Has anyone had any success with ladder traps. If so whats the secret?

I just typed out a gurt great response to your question happykeeper, hit the post reply button and lost the lot.
Perhaps my frustration will have dissapated tommorow and i will give it another shot.

I operate a walk in ladder trap virtually all year round!

I take it you have the plans to build one or are operating one?

Success depends upon it being in the right place- I started off with a moveable version with old pen sections and a modified roof section until a good spot was found. Place tends to be shelterd but visible from above near a flight line of food source. Have seen them placed on top of a hill with shelter built around them. I favour the edge inside of a young plantation, or near some windfall clearing. An open field next to a pen can also be good, mopping up the wheat thieves from the feed rides!

I bait with bread, paper bags, crisp packets old milk bottles and general rubbish and leave the door ajar. The corvids get used to mooching the site and get a bit of a feed.

Once in use I shut the door and let the trap do its business.

I then start baiting with rabbits, carcases and even egg shells.

Once the first bird is caught the others follow and I make sure that the freshest bird is left as a decoy.

Of course perches, shelter, food and water are all left and inspections are carried out at least once every 24 hours. I take any catch out and despatch humanely at a distance from the trap in line with current guidelines ( so as not to upset the other birds caught!!)

I then start operating a tunnel trap at the side and snares leading up to the site.

If you fence the site in, surrounding the trap with a fence about 20' out and all around and leave a gap at one corner for a fox you'll catch the odd one there!

If you put a further perimeter fence say 25 yards out and wear/manufacture some nice tracks leading up to your inner fence and snare those then you will also get the traveller fox just testing the residents' route boundary.

If you have any ditches near about put up a rail trap for the stoat.

I once caught 200 rooks in a day in a trap when a wind toppled the youngsters out of the rookery 10 miles away for their first feed foray. I usually get a lot of crows and even the odd jay.

If the ladder is not working too well I have built some bottom entry funnels in to the sides to some effect. generally not requierd though.

Larsens for the magpies- I find the top entry fine but know most now swear by the side entry swipe type. I watch for the cock birds disputing territories and site the trap at the meeting point of territories and bait with eggs in a fake nest in the trap and split egg on the top hatch with plenty of shiney albumen on view. I use a plastic bird on a nearby bush to catch my judas bird if I dont have one to hand.

It's worth buying the NGO trap lables for the traps as Ramblers mistakenly release call birds if they aren't instructed as to the use/purpose of the equipment. The lables are indestructable and cant be torn off either!

Dont forget to follow the Codes of Practice for any trapping.
Keith

Keith, thanks for all that i do have success with waste eggs but with all the public about here there is always food for them. Would you mind if i put your answer on the question and answer page. Happykeeper.

No problem! Post whrer you consider will be of most use- if any!

If you have lots of attractions for the corvids then a decoy is the only answer. I guess.

When there are fledglings about they are very easy to call and shoot. I have greater success with this method of culling than shooting out crow nests.

Any young birds and hen birds come easily to the call. (Lohman Crow Call)

I put out a full body decoy ,lofted or on a cane stuck in a fence line and added to which some black pigeon decoys with the eyes painted yellow. I dont have any fancy floaters or magnets. just observation and field craft!

I also ask beaters on roost shoots for pigeon to stay back 1/2 hour later after pigeons have finished to shoot any crows. They flight later and are always forgotten so I offer another pigeon flight/ or the best places to those who shoot the greatest number of corbies.

Great fun flighting them as well, on a windy day. Important to be well hidden as they are keener eyesighted than even pigeons. Give them more lead than you think and they drop well, but watch any you swore you hit as they can fall 3 fields a way like paper darts stuck beak first in the ground!!

I like the crow family but also see the damage they do in the lambing fields and to egg production in the wildbird population. Rooks are tarnished un fairly as they do good cleaning out leatherjackets but they also spread disease. Jays and Magpies are simply the worst egg thieves and clear out song bird populations. They need control that is all.

Damndest thing! Only today I was handed a sheaf of old, MAFF papers, to Scan for my collection of vermin stuff. One, probably from the sisxties ~ I haven't stopped yet to examine them ~ is instructions regarding the building and set up of the 'Ladder Trap'.

But, much more than that, it states that it was invented by a deputy chief Pest Controller on Hull City Councils crew! And here I am; In Hull! :)

Hi Fenn Man, If the plans are in good order would you be able to scan them to me so i can put them on the vermin page for every one to see. Happykeeper

:( Sorry, mate. I'd got it wrong. As I say, I'd only glanced at this paper ~ now turns out the 'Ladder' I'd seen was a central (side) run of bob holes. This design - the Harrison (of Hull) - is purely for the road hackers. Can't see it being of much use on a shoot.

Do ye a nice set of plans for a mink cage though :ph43r:



Here's the Harrison:

Here are the dimensions that I use for my traps if they are any good to you?

Sorry I cant work out how to insert photos or line drawings!

Roof Funnels-
Trap size 3m2 by 2m high, door in one side.
Funnel in roof:
120cm square framed in wood, tapering down to 60cm round hole at 22cm from the ground. Suspend by strong wire attached to 4 corners of the frame of the cage.

Ground level funnel:
2mX2mX2mX2m cage as above with funnels in three sides and door in fourth.
Funnels- 50cm high taper to 10cm wide by 12cm high at inner end and 60cm long.

Letterbox-

As per ground entry cage.
Roof slopes from 2 sides to a central slot that looks like a ladder.
Important that you use the following dimensions-
Lay your spars on the ground, find the middle point. As the frame I describe is 2m wide that would be 1m!!
From the middle point make a mark exactly 7cm either side.
Attach your rung/dowell at each of these marks with the inside edge of the rung aligned to the mark so that the gap is exactly 14cm wide.
Working outwards mark a point either side of the rungs at 9cms and attach another rung making the gap either side of the 14cms gap exactly 9cms wide.

You will now have a central gap of 14cm and a gap either side of 9cms.

The next gaps you create will be 14cms wide. Continue until the ends of the spars.

Now you have a ladder like construction with uneven steps.

To attach it to the roof netting I apply the net to the cage first then staple the ladder on. Attach the roof section on the other side and staple to the frame, as you can do this single handed. Use some binder twine to pull stretch and hold the pieces and act as your third hand. The triangular remaining roof sides need to be carefully netted in leaving no gaps. Once you have done one its easy. I have thought of working out a 'cutting plan' but as I tend to use materials to hand the dimensions are variable. The important measurements are the gaps and openings all other can be altered. If you find any books that cover the subject there tends to be an arguement on the gap sizes, I can confirm these have worked for me at both ends of the country.

The height at which the ladder hangs above the ground doesn't seem to be so important and I have found that using netting that is lieing around is fine as long as I can get in the trap and not knock my head on the ladder all the time.

I cut some branches for perches and prop some brashing in a corner for shelter from the rain and wind. Add a home made drinker - gravity type upturned 5l container in a tray and a rabbit carcase or two and the welfare of the decoy bird and captures is assured. I check and empty the traps at various times but at least twice a day, record the type and number of corvids trapped. despatch humanely and dispose of the carcases carefully, usually incinerated, if not buried deeply well away from a water course.

The top entry types stop you catching unwanted species namely pheasants, but the
ground entry do pull in the crows and magpies.

I used to anchor the cage with some short posts inside and these were useful static priests, but now you need to remove caught corvids and despatch them out of sight of the other birds as its too traumatic for them.

Trusting this is what you were seeking
Keith

Keith if you have photos or line drawings i can put them up for you, just email them to me at amatex.90 (at) gmail.com

Simon.

Now you are asking me to stretch my IT abilities- I'll ask the son to assist as I have to retrieve the info or scan it and then attach it, or if a photo do something to it!!

Victor Meldrew will cut in shortly!
Keith

Cant seem to get the scanner to work- it keeps saying to reload the software and when I do it still doesnt work!

I've found my original Larsen Trap plans as issued via the Game Conservancy when I was one of the 250 initial applicants for a licence to trap with a live decoy and will try and scan/send those.

I've a photo of the side entry Larsen and hope it is attached...

Preview tells me I cant upload this type of file! Sorry!

I’m not sure but you can probably only attach .jpg and .gif files as .bmp are higher quality and therefore larger in size (mb). If you open the photo in Paint then go to "save as" and then go to the "save as type" bit select jpeg and then save it. If you upload the .jpg file it should work. :blink:

Simon.

Pics

Kieth I put your bit about ladder traps on the main site here
thanks