Hey guys, I am new to the ADC game and was looking for some feedback on an idea I had. I acquired some old 10" x 11" Havahart traps and wanted to modify them. I have been super impressed with Comstock traps and trigger system so I wanted to add a conibear style trigger to the trap. Here is what I did. After playing around with standard conibear triggers, I decided to use some arrowhead body grip supports I had. So I drilled holes in the treadle. I cant weld, so I used zip ties (if this works, I can always mount them more permanently). I turned the arrowhead support upside down, spread them out and then zip tied them to the treadle. When I attached it all back together it looks like it might just work. (I came inside to brag to my sons about my great invention and my 8 year old said "Dad, its not even a new invention, Jim Comstock came up with the idea..." so much for positive feedback!).





So my question is, have any of you tried something like this? Do you think it will work? I plan on using it for positive sets where the animal has to pass through the trap. And although they are big, I thought it might work well for "drift fencing" for grubbing skunks.

It looks like it would fire if it is rammed or forced to go through. Probably get refusals on standard sets some of the time.

The beauty of a conibear trigger is that it can be 4 way, back and forth, and it gets easier to push as it is being moved, like a small plant or blade of grass. The trigger can also be shaped to target certain animals. It can be also bite and pull.

Maybe yours might be best as a bite and pull.

The first trap I modified in 2001 was a Tomahawk pan trap, changing it to a wire trigger. One concern with the trap shown might be if you make a catch, how well would the trigger wires hold up and how much work would it take to replace them? Coon, chucks and armadillos are three that can be rough on wires. The trigger you show should work whether the animal is either ahead of center or past center when he hits it, like the pan alone works. Either way the trigger rotates, forward or back, the trigger will fire and drop the door, even if he steps on the close edge of the pan and gets hit in the face with the trigger wires. Young animals might avoid the trigger by going around the edge perhaps.

Anyone who makes new stuff of any kind knows that the first time for anything is usually a starting point, requiring a number of tries, revisions or ends up going in an entirely new direction until it does what you want it to do. I think Edison said that he knew about 10,000 light bulbs that did't work before he found one that did.

Have used four triggers on conibears for years with success. Additionally, when wire trigger cage traps are set upside down with the wires coming up from the bottom the wires are most consistent with blades of grass growing up from the ground. Wire triggers set in this manner, coming from the bottom, make trigger avoidance all but impossible.

Buy an advanced trap. Imo they are the best most versatile wire trigger cage trap. I have the beaver getter trap and it's the heaviest duty cage trap I have seen made.

Jim said what I was going to say in essence so I am glad I saved all the typing.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have since bent the triggers out much wider, giving a larger area for the animal to pass through. Hopefully this will limit the refusals. I did think about what you said about animals wrecking the trigger Jim, and you right, those animals will likely ruin it while in the trap. I have a half dozen of those arrowheads that I used for the trigger and it wouldnt be tough to replace them. Unlike with a conibear trigger or Comstock trigger where the trigger has no tension on it when fired, this will stick up in the way the whole time the animal is in the trap. I will keep you posted if/when I get a chance to try this set up out.

Jim is correct in this statement except how well the trap catches plays into the mix can be more important. I have a trap that is the same size as a standard Comstock coon trap. The wire trigger lasts longer than my other traps because the trap is smaller, but the smaller trap limits the ability of the trap on baited sets or trail sets compared to a larger trap. The trigger is easy to change because of design on both traps because the door locks open when needed.

I tried mounting the trigger protruding from the side on a standard box cage, but this limits the effectiveness of the trap and with new designs how the trap may be set affecting as to how well the trap catches.



The problem again is type of sets that are made. You make land sets with a lock bar trap upside down and the door makes the entry uneven. You say turn on its side. If the trap is now a swing bar, the trap loses ability to catch by the way the door now works and how the trap can be baited and used. If you set the trap in a pipe bending the wires up to prevent smaller animals from being caught doesn,t work as well as in a simple hanging conibear trigger. Now set a swing bar trap under water and a conibear triggered trap underwater. Because the animal is killed quickly the triggers are not effected as much and less bending. With the trap having a swing bar on top and turned upside down under water the trap appears more open. Using a conibear trigger, it takes up less surface area and appears very open. It does not need to be turned upside down to appear very open. I can show examples if needed.

Hey Bob, thanks for your comments. Glad to share what we have learned from on the job experiences of our own and what we have received from others with tens of thousands of trap nights behind them. We found a way to simplify the raccoon sized trap years ago by removing the dog bar that is and has remained part of the beaver trap since the beginning. In making the change to the coon, skunk, chuck, armadillo sized traps, the trigger then came from the side when set "normally" with the doors closing downward. However, for anyone setting the traps with the door closing from the side, the trigger can then be positioned on either top or bottom, best of all worlds, all options on the table, trigger placement top, bottom or side. It's up to the trapper to choose. Before we made a lot of the traps with the trigger on the side we sent a few to Tim Albright in Ohio for his ADC business. His conclusion, worked absolutely great no difference. I know he has used about 80 wire trigger cage traps over the past seven years of kinds, as many as anyone I know of, so if he says its ok, its ok. Tim sometimes uses a medium sized beaver trap, 12x15x36 for raccoons in dumpsters, door on the side and trigger from the bottom. He found that coon do not mess with the trigger lying on the bottom, just walk on it. Coon worked on wires from the side or the top. I still use 7 year old traps in our ADC work that were hand bent in a vice as well as the newest traps made, no difference whatsoever in our experience with hundreds of skunks and woodchucks as well as some raccoons taken. All the traps are used interchangeably, with no preference to either providing the most options.

Just place a stepping stick thru the wire so they step over on to the pan