Customer Reviews

Woodstream 1077 Live Squirrel Trap

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

We are exceeding grateful to this little trap for ridding our balcony of one of the most aggressive black squirrels we've ever seen. This creature dodges SuperSoaker's streams with ease, laughs at Shake Away (probably snorts it for fun); shrugs off AirSoft .20 gram bbs, even at 300fps point-blank range. Nothing stops him from exploring where he wants, digging in the plants he wants, upending the bird feeder he wants, all the while spraying squirrel urine with reckless machismo abandon.

Until, that is, the Woodstream 1077. Ha-HA! He's in a nice park now, 10 miles away. (He'll probably organize the natives in revolt against the rural townsfolk, but, hey, not my problem.)

We also found it necessary but fairly easy to add a rubber band to the pressure plate bar (underneath) to increase sensitivity.

I purchased two squirrel traps about a month ago. The traps arrived in a reasonable amount of time. The reason I bought the traps was because I felt that I had squirrel infestation around my house. At any given time during the day it seemed like I would see three or four squirrels on the deck eating residue from the bird feeder. No surprise there but when they started eating all my green tomatoes, taking a single bite and then leaving them on the ground. One particular sick squirrel like to chew the hose on my gas grill destroying it. I had to replace three times at $25 a pop. Enough is enough so I bought the traps because I didn't want to kill them. Since setting the traps on my deck I have caught 21 squirrels to date. The traps work pretty good for the most part. I did encounter a problem with the traps in that the trip level evidently requires a lot of squirrel weight. I would watch the squirrels go in the trap and eat the bait completely while stepping on the trip lever the whole time without tripping the trap door. This didn't happen all the time but maybe 25% of the time. When I saw this I would open the house door and spook the squirrel and that was enough to trip the lever. I even put some oil on the slide levers to help it move easier but that didn't seem to do any good. Still 21 squirrels later and with my tomatoes intact and starting to turn red I am pleased. It is a pain to drive them to a new location far away but it is worth it. I haven't seen a squirrel in three days on my deck so I know the population is dwindling but I know I will have to keep after them.

I have purchased the Woodstream squirrel transfer-trap to relocate squirrels from a deadly public park to a much safer park. I have relocated four squirrels already. The biggest problems with the cage are the steel sharp-cornered connectors that fasten the handle plate to the mesh. Squirrels cut their mouth on them trying desperately to get out. Also, the handle is off the center of gravity. The linking trigger rod needs manipulation to make the trigging mechanism more sensitive. The carton-box holding the cage should be wider by an inch. It is being damaged when putting back the cage into it. All said, I do recommend that transfer-trap! (Please insert a pillow-case onto the cage after trapping to calm down the squirrel and to not attract attention of moronic snitches).

Don't waste your money on this trap it simply doesn't work. I've only had the trap 4 days and though I've seen many a squirrel enter the trap I've only been successful in capturing 1 of them (but only after extensively modifying the trap). If you'll read the other posts carefully you'll find that they all mention how the trap needs to be modified. Contrary to it's claims this is not an "out of the box" trap. You have to modify it for it to work. Here are the design issues with the trap.

1) The trap is 3 to 4 inches too short. There's not enough separation between the trip plate and the back of the cage. This gives the animal a 2 pronged advantage. A) it can enter the trap lean over the trip plate and take the bait or B) simply walk around the trap and reach though the bars and take the bait. I've observed both behaviors.

2) The trip plate in not at all sensitive and requires modification to alter it's sensitivity. The best way to do this is to add a rubber band to the bottom of the trip plate. I even tied a corn cob to the back of the trap so the squirrel would have to stand on the plate to get the corn. The squirrel not only stood on the plate but it danced ferociously on the trip plate trying to dislodge the corn from the trap and still it wouldn't trip! So, you have to modify it by adding tension to the plate.

3) The trap is not easy to set (as in the "easy set" version of this trap) so unless you want to take rabies shots you'd better wear some thick gloves and practice putting the trap in the "release" position. BTW, once you've caught a squirrel slip a pillow case over the trap this will calm the animal.

4) I finally got the trap to work by attaching a fishing line to the trip release trigger and dangling the bait in the exact center of the trap over the trip plate. In this way when the squirrel grabs the bait or tries to leave with it in it's mouth it pulls the trip release trigger physically closing the trap. This is the only way I could get the trap to work.

The trap caught the squirrels, 3 of them. Minor tweaks to the latch made it really sensitive, making it drop the door sooner.A good trap.

I modified mine with a rubber band to add tension to the plate mechanism. This gave it a hair trigger and it can catch chipmunk now.

This cage-trap is beautiful and well constructed and I am happy that it did work for some people...but not for me.

We are squirrels infested, plants are expensive. I love squirrels but I told myself: "Or I have garden or I have squirrels but I can not have both".
And the squirrels don't live here, they just come to make the damage, now they are living in a beautiful park with hundreds of trees.

The cage-trap caught none. I did my own with a wood frame, thin chicken wire and a stick with a string. I caught 18 already and yesterday I saw 5 more squirrels and at this stage I am thinking that probably there are many more that the 5 that I saw.

I am sorry but the cage-trap didn't work at all.