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RBG Traps and Columbian Ground Squirrels

Using body-gripping traps to control wildlife is one of the tried and true techniques for wildlife control operators (WCOs). Being able to set a trap over the burrow and let the animal pass through and get caught dramatically increases efficiency of the trapping. In addition, no bait is required so you save money and reduce the potential for catching non-target animals.

I recently spent some time with a WCO who does a fair amount of trapping of Columbian ground squirrels. His clients don’t want to use toxicants and he is happy to provide the service. He showed me that he likes to use the RBG Trap. RBG stands for Round Body-grip.

RBG trap set over the entrance of a Columbian ground squirrel.
RBG Trap set over the burrow entrance of a Columbian ground squirrel.

He tells me that the benefit of the RBG trap is that it fits right into the hole (he uses the 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch diameter traps). He wedges RBG traps in place and thus doesn’t need to use a stabilizer stick to hold the trap in place. Plus the ground squirrel can’t get around the trap. It has to go through. He finishes the set with a 24 inch stake.

In wildlife control simple is the best. Perhaps you want to try this to control small ground squirrels in your neck of the woods.

Stephen M. Vantassel

 

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New Age DP Coon Trapping Methods and More! By Leroy Renno

Book review: New Age DP Coon Trapping Methods and More! By Leroy Renno. Mifflintown, PA: Juniata Valley Trapper Supply, 2013. 64 pages. $11.95.

DP Traps. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel.
DP Traps. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel.

With the rise in the use of encapsulated-foot traps, also known as dog-proof traps (i.e. DP traps), it was good to see a book discussing the ins and outs of their use. Mr. Renno hails from Pennsylvania and has years of experience with these traps which he shares in this easy to read book.

Mr. Renno begins by a quick review of raccoon behavior. He discusses the raccoon’s intelligence, reproduction, and weather-based activity in order to set the stage for explaining the use of DPs to catch raccoons. Next, Mr. Renno describes the fundamental elements of the DP traps. Though he has only used the Coon Dagger, Duke DP, Sterling Griz, and the Trapmaster (RC Best Modified), readers should know that the information is applicable to all the various types of DPs on the market today. I appreciated Mr. Renno’s candor in explaining that though designed for raccoons, DPs can and do capture other animals. He rightly cautions readers not to get overly confident about the species specificness of these traps, particularly around built up areas as the trapper will likely be in a for an unwanted surprise. I was surprised to see that Renno doesn’t believe that these traps need to have a push-pull trigger. Readers should hear him out before rejecting his comments.

After describing how to prepare your new traps for the line, Renno discusses the three ways he uses to anchor the traps. Having used DPs this season on my own trapline, I would emphasize the importance of making sure your quicklinks are wrenched tight, should you decide to use them at all. In my opinion, split rings are a more reliable choice to secure DPs to cables.

The last section of the book details Renno’s fur handling techniques, which he claims will increase your fur check by 20%. In surprisingly brief terms, Renno takes you through his process from equipment to skinning, to fleshing, to stretching, to damage repair. Images, though black and white, are clear and helpful in illustrating his points.
It was Renno’s description of the various sets used for DP traps that I found the most significant. Sets are critical because the DP has to be properly mounted/placed into the ground in order to provide the resistance necessary for a raccoon to fire the trap. He shows how to make sets in water and frozen ground. Nor does Renno overlook the difficult question of baiting. He discusses his baiting choices as well as methods for protecting your bait from the ubiquitous mice that are available to steal it.
In sum, Mr. Renno has provided trappers with important information on how to incorporate DP traps into your trapline. I think readers will appreciate his humility and brevity with words.

Copies of the book are available for $15.00 ppd from the author. Make checks payable to Juniata Valley Trapper Supply and mail to 251 Maple Lane Mifflintown, PA 17059. Otherwise call 717-463-3624 and pay with a credit card.

About the Author

Stephen M. Vantassel is a Certified Wildlife Control Operator (CWCP®) who helps individuals, businesses, and agencies resolve wildlife damage issues through training, writing, expert witness, and research. His latest books are the Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook, 3rd edition and The Practical Guide to the Control of Feral Cats. He can be contacted at wildlifecontrolconsultant at gmail dot com.
If you would like your publication, video, or product reviewed, please contact the author at the e-mail above.

Copyright

All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.

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Why Trapping?

Why Trapping?

Sometimes people wonder why people trap. Aside from the opportunity to get out into the woods and harvest nature’s abundance, trapping offers advantages not available in other types of harvest.

A set cage trap with spring-loaded door. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel.
A set cage trap with spring-loaded door. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel.

Let’s start with a definition. Trapping involves the use of a device (i.e. a trap) to capture an animal when triggered by the actions of said animal. Traps come in a variety of types and include snares, cable-restraints, nets, restraining devices, cage traps, box traps, and others. The advantage of trapping lies in its ability to multiply human effort. Not only can a person set multiple traps capable of catching multiple animals, but also the person is freed to do other activities as the traps will be working 24 hours a day. Hunting, in contrast, requires the human to be present. Hunters can only increase their catch by increasing the number of hours in the field.

Despite the advantages of trapping, it does have some disadvantages. First, it is equipment intensive. Where a hunter has her weapon and perhaps some calls and some camouflage clothing, the trapper has to have clothing, traps, anchoring devices, a weapon to dispatch the catch, and baskets to carry the equipment. Second, trappers have to commit several days of time to trapping. Once the traps are set, the traps must be checked, catches removed, and sets remade. Hunters in contrast can hunt for an afternoon and go home. At minimum, trapping is a two-day event. One day to set traps and the other to pick them up.

I hope this helps explain why people trap.

About the Author

Stephen M. Vantassel is a certified wildlife control operator who helps individuals, businesses, and agencies resolve wildlife damage issues through training, writing, expert witness, and research. His latest books are the Wildlife Damage Inspection Handbook, 3rd edition and The Practical Guide to the Control of Feral Cats. He can be contacted at wildlifecontrolconsultant at gmail dot com.

If you would like your publication, video, or product reviewed, please contact the author at the e-mail above.

Copyright

All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.

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When Anti-Trappers Are Open about their Beliefs

When Anti-Trappers Are Open About their Beliefs

Anyone who has known me, understands that one of my greatest complaints about the

Padded-jaw foothold. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel
Padded-jaw foothold. Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel

animal rights protest industry (ARPI) is how they mask their true intentions. I published an article on this point in the Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference (Vantassel, Stephen. (2008). In R. M. Timm & M. B. Madon (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Vertebrate Pest Conference (Vol. 23, pp. 294-300). San Diego, CA: University of California, Davis.) where I noted how if the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) really wanted dialogue then it  should respond to the criticisms and issues I raised.

Unfortunately, the HSUS has yet to respond directly to those concerns nor has it proffered any opportunity for true dialogue. A friend of mine noted that the problem with my article was that I misunderstood how animal rights protest industry advocates define dialogue. He said that for ARPI advocates, dialogue means, shut up or be quiet and listen to me talk. I don’t know if the HSUS believes that way. I think the problem may be that if it said what its goals really were in an open (openness is different than honesty) way, they might just loose funding from the more radical elements of their supporters. I should note that openness is different than honesty.  Openness refers to the willingness to explain one’s presuppositions and ultimate goals as I explained in my article. Perhaps, the HSUS will engage me sometime in the future. They should respect my opinion because they used one of my articles in a favorable way in one of their training sessions in Connecticut.

Nevertheless, I am always glad when ARPI advocates are open about their beliefs. Too often they cloud their ultimate intentions with the side argument of “humanness”. One such organization that deserves credit for being open is the folks behind Furbearer Defenders.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIVmVMraR3I. While their video was less than fully fair with their assertions, I did want to send out kudos for them for their openness in noting their opinion that no trap is humane. They are wrong of course, but I appreciate the frankness of their stating it.

There it is everyone, ‘No Trap Is Humane.” It is nice to hear when ARPIs are open about their full beliefs. What this does is underscore and prove my long-argued point that for ARPIs cruelty is defined as the mere killing or even restraint of a wild animal for consumptive purposes. The reason why it is essential for people to understand this is that it highlights the true nature of the debate. While ARPIs frequently claim this or that technique is “cruel” or “inhumane” when one answers those concerns, they will not be satisfied because their real goal is the elimination of trapping for the fur trade period no matter how painless the activity. This is just more proof from my dissertation which was published as Dominion over Wildlife: An Environmental-Theology of Human-Wildlife Relations (Wipf and Stock, 209). For them, the mere act of sport or commercial trapping is wrong. Cruelty is just a canard to get ignorant people to vote their way (or send money).

About the Author

Stephen M. Vantassel is a certified wildlife control operator who helps individuals, businesses, and agencies resolve wildlife damage issues through training, writing, expert witness, and research. His latest book is the The Practical Guide to the Control of Feral Cats. He can be contacted at stephenvantassel at Hotmail dot com.

Copyright

All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.

 

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Are Foothold Traps More Indiscriminate than Cage Traps?

Are Foothold Traps Indiscriminate?

 

English: Leghold trap. Français : Piège à mâch...
This size trap is what the animal rights protest industry wants you to think is what the majority of trappers are using. Image via Wikipedia

 

One of the charges that Animal Rights Protest Industry Activists lay against trappers and wildlife control operators (WCOs) is that footholds are indiscriminate. Typically this charge is coupled with “cruel” but for this post I only want to discuss the indiscriminate charge.

 

The accusation usually goes like this. This trap (fill in the blank) needs to be banned because it can’t distinguish between target (the desired animal in need of control) and the non-target animal (the animal that is not sought to be controlled). The idea is to make traps appear to be these lurking threats in the landscape that are waiting to harm everything.

 

Here are the facts about foothold trapping

 

1. If your definition of indiscriminate requires a standard of 100% accuracy then, the animal rights protest claim is correct. Traps are indiscriminate if the standard is perfection.  But notice, this standard also rules out cage and box traps (often mistakenly called “live traps). Furthermore, even hunting is not 100% selective as noted by the fact that humans, livestock, and non-game animals also get shot.

 

2. For those willing to have a more reasonable standard, then footholds can be decidedly selective. Here’s how.

 

a. Location. Trappers select sites where the desired animals are likely to go. For instance, placing a trap in water (particularly cold water of November through February) make is very unlikely to catch non-targets.

 

b. Bait. Certain lures and baits are more likely to attract some animals over others.

 

c. Trap type. Certain traps are designed to capture certain animals while avoiding others, e.g. Collarum, Lil’ Grizz, etc. While these traps are not typically called, footholds, animal rights protest activists hate them too as demonstrated by their proffering Question 1 in Massachusetts (which ultimately was passed by an ignorant and misinformed voting public) in 1996.

d. Trap size. Small traps are less likely to catch large animals.

 

e. Pan Tension. The pan is the disk in the middle of the foothold that triggers the trap when depressed. By increasing pan tension, trappers make it harder for lighter animals to fire the trap.

So the bottom line, just as guns don’t kill people, people kill people, traps are only as good or bad as the person who uses them. Unfortunately, in our soundbite society, it is easier for people to demonize a tool rather than to understand the complexities of reality.

 

About the Author

Stephen M. Vantassel is a certified wildlife control professional who has a great interest in the way the animal rights protest industry distorts the facts about wildlife management and consumptive sports. His dissertation on the animal rights movement was published in a book entitled, Dominion over Wildlife? An Environmental-Theology of Human-Wildlife Relations (Wipf and Stock, 2009). He has written many articles on the animal rights protest industry and actively seeks opportunities to debate them to set the record straight.

 

 

 

 

 

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About Stephen

Stephen M. Vantassel MNI, CNI, CWCP, ACP Bio Stephen M. Vantassel is the Vertebrate Pest Specialist for the Montana Department of Agriculture (2015-present). Formerly, he was the Program Coordinator of Distance Education-Wildlife Damage Management for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources from 2004-2014. Stephen filled the position vacated by Dallas Virchow, who … Learn More

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