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Shopping Carts Make Good Varmint Trap
Metal shopping carts that have outlived their usefulness in stores can easily be converted to large traps for catching wild pigs, raccoon, skunk, possum and the like.
"I've made two varmint traps from old shopping carts," says Jeff Biskup of Bay City, Texas. "It takes me only about two hours to make a trap and i
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Shopping Carts Make Good Varmint Trap FARM HOME Food 31-1-26 Metal shopping carts that have outlived their usefulness in stores can easily be converted to large traps for catching wild pigs, raccoon, skunk, possum and the like.
"I've made two varmint traps from old shopping carts," says Jeff Biskup of Bay City, Texas. "It takes me only about two hours to make a trap and involves very little welding. I've been using the traps for about a year to catch all kinds of pest animals, especially feral hogs that root up my pasture. I catch the small ones, up to 25 pounds and about 15 inches tall. The cages are very strong."
The idea for the traps came to Biskup while he gazed at two shopping carts on offer at a garage sale. After paying $5 for each, he brought the carts home, removed the wheels, and welded an expanded metal top onto each basket.
"The basket sits up off the ground almost an inch because of the bars on the bottom where the wheels used to be," he says. "The back of the cart has a hinged door below the handle, and by using a pry bar, I inverted that door so, instead of it pushing up inside the basket, it now opens to the outside of the cart."
Biskup moved the child's seat to the floor in the front of the basket, turning it into his tripping mechanism. He added a 24-in. section of 1/4-in. rod (actually a temporary electric fence post), to connect the tripping mechanism to the hinged door at the back. Next, he welded a small piece of steel to the door for extra weight, since gravity causes the tripped door to fall closed. Biskup also mounted two small self-catching gate latches to prevent escapes.
Lastly, he added a "lifting" handle on the top of the basket so the trap could be safely moved with a live animal inside.
"I didn't have to purchase anything except for about $15 worth of metal," Biskup points out. "I bait the traps at night with tuna, sardines or corn, and when the animal steps on the tripping mechanism, it releases the rod which holds the hinged door up. The door comes down behind them and they're caught."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeff Biskup, 6148 FM 2431 W, Bay City, Texas 77414 (jcbiskup@awesomenet.net).
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