View Full Version : steel traps
mattw4466
16-10-2006, 04:24
this is the ulitimate newbie question: When you catch an animal in a steel jaw trap, how do trappers usually finish them off? Shooting them will damage the pelt right.
Ginn traps like you describe are illegal here in the UK as are any trap designed to hold the leg of an animal. All the legal spring traps we use in the UK like the magnum or fenn traps are body traps and very powerful, designed to kill your prey...not hold them.... so no dispatch is required.
:)
Ed
warthog1981
17-10-2006, 20:26
if its trapping in the states they get shot with a small caliber rifle
demographic
21-10-2006, 19:27
When we lived on the farm there were a couple of old Gin traps hanging up in one of the sheds, we NEVER used them cos as well as being illegal in England they are also about as in-humane as its possible to get.
I can however attest to the fact that it hurts like hell if one snaps shut on your thumb when your playing around with it as a kid :o
Longstrider
05-11-2006, 05:51
I have done quite a bit of mink trapping with modern, legal, steel traps (usually a #6 Fenn trap) and have on occasion found that even they do not always kill the quarry outright. (Yes, I do know how to set them properly ;) )
My trapping is not for fur but for the purpose of pest control, so I am not bothered about possible pelt damage and wherever possible I carry a folding .410 shotgun with me when out checking my line. A severly peeved mink is NOT an animal you want to try handling, but the .410 settles them down quickly and effectively. Even if I were trapping for pelts I think I would adopt the same approach because, luckily, live captures in Fenn traps are very uncommon and to lose one pelt for each time it happened would be a better option than trying to deal with the situation by just about any other means.
In the vast majority of cases though, a modern, properly designed, and correctly set trap will kill the animal outright on capture. If you want to use these traps, PLEASE learn how to set them correctly from someone who knows both the methods and the law regarding thier use, and, as Demographic hints, mind your fingers. I'll second his statement that it hurts like hell if you get your thumb in one.
Hunter_zero
05-11-2006, 09:01
Ginn traps like you describe are illegal here in the UK as are any trap designed to hold the leg of an animal. All the legal spring traps we use in the UK like the magnum or fenn traps are body traps and very powerful, designed to kill your prey...not hold them.... so no dispatch is required.
:)
Ed
Fenn and magnum traps are not the best tools for Mink, Kania 2000 are exceptional traps. In my experience (using them on squirrels) there is no second chance.
I've used fenn traps for mink and squirrel and would say that 1 in 10 sets would result in a leg being trapped or a non-lethal result for want of a better word.
John
try a poisenous bait trap (with a painless humane poison) i cant think of any myself but if you wrap it up in something the animal you're hunting likes you should kill it and then be able to track it
phantom
p.s. im not sure if this is legal and don't eat the animal afterwards
Hunter_zero
05-11-2006, 14:26
try a poisenous bait trap (with a painless humane poison) i cant think of any myself but if you wrap it up in something the animal you're hunting likes you should kill it and then be able to track it
phantom
p.s. im not sure if this is legal and don't eat the animal afterwards
It is in fact illegal to "poison" mink in the UK. Warfarin is still used for Squirrels BUT I would recommend that amateur pest controllers stay well clear of using any poisons and stick to well designed traps made specifically for the purpose.
John
is illegal to use poison on all animals in the uk or just on some :confused:
cheers
phantom :AR15firin
Hunter_zero
05-11-2006, 17:43
is illegal to use poison on all animals in the uk or just on some :confused:
cheers
phantom :AR15firin
Generally speaking, only Rats / Mice and squirrels.
John
try a poisenous bait trap (with a painless humane poison) i cant think of any myself but if you wrap it up in something the animal you're hunting likes you should kill it and then be able to track it
phantom
p.s. im not sure if this is legal and don't eat the animal afterwards
The problem with poisoning pretty much anything is that the carcass is often set upon by scavengers pretty quickly, which poisons them. It's been shown that eagle populations are damaged when coyotes are poisoned for precisely this reason.
I don't think poison is an ecological way to kill anything unless it's a pest within your home or immediate confines that you will dispose of before it becomes a problem.
what about a cage with the bait in it so the animal can't go anywhere while it's poisoned
phantom :AR15firin
what about a cage with the bait in it so the animal can't go anywhere while it's poisoned
phantom :AR15firin
In the case of the coyote, it will be a cold day in hell before one of them falls for something like that. They are practically uncontrollable due to their uncanny intelligence. Other species might be a bit more gullible.
It's not so much the subject crawling off somewhere to die as other creatures eating it. That would require bar gaps small enough to keep creatures out, a secondary cage to keep the carcass away from the sides and the cage to be staked down to prevent the industrious from flipping it over and moving it around to move the carcass into reach.
I also suspect that such an arrangement would be problematic. Part of trapping is setting the snares in corridors of travel, and the arrival of a cage would be disruptive and probably only mildly effective.