Help identifying what's been getting in the trap

[theblakester]

So I went out and set up a trap a couple weeks ago. I camouflaged it in the cedar so the bigger smarter hogs wouldn't know it's a trap. There were two buckets sitting in the back of the trap just behind the trip wire full of soured corn, one much older than the other. (I didn't want to leave the trip wire and buckets how they were bc a hog could stick his head down in the bucket, eat a bunch of corn and leave without ever kicking the trip line... But my dad is stubborn and didn't wanna change it-- for now)
So, 3 nights ago something got in there, knocked over one of the buckets and ate probably over a gallon of the corn from the fresher bucket that he knocked over, but it didn't trip the wire so there was nothing in it and the door was still open.
The next day my dad checked it again, and the other bucket that was almost full was down to about 25% left in it and it wasn't knocked over, BUT.... The door was tripped shut and the cage was empty.
So something got in there two nights in a row, ate a lot of corn each night and tripped the door one of the nights, but still managed to get out.
What do y'all think? I can't think of any other animal that would eat that much corn like that and be able to walk in and out of the cage. Do u think he coulda rooted the door up and back open? Maybe there was another pig coming into the trap at the same time as the other one hit the trip wire and the other pigs body held the door open long enough for them to both escape??
My dad added some fresh soured corn that he put in the ground in the back of the feeder behind the trip wire. His game camera had broken and he just got a new one yesterday so it's watching the trap now rather being on a feeder or roll barrel...

 

[FrankT]

Probably a hog and probably got out rooting the door up. I have no idea the design so cannot tell for sure.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

No tracks??? Wet the ground real good so you can see the tracks if you don't have a camera.

 

[theblakester]

Sorry, my dad lives 5 hours away or I would take and post better pictures of the trap... But I'll try to explain best I can.
The hinges to the trap door are at the front right cage post (right side of pic). There is a section of cage that cuts into the middle of the cage that the spring door will shut onto. Kind of like this bottom picture, except the hinges are on the outside of the cage, not the middle.

The spring at the top of my dad's actual cage holds tension to shut the door. There is a price of plywood that goes across the bottom half of the door. There is a trip line that runs across near the back of the cage, wired through a few pulleys that's attached to a pin. The back of the door has the hole that the pin goes into. When the trip the line eating the corn at the bag of the cage, it pulls that pin out, shutting the door.

 

[FrankT]

If you were in it can you lift the door and get out? if so the hog can too.

 

[theblakester]

I'll try to talk my dad into crawling back in there ......
I'll be back up there in a month.
But in other good news, I am starting to lock in a few spots that are much more local (30 min- 1.5 hr drive at 3 different locations vs 5 hr drive to my dads once a month). Hopefully in the future I can set up these closer locations with rubs/ barrels etc... ( nv and thermals are a great hog hunting bargaining tool to land owners with hog problems... Especially if they also like to hunt and shoot)...also on a side note, when my dad went to town for the game camera he also got 8 gallons of used motor oil that he poured on the rubs. And.. We also have our first pig of the spring on camera in his neighbors feeder (the same one that I posted the video with the N750 digisight) which is only a handful of acres from my first roll barrel. The pics of him were from one night (2/22/14) just a couple days before I went out there and set up that trap, laid all that pipe for water (still not coupled together and flowing) and set up all the barrels and rubs...a few days after I leave town (after the smell goes away and things quiet back down) that trap is missing a bunch of corn.. Btw, it will still be another week from now before they recheck the game cams..
Either way, as soon as I get back out there, I'm gonna try to figure out how to set up that trap better. Maybe it needs a heavier shorter spring. If y'all have any suggestions or questions to help steer me into making that trap work more betterrer....errerer, please let me know... Thanks in advance

 

[Shooter]

Probably some of the smartest animals out there are racoons, and they are strong. You guys should put up a game cam.

Just saw where you do have game cams

Let us know what is there !!

 

[theblakester]

well.... we got coons... damn.. i didnt think they would eat that much of the corn in a single night. oh well.. i guess its time to add a little diesel and see how that goes.. or just start hunting coons on the side

 

[BigRedDog]

how deep is the floor buried?

 

[Guess]

I'm betting coons