Interesting video on trapping nest raiders
- Thread starter duvhntr
- Start date
There's no doubt trapping is huge for turkey survival. We don't do it on our lease because nobody is close enough to check traps. Wish we could.
Wonderland
Well-Known Member
I've owned my farm since 2005 and in the early years, I was covered up in turkeys but never had seen or even got a picture on camera of poults, even though there were so many turkeys on the place. Dad and I would see groups of 25-30 hens in fall while hunting at basically the same time at different locations. About 5-7 years ago, our numbers started dropping drastically, to where in 2023, I had 3 hens using my place. On April 23, 2023, I found a broken turkey egg and that was my breaking point. We can trap year round here, so keep that in mind. I started trapping in May 2023 and lost count at over 65 raccoons, opossums, and skunks. The numbers trapped in 2024 and 2025 have dropped drastically because they are less to be trapped. In 2024 I finally got pictures of poults on camera and had 28 hens using my place last fall. This year, I have more poults on camera also. Does trapping help? I would have to say YES.
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- Dec 5, 2014
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Maybe a few weekend camping trips would work for you guys- if that's allowed.
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- City & State/Province
- Pamelot, TN, Ghost Ranch, MT, Palmilla, Los Cabos
I own a Montana property that has 2 miles of shoreline on the Yellowstone River. Other than two 45-acre hayfields, the property looks like it would have when William Clark and Sacagawea (and baby Pompey) floated by, coming down the Yellowstone in 1806. The only thing different would be the prevailing Russian olive trees that were introduced perhaps 75 years ago.
In the big cottonwoods it is prime habitat for Merriams. I don't hunt turkeys. Killed one in high school, 55 years ago, in the southern Black Hills, above the Cheyenne River. Laid it near a corner post to keep deer hunting, came back a few hours later, and all that remained were a few thousand feathers after the coyotes had chow time. I have friends who hunt them as well as my son, who is a Montana resident. He likes to shoot them with his bow, good on him. So, my history with trapping began in first grade. I was hooked. Both my grandfathers were good trappers of mink and muskrats in Minnesota. I have trapped coons for excellent prices and prices non-existent. Montana allows the trapping of raccoons all year. Raccoons are classified as nongame wildlife in Montana, and neither residents nor nonresidents need a trapping license to hunt or trap nongame species, including raccoons, on private property they own. This allows for year-round, unrestricted, and unreported trapping of raccoons by landowners. A few years ago, Dog-proof raccoon traps were a big hit when raccoon prices were much higher. They are extremely effective to use, and I would urge anyone interested in cutting back raccoon numbers to give them a try. Baiting them is easy: corn, peanut butter, sardines, marshmallows, bits of garbage, you name it, they will eat it. So, a couple of years ago, I got a neighbor interested in using Dog Proofs to hammer the raccoon population. He was tired of them pilfering his barns, garbage, and leaving a mess behind. So he began trapping along the Yellowstone River. Fast forward to this year.
The number of turkeys that have steadily been increasing is amazing. I did not leave my ranch house this summer and get out on my place without seeing turkeys, big and small. That has never happened in 11 years. Between my neighbor and me, we have taken hundreds of coons along the Yellowstone River waterway. He traps them virtually year-round. The pheasant and turkey populations are at all-time highs in my estimation. The egg-eater numbers are cut way back. The masked bandits still leave their tracks along the river. There seems to be an endless number of them in Montana. Is trapping an effective method of increasing bird populations? You know the answer already.
Long live the bird populations along the Yellowstone and on the property you enjoy and hunt.
In the big cottonwoods it is prime habitat for Merriams. I don't hunt turkeys. Killed one in high school, 55 years ago, in the southern Black Hills, above the Cheyenne River. Laid it near a corner post to keep deer hunting, came back a few hours later, and all that remained were a few thousand feathers after the coyotes had chow time. I have friends who hunt them as well as my son, who is a Montana resident. He likes to shoot them with his bow, good on him. So, my history with trapping began in first grade. I was hooked. Both my grandfathers were good trappers of mink and muskrats in Minnesota. I have trapped coons for excellent prices and prices non-existent. Montana allows the trapping of raccoons all year. Raccoons are classified as nongame wildlife in Montana, and neither residents nor nonresidents need a trapping license to hunt or trap nongame species, including raccoons, on private property they own. This allows for year-round, unrestricted, and unreported trapping of raccoons by landowners. A few years ago, Dog-proof raccoon traps were a big hit when raccoon prices were much higher. They are extremely effective to use, and I would urge anyone interested in cutting back raccoon numbers to give them a try. Baiting them is easy: corn, peanut butter, sardines, marshmallows, bits of garbage, you name it, they will eat it. So, a couple of years ago, I got a neighbor interested in using Dog Proofs to hammer the raccoon population. He was tired of them pilfering his barns, garbage, and leaving a mess behind. So he began trapping along the Yellowstone River. Fast forward to this year.
The number of turkeys that have steadily been increasing is amazing. I did not leave my ranch house this summer and get out on my place without seeing turkeys, big and small. That has never happened in 11 years. Between my neighbor and me, we have taken hundreds of coons along the Yellowstone River waterway. He traps them virtually year-round. The pheasant and turkey populations are at all-time highs in my estimation. The egg-eater numbers are cut way back. The masked bandits still leave their tracks along the river. There seems to be an endless number of them in Montana. Is trapping an effective method of increasing bird populations? You know the answer already.
Long live the bird populations along the Yellowstone and on the property you enjoy and hunt.
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We have access 365 days a year so that's an option if we can make it happen. We're all running in different directions so that's makes it tough to pull off but we need to do something. We have good turkey numbers but I'm all for removing nest raiders.
