Hickbuilt Hog Master Traps

INSTRUCTIONS AND HELPFUL TIPS

For Guillotine Style Doors

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Guillotine Trap Fronts weigh approx 75 pounds and are very easy to set up. You can build a round pen style trap with panels or whatever shape you like. I recommend a round style trap because there are no corners for the hogs to bunch up in. I have found that the hogs will get out of the trap when they bunch up in the corners by climbing up on the other hogs and then over and out they go.The round traps seem to keep the hogs moving in a circular motion around the perimeter of the trap and they are less likely to stop and bunch up. Below are some instructions and pictures to assist you in setting up a Pen Style trap.

When I sell a trap front to some one that has never used one of these style trap doors there
are a few KEY instructions that I give them.

** Set the trap in an area that you have active hog sign in and that you know hogs are visiting.

**  Try and place the trap where it might have some natural shade from trees or cover in the area your     wanting to trap in.

Materials for the Pen Style Trap:

** You will need a Trap Front. Whether it's a Hickbuilt Trap Front or one of your own, these instructions will work.

** Some type of steel panels. They can be the "Cattle Panel" type that are 52" high X 16' long or the "Utility Panel" type that are 5' high X 20' long.You can use as many panels as you want. I like to use at least 3 panels with the trap front. If you are wanting to catch even the littlest of pigs you might consider the "Utility Panels" because they have 4" x 4" squares and keep smaller pigs in the trap.

** Line Posts or "T" posts. I suggest a post every 5' and a post at every place you meet and overlap the panels together. I suggest at least 6 1/2' posts so you can drive them into the ground at least 18" and still have 5' of the post above the ground.

** Some type of heavy wire to tie the panels together and to secure the Trap Front to the "T" posts.

 (ZIP Ties work very well to get the panels together until you can get them secure with the wire)

** A post driver to drive the posts into the ground.

Building The Trap: ( This can be done alone but it will be much easier with 2 people )

** Find a suitable spot where you want your Trap Front to be. Make sure it is easily accessable by a trailer if you plan to get the hogs out of your trap alive.

** Drive a "T" post in the ground so you can secure the Trap Front to the post. Place the trap Front on the INSIDE of the "T" post and temporarily secure the Front to the first post.

** Drive the second post into the ground on the other side of the Trap Front on the inside and temporarily secure it.

** Start your first panel on the inside of the Trap Front. Stand the panel up and secure it to the Trap Front.

** Connect the second panel to the other end of the first panel. Be sure to overlap the panels at least 12". You can use ZIP Ties for this until you get all the panels connected.

** Do this until you have connected all the panels you plan on using. Meet up the end of your last panel with the other side of the Trap Front and secure the panel to the Front.

** Since you have the ends secured to the Trap Front you can now make the pen whatever shape you like. Oval or round is recommended.

** Once you have the shape figured out you need to put a post at EVERY place the panels overlap. BE SURE TO PUT THE POSTS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE PANELS.At this point you can secure the panels together with wire and secure them to the posts. See pic below.

** I would suggest you place a post every 4' to 5' apart for the entire trap perimeter.

** Tie the panels to each post with the tie wire. I suggest you tie the panel from the ground up about every 12"  with the first tie being as close to the ground as possible. I usually only tie the panels to the post 4 times so the last tie off is about 4' from the ground. You can tie the panels off more than every 12" but this is what I suggest as the minimum amount of tieing.

** For support I like to put an angled support post on the outside of the Trap Front and at every overlap. These are put in the ground at an angle and secured to the panel/post. This keeps the entire trap from shaking when the bigger hogs charge and ram the paneling.See pic below.

Below is a pic of a 60" Round Style Pen Trap. It has 5' high x 20' long "Utility Panels". It also has a 30 gallon automatic feeder in it. This is what I personally use when I trap nuisance hogs off of people ranches.

Baiting the trap:

** When you set the trap for the first time make sure the door is tied or wired OPEN .

** Bait the trap with what ever you plan on using. I would suggest just plain corn or Horse Sweet     

feed. Some folks use SOURED CORN but that seems to attract the varments like coons,possums and skunks.(JUST MY OPINION) Use about 25 to 50 pounds of corn and pour it all over in  the trap. If there is  a well used hog trail near the trap than make a trail of bait to the trail so they can find the trap easier.

** If your trap is large enough around( At least 60' ) you can put an automatic feeder in it so you can feed the hogs while you are away. This is handy when your trap is far away from your home and you can keep the hogs coming to the trap even when your not there to bait it. You must remember to stake the legs down with rebar or spikes because the hogs will bend or break you feeder legs.

** You can also dig a hole a couple feet across and at least a foot deep and fill it with your bait. This will detour some of the coons and definitely keep the Deer from getting all of the bait. This hole will come into play when you set your trip wire. I always place my trip wire OVER this hole so when the hogs get to the hole they root the trip wire while getting the burried corn and drop the door to the Trap Front.

** Below is a pic of a trip wire placed across the Bait Hole and anchored into the ground to a piece of rebar. You will notice the pieces of wood used to cover the corn that is burried.

** Below is a pic of a Cedar Branch used to hide the trip wire. I only do this when the hogs are not tripping the regular trip wire set up.

** There is a Video towards the bottom of this page that shows the way I usually set up my trip wire on my pen style traps. The pic below is another method you can use to set up the trip wire. I like to drive a "T" post into the ground about 2' from the outer panel on the trap . This "T" post is used to anchor the Trip Wire to. I usually tie mine about 12" off of the ground. You can tie it closer to the ground so smaller pigs will spring the door closed. The higher you tie it off the larger the hog it will take to hit the wire with it's head or shoulders. It's totally up to you at what height you choose.

** Be sure to leave some space between the "T" post and the outer edge of the trap. I like to leave about 2'. This allows the hogs to travel the circular shape of the trap without getting hung up in the trip wire.

** Leave the trap baited and the door tied OPEN for a few days or until you have POSITIVE sign of hogs going in the trap (ie, corn is completely devoured and there is rooting every where) Patience is very important. It might take a couple of weeks .

** After you have good sign and feel that the hogs are going inside the trap every night than it's time to set the door with the trigger mechanism mounted on the top of the trap.

** Once this is done all you have to do is check the trap the next morning. I would strongly suggest    checking your trap the day after you set it.Hogs will not do very well in direct sun and without water
for very long. They will die from stress and dehydration and you don't want that to happen. Not to mention the longer they stay in the trap the other hogs that may visit them from the outside will figure out real fast that your trap is a bad place to be and will become trap smart and the odds of catching them in the future are slim.

** After you have the hogs in the trap you can load them into a trailer and haul them off alive( Highly Recommended ).This is so you can take them to the market to sell them or back to your holding pen to butcher at a later date. The other options are to shoot them , jump in with them and tie their legs together or to just let them free.Shooting them is ok if thats your only option. Many times after I have shot hogs in a trap the other hogs in the area would not go into that trap for a good  while . I have also had them go into the trap with fresh blood on the ground the very next night. This happened on ranches that were very over run with hogs and they were really fighting for food.Setting them free will only help educate the entire herd of hogs and make any trapping in the future a much greater task than you want to deal with.