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Badgers

kelcher

kelcher

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience trapping badgers? We saw a badger one evening turkey hunting and would like to get him this fall. Pretty neat critters, but I don't know much about them. Anybody have any suggestions?
 
Snares or dirt hole sets is how I caught them. Make sure your stake is plenty long because they will dig like mad to get away.
 
Find the hole he is living in and make a simple dirt hole. I agreee with the staking properly. You can but a trap stake known as pull-proof stake from the snare shop in carroll, IA. I have used them and they are unbelievable. I have been out of the game for a few yrs. but if you need any help or tips for any animal. PM me and I will give you all my tips.
 
also for bait or lure go thru minnesota trapline products they have some very good stuff I have used.
 
Snares are probably the best way to catch them. I have also caught them in dirt holes, etc. It usually looks like a bomb went off when you get there to check the trap. I have seen them move so much dirt that I had to shovel for half an hour to keep from having a mad landowner. Not much fur value but they really are a neat animal.

One bit of trivia, badgers were actually not very common in Iowa unti the CRP program came about in 1985 and they have steadily increased their numbers since then.
 
I was chased by a Badger once, and I ran like I had a Grizzley on my tail! By the sounds that thing was making when it was running after me you would have swore it was a Grizz! I can't recall ever running so fast from something in my life.
 
I was asked by a landowner to shoot one this fall if I got the chance as it was making some holes in his hayfield. I had a chance one evening while on way to stand, I stumbled on it digging a new hole, could have whacked it with my bow but chose not to. I couldn't do it, too neat of an animal for me. I told him, he said the same thing, that's why he'd asked me to do it if I could.
 
To be honest this was the first that I have seen in Iowa. I think they are pretty cool animals so I thought I should add one to my collection if possible. Plan to keep the skull and hide for myself. Besides, he is doing some pretty good damage to the property.
 
ill say one thing, stay away from the den if there are little ones , their outright mean! many yrs back, there was a den west of where i grew up, so i thought i would grab a picture of all of them sticking there heads out-- bad idea---i shut my motorcycle off, snuck in for the pic, and they were all over me like opera on a canned ham!wasnt enough time to start my bike & it was every thing i could do to outrun them. ill leave the trapping to you guys, i almost seen what those claws could do , no thanks, next pic ill ever take of them if the opportunity arises will be from an army tank!
 
My mom reminded me and my younger sister of an occurance one spring day when I was younger, that we were being a little ohnery and she locked us outside to play, and stay out of her hair while she was doing housework.(Funny she would probably get locked up for something like that now) Any way behind the house we had a cement pad between one room of the house and the outside cellar stair entrance. I remember an animal being back there and me and my sis cornering it there, yelling at it and throwing rocks at it. I then went to the scrren door and told mom that I needed my brothers BB gun to kill this thing. She came out to see what we were talking about and then rushed us in the house. I was about 5 and my sis 3. Mom swears it was a badger to this day. I cannot say, as I vaugly remember it, but all in all I think me and my sis were lucky not to get tore up.
 
Snares work great and keep collateral damage to a minimum. I always shortened the chains on my leg hold traps for badger sets to keep them from digging a six foot mote. I know it's no fun taking one out of a leg hold trap and getting it into a live trap, dumb idea, long story. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skully</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> . I know it's no fun taking one out of a leg hold trap and getting it into a live trap, dumb idea, long story. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif </div></div>

Do tell...
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: muddy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skully</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> . I know it's no fun taking one out of a leg hold trap and getting it into a live trap, dumb idea, long story. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif </div></div>

Do tell... </div></div>

Yes, that sounds very interesting....

Badger stories...fun times...nothing like a snare cable down a 3 foot hole and a pissed off (to put it nicely) badger flying out of it when you poke him with a stake and he knocks you on your arse just out of snare length and your roommate comes up and shoots it with a 22 pistol before it ripps your leg off. A change of pants was nearly required after that. That happened to a guy I know... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
Back in high school checking taps with a buddy he caught a badger and we did not have the .22 with us that day to kill it, so my buddy Jimmy clobbered it with a stout stick a few times until it quit kicking. He put it in a gunny sack and threw it over his shouler.

'Bout halfway home the thing camne to, and by the time we got our wits about us it had torn the back of Jimmy's coat and shirt to shreds and his back looked like he might have to get stitches.

Ornery critters. One time I was driving down a gravel road by Crystal Lake and there was a big male badger walking across the road. When I got close, rather than run into the ditch, it turned towards me, hunched up and bared its fangs at me. I did what any self-respecting trapper would do... punched the gas and took him out. Had it mounted into a nice rug and put it on my office wall.
 
A lot of good stories here guys. Hopefully we will not end up with any stories about stitches on our end.
 
This past winter during Late Muzzy season Russ and I were setup on the ground on a picked corn field edge. About 70 yards away there was a massive hole dug into the field, didn't think much about setting up by it. Well an hour before dark here comes this badger walking right at us and gets to about 10ft! I did everything but yell at Russ, told him to be ready for a shot next time. Well a little bit later it comes back to about 10'away and Russ has the hammer cocked, it stared at us and walked away thankfully..some tense moments for sure
 
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