Anyone use them? Thoughts? Recommendations?

I just a dozen of each in. I tell you what, who ever came up with the Trapline trap, really put a lot of time and thinking into that little trap!

That would be Steve Albano and to tell the truth it's loosely based on the already existing macabee/death clutch gopher trap but much improved.

Disregard..I just found the super long thread!

Ah yes, the mighty mole trappers thread. Please resurrect it for us.

Yes that's true, but it's a lot closer to the DK-1 than to the Macabee. What's interesting is that neither the DK-1 or even the Macabee design(which goes all the way back to the year 1900) were not totally original designs either. Even back then, the name of the game was to recognize what worked and what didn't, and incorporate and improve on existing ideas. Some totally new ideas get added over the year as well, but mostly it's refinement and improvement.

Here's a trap that pre-dates the Macabee trap by about 5 years, and was designed and manufactured and distributed right in the same California Valley where the Macabee was invented a few years later.


Ward's gopher trap patented in 1892.

and here's a Macabee trap patented in 1900



The mechanism is virtually identical. What Mr. Macabee did is refine the trap and figure out a way to make it work better, and to manufacture it out of formed wire, rather than cast brass, which no doubt made it a heck of a lot cheaper and faster to manufacture.

Steve,
Great product. I'm hoping to put them to use soon, adding moles and voles to my list of services. Have you toyed with making one big enough for grey squirrels?

Steve, I did not mean to take away anything from your trap. IMO, when it comes to moles your trap is the best thing since sliced bread.

Not even one of the moles I've caught in Steve's trap had anything nice to say about his traps!
They were all DRT! Dead Right There!

Steves traps have changed our initial set up programs for all our mole projects. O/S are good for shallow raised run mole work but for anything deeper Steves traps get the job done very efficiently. I still dont like the idea you have to dig open each set up to check the traps but until another system comes along that is how it has to be.