Just curious what some of you think about having shock springs on your coyote traps. If you thinks its a must lets hear your reason why and if not lets hear that also. I have not caught very many coyotes yet but have got a afew with each setup,with shocks and without and have not seen any difference. I have heard that they help to prevent stake pumping but i use bullet stakes and have never seen were one was even close to being pulled by any animal even without a shockspring. I have bent a couple different homemade pullers up preatty bad pulling them so i do not worry about stake pumping to much. I have also heard they help prevent paw and shouder injury but like i said i have got a couple in traps without shocks and have seen no difference. I feel if you have a properly modified trap or one with thick and smooth foot friendly jaws you wont have many problems anyway. So whats YOUR reason for using them? I am not bashing them by anymeans but just want some different views. The only thing i really dislike about them is bedding a trap solid with one under it,usually takes me awhile to make it work right.

Ps; i must add i am talking about modern shocksprings like JC Conners.

Butch, What about the PIT Shock Springs are those included?

Sure danny,they are modern. As long as they aint like them ones that you see on northwoods traps or modern day vic softcatches that get trashed very easily.

I won't own a coyote trap that don't have them on it! I like them to keep from having stakes pumped in soggy ground after days on end of rainfall plus the fact they keep the animal from getting a solid pull on anything.

Ive held too many toe caught coyote's that I wouldn't of held otherwise to make them worth more than the cost to buy them.

Plus, ANYTHING that makes it harder for a coyote to get out of a trap im all for it!

They gotta help Butch. At times you can hear them bottoming out. But it's gotta cushion the sudden jolt down a whole lot compared to if one wasn't being used.

Yes danny i have heard the bottom out squeek before lol. Gets me pumped up! You bring up a good point Jackie,they sure cant hurt anything other than being a pain to bed but maybe i will get use to that lol.

squeek? lol What kinda hardware you using or may I ask what kinda critter you catching. Mine create a hard thump sound when in use.

Yea but they squeak inbetween or mine do after they get a little rust on them.

6-8 foot of heavy chain will accomplish the same result but has the added advantage of giving the coyote some freedom of movement. A short chained yote with a shock spring will fight till the cows come home. A long chained yote feels less confined and often lays down and goes to sleep. My two cents for what its worth.

i have them on all my coyote traps. i use a short chain and it helps on the jerking and holding power. until i added them to all my coyote (softcatch) traps i had a few pullouts, some of those may have been toe caught, but i have very few pullouts now, and a shock spring is one of the reasons.

6-8 foot of heavy chain will accomplish the same result but has the added advantage of giving the coyote some freedom of movement.

Sorry Dave, lol. But I got to call ya out on the carpet on this one, lol.

8 foot of chain means that animal has 16 FEET to take a running go with going across the trap bed full throttle! Any idea how much speed a coyote can get up in that amount of distance? lol.

A HEAVY trap will wear one down just as fast WITHOUT giving him the foot lb's of pressue he can get with 16 FEET of running room! A small 1.5 or 1.75 sized trap and yes they will fight till the cow's come home but a heavy trap will wear them down USUALLY!

jlord was with me when i caught a wet female back in feb in a jake trap by both front feet and she wasn't giving up anytime in this life BUT prego's or females with a litter of pup's fight 100 times harder than just a normal ol coyote.

Ive also noticed with shock springs the coyote wants to pull sideways more so than straight up, i believe it because they can feel some 'give' each time they pull so they think they are getting somewhere doing that, just another plus to having a shock spring.

And YES Danny, they 'squeek' alot of times, sounds like old bedsprings, lol.

Some good views so far but lets hear some more,keep it comeing.

Needed equipment.

Agree with ya on that Joel. On a drag shock springs and half the swivels are rendered useless alot of the time! I saw a coyote caught in a #11 one time on a window weight drag that mr. riverotter2 on here had set out for coon. It was hung up in some honeysuckle vines so each time it lunged that whole mass of vines gave, lol. SUPER shock spring there, lol.

Our government says they are required

So I use them.

Any solidly staked trap must have a chain no longer than 12" and equiped with shock absorber.

They are good for show and tell. Even if they don't help (which I think they do) It is nice so show people that I have gone the extra step.

Nothing can move a super stake here.

my buddy i used #2 montys and #2 Northwoods Double-coiled,here in New york State we have some big yotes. On our traps we used 6 links of chain and two swivels and berkshire stakes 18&22 inches long..... NO PULLOUTS ON YOTES!!!!! Our thought is, short chain no leverage to pull out of traps... when i checked my traps,the yotes seemed very subdued,not much struggling... I think shock springs are not needed for yotes,and just more metal to deal with.. Keep on a short leash and they'll be waiting for you in the morning....just my opinion

6-8 foot of heavy chain will accomplish the same result but has the added advantage of giving the coyote some freedom of movement.

I just wonder how many coyotes died back in the day with an old style 5-6 foot chain. I think back in the day 22K to 31K were on long chains yearly. I wonder why the early Gmen used longer chains do to the smooth short dog knot stakes???? Seems it worked.

I asked the same question a couple years ago and Pete Billings suggested I get some and try them. I did, and then bought more.
The ground here is too rocky most places for cable stakes. The shock springs made a huge improvement in how tight/loose a rebar stake is after a catch.

Extra weight, extra cost, and completely unecessary for my line.

I like em, Most of my land traps are 13/4 traps, I dont set for coyote but if I get ahold of one it holds em and they dont tear my trap up, When using 2 and 3 s for cats I use a green hardwood saplin bout as big as your arm, so thats a spring too.