Thread: Stoat trap questions

I have been using an A24 on the farm for the last three years and have just picked up a couple more for $30 each - I also used one for a couple of years on a local Park - never had a stoat - but plenty of rats
I use 15 Victor Pro traps around the farm and main target is stoats and weasels - but never had a stoat. I have found Victors to be lethal on rats and hogs but apparently they don’t always kill a stoat - but without a camera you really don’t know what might be escaping
I also use a DOC250 and a couple of cages - but never had a stoat.

Landcare Research NZ ltd have developed a modification for the Victor Pro trap to create a lightweight alternative to the DOC 150 and DOC 200 traps - the trap has passed standards for humane killing of stoats and will provide a very cost effective way to kill these animals - the kill bar will hit the stoat across the head and the rat across the neck
If you are buying a Victor Pro for around $7 and the modification for around $6 - you have a very cost effective stoat trap that will also kill rats and hogs - I haven’t tried one yet but a mate has got some on the way

Modified Victor Stoat and Rat Trap - fittings only - Pest Control Research Store
PLOS ONE: Modifying the Victor® Easy Set® Rat Trap to Improve the Animal Welfare of Stoats and Ship Rats Trapped in New Zealand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzTrQMfRDps

From my experience trapping rats - the Snap-E trap is by far the best option - a lady I know on Great Barrier is using several thousand of them in a large controlled area. The Snap-E beats the Victor Pro for ease of use - and you will find that T Rex traps are easy to set but they seem prone to snap near the hinges and don’t always kill large rats.

The Timms trap is easy to hair trigger and becomes very effective at killing rats so if you bait it with meat you could get a mustilid or a cat - a mate has just picked up a few cats in Timms traps

There is a heap of trapping information on this forum under http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...control-22269/

There are plenty of things you can do to make an A24 work better - I mix my own lures that are more fluid so they keep on dribbling down the barrel - GN suggest you visit them each month and give the lure bottle a squeeze - they seem to go crusty and the smell is reduced - you can get awful smelling stoat lures from Connovation - see link below. I often mount my A24 on a ramp at about 45 degrees - easy walk-up access and you can see any blood stains on the ramp - rats tend to drag their mates off for a feed
NZ Pest Management and Monitoring Products| Connovation Ltd

Good luck Shootm - would be great if you can let us know how you get on - depressing thing for me is all the work that I have done and gear that I have out there continually set for every predator on four legs - a bloody stoat ran across the drive in front of me on Sunday

Another local contact for you Shootm is - Daniel Ritchie Contracting - looks like they do all the work for the Council up the back - they get stoats and ferrets
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/...%20contracting