I bought a little "catch" dog, a JagdTerrier. He is a 10-week old puppy and will max-out at around 18-20 pounds. They (Yags) are being used to catch big-game and smaller animals all over Europe and now here in the US. Here is a website that discusses these little cross-eyed maniacs.
http://jagineb.proboards.com/index.cgi?Nutria are destroying our marshes by the hundreds of square miles here in Louisiana. They got me wanting to kill them by ripping the shorelines out of the canal that runs just 150 feet out of my back door. Along this canal is some patches of woods that are full of wild hogs, deer, rabbits, squirrels and now stinking coyotes. I mean the coyotes literally stink beyond imagination. Several years ago we killed one swimming across a bayou, put him in the boat and, everyone started gagging! It took a week in the sun before that smell was gone from the boat. Everyone I know has experienced the same thing with every coyote they've killed. I promise no one would kill one of these and hang it over his shoulder!!
The brackish marsh on the other side of the canal runs all of the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Me and "Mungo" are gonna be traveling up and down this pristine canal in an aluminum flatboat doing some "catching". I will let him catch coons, nutria and possums. Along while I'm also gonna be catching some bluegill, bass and, shooting with a bow, alligator gar up to 80-90 pounds. This is a good place to live.
The coons are killing chickens at every home-place along the route. The neighbors have even offered to pay me to keep the numbers down. I'm not taking any money.
I want to catch some coons and nutria to train Mungo and a friend of mine's Patterdale also. Me and my older brother trapped a few muskrats on our duck hunting land, back when we were kids (about 45 years ago). We just put leg traps in their runs and caught enough rats to buy our own guns, ammunition, decoys and pirogue. He pretty much ran the trapping program. He told me what to do and I did it. Wish I remembered more.
The huge wet prairies of 3-corner grass held millions of muskrat back then. Then, the politicians, in the late 50's early 60's decided we needed a ship channel and, the oil companies dug thousands of pipeline canals without dams. Saltwater intrusion killed all of the fresh and brackish plant and animal life!
Katrina used the super-highway ship-channel to funnel a 30-foot tidal surge into our city. I had 4 feet of water in my attic.
Well, the ship-channel is dammed-off in 2 places (75 million dollars) since Katrina destroyed our town. And, we now have several multi-million dollar diversions of Mississippi River-water pouring into the marshes. They are bouncing back like gangbusters.
Please give me an idea of what traps to use and how to set-up for catching both coons and nutria. Once I buy all of the goods I need, I will take my 5 grandsons and let them do some trapping. I guarantee they'll be the only kids around here that will know how! With our near tropical climate, our furs never get as nice as y'alls. But, they can contribute to keeping the banks from falling into the canal and keep all the chicken raising neighbors happy. Next, I'm gonna show em how to snare coyotes and hogs.
Thought since the trapping season was over, y'all might want to do a LITTLE reading LOL!
Ray
