Tips and tricks for trapping
A very successful evening workshop was held recently in which Cam Speedy shared many great tips about how to choose the best locations for your traps, methods of setting them and ideas about the ideal lures and baits to use.
Cam has been working in the area of predator control for many years and has worked with DoC and professional pest control companies, as well as provided advice to many interested groups across New Zealand. He has some great information about how to use the phases of the moon for guidance for best timing of control efforts.
The following are some summaries of his advice, plus provide links to many other sources of information for those that wish to explore more or missed his talk.
Location tips
Consider what’s in your area. If you’ve got special non-target species like kiwi, kea and weka, you need to take this into account to prevent them from harm.
Introduced species, such as pigs or wallabies, can interfere with your equipment, so trap placement and securing your traps will be important.
When placing a trap or bait station, look for areas that introduced predators are likely to visit, including linear paths such as fence lines, tracks, paths, ridges, rivers and bridges.
Look for well-worn areas where animals are travelling through, also known as pad runs, or where the bush or trees have signs of possum damage (eg. bite barks on bark etc).
Trap placement should be carefully considered
Don't rush through it. Put the predator at the centre of your thinking - become a trap ninja, not a trap checker.
Installing multiple devices at one site can make it more attractive for introduced predators and also make it easier for servicing. For example, place a stoat/rat trap and a possum trap at the same site.
Don’t place traps in cool, wet or damp places, like gullies, as most animals won’t visit these places. Instead, place traps in sunny, dry locations, like spurs and ridges.
Ferrets are often found along roads as they like to scavenge road kill. Try placing traps in verges and culverts along road edges. Ferrets often thrive along the edges of farmland due to rabbits, so protect bush blocks by placing devices along the boundary between farmland and bush.
Possums love pine pollen catkins on old Pinus Radiata trees, so these make great trap and bait station sites in the spring.
Don’t underestimate scent trails – lots of animals will travel along the same path in the bush. Once one animal starts to visit a location, they leave a scent trail, and other predators are attracted to the same place to have a look. So if you are targeting stoats then rats, possums and hedgehogs visiting a site will create interest for the stoat.
Make sure traps are placed parallel to trails. For traps in tunnels, make sure introduced predators have a clear line of sight through the trap (mesh at both ends of the trap allows this) by weeding or clearing any debris.
If your trapping isn’t working, mix up your methods with these ideas (video)
Preparing your trap/bait station site
Use sweet flour paste for luring possums.
Make the site really appealing and easy for introduced predators to interact with. Most catches occur in the first few days after they’re serviced when the bait is fresh.
Scuffing the ground around a trap or bait station site creates interest and will encourage introduced predators to investigate your site.
Clear around the trap entrance and remove grass from around bait stations to prevent bait from going mouldy.
Use logs, ferns or similar to create a line to direct animals to the entrance of your trap or bait station.
Creating a ramp up to possum traps can make them effective by giving the possum a place to perch while they investigate the trap.
Make sure traps are solidly bedded down to minimise movement (and accidental firing). Using a spade, level the trap location in the shape of the box, push the box back and forth into soil, and then stand on top of it to push it down well. A large rock on top of the trap helps weigh it down too. You can use a reinforcing bar to secure traps to the ground to make them stable – this is useful if you have pigs visiting your area.
Leave a few tasty treats, such as crumbs of mutton fat or dollops of peanut butter, outside your trap entrance.
Create a possum hotspot (think of it as a nightclub!) by unsetting traps for a while and pre-feeding.
Blaze (put a line along a branch or trunk) scented flour as a visual lure (white flour is really easy to see in the bush at night) and throw flour around the trap site to create interest and attract predators to the area. Introduced predators then take the scent away on their paws, in their fur and on their breath, communicating the food source to others.
Some links to further information, many of which are sourced from Predator Free NZ website:
Watch a video on getting the most out of DOC 200 traps.
Watch a video on mixing up your methods with these ideas (video)
Connovation Smooth Blue Lure, Salmon Lure It, and Eggsellent Lure.
Stoat and Rat checklist maintaining each trap
Chew cards and tracking tunnels
free PFNZ Predator Control calendar.
trapping by the moon (maramataka).
https://youtu.be/YNkWqcjKnpc (Tips and tricks, possum nightclubs)
https://predatorfreenz.org/webinars/fine-tuning-your-predator-control/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSYsLRA75ng (Shifting traps to better spots)