Trapping With The Kids

[Welsh_red 4,712]

The knowledge on this site astounds me sometimes . So many people been doing so many different forms of hunting/trapping etc for so long i pale into insignificance . Most on here been doing what they do since pre-teens but ive only just started to do it properly these last few years . Ive always had a airgun for rabbits but nothing like the people on here . But over the last year ive really got into trapping , trapping squirells mainly . Ive caught 1 mink last year in my mink raft and have set some fenns in tunnells this year (thank you EDDIE B for helping me massivly and being a soundboard for my ideas and helping me get them set properly) . So far no mink in the tunells so ive set a mink raft near my squirell traps in the hope of catching one soon .

 

Anyway , back to the squirells . I started out with 10 live catch traps and to start with the kids would sporadically come to the traps with me to check . It didnt help that for the first few weeks i caught nothing , but most of the time they didnt mind a wander down the woods where they could run around and play as i checked them . When i started catching squirells after a few adjustments to my methods they started to want to come more . They could wait to get down there to run around the woods checking my traps . Last year i gave them the oportunity to choose 2 places to set the traps . 1 place each and i set traps in that spot and they had a vested interest in going down the traps now . Altho it was a competition to see who got a squirell each day there was no animosity about it (which is a change with them 2)

 

This year both kids have come into their own . My boy is 7 and my little girl is 5 going on 15 (as all little girls seem to be) . I gave them a trap each to carry to the woods as i lumped all the others and when we got down there i told them if they wanted to call a trap their own they had to do everything to set it . I'd tell them what to do if they were unsure but the setting of a trap was all them , My boy picked a spot right under a old 4/4 back that had been left in the woods years ago as a place for pigs . I tried talking him out of it slightly because i didnt think it would be that good . But he was insistent so he put it there . He peanut buttered the plate and covered in a bin bag for shelter and did all the baiting for it .

 

He caught the first squirell and has caught 2 more in it since . My daughter has caught 2 herself . The dead squirells get divvied up between the farm cats/dogs and my ferret so anything the kids catch and want to feed the ferret they have to bring back themselves and put it in his hutch themselves .

 

I couldnt be more proud of my kids , their pains in the arse with their arguing and fighting sometimes and have in the past been banned from the woods by me for 2 weeks for arguing but now that they set their own traps and rebait for me without me hassling them they have come into their own . No arguing or bithcing . Its the personification of teamwork, calling out to eachother from across the wooded area after they have investigated the bait to see if its squirells or rats/mice eating it . Ive explained to them all about the reason for killing grey squirells to try help the red get reestablished and they have a good attitude towards it .

 

Within eyesight you can see prince charles welsh residence and the gamekeeper there is in the process of trying to catch greys to hopefully bring back the red . My son met prince charles with his school and i explained to him that prince charles wants the same thing we do . To hopefully see more reds around and this is the exchange we had

 

Boy : So prince charles wants grey squirells gone to get more reds ?

Me: Yeah

Boy : Why dont you ask him to trap on his land

Me : Well i dont know him , hes got someone else doing it i think

Boy : Dont worry dad , i'll ask him when i see him next . He knows me so i dont think he'll mind

 

As if he's best buddies with him because he met him once lol. Great kid

 

This is the boy with his first catch for the ferret . He doesnt usually look so smug its just the only good picture i got of him with the squirell . The rest hes pulling funny faces

 

 

 

This is my little beauty with her squirell this week . She insisted on carriyng it all the way back to the farm , resisting the urge to run off and play with her brother and proudly showed it to the farmer and when she was asked if it was for the cats she flatly refused and said it was for phil (the ferret)

 

 

 

 

Putting a bit of bait down

 

 

 

 

The end game for the squirell

 

 

 

 

Cheers for reading

[mackem 27,389]

Fantastic post,your children will remember these days for the rest of their lives and smile when they remember trapping with their dad when they were kids

[Welsh_red 4,712]

Fantastic post,your children will remember these days for the rest of their lives and smile when they remember trapping with their dad when they were kids

Hopefully they will forget when I tripped and went arse over tit down a hill

[trappa 518]

Mate lovely post and had a chuckle at your lad talking about his mate charlie. Keep up the good work with the greys, your only doing good. I have shot and trapped a lot of grey in the woods near me to the point of them now being pretty rare and i love reading about others doing the same, especially if theres a chance reds could repopulate. Keep it up

[socks 32,253]

Great post mate ... well done in getting the kids out there ......

[EDDIE B 3,166]

Fantastic writeup! This place should be filled with story's like this. Makes for some good reading and discussion.

[tilimangro 1,013]

Awesome stuff mate

Wish I'd had a dad like you when I was a nipper

Had to teach myself

[Welsh_red 4,712]

Awesome stuff mate

Wish I'd had a dad like you when I was a nipper

Had to teach myself

 

Ive been very lucky that my girfriend got a horse and has it at one of my friends granmothers farm . The grandmother is good as gold as is more than happy for me to do any trapping or shooting anywhere on her farm . Only stipulation is no live traps on the farm yard as she had one before and it caught a rat and her dog ripped the cage/her mouth apart trying to get at the rat

[Jonjon79 13,358]

Fantastic post Red

 

Your kids look well happy out catching squirrels - 1st class mate.

[MR TEA POT 1,287]

Cracking post mate,good on you for getting kids on to it....keep it up ??

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Head keeper I learnt under was as miserable as sin .Good on you for combining family time with pest control .

[PLEDGEY 496]

Them kids is gonna' grow up just fine. We went to the Bath and West Show today. Was stood by one of the Alpaca pens. There were 2 in there, and one had been shaved, looked very peculiar. Both were tame and didn't mind being stroked. 2 small children stood looking at them very intently when the little girl says ''Can I stroke it?'' Woman says''Nonono don't touch them!!, we haven't got any wipes!!'' and then leads the children away. A woman next to us commented how sad this was as how often is a child going to get the chance to feel an Alpaca. Me and the Mrs were scratching pigs, smoothing cows and sheep, playing with a couple of Alsations as well as touching the Alpacas......then went and had burgers and chips without washing our hands. I'm a great believer in not washing hands, builds up the immune system and keeps you strong. That's why I think kids handling squirrels, rabbits, playing in the woods etc is a good thing. Well done you!.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Spot on mate

[darrren 414]

Brilliant mate. Trying to get my nephew out and about with me now he's seven. What adjustments did you have to make to start catching? I may try using the live taps with my nephew, but less brutal than a fenn lol.

[Welsh_red 4,712]

Pretty basic adjustments that are standard I think . Spreading peanut butter on the plate . Making a hole in the bin bag above the plate and dropping peanuts on to it so some sticks to the plate . A nice tump of maize outside the door instead of sprinkling it around the area like I did to start . Someone told me squirells are shit with colours apart from yellow . So a lump of yellow is better seen by them from the trees rather than sprinkled everywhere . Started covering the trap real good with leaves and twigs . Not essential that one tho as I've caught in a trap with no cover under shelter. I've recently started dripping hazelnut oil and walnut oil in the trap at the back . Not sure if it helps but it can't hinder it I'd have thought