Raccoon Traps

By GrowingDeer,

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Question

I’ve decided it is time to help out my turkeys!  Based on your predator control work of the last five years, what is the most effective trap for raccoons, box or foot-hold?  I saw both on your video (GDTV 10) with dog food as the bait.  Any other tips that you can share that were not on your video?  I am disadvantaged by being 1.75 hours from my land and thus I can only trap when I will be there the next day to check them.

Thanks!

Matt

Matt,

I’ve been very pleased with Lil Griz raccoon traps.  They are simple, safe, and effective.  I also use cage or box traps.  They work well also, but take much more space to haul around.  I’ve tried using sardines, fresh caught rough fish (suckers, etc.), marshmallows, etc., for bait.  I’ve had just as much success with inexpensive dry dog food as with any of the other baits I’ve tried.  The more odor the dog food has the better!  I also like dog food that is in very small-sized pieces.  This makes the raccoon work the trap more to remove all the bait, which increase the odds of the trigger being pulled.

Lil Griz traps are very quick to set.  For practical purposes, at least 20 Lil Griz traps can be stored in a five gallon bucket, which makes running a trap line easy if an ATV is used.

There are some new models out this year that look interesting, but I haven’t tried any of them yet.  I’ll probably try them this fall.

Growing Deer together,

Grant