Having not spent any time with colony traps I don’t have personal experience with them. Though they work very well for muskrats in water, we are hearing negatives when used in positive den sets for squirrels. At times I have wondered if I should be using them, sometimes wondering if the single catch double powered door swing panel trap we use was the best way to go. However, with hundreds of contacts we do hear from many using all kinds of traps, including these multiple catch colony traps. I guess some use them successfully in the right places, but over the past months we have been hearing more and more instances of shortcomings with them, including escapes and refusals.
Today I spoke with a trapper at length who was experiencing continuous refusals for squirrels. You probably wonder how he knew this. With trail cams in place, he saw repeated instances where squirrels would not exit a den hole into a colony trap. Also, there was evidence of escapes, something I had heard before from others.
This trapper was using single door traps to replace the colony traps because that is what he had on hand, but ordered 12 of the double door 5x5x24 swing panel traps that reinforced our belief in what we are doing using double door traps with nose cones over den holes in positive sets. I guess we were on the mark all along. When single catch traps are used with powered and or locking doors, there are no escapes. Also, since the trap is more open, squirrels enter them much more readily.
