a new rabbit leg on the rear mesh – I guess Mum is around somewhere?
Hard to beat a cage if it can be checked easily each day – a rabbit leg is great lure and still works well when a furry creepy mess.
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Awesome [emoji106] Well done !!
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The sweet smelling cage has done the job again last night – a young female – wow did she stink! – she had eaten the rabbit leg while waiting for assistance to get out. Another tail and four more legs in the freezer so plenty of lure to put in doc250s around the Park.
Picture of the trap site by the rope fence – amazing what is running around on your front lawn – muddy tidal estuary with a small river just on the other side of the scrub – ducks, Canadas, Royal Spoonbills, rats and ferrets love the place.
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your rats look much better than the ones Ive caught here in town...3 so far...2 in last week,the ears are all scabby and cauliflowered almost like front row prop and tail all scaly too...dirty huas are "good rats" now.
Hardly something to get too excited about, but worth pointing out the effect of a trap upgrade. I've been struggling with my old traps - false trips, or no trip and stolen bait, etc. So I bought a box of 12 Victors, used some scrap timber to knock up some boxes, and since then every time I've found the trap set off, there's a dead rat. The upgrade to the large plastic bait tray and double sprung kill bar is totally worth it.
Using fresh beef steer liver as bait, deadly.
Bought 5x DOC200 traps at the same time, all these mustelid photos have inspired me, just gotta knock up the boxes.
Nice one fly blown.
The boxes do help the vermin present themselves well to the trap.
Does anyone know of any buyers of possum fur around chch? Have some fur and want to buy some more traps.
It's great how possums pay to kill themselves.
I don't have much experience with the DOC 150 so thought i would try some. Plenty of weasels around here so the lighter trigger might be the go. Knocked up a few boxes.
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Made sure the holes in the mesh are big enough for a hedgepig tho [emoji106]
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I am about to set up some feeders for the pheasants so each of them deserves to have a trap as I'm sure the feed/activity will attract a predator or two [emoji41]
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Nice new boxes and traps Guys – it will provide benefits
I had a couple of weeks off from checking my lines around the Park – got back into it on Friday/Saturday – must have checked fifty or more sites and never saw a victim anywhere – have changed out about 12 old Victors for new Kness Snap-es – not many traps were tripped but all were bare of bait – so seem to be feeding the ants and roaches
Loaded a couple of doc250s with fresh ferret legs. Repositioned a Possum Master from a tree to on the ground beside the stinky doc250 – a fresh rabbit leg for lure – target is cats or mustilids – maybe it should have been up on a log?
My Mate got a couple of cats over the other side of the Park last week – one in a doc200 and one in a doc250 – small to medium size – seems the place is full of cats
Got another ferret yesterday down at my estuary cage – three males and one small female so still looking for Mum and more of the kids – wow - did the last male stink – my neighbour can see the cage from his house and goes down on his lawnmower to deliver the lead pill – ferret didn’t sit still so now I have a big hole in the treadle – all I need to do is rebait and reset the cage – a stinky business saving legs as well as tails – had to wash all my clothes yesterday
Still getting a few Norways in a D Rat up the street but my other line of six traps is very quiet.
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Got round my 28 estuary traps yesterday for pretty skinny returns, but family enjoying the sunshine.
1 cat (Trapinator)
2 Norways
1 ship rat
All traps rebaited with fresh hare and eggs with the odd handful of duck feather garnish :thumbsup:
A sizeable Norway
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Gday Sparrow,
With your trapinator catching cats.. do you catch big adult cats, have you opened up the hole where they stick there head in ?
Hi Sparrow, I’ve just come back from West Coast and at a Kiwi focused reserve area noticed a lot of the trap boxes had a square hole in the lower corner at each end, didn’t look big enough for a ferret ie looked to be maybe 30mm by 30mm or less.
Obviously would get stoats, rats and mice.
Would that have been the plan?
Maybe not ferrets in the area ?
Hi @sore head stoat Opening up the holes on the trapinators is something I have thought about but they are on public land and I don’t need the drama of someone’s foxy or Jack Russell sticking their head in.
I have caught adult cats including big fully grown toms BuT also a couple of cats that have only stuck a paw in, one looked like it had been there a while and I had to dispatch, the other was dead but wouldn’t of been quick and no one wants that if it happens many more times it could be time for a rethink.
The trapping program has always used Timms furtheR up river But as they weren’t Doc approved an trapinators are they made us use them in the estuary.
Hi @Finnwolf it is surprising what gets through a small hole, but I imagine those small holes are to deter kiwi and weka, did you notice if there was a second baffle or greater distance to the mechanism than a standard Doc box?
An adolescent cat through a relatively small opening. 👍Attachment 146070
Ah and the wire on each end had no openings? So the kiwi can’t get its beak round the baffle maybe, some one will know.
Probably like that for keas. A guy i know was telling me someone was setting off DoC 150 traps up in Arthurs Pass. It was a why the hell would someone do that. They hid a game camera on a trap. A couple or 3 keas turned up, one grabs a stick pokes it thru the wire mesh , nah it doesnt fit, gives it a bit of a sharpen , nah it doesnt fit, bit more of a whittle and pokes it thru again and the stick hits the trap treadle , whammo the trap goes off and they all get a fright and scream like hell and off to the next trap. They now fit louvre type fittings and side entry on the new traps i believe.
They will be double set traps with the opening at each end.
Stoked to get this cat. Big fat female. Was glassing the paddocks and saw the cat from 350m away, stalking a rabbit. Damn was that an urgent scramble down the face to the creek, and along the watercourse, hugging the meagre cover all the way, desperately trying not to be seen. Luckily the cat was facing away from me, and totally preoccupied with its dinner.
Got to a small slip at the bottom of the paddock below the cat, slithered up through the mud on my belly under the electric fence, 75m head shot with the .22LR subsonic.
YEAH
Funy thing was, the rabbit just froze, so I reloaded and shot that too!
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The rabbit looks like it’s tangled with a cat before...
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Wanna know how desperate Soutie was to kill this particular Varmint all over again?
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Ferret No 5 today in my estuary cage – its been a bit quiet since the last one – the rabbit leg was just skin and bone - so I decided to give them something a bit more interesting – from my previous experience with cats and ferrets – if all else fails try some sardines – two days and he tried the sardines – bad move ferret! - a big stinky Male
Set up a new rabbit leg and the other half tin of sardines – should be irresistible – dog was obsessed with the smell of sardines
Still looking for the adult female and more young ones
No rats anywhere in the Park or round here – I set up a Steve Allen cat trap in the Park – thanks for the SA trap to try out Carol – you are very generous – hope business is good
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Are fresh sardines better than canned ones ? I have tried rubbing fresh sardines on top of the trap box and in the bait end but have not found catch rates increased with the sardines.. maybe i should try canned ones ? Thoughts please.
Ive used dry burley pellets from warehouse...look like big turkey turds...they worked. a simple ping pong ball works too.... its said they think its an egg and go for a look.still got one plastic egg from $2 shop left.
when I checked n reset traps last weekend after months of neglect..has 3 stoats,3hedgepigs and a rat..... no way any of those traps had strong odour still. have found the best bait for hedgehog..is dead hedgehog LOL.... rabbit bits,duck bits,hare bits are OK but it seems the smellier and more rice risotto like the better it works.
have tried trout frames...no good.
I finally got around to setting some trap boxes yesterday around the crn in the park. We live in Titirangi close to the city fringe and the Waitakere Ranges. There are lots of small creeks, bushy reserves, parks and a duck pond in the neighbourhood. I set out six trap boxes to see what the pest numbers were like. All in native plantings beside a creek. There are lots of native birds around but more is always better so I will see what difference I can make.
I checked them this morning and got 3 rats so I suppose that’s good and bad as it shows there are probably a few of the little buggers around. On the following days the kill numbers dropped off. One trap got a rat most days but some didn’t get anything. I then put out 2 more boxes to extend the line and moved a box 10m that hadn’t caught anything. The next day all those boxes had dead rats in them, non in the others. It seems that you quickly catch the easy rats in the area then nothing.
I put my mobile # on the boxes and was contacted by a local Eco group who are also running A24 traps in the local parks. So I will probably work with them though I’m a fan of traps and frequent trap checks so will keep also doing my thing.
I will post some dead rat photos when that option is back online. Who doesn't like looking at dead pests.