coons not on the creek bottom

[oso lento]

This is a strange year. I've caught a lot more coon on the top of the ridges and in the fields next to the woods. In past years I've caught them on the creek banks. Does anyone know why this year is so different? :lol:

[clint]

Im no coon expert but I would think that there must be a good food source where your catching coon. I know this year in my location we had a bumper crop of acorns and the coon were not spending as much time running the river or creek bottoms. Instead they were feeding on the high ground.


clint

[trappnman]

  It has been a strange year for coon . My take over the past 6 weeks is about 1/3 of my normal take. First- I blamed it on the cold weather and snow in mid October, plus all the standing corn. Plus the facts that I was trapping in the upland high areas, quite a ways from water.  But as the corn got picked and the weather inproved- there was no real difference in my coon take.   I just started setting up creeks and have picked up a few the last few checks.  I have heard from so many people from all over the upper midwesty and north about the low populations on animals- mainly coon and canines.  That matches what I have seen.  Very curious.

[TJF]

Weather and a lot of standing crop seem to effect coon trapping for me.  The ones I got were nice but it was slow.  There was just a lot of food out there for them then normally.  I think that affected fox and coyotes too as I wasn't seeing much for sign even with snow until the corn and flowers were harvested.  Deer hunters were seeing coyotes hanging out in the sunflowers and corn and kicked up quite a few.  We have a lot of duck hunters during October hitting all the slough edges they normally hide out in and I think it pushed the coyotes into the standing crops.  Generally all crops are harvested by the 1st of November, but this year it wasn't until the end of November that the all the corn and sunflowers were combined.    Now you see tracks all over and a lot of sign now that all the crops are harvested.  I am pretty much done trapping for the year now as I have other things that need to be done.  Been fun and learned a lot.  Next year I need to be more organized and scout more to be on top of where the critters are at the moment and not were they were a month before I start trapping.

Tim