Trapping Possums with hold trap ??

The other half is worried about me using hold traps to catch possums on our 32h farm, 16h natural bush and 16 pastures.
She is concerned that the traps are liable to catch Cats (We have 4 British Short Hair Cats).
I have said that the cats shouldn't be attracted to possum bait and the closest trap will be 1/2km away, so she shouldn't be a concerned.
Anybody got a better ways or some way of alleviating her of the fear that the cats will get caught.
I have been doing the boundary walk at night and shooting but very hit and miss 1 or 2 I see but how many I don't see ??

Use curry powder mixed with flour. Apparently cats hate the smell of curry powder . Its what i use and ive never caught a cat with it but possums love it.

So explain again the problem with the cats?:D

Chuck the cats in the chook house... Keep them housed! Trap the shit out of your block...pluck the possom fur 100$ per kg ..then cage traps. ......re set traps on trees that catch until they don't. Look for trails ,sign (shit),chew marks etc .

Possums will fight your cats so will wild cats so getting your pets out of the way and getting things clean out is something That you can explain to shewho ... Save on vet bills etc small suffering for large gain...

The possums will scrap with the cats I discovered. My cat had the last laugh when I live trapped a possum on the lawn. I woke to a horrendous noise one night and flicked on the outside light to see a possum in the trap and my cat was jumping up and down on the cage winding it up. Was hard case to see

Sent from my workbench

keep cats inside at night and you wont have an issue....once you have caught a smelly ol possum in a trap and it has spent night peeing all around the show..(not to mention what else cums out when you preform brain surgery with hammer) this scent will attract other possums and should keep cat at bay. our cats would travel 1/2km from house during day. but were in beside fire at night. DONT feed cats in morning and take away the biscuit on demand feeder ,call them inside in arvo and feed them and keep them inside till morning. your traps will be reset in arvo and set off in morning so no issue there.
I didn't use bait "back in the day" as a teen using gin traps just good trap positioning and still had 50%ish catch rate on good night.
Timms kill traps are a good option close to house as they very quick to set(pull string) and unset (give a kick)

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Originally Posted by Maca49

So explain again the problem with the cats?:D

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The Mrs said that you might want to test the beef you are looking to buy is it really beef :yaeh am not durnk:

We keep our cats in of a night, so no issue there.

cats inside= no issue then you will just have to go check/set off traps first thing in morning when you let them out(best time to do it any way)
now if you happen to catch a stray cat in a trap....just dong it really quick,shooting is better/easier/safer all round, I was asked recently how to tell if cat in trap was a feral or someones pet???
I used a quote from the US Rangers from the 70s "if its dead and its Vietnamese its a Vietcong"....any cat that is out and about that far from its home and hunting/prowling at night is up to no good.
as long as people continue to dump cats, good folk will have to end up trapping/shooting them to protect wildlife, Ive taken half dozen or more in last 3 years:oh noes:

Any cat caught in a trap is feral! Hammer or .22 real quick and then use the scissors to take the fur off along the back, approx 10-15mm long and put it in a zip lock bag - makes excellent fishing flies.
As for your trapping, 32 hec shouldnt take too long to get around. Set your traps in the afternoon, keep your moggies inside, check them early in the morning and set them all off. Reset in the armo. Have personally had 1000's of trap nights close to houses and towns and only ever once caught a moggie. And the others I have worked with have hardly ever caught a moggie. When we do, chances are it may not have any injuries as they dont usually go ape, unlike a feral cat, which goes off big time.

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Originally Posted by Natatale

The Mrs said that you might want to test the beef you are looking to buy is it really beef :yaeh am not durnk:

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Hahahahahahahahaha I don't mind killing cats I don't know, if that's the problem?

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Hahahahahahahahaha I don't mind killing cats I don't know, if that's the problem?

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Or is it you don't mind killing !??! Hmm :thumbsup:

Also if you go with Timms type traps for close to the house I'd recommend using a stretchie to hook them down to a bit of 250x50 timber or something heavyish - Sometimes the shock of the trap being set off means that the possum gets away

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Originally Posted by 308

Also if you go with Timms type traps for close to the house I'd recommend using a stretchie to hook them down to a bit of 250x50 timber or something heavyish - Sometimes the shock of the trap being set off means that the possum gets away

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really??????? did you not use the pegs??
Ive never seen anything get out of one...

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Originally Posted by Natatale

Or is it you don't mind killing !??! Hmm :thumbsup:

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Maybe when I was younger, but your heart softens as you get older, you tend to do it for the "right" reasons

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Maybe when I was younger, but your heart softens as you get older, you tend to do it for the "right" reasons

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I know the feeling, we have a couple of house cats if they go after the birds around the house I shoot them, it's only a matter of time and one appears from the end of the road to replace what's gone. On that note these last two have been with us for 11 years and 3years.
The last one did get the 12g beside him when he wouldn't come out of the tree, just a learning curb for him, it seems to have worked as 2years is pretty good behaviour.
In earlier posts on here ten dead cats in under two months, most were female, if they had bread in one year the numbers would have been very high.
I am always mopping up cats around here along with other pests.
There has been good advise given on what to do, just keep trapping.
KH