Catch and Release Trap

Several years ago we caught three raccoons red handed…or red pawed in our chicken run area.  A couple of days before that we had several dead chickens and then a dead duck.  We better secured the area, thinking we would have no more attacks.  While talking to my husband in the kitchen late one night there was a high shriek from outside.  One of the raccoons had dragged a chicken from the coop and into the run area.  Unfortunately, the chicken died and the raccoon got away.

We ended up setting drive way detector alarms that we had on hand around the coops and installing lights to shine around the coop area.  Anytime anything passed by  the detector, the alarm would ding inside the house.  For a while there was dinging every night.  Our approach for the time being would to scare the raccoons off but they would be back.  We were trying to figure out what to do.  We didn’t have much cash but saved up to buy a 22 rifle and a catch and release trap.  These items saved the rest of our flock.

At Tractor Supply I bought an Advantek catch and release trap which came with a smaller trap.  It was $30 dollars on sale.  Usually they’re about $40.  They had other brands but this one looked as good as the others and cheaper.  I haven’t used the smaller cage yet but it’s built just like the bigger one.  I’m not sure what the model number for my trap is since it’s an older model.  Mine looks much like other traps that are listed online for sale.  It’s metal, green, has a handle for carrying, and has a triggered door.

Here are the dimensions for my traps:

Large trap: Width 10 1/2″, Height 12″, Length 32″

Small trap: Width 8 1/2″, Height 7″, Length 24″

When you set up the cage there is a hook that holds the door up.  This hook releases the door, closing the trap WHEN the animal goes inside and STEPS on the pressure plate.  The pressure plate and hook are very important to a successful trapping.  It sounds easy and it is, but it’s not going to work if the pressure plate doesn’t trigger that hook to let go.  Hopefully that makes sense.  I have posted pictures of the hook and pressure plate I’m writing about.  However, I’m going to explain more!  Keep reading.  At the bottom of the post you will find my video for this and see me set up the trap with the help of the chickens. 🙂

 Advantek Trap and Release

 The hook is to the left of the picture and the pressure plate is to the right.

 Hook close up.

 Pressure plate close up.

Catching a raccoon in a trap took a little longer than I thought.  I had a lot of trial and errors before I figured out what worked best.  At first, I made a trail of marshmallows to the trap, throwing some inside.  That didn’t work.  All the marshmallows were gone, the trap was empty.  The next night I actually tied the bag of marshmallows (there weren’t too many left in the bag) to the back of the inside of the cage.  Next day, nothing and the empty bag laid several feet away.  Another night I tried squishing a slice of white bread underneath at the back end of the cage.  Still didn’t work!  Obviously, the hook was not releasing the door, I needed to figure out how to get the door to close. When I put the hook into its notch, instead of leaving it there, I pushed the hook back so it was flesh with the notch.  This allowed the hook to be more sensitive to the lever.  On top of that, I did a marshmallow trail to the trap, put marshmallows inside with a slice of white bread squished underneath at the back end of the cage.  Eureka!  We finally caught our first raccoon and more were to follow!

In the picture you can see the hook is through the notch all the way.

 I ended up pushing the hook back so it was flush (or pretty close to it) with the notch.  This will increase the sensitivity.

Other tidbits on setting up the trap: Sometimes I covered the trap with a tarp, sometimes I didn’t.  I have successfully caught raccoons with and without the tarp draped over the cage.  If the trap is unsteady on the ground, I will put a heavy stone on top towards the back of the trap.  I have even scattered leaves in the front of the trap to cover the metal floor, which I don’t do this every time either.  Another thing that I sometimes did was set an egg in the back of the corner on the same side as the hook.

If you are trying to trap a small animal and are failing then try different things.  You can try all that I have mentioned above, plus placing the trap in different areas.  Not all animals are the same.  Something might not work for an animal that had worked on a previous one.  Also consider buying a 22 rifle.  Once we were aware that a raccoon was in the backyard we shot it.   After successfully capturing and shooting many raccoons we didn’t have any problems for many months, but then the foxes showed up.

I will write a separate post on the foxes.  In case you are dealing with a fox, I will point out that foxes are highly clever.  If you’re looking for a trap to use then the best one I have read about is the one that allows you to put a live bird in one of the trap’s end.  There are also legtraps which will break the fox’s leg.  I don’t use either one of these because my chicken will probably have a heart attack I’m sure and I’m scared our dog or someone else’s dog may get caught in the legtrap.

Have you trapped any raccoons?  Comment below with your experience!