Week long trap line before turkey season

[JJBraves]

Well, I was later than I had originally anticipated but I finally got some traps in the ground last week before turkey season comes up. It's difficult finding time to run traps everyday, thankfully my brother was able to help out a bit when I was busy. Our family property is pretty close to a landfill which I think is why we always have so many coons/possums running around. So far, I have caught 7 possums and 24 coons in just 7 days. I'm sure that number would have gone up if I had continued to run the traps, but I wanted to get rid of a bunch of them before putting out all of my coyote sets so I wouldn't have to worry about bycatch. It's wild to think about the number of predators that a hen has to deal with during her long time on a nest/caring for chicks before they can fly. 31 predators on a 37 acre piece of land (just about a predator per acre just based off what I've caught in 7 days). Hate that the fur market is nonexistent, but it's all worth it knowing that those suckers could take out even 1 nest any given day. I've always said that I wish Tennessee (and other southern states) would pick up on the program that South Dakota has going with paying $10 a tail….. with declining turkey and upland game populations, that would get trappers in the woods and hopefully help keep the predator numbers to a happy medium.

 

[swd]

Is it legal to be trapping coons in TN right now? I thought the season was closed.

 

[wildlifefarmer]

Legal!!

 

[JJBraves]

There is a year round season.

 

[tellico4x4]

Good job! Yep, SD has been ahead of the curve for years taking care of their pheasants.

 

[rifle02]

WOW--24 coons is major!
That will surely help the bird population.

 

[pk117ac23]

Excellent work there!!!!

 

[JJBraves]

Well, I was later than I had originally anticipated but I finally got some traps in the ground last week before turkey season comes up. It's difficult finding time to run traps everyday, thankfully my brother was able to help out a bit when I was busy. Our family property is pretty close to a landfill which I think is why we always have so many coons/possums running around. So far, I have caught 7 possums and 24 coons in just 7 days. I'm sure that number would have gone up if I had continued to run the traps, but I wanted to get rid of a bunch of them before putting out all of my coyote sets so I wouldn't have to worry about bycatch. It's wild to think about the number of predators that a hen has to deal with during her long time on a nest/caring for chicks before they can fly. 31 predators on a 37 acre piece of land (just about a predator per acre just based off what I've caught in 7 days). Hate that the fur market is nonexistent, but it's all worth it knowing that those suckers could take out even 1 nest any given day. I've always said that I wish Tennessee (and other southern states) would pick up on the program that South Dakota has going with paying $10 a tail….. with declining turkey and upland game populations, that would get trappers in the woods and hopefully help keep the predator numbers to a happy medium.

Ended up pulling the traps Sunday and finished with a total of 48 coons and possums. No luck on coyotes unfortunately........ still haven't figured them out yet. Excited to hopefully see hens with poults running around soon!

 

[JJBraves]

Welp, as I was trying to beat the rain and broadcasting seed in one of my plots I happened to notice something that I haven't ever seen before on the property. Three hens with a little over 2 dozen poults walking across the road without a care in the world. I've never seen a hen on the property with more than two poults, much less that many! After all of the trapping I did over the early spring, I'd like to think that it paid off during the nesting season. Sure do love seeing stuff like this.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Great update to your original post! Thanks for sharing! Very encouraging!