Advantages

• Corral traps are effective for capturing entire sounders (groups) of hogs.

• Deer are able to escape the open top.

• Can be located in areas with ongoing hog use.

Disadvantages

• Can be expensive and time-consuming to construct.

• Not easily moved and are more permanent than a box trap.

• Pre-baiting can be costly both financially and in time.

Materials

• Lifting head/rooter gate
• 13 T-posts (6-ft)
• 4 utility panels, 16 ft long by 52 inches tall
• Roll of tie wire (bailing wire)
• T-post driver
• Lineman’s pliers or fencing tool
• 4 ft long 2-by-4
• Hook and eye latch (4-inch)

Steps

1. Set the head gate. A lifting/rooter gate is used here; however there are many other types of head gates available.  The head gate can be secured with steel T-posts on each side of the entrance and attached to the gate with doubled bailing wire to provide additional strength.  Make certain the T-posts are set flush and securely against the side of the head gate.
2. Attach a panel to each side of the head gate T-posts with doubled bailing wire.
3. Then, wire the utility panels together with bailing wire, overlapping each panel by one square.
4. After the panels are wired together shape the trap, the number of T-posts needed depends on the number of panels and the shape of the trap.
5. Once the trap is shaped, use T-posts to anchor the trap at 4 ft intervals.  If the trap is set in a wooded area the panels can be wired to trees for extra support.  The number of T-posts may seem excessive, but feral hogs are extremely strong and can escape from poorly built traps.

Figure 1.  Corral trap with lifting rooter gate.  Photo courtesy of Texas AgriLife Extension

Figure 2.  Lifting rooter gate.  Photo courtesy of Texas AgriLife Extension

Figure 3.  Trigger mechanism on lifting rooter gate.  Photo courtesy of Texas AgriLife Extension