Thread: Possum Trapping

Sounds to me like you've got it sussed, well done for getting out there and making a decent go of it. When I'm trapping down here in the mainland I can run about 100 - 120 traps comfortably for a week or 2. Nearly all my traps are set in strings of 10, makes it easy to keep a track of them and if I have a long continuous line I put a piece of different coloured flagging tape at each 10th one. I try to set about half of them where I can get to them on a bike or in the truck, like fencelines or 4WD tracks etc. And then I set the other half by walking them in. Then I check all the drive by ones after dinner at night, spotlighting as I go, and resetting them. Next morning I do the walk in ones. Then I do the drive by ones to the end of the lines, wait until an hour after dark and check them again on my way back to the hut. This way I'm catching on half of the traps at least twice a night, and shooting any others in the spotlight as I go. I aim to get better than 30% or 30 possums per day from 100 traps, for 6 or seven nights. Plucking I can average just over $8 per possum, so thats $1600 for the week minus expenses. If I get more than 30% then I'm making pretty good money. The best line I have plucked so far averaged $12.51 per possum, prime winter fur, on big mountain possums.
And I try to spend just a bit more time on each set to make sure its in a good place and is bedded well - after all if you are gonna put in all that effort you might as well make it catch as many as possible.