Post by tofan on Feb 14, 2022 15:28:32 GMT -5
For those of you who are highly interested in trapping, but maybe turned off due to the price cost of the traps, I wanted to give you some options that may be beneficial, depending on the situation. I am a long spring guy through and through for footholds, but coil springs have been around long enough that you can get in them cheap. What I did was go through the famous auction site, forums, datastealbook marketplace, and talking to others in the trapping association for any older traps. Many times they might have broken ones that aren't worth it to them to fix because they have moved on from that type of trap, or maybe something different all together. This is a great way to get a nice little bundle of traps for your trap line, big or small that will save some of those hard earned dollars at the end of the day. If you buy broken traps, just be sure to inspect the condition and look for the parts you need before you buy just to make sure they are available. Almost every trap that would be in this category will have parts available, at RP Outdoors, MNT, SterlingFur, or F&T. The other thing to do since this is aimed at beginners, during the trapping season there will be some land owners deer leases that would let you trap with dog proofs they already have by the deer feeders. Sometimes you can also barter a little bit, and ask them if they will buy you say a trap for every 6 raccoons, something to that extent. I want to be crystal clear in that I am NOT talking about doing any animal damage control, that is completely separate and way more experienced folks to talk about that on here than I. This method I explained though is a great way to get more traps from a person that is not willing to pay the ADC folks, but will let you take out some coon from year to year during the legal trapping season.
I prefer the American made traps over any foreign made all day everyday. Other people don't care and want whats cheapest, but I want something that I know will work, can rely on it, and will bring me the highest percentage of working. If you cannot afford the American made or Canadian made traps, than by all means buy what you can afford but YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE MODIFICATIONS. Almost all traps will require some amount of modification once you get the swing of things, but this is like personal preference. Do you want a retention cable on the left side, or the right side? The middle? You will have to figure out what style works best for you and go from there. To repeat something that was mentioned at the trappers education course, swivels are your best friend. Swivels will prevent more injuries, break offs, break-aways, and just other bad things than almost any other modification in my experience. You want no less than 2 swivel points, one at the trap, and the other swivel at place you are anchoring, or attaching the trap. This is the BARE MINIMUM, I highly recommend using 4 as the minimum, because no matter what, you will have an animal break off. This is one of the most frustrating parts because of the potential of things to go wrong, bad public perception, no animal in trap, lots of wasted time, etc.
Lets say that you cannot afford anything but the trap, and maybe some nails. So you are going to always want to use 2 methods for anchoring your trap, and this will likely work no matter where you are located in the state except for deeper water based sets. You will find a beaver stick, a healthy stick, a piece of a log, if you can get old home wire, that will work too. You are going to use whats called a drag or clog, which is basically a weight and/or a shaped object that will get tangled in the brush when the animal tries to run off. Laugh as you may, but I want to just give you a basic formula that has worked for me a lot. For bobcat and coyotes, you are going to want something no less than 10-20lbs, or if you are in the forest, something 6 feet or long that WILL NOT BREAK. You are going to use that nail and attach your trap, make your set, and when the animal gets caught, the drag will get tangled up in small bushes, tree roots, things you wouldn't expect, it will hold. The other option is to use that nail, and nail it into a live healthy tree trunk, if you can find free or cheap fence staples, those will work too. The only thing you want to make sure is that the trap can swivel where you nail it in at. Chain, cable, rope, string, whatever you think you want to use without a swivel will end up failing I can assure you, so please use a swivel so your animal will be there when you go check on it. Again this is just my opinion, some others might have different or even opposing views, this is for the person who is not well off, or who wants to trade/barter. Best of luck.
Matt
I prefer the American made traps over any foreign made all day everyday. Other people don't care and want whats cheapest, but I want something that I know will work, can rely on it, and will bring me the highest percentage of working. If you cannot afford the American made or Canadian made traps, than by all means buy what you can afford but YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE MODIFICATIONS. Almost all traps will require some amount of modification once you get the swing of things, but this is like personal preference. Do you want a retention cable on the left side, or the right side? The middle? You will have to figure out what style works best for you and go from there. To repeat something that was mentioned at the trappers education course, swivels are your best friend. Swivels will prevent more injuries, break offs, break-aways, and just other bad things than almost any other modification in my experience. You want no less than 2 swivel points, one at the trap, and the other swivel at place you are anchoring, or attaching the trap. This is the BARE MINIMUM, I highly recommend using 4 as the minimum, because no matter what, you will have an animal break off. This is one of the most frustrating parts because of the potential of things to go wrong, bad public perception, no animal in trap, lots of wasted time, etc.
Lets say that you cannot afford anything but the trap, and maybe some nails. So you are going to always want to use 2 methods for anchoring your trap, and this will likely work no matter where you are located in the state except for deeper water based sets. You will find a beaver stick, a healthy stick, a piece of a log, if you can get old home wire, that will work too. You are going to use whats called a drag or clog, which is basically a weight and/or a shaped object that will get tangled in the brush when the animal tries to run off. Laugh as you may, but I want to just give you a basic formula that has worked for me a lot. For bobcat and coyotes, you are going to want something no less than 10-20lbs, or if you are in the forest, something 6 feet or long that WILL NOT BREAK. You are going to use that nail and attach your trap, make your set, and when the animal gets caught, the drag will get tangled up in small bushes, tree roots, things you wouldn't expect, it will hold. The other option is to use that nail, and nail it into a live healthy tree trunk, if you can find free or cheap fence staples, those will work too. The only thing you want to make sure is that the trap can swivel where you nail it in at. Chain, cable, rope, string, whatever you think you want to use without a swivel will end up failing I can assure you, so please use a swivel so your animal will be there when you go check on it. Again this is just my opinion, some others might have different or even opposing views, this is for the person who is not well off, or who wants to trade/barter. Best of luck.
Matt