Bucket Set

Let me be the first to post in this section.... I'm looking forward to trying a few bucket sets next year. I've done my research and got my conibears (220) can anyone give me come tips???

I have not used a bucket but I have used a piece of 8" plastic pipe to catch coons. I had something getting in my pens and killing my chickens and pheasants(one night it killed 15) so that day I took the remains of one of the birds and put it in two pipes with one end blocked off and put a conibear at the entrance to the pipe and stablized the pipe where it would not roll. I had removed the birds from the pen so I had put the traps in there so I would be catching what ever was getting in and the next day I had not one but 2 big male racoons in the traps that were only about three feet apart. No problems since then.  

used a bucket set in mi. for fishers,make notches on each side of bucket  on open end so trap will fit in, put bait in back of bucket.we would put the bucket on a deadfall ,one that is at a slight angle,we would use a ratchet strap around bucket and log to hold it.fisher would climb up log ,and get pinched.make sure bait is secured in back of bucket with wire so it does'nt slide out,and keep human scent off strap.mi. won't give any one from wis. a fur bearers lic. so i just go and help my buddies out.had trouble last winter with wolves getting to and taking the fox and coyotes and alot of the time the traps too.

Thanks for the replies guys! I've heard about the pipe thing but I didnt even think about it, good idea. I basically just want to do it "cause I can" not looking to make money, more to see what it's like and maybe trap a few cool coons. I'd actually love to go coon hunting behind dogs but around here it's impossible to find someone who has dogs. I'd even be willing to pay a guide
 
 

Sab

As a hobby here in Georgia where I live I am a licensed nuisance trapper so I have tried a lot of stuff. I trap mostly fox and coyotes but also catch coons, beaver, otter and anything else someone calls me about.

Trapper
 
cool thanks for the tips. I'll be down your way in June. Altahama river?? How do you trap fox and yotes?? foothold traps??

Sab

Cool set if done right, make sure that you only afix one side to the tube on the top loosely.

Semper Paratus
Final Approach Pro-Staff
Foiles Migrators Pro-Staff
Rig'Em Right Pro-Staff
Duck Junkies Pro-Staff
Clearwater Fl. Ducks Unlimited Committee Member
TEAM TRIPPLE H
TEAM BUSH QUACKED

Yes I use modified foot hold traps. I use the modified traps because I sell my fox and coyotes alive to fox hunters and if they have hurt feet they will not buy them. Somtimes I still have to keep them in a pen for a few days and doctor them up to get them where I can sell them. I catch several each year with the mange and I give them shots daily until it clears up if it is not to bad and if it is I just shoot them. I have one 400 acre farm that I have caught 58 coyotes and 100 or more fox off of in a couple of trapping seasons. The foot holds I use are victor 1.75 offset jaw coil springs with the cable stakes and an inline spring between the trap and stake. Never had any problems with one getting out of these.

To me trapping always seemed so secretive like, but the more I read the more I want to do it. The problem I think a lot of people face is similar to my situation. I live in suburbia and hunt in the country. I can not get out to the country everyday to check the traps or do any scouting to even set them on the week I am there. Thats why I was thinking about a bucket set. It didn't seem that difficult and I could set a few while I was deer hunting and check them while I was there. 

Sab

I understand that some since I live in the surburbs of Atlanta and that is one of the challenges. The big thing you have to watch is that your not catching someones pet dog or cat and because of places I am asked to trap that can be difficult and that is another reason I use the modified traps that do little if any foot damage. I generally hunt close to home but if I do go off I always try and take a trap or two even if I am only going for a couple of days. Trapping is not much different from hunting as far as scouting because the animals generally use the same types of trails. Good places are field edges, old road sides and intersection, fence rows, a single tree in the middle of a field or most anything that looks a little different. Fox and coyotes are like dogs in that anything that sticks out they want to mark it so if you have a good trap set close by you just may catch him. If your are careful with your scent it is nothing unusal to catch something the first night or two assuming you have done everything else right. I keep a collection of items such as deer or cow sculls, old bones, a burnt piece of log that is really black, large feathers or even a piece of bed sheet. These are used as attractants because if canines see something different in their territory they are going to check it out so I just set and bait a trap close by and usually end up with something. The feathers can be hung from a branch with fishing string so they blow in the wind and you can also tear the sheet into strips and do the same thing. Anything like this gets them to come in close enough to smell your lures and once they get close by its up to you and how well you constructed your set. It can really be fun and an exciting challenge and that first night after you have set your traps is like opening day of hunting season, you can't wait to get up and go see how well you did while you were sleeping.

Terry NAHC Life Member since 2003

Very interesting posts trapper.  I've been hunting for 55 years and was always under the impression that coyotes will normally not tolerate fox in their home area.  It sounds like that one farm you have is absolutely overloaded with both and that surprises me.  The way the coyotes have taken over up here in Michigan I don't think there are anywhere near as many fox as there used to be.

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Jezz see this all facinates me. My cousin lives outside of Hotlanta, douglasville. Thanks for the education

Sab

Top gun you are right fox and coyotes do not get along and the coyote will eat a fox every chance he gets. What I have noticed is that it runs in cycles, some years you catch mostly fox and the next more coyotes. Also with fox it changes from reds to grays from year to year. Reds are larger but the grays are more aggressive but neither is a match for the yote. I have had fox get caught and when I check the trap in the mornings there may be nothing left but fur and a few bones from where the coyote came through and found an easy meal. If you hunt different animals you see that there will be good years and then a bad one because they all run in cycles and that is they way nature helps control  wild populations.

Terry NAHC Life Member since 2003

Trap
 
keep talking I'm taking notes..........

Sab

Here is a coyote I caught over Thanksgiving week.

[image]local://67/47893BE416B543B399AE78230E51B3B3.jpg[/image]

Attached Image(s)

Terry NAHC Life Member since 2003

I used a pvc pipe closed off on one end with "chicken wire" and some corn in it to trap a few phesant many years ago in the middle of a tank test area.  Worked well, never thought of it on anything but birds as they could not back out.  If any one has a picture of a bucket trap post it, wouldlike to see one.

T.H. WERTH
US Army (Ret)
NRA
LM-NAHC
Viet Nam Vet

Twerth
 
I know I have a picture of a bucket set somewhere in this computer, I'm still looking to see what I filed it under. I found it online and thought it was cool so I saved it.

Sab

trapperT:
 
Cool pic.
 
Take care and Good Hunting!
 
Best Afield,
 
Steve

Good job trapper and look forward to more pics this year.

Semper Paratus
Final Approach Pro-Staff
Foiles Migrators Pro-Staff
Rig'Em Right Pro-Staff
Duck Junkies Pro-Staff
Clearwater Fl. Ducks Unlimited Committee Member
TEAM TRIPPLE H
TEAM BUSH QUACKED

I will get some more pictures out there sometime but here lately I have not had any problem animals to catch. I have had several calls about fox but they are not hurting anything so I usually talk the people out of having them trapped. Yeah I know that takes money out of my pocket but I don't see a need to kill it at this time of year unles it is causing problems or is sick. I tell the callers to take out their camera and take pictures and enjoy them because they are seeing something that most people want.   Looks like I am going to be doing a beaver job though just waiting on the final answer to go to it.

Terry NAHC Life Member since 2003