I'm gonna try to give predator trapping a shot this year, how do you guys make your night latch triggers? I feel like it's more complicated than it sounds, any help would be greatly appreciated!

http://malcolmhess.home.mindspring.com/triggers.htm

Try that link.

i don't nightlatch my predator traps... you want some
tension on them anyway. just take the slop out of the
pan. change the bolts so they dont have the give to
them.

i filed the catch on the pan down so there is a very
shallow notch. pan goes less than 1/4" and its off.
not much reaction time... weather its me that messes
up or the coyote...

Get a hold of Jason Dufresne on here and get one of his Night latch jigs. It is only $5.oo and it is better than any meathod in the trapping Archives. I just did 2 doz traps in 30 min. and the latches are perfect. I asked Jason at the NE trappers convention why he had not done a post on his jig. He told me that he was worried everyone on here would think it was a plug for his mod business. JASON-- If you are looking at this or do later, I ASK WOULD YOU PLEASE DO A POST on your night latch Jig. THERE WOULD BE ALOT OF HAPPY TRAPPERS ON HERE AFTER THEY SEE HOW MUCH TIME YOUR LITTLE TOOL SAVES! THIS IS NOT A PLUG, I WANT OTHERS TO SAVE TIME AND HAVE PERFECT RESULTS(SHARE WITH THE BROTHERHOOD).

crazy is spot on!

Jason does a great job on trap mods. in( Logging Roads,Lanes & Lamination's).

His jig is a time saver and it does a great job!

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...sag&cad=rja

Here ya go guys a simple tool that will save you a ton of time when it comes to night latching!
Wish I had thought of it a few thousand traps faster than I did lol!!


Just a short piece of tubing with a nut welded to it, so I can use a thumb screw to hold down the dog of the trap, allowing me to get a precise depth (read distance to travel before firing) repeatedly.

I grind all the teeth off of a mill file on one side, and use the bottom or edge of the file to file down my notch. This allows me to ride the file against my jig without filing it away at the same time, and makes it last for thousands of traps.

I've found this is the fastest, most easily repeatable way of night latching...doing it to the dog. For those that night latch, you can thank me later...

If you'd like a jig, or a file pm me here or e-mail me on my web site and I'll set ya up!!

Catch 'em all...Jason.

Thanks Jason, I was hopeing that you would show everyone your jig. ANYONE WHO NIGHTLATCHES NEEDS ONE! I have only had mine 1 week and it has saved me alot of time already! The best part is that all my nightlatches are perfect!

Yes ,Thanks for all the great info you bring to this site !

Great tool !

Thanks for that tip. Much easier than vise grips and a file LOL.

That's pretty slick whish Id had one of them years ago

I wish someone would invent one for nit-latchin the pan.

IMO, I PERSONALLY DONT LIKE TO NIGHT LATCH THE PAN, THEY ARE WAY MORE EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE THAN THE DOG.

Personally I'm not too worried about wearing out either one. I got one of these jigs from Jason last year and the bottom line is that it is waaay faster than any other way I have tried, bar none. I did better than a hundred traps this year with it and they are also easier to adjust if you put too much of a notch in it or too little. Thanks Jason!

Thats how I feel about it.

I Prefer to notch the pans. How many years do you think it takes to wear out a pan with a nightlatch? When I do need to replace a pan, it is then that I switch over to a PIT pan setup.

I can put alot of dogs on for the price of a pit pan for my smaller traps. For my dbls, PIT pans all the way!(makes me cringe to put them on a 3n but I will!

couldn't agree more.

I wouldn't call it a night latch. It's a filed and tuned latch. I want to hear the CLICK in the dog.

When you do it the correct way as Jason does ,you will hear the click when setting.

As I stated above ,view ( Logging Roads,Lanes & Lamination's)and see how Jason makes an ordinary trap into an extraordinary trap!
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...sag&cad=rja

Thanks for sharing Jason.