ladder trap baits

[sambo 0]

Hi guys, Just built the frame work to a ladder trap today and going back to put the mesh on tomorrow. Just trying to work out the best bait to draw them in, and for how long before i put the funnel on?

 

cheers Sam

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

Paunched rabbits work well mate

[Guest The Big Fish]

If your after rooks and jackdaws, white sliced bread and chuck the wrapper in for good measure.

 

Bait for a good few days and watch from a distance and just see how many hits your getting.

Bait up after dark or before dawn so the clever shites dont see you near the trap and when you catch, do the killing when all the others have buggered off, this way you will have 2-3 days of catching.

[OldTrapCollector 377]

Try putting it up over a stock feeder full of feed or pheasant feed bin, whatever the black buggers have been feeding on. I had fair success with putting the trap next to the feeder for a few days so they were used to seeing it and then putting it over the top on the third day.

 

As Big Fish said already - don't let any escape, and don't let any of the free ones see you killing the captives or your catching days will be reduced drastically. Don't leave any dead birds near the trap either

 

OTC

[Guest The Big Fish]

If memory serves me correctly OldTrapCollector, i had more success when trapping away from where they were regularly feeding, and placing the trap on the flightline close to thier roost, but not in sight of the roost.

 

Had much more success shooting them at the regular feeding sites, had some good days on the rooks and jackys.

In fact we hit them so hard that they abandoned thier original roost and nesting site and moved to another farm.

[OldTrapCollector 377]

If memory serves me correctly OldTrapCollector, i had more success when trapping away from where they were regularly feeding, and placing the trap on the flightline close to thier roost, but not in sight of the roost.

 

Perhaps it doesn't matter where you trap them then, so long as it is on their flightline. I just found it worked for me at the feeders or sheep trough.

 

It just seems that something that works with them one day may never work again though, they are such odd things to catch. I have caught loads one day and none the next, or an empty trap for 2 days and then it was bursting at the seams.

 

OTC

[Guest houndblair]

As far as i am aware using anything other than 'Decoys' or a 'live bird' to attract crows/magpies is illigal mY mate who is a keeper told me this and i have been told and read tihs manytimes before! But i am not 100% sure

[Guest The Big Fish]

Yea i know what you mean :thumbs-up:

 

I had my favourite trapping place for them, i suppose i was lucky in as much as i was permanant and on a yearly trapping program.

 

But some days are just special days for the taking of rooks, jackdaws and pidgeons, but i wont discuss the secrets of good pigeon shooting days on an open forum

 

I will take those to the grave with me and i will laugh and laugh at all those that fail misuarably when pursuing such winged things.

[john b 38]

As far as i am aware using anything other than 'Decoys' or a 'live bird' to attract crows/magpies is illigal mY mate who is a keeper told me this and i have been told and read tihs manytimes before! But i am not 100% sure

 

Nah that's bollocks mate.

 

An extract from the Defra website

 

Ladder traps

 

These traps were originally devised by MAFF and although still in use are not as popular as the Larsen. The trap is normally about 12 feet square and about 6 feet high. The roof of the trap is the shape of a flat bottom 'V', the flat part being formed by the ladder. This has rungs approximately nine inches apart, which allow birds, (mainly crows), to enter the trap but prevents them from getting back out. The more that enter the trap, the more effective it becomes. These traps are normally baited with grain, dry bread or sometimes carrion, which is placed on the floor.

[Guest The Big Fish]

John b, i found that when trying to trap jackdaws, you need to modify the the ladder part by adding wire boxes that hung down from the ladder sections, this was to prevent the jackies from flying back out at an angle and getting out.

 

I witnessed this on several occasions and couldn't believe what i was seeing, it was truley amazing, sly old birds.

[john b 38]

Ditch has waxed lyrical on here about the escapology skills of Jackdaws so I can well believe what you describe.

 

 

 

So were these wire boxes open at the bottom ? Effectively creating downwards 'tubes' instead of just holes ?

 

 

 

How deep were they ?

[DUCKWING 302]

REMEMBER LADS ,

 

JACKDAWS FAVOURITE NESTING SITES ARE IN CHIMNEY POTS , IVE REMOVED A GOOD FEW OVER THE YEARS , SOME THAT FAR DOWN YOU WOULDNT THINK THEY COULD GET BACK OUT ...... BUT THEY DO

 

ALL THE BEST

 

DUCKWING

[Guest The Big Fish]

Correct John, they hang down like a vertical tunnel, about a foot and a half seemed to do the trick. It just seemed to prevent them being able to fly up and grabbing the ladder.

 

Last year i had a jackdaw nest in one of the dissused chimneys on the house here, i shot the parents and then climbed onto the roof to dispatch the youngens, when i got up there and looked down the chimney, the youngens were about 6' down

[OldTrapCollector 377]

Correct John, they hang down like a vertical tunnel, about a foot and a half seemed to do the trick. It just seemed to prevent them being able to fly up and grabbing the ladder.

 

I used wire mesh 'curtains' hanging down from each side of the ladder to stop the jacks getting back out. I put a side funnel into one end of the cage trap as well to enable it to work by either or both means. I used it as a pheasant catcher in the Spring too. I never caught a magpie or jay in one, but plenty of jackdaws and rooks, and the odd single carrion occasionally. Magpies would drop into a 'hawk' trap with a single drop door (like those finch traps we were discussing the other day but 3 foot square) or a larsen fine but wouldn't go into a letterbox.

 

OTC