Madcowz Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Ok, caught a rat by it's back leg last night, and it managed to crawl back under the chicken coop so all I could see was the leg and the trap. I shot it with the air rifle and despite it being a rat, and it having eaten loads of our chicken eggs, I still felt for it and don't want to cause any futher suffering to other rats. Made me feel quite sad really. Where did I go wrong? I was using a Mk4 Fenn in a tunnel, the trap was buried in the ground and then had a light covering of soil over the top. The tunnel was a little bit higher than the fenn when sprung. I know that the peg and chain needed to be tighter to stop the rats from reaching their hole, that is an easy one to fix. But why did it catch the leg, and not the main body? Are there any obvious things I did wrong? thanks, /Mad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul in North Lincs. Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 When I trap rats I always cover the trap with a half pipe witha gap either side......if you dont...ratty can approach the trap from any angle, and once sprung you may find the trap jumps and move about slightly which could result in ratty not being trapped properly. By covering it, the rat can only pass over the trap at point A or B thus moving straight over it into the kill zone.....just trial and error mate............................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonna Shoot a Wabbit Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 i run a trap line for our local farmer and have up to 8 mk 4 traps working in his yard that are checked every day. all of the traps are in tunnels as you described. 1st thing are you setting the trap on a hair trigger? with just enough of the sear engaged on the pressure plate to hold it but the merest touch will spring the trap? if not this is the first thing you can do. mind your fingers though and handle the trap with the safety on and in both hands when depressing the trigger plate to hair setting so if the trigger plate gives way you are holding the trap and can stop it springing shut and the safety is engaged too, carefully lower the trap into position make any coverings / bait additions and remove safety. i have been gripped across the thumb by a mk4 and do not reccomend it HA HA!! When i first started trapping i too got a few caught by the back leg the only thing i could think of was perhaps the rat was running across the trap and touched the trigger plate with hind foot rather than front foot hence capture by back leg. decided to try sprinkling a few grains of barley on top of trigger plate and ever since regulary catch rats by head only and mostly across the body as intended, rats caught by the back leg are a rarity if ever, cant remember the last one. have yet to see a rat running into tunnel and get caught by the back leg so is only a theory, but the bait addition works very well in giving clean captures in comparison to not using it just remember to restrict entrance and exit size to your tunnel as bait may attract non target species. hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dusk2dawn Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Ok, caught a rat by it's back leg last night, and it managed to crawl back under the chicken coop so all I could see was the leg and the trap. I shot it with the air rifle and despite it being a rat, and it having eaten loads of our chicken eggs, I still felt for it and don't want to cause any futher suffering to other rats. Made me feel quite sad really. Where did I go wrong? I was using a Mk4 Fenn in a tunnel, the trap was buried in the ground and then had a light covering of soil over the top. The tunnel was a little bit higher than the fenn when sprung. I know that the peg and chain needed to be tighter to stop the rats from reaching their hole, that is an easy one to fix. But why did it catch the leg, and not the main body? Are there any obvious things I did wrong? thanks, /Mad When you say the roof of the tunnel is a bit higher than the spring it only needs to just clear it, the immediate reaction of a Rat when spooked is to jump upwards and they can out-jump a trap, so if your roof is as low as it can be there is nowhere for it to go. In case you havn,t already, put some sticks or bricks at each end to restrict the openings Rats can go through very small openings but most other wildlife cannot. D2D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madcowz Posted April 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Thanks for the replies guys. The tunnel is less than an inch higher than the trap when sprung and I do have sticks at either ends. We have too many chooks I don't want to lose. Will make another tunnel up tonight and have two traps on the go. Quite addictive this! /Mad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuck1 Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Hi, Make sure there is enough weight in the tunnel so that it does not "jump" when the trap is sprung. This can help as the trap "scrapes" the rat into the jaws against the top of the tunnel, but if it isn't heavy enough the tunnel will jump too. Stick a couple of bricks on top. Hope this makes sense. Tuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madcowz Posted April 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Ok, I have found where I went wrong. I had the trap the wrong way round. ie the spring was not parallel to the tunnel length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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