The effect of bait type, tunnel design, and trap position on stoat control operations for conservation management

Abstract The effectiveness of trapping stoats (Mustela erminea) using different bait types, tunnel designs, and trap positions was investigated during and following stoat population irruptions in Eglinton Valley, Fiordland, and Hawdon Valley, near Arthur's Pass, in the summers of 1990/91, 1991/92, and 1992/93. Each summer, different baits were used. Comparisons were made between broken, whole and hard boiled eggs, tinned cat food, possum flesh, dead mice, and synthetic lures based on the anal sac secretions of mustelids. Broken and hard boiled eggs were the most effective and practical lures. Tunnels with partially camouflaged traps were no more effective than those with wooden bases and visible traps, which are faster and easier to check in the field. Single‐entrance tunnels caught about as many stoats as the traditional double‐ended ones. More stoats, especially males, were caught at the edges of a trapping grid than within it.