The 'DOC' series of steel traps

[Coote 5]

A while back I got involved with a group who are working to restore a nice patch of native forest in a gully not far from my home. There are quite a few undesirable pest plants in the area, and one of the main tasks is to remove these. The worst plant is a vine called Old Man's Beard which seems to grow rampantly in this part of the world. It smothers trees and really changes the nature of the bush. I think it is a type of clematis...and I imagine that our ancestors brought it here from Britain.

 

The subject of pest control came up.... and I found that to be much more interesting than lopping off vines. A guy donated $100 for traps, so I sent away for three Doc 200 traps....then I built the bases and cover boxes for them.

 

These traps generally have to be covered to restrict access by non target species. The boxes I made have a gauze at one end, and a small tunnel entrance at the other. The main pests targeted by my traps are rats and stoats. I understand that rats can eat up to % of all the seeds produced in some of our forest areas...plus they are partial to bird flesh and eggs.

 

"DOC" stands for Department of Conservation. Doc staff were involved with the design of these traps. They come in three sizes. The biggest I know of is the Doc 250 which is rated to catch ferrets, although I am fairly danged sure that a ferret would be unlikely to survive an encounter with the Doc 200s that I have.

 

A lot of traps are set in our national parks and other areas. Fenn traps (number six?) were once used a lot, but for some reason these Doc traps are being used more. In some areas the traps are not checked for quite long periods.... so workers may have to clean up and reset a trap which has had an animal in it for some time (this is known colloquially as a 'meltdown'). I understand that the Doc traps are quite good in this regard. It may seem odd to leave traps for such a long time without checking them, but bear in mind there may be hundreds of traps spread out over many miles in a big remote area. These traps are heavy, and it was all I could manage to carry two of them in their big wooden boxes up into my trapping area.

 

These traps are often baited with an egg.... a white-shelled one being preferred. I have currently baited mine with bits of rabbit.

 

Here's a picture of a rat that I caught last night:

 

[Guest Nightwalker]

A while back I got involved with a group who are working to restore a nice patch of native forest in a gully not far from my home. There are quite a few undesirable pest plants in the area, and one of the main tasks is to remove these. The worst plant is a vine called Old Man's Beard which seems to grow rampantly in this part of the world. It smothers trees and really changes the nature of the bush. I think it is a type of clematis...and I imagine that our ancestors brought it here from Britain.

 

The subject of pest control came up.... and I found that to be much more interesting than lopping off vines. A guy donated $100 for traps, so I sent away for three Doc 200 traps....then I built the bases and cover boxes for them.

 

These traps generally have to be covered to restrict access by non target species. The boxes I made have a gauze at one end, and a small tunnel entrance at the other. The main pests targeted by my traps are rats and stoats. I understand that rats can eat up to % of all the seeds produced in some of our forest areas...plus they are partial to bird flesh and eggs.

 

"DOC" stands for Department of Conservation. Doc staff were involved with the design of these traps. They come in three sizes. The biggest I know of is the Doc 250 which is rated to catch ferrets, although I am fairly danged sure that a ferret would be unlikely to survive an encounter with the Doc 200s that I have.

 

A lot of traps are set in our national parks and other areas. Fenn traps (number six?) were once used a lot, but for some reason these Doc traps are being used more. In some areas the traps are not checked for quite long periods.... so workers may have to clean up and reset a trap which has had an animal in it for some time (this is known colloquially as a 'meltdown'). I understand that the Doc traps are quite good in this regard. It may seem odd to leave traps for such a long time without checking them, but bear in mind there may be hundreds of traps spread out over many miles in a big remote area. These traps are heavy, and it was all I could manage to carry two of them in their big wooden boxes up into my trapping area.

 

These traps are often baited with an egg.... a white-shelled one being preferred. I have currently baited mine with bits of rabbit.

 

Here's a picture of a rat that I caught last night:

 

 

 

Looks like a very conclusive result, does anyone over there use the Kania 2000?

[Coote 5]

I have never heard of a Kania 2000...but it is quite possible that somebody will have at least investigated the possibility of using them. A lot of creative thought has been working on the problem of stoat eradication.

 

Yes, the results certainly are conclusive when an animal touches the trigger pan of these traps. They go off with a heck of a 'clunk'. Here's another rat that they couldn't revive:

 

 

I enjoy getting out and setting/checking the traps. The other night I was out until after dark and managed to snap a quick photo of a morepork owl. We often hear these birds, but seldom see more of them than a dark shape moving noiselessly through the air. They are quite special to me. I have heard their call many times while walking back after a hunt in the evening...or while going to sleep in a rural/wilderness area.

 

[Coote 5]

I generally throw the unwanted bits of any animal I catch into the scrub....and that was the case with these rats. I wonder if owls would eat dead rats? In fact, I wonder what the native owls ate before man introduced mice and rats to this country... hmmmm....

 

I have been surprised to find hawks eating the possum carcases that I have discarded in the bush. They must have terrific powers of observation to spot them under the trees. Somebody suggested that they can smell the carcases, but I am not sure if birds have a sense of smell.

[Guest TapOrSnap]

Are eggs a good bait for rats?

[kiwi 4]

they are in the nz bush, bit like a keg of beer to a dying man in the desert to a rat, they take alot of eggs off native birds and every one killed is a bonus. ya didn't tell them how the morepork got it's name coote.

[Coote 5]

I don't know for sure what the official version is of how the morepork got it's name.

 

I assume it is because one of the main calls these birds make sounds like they are calling "more pork" if you use your imagination a bit.

 

Rats certainly do seem to get caught in traps that are baited with eggs. My main targets are stoats though, and eggs are recommended as a bait for them. I'm told that the eggs should not be treated in any way, and that if you use ordinary poultry eggs it is best that they have white shells.

 

A lot of stoat traps get set in national parks. I was told recently that the trap operators sometimes find that their traps have been interfered with and the eggs have been stolen. Evidently some hikers have learned that these traps contain nice fresh food that can be harvested every couple of hundred metres along the track.