This Darn RAIN!

[KYtrapper17]

I got my line going yesterday. I only got 11 traps set out, but that was after schools with about 2 hours of daylight and me walking my line. I did manage to take a good boar coon this morning! :grin:  Now it has been raining for about 3 hours straight and still hammering. That puts almost all my traps out of working order. :x  I guess that's trapping though.

I do have a question though. Cotton1 told me in my post on stretching coons that they should be six inches wide. I skinned and fleshed that coon this evening and when I put him on the stretcher I stretched him down as far as I could get him, but he was still 8 inches wide at the base. My other three were 9 inches so I did shrink this one an inch. Is this still too wide? I am using wire stretchers and that is all I will be using this year. :?

[frozentoes]

While I cannot comment on the stretching, I sure hear you on the rain. It rained yesterday evening until around 11 o'clock this morning. When I checked my sets they were all washed away. Now we are back to some dry, sunny, and warm for a few days.

[rascal (Joe Duncan)]

Toes and KY:

Ever wonder how the pros and longliners keep their traps working in rainy periods?  HMMM!?

Wackyquacker just stands over his trap bed with a poncho until it quits raining.  Maybe that is because he and Dustin Hoffman have something in common :twisted:

Can we hear from some of you other trappers on keeping your sets working during rain?  Got to be some answers from some of you.

[RdFx]

On wire stretchers  for coon, cut  the wire  on bottom so you have two ends  sticking out  either horizontally or the vertical wires and put a  6 inch  board  in ..... You can then pleat yr coon to the 6 inch size........ Now saying that we  have coon up here in Wisconsin that i use nine and twelve inch  boards on bottom  ( i use all wood Nafa spec style boards made out of bass wood).   Even with these wide boards i have trouble sometimes  pleating...... If you dont know what pleating is it is taking hide and pinching together and pin on each side of pinch and keep going  ( on bottom of hide) till you have all excess loose  hide pinned up.   Some places you can get away with a six inch bottom board as  that is the size of your coon.  But not up here in WIsconsin , Minn , Mich.    I use alot of 160 conibears for coon in trail sets so water doesnt hurt ..... also griz traps, some box traps and on foot holds water can be 8 or 10 inches deep and you will still catch coon. ..... water rises  raise traps higher .

[frozentoes]

I have been having a heck of a time with the 160's. Cannot seem to find a tight spot in a trail to hold them. I did however catch a grinner in one. When I was using peat moss the sets stayed working. But thwere was a definite ring around the set. The only visits I was getting were the ones covered with leaves. Then someone suggested that was one ofthe possible reasons for my many pullouts. I stopped using the moss. Now I just remake all sets that are ruined from the weather.
How do you stabilize the coni's without the commercial mounts? I have tried sticks, stakes, and trees. They always seem to be wobbly and set right on the ground.

[RdFx]

Take 160 set and push springs down on both sides so spring eyes hit ground...... take two sticks  or what ever you have and put thru set jaws sideways into spring arms and into ground  if not frozen.  Springs on ground put trap up where it should be for coon  for heigth and helps stablize trap