Dog proof traps are a great way to
get started, and all you will catch is raccoon and opossum, not any dogs.
Setting them is simple, bait trap BEFORE setting (use tuna, small marshmallows,
uncooked bacon, or they make a special DP bait called "truckload coon
bait") find the place you want to set trap, like in a sand bank were you
see coon tracks, and set trap. If you can’t set it with your hands, then some
have special setters you can use. Push trap firmly into the ground,stake with a piece of re-bar and you are
all set! (No pun intended) They are fast, easy, cheap and they work.You can get them at any of the trapping supply places mentioned in the MY FAVORITE BOOKS post.
Last year, all I got in DPs was a possum but I did not get a picture of it. To let something go out of a dog proof, take a stick about 2’ long and put it on the animal’s neck, and with your foot pin the stick to the ground to keep the animal from biting you wile you let its foot out. Possum’s are nearly impossible to kill the normal way (shooting through the head) but shooting in the body through the lungs will kill them faster. I remember one time I had a possum in a cage trap, and to kill it I shot it with my pellet gun in the head 4 times (a dose which I killed a coon with once) and left it all night in 30 degree weather to bleed out, and the next morning he was still there, alive! My grandpa had to impale it twice to with a 1" thick iron pole kill it. That goes to say how hard they are to kill. They can also swim pretty good too, but in a cage trap you can drown them in about 5 minutes. Another way that I read that you can kill opossum is to knock it unconscious with a tap to the head, lay it on its stomach, and put a 2’ stick on their neck, stand on both ends, and jerk it sharply up by its tail, breaking its neck. That is really all I have, and I am sure that there are many other tricks, I just don’t know them, but you now know how to set a DP, good baits, and how to kill a possum.
Last year, all I got in DPs was a possum but I did not get a picture of it. To let something go out of a dog proof, take a stick about 2’ long and put it on the animal’s neck, and with your foot pin the stick to the ground to keep the animal from biting you wile you let its foot out. Possum’s are nearly impossible to kill the normal way (shooting through the head) but shooting in the body through the lungs will kill them faster. I remember one time I had a possum in a cage trap, and to kill it I shot it with my pellet gun in the head 4 times (a dose which I killed a coon with once) and left it all night in 30 degree weather to bleed out, and the next morning he was still there, alive! My grandpa had to impale it twice to with a 1" thick iron pole kill it. That goes to say how hard they are to kill. They can also swim pretty good too, but in a cage trap you can drown them in about 5 minutes. Another way that I read that you can kill opossum is to knock it unconscious with a tap to the head, lay it on its stomach, and put a 2’ stick on their neck, stand on both ends, and jerk it sharply up by its tail, breaking its neck. That is really all I have, and I am sure that there are many other tricks, I just don’t know them, but you now know how to set a DP, good baits, and how to kill a possum.
Have fun,
Caleb
