My Lured Walk-Through Trail Set

[gailkeller]

One of the many things I did this season in New Mexico was to attempt to perfect my lured walk-through trail set,a combination of a blind trail set and a lured walk-through set.As I have said before,I do not believe that lure and bait are essential for catching furbearers,I have caught thousands,both on land and in the water,with neither at any of my set locations.Location is the number one ingredient to any successful set,followed by a well stabilized trap,in my opinion,a blind trail set being the optimum minimum necessary,most times.I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. method of trapping,eliminate anything that is not necessary and just simply make your set with the bare minimum needed to catch your desired furbearer.In pursuit of the perfect set,I feel my lured walk-through trail set comes close to being the most efficient set possible for most land furbearers,it performed very well for me this season in New Mexico.First,I find a suitable location,I like a spot in the trail where it naturally narrows down and forces the animals to funnel through a narrow area that they are used to using on their normal rounds through their home territories.Out West,my favorite spot is where a very large,older log has been cut or has fallen and it blocks down the trail and forces the animal around one end of the log,usually the uprooted end or a spot where the animals have literally walked the log into two separate pieces and there is a worn opening between the two pieces in the trail that they are all using.If,such a perfect situation does not exist,I will do some creative landscaping and make one for them.This may be as simple as putting two small cut logs on each side of a well worn trail at a naturally occurring tight spot,blocking down a high bank wash they are traveling in with logs and debris or using this set-up in combination with a walk-through bait set or a flashy walk-through bobcat set with an attractor and call lure or an electronic screamer or both.I have learned to use two of these sets in certain situations with the screamer and attractors in the middle and force the animals to walk-through my sets to investigate the the sights,smells and sounds or to get to my concealed bait.This set has proven very versatile and can be adapted to many different situations,from a simple trail set to a combination set employing two or three traps at the same set location,all set in the same manner.In its most simple form,I like to use two small logs on a well used trail,with just enough of an opening between them to allow your chosen trap to be firmly set,be it a #1.5 coilspring buried,a #3 longspring exposed set or a #3 sized coilspring buried or exposed,this set will readily accept any trap or any application.Whichever you choose,you must be sure to bed your trap as solidly as possible,I like to power bed my buried traps,since the animal will be stepping back and forth on top of it,as it smells the lure and/or bait that you will be placing on both logs,on both sides of your trap.I like to bed my trap on an angle,with the dog pointing to the outside edge of one log and both levers doing the same.If you were looking at it from above,your dog would be at 4 o'clock,one lever would be at 2 o'clock and the other lever at 8 o'clock,in that manner the animal should be stepping between your jaws consistently.I like to add a small rock,stick,dirt clod or dropping at the three corners of the dog and the two levers,leaving an inviting opening over the loose jaw.The beauty of this set is that it makes it difficult for an animal,fox or coyote,to work it from the side and there is no backside for them to work from.If you get a digger,most of them can be caught by moving the trap from the original bed between the logs to just on the outside of the set,on whichever side the digger prefers to work the set from or you can add another trap on that side and put it on a drag.While talking about drags,that is another plus for this set,you can easily incorporate a drag into your set by letting it be one of the logs on one side of your set.Anchoring is easily done with a rebar stake or earth anchor type stake,I like to use 1/8" GAC extensions 8 foot long and wrap them around a log drag,a convenient tree at the set location and sometimes even looped around or stapled to the old,fallen log at the set,all are secured by a 2 1/2" fence staple.The beauty of luring this set is the fact that in reality it needs none,since it is a blind trail set to begin with,but,I like to lure both sides in an effort to get the animal moving his feet from side to side over my well bedded trap and the combinations of lure,bait,urine,droppings and fresh animal parts is endless.My favorite combination is a pure bobcat set,with bobcat gland lure and urine on one side and bobcat droppings or a bobcat foot on the other side with bobcat urine on them,this combination will catch bobcat,fox or coyote,when no attractors are used.I do use a lot of attractors with a strong call lure,Gusto or skunk tincture,when the weather turns cold in late December,January and February,the attractors will deter the coyotes and some grey fox from working my bobcat sets,but not all.Once again,if a good rain comes through and washes away most of your lure and urine,you will still have a very good blind trail set at a very good location,remember I have taken thousands of furbearers in blind trail sets,no lure or bait.Though there is in truth no guaranteed perfect set,my lured walk-through trail set served me well this season in New Mexico and the advantages to it far out weighed any of the disadvantages,in my opinion and I would be disappointed if it did not serve you as well on your trap lines here in Louisiana.Good luck,maybe one day I will get to do a demo at the LTAHA Convention and I can show you the beauty of this simple set live and in color.

[ToddH]

Gail,

YOU really need to:

1. Get a digital camera and post some pictures to go along with your posts, it would really help convey the message you are tring to get across.

2. Learn to put your writing into paragraphs as it would make it ALOT easier to read for us older fellers. LOL


Good post.

[aixsponsa]

Mar 23, 2013 10:25:36 GMT -5 gailkeller said:

One of the many things I did this season in New Mexico was to attempt to perfect my lured walk-through trail set,a combination of a blind trail set and a lured walk-through set.As I have said before,I do not believe that lure and bait are essential for catching furbearers,I have caught thousands,both on land and in the water,with neither at any of my set locations.Location is the number one ingredient to any successful set,followed by a well stabilized trap,in my opinion,a blind trail set being the optimum minimum necessary,most times.I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. method of trapping,eliminate anything that is not necessary and just simply make your set with the bare minimum needed to catch your desired furbearer.In pursuit of the perfect set,I feel my lured walk-through trail set comes close to being the most efficient set possible for most land furbearers,it performed very well for me this season in New Mexico.First,I find a suitable location,I like a spot in the trail where it naturally narrows down and forces the animals to funnel through a narrow area that they are used to using on their normal rounds through their home territories.Out West,my favorite spot is where a very large,older log has been cut or has fallen and it blocks down the trail and forces the animal around one end of the log,usually the uprooted end or a spot where the animals have literally walked the log into two separate pieces and there is a worn opening between the two pieces in the trail that they are all using.If,such a perfect situation does not exist,I will do some creative landscaping and make one for them.This may be as simple as putting two small cut logs on each side of a well worn trail at a naturally occurring tight spot,blocking down a high bank wash they are traveling in with logs and debris or using this set-up in combination with a walk-through bait set or a flashy walk-through bobcat set with an attractor and call lure or an electronic screamer or both.I have learned to use two of these sets in certain situations with the screamer and attractors in the middle and force the animals to walk-through my sets to investigate the the sights,smells and sounds or to get to my concealed bait.This set has proven very versatile and can be adapted to many different situations,from a simple trail set to a combination set employing two or three traps at the same set location,all set in the same manner.In its most simple form,I like to use two small logs on a well used trail,with just enough of an opening between them to allow your chosen trap to be firmly set,be it a #1.5 coilspring buried,a #3 longspring exposed set or a #3 sized coilspring buried or exposed,this set will readily accept any trap or any application.Whichever you choose,you must be sure to bed your trap as solidly as possible,I like to power bed my buried traps,since the animal will be stepping back and forth on top of it,as it smells the lure and/or bait that you will be placing on both logs,on both sides of your trap.I like to bed my trap on an angle,with the dog pointing to the outside edge of one log and both levers doing the same.If you were looking at it from above,your dog would be at 4 o'clock,one lever would be at 2 o'clock and the other lever at 8 o'clock,in that manner the animal should be stepping between your jaws consistently.I like to add a small rock,stick,dirt clod or dropping at the three corners of the dog and the two levers,leaving an inviting opening over the loose jaw.The beauty of this set is that it makes it difficult for an animal,fox or coyote,to work it from the side and there is no backside for them to work from.If you get a digger,most of them can be caught by moving the trap from the original bed between the logs to just on the outside of the set,on whichever side the digger prefers to work the set from or you can add another trap on that side and put it on a drag.While talking about drags,that is another plus for this set,you can easily incorporate a drag into your set by letting it be one of the logs on one side of your set.Anchoring is easily done with a rebar stake or earth anchor type stake,I like to use 1/8" GAC extensions 8 foot long and wrap them around a log drag,a convenient tree at the set location and sometimes even looped around or stapled to the old,fallen log at the set,all are secured by a 2 1/2" fence staple.The beauty of luring this set is the fact that in reality it needs none,since it is a blind trail set to begin with,but,I like to lure both sides in an effort to get the animal moving his feet from side to side over my well bedded trap and the combinations of lure,bait,urine,droppings and fresh animal parts is endless.My favorite combination is a pure bobcat set,with bobcat gland lure and urine on one side and bobcat droppings or a bobcat foot on the other side with bobcat urine on them,this combination will catch bobcat,fox or coyote,when no attractors are used.I do use a lot of attractors with a strong call lure,Gusto or skunk tincture,when the weather turns cold in late December,January and February,the attractors will deter the coyotes and some grey fox from working my bobcat sets,but not all.Once again,if a good rain comes through and washes away most of your lure and urine,you will still have a very good blind trail set at a very good location,remember I have taken thousands of furbearers in blind trail sets,no lure or bait.Though there is in truth no guaranteed perfect set,my lured walk-through trail set served me well this season in New Mexico and the advantages to it far out weighed any of the disadvantages,in my opinion and I would be disappointed if it did not serve you as well on your trap lines here in Louisiana.Good luck,maybe one day I will get to do a demo at the LTAHA Convention and I can show you the beauty of this simple set live and in color.

This is the first time I’ve looked at it this way, but applying this way of thinking to water sets is what I feel is one of the best beaver sets you’re going to find anywhere.


Locate and setup the best locations for blind sets, add some castor upstream, and you’re going to be catching beaver.