Can someone PM me on this?

Some laminate the trap jaws as well as sand or file sharp edges. Trap size as well as to 4 coil or not. Chain length is still a debate. I use J C Connor shock springs on all mine as well. Some also swear by the padded jaws but they have their own draw backs as well. This is another big can of worms with lots of opinions.

Are you trapping for a live market?

buy some mj600 sterlings or mb650c's

Depends on if your trapping rats or Wolves. Something in between?

I detest foot damage. Well swiveled and short chains for me limits it greatly. I use 2's as a rule and no four coils. High levers strong springs. Jaws need to be worked to round off the edges and smooth.

Cable Restraints avoid almost all foot damage.

Even in the 60's the big time wolfers were concerned about foot damage, (animal comfort). These trappers along with the USDA or what would become USDA, researched what worked best for animal comfort. This was well before the trapping BMP's. What was tested was holding on 24 hour to 5 days or more. Trap size, jaw spread, smooth or toothed jaws, spring strength, chain length, etc.

With all these modifications if they did not hold the animal it was excluded. The goal was 100% holding all coyotes caught and with animal comfort.

With most land trap check laws these days being 24 hour. And with toothed traps being illegal in most states, the shorter check time results were wide rounded jaws (no sharp edges). Strong springs with strong lockup to prevent the foot from slipping within the jaws. Multiple swivels, and if staked, inline shock spring. Short chain 18 inches or less.
Best results were with drags when used in brushy areas where the animal would hang up and would be in cover with the brush acting much like a spring by having some give.
Out of the box ready to go these traps are expensive - 250 and up to around 400 per dozen.

You can purchase the cheaper traps and modify or have them modify them to meet these modifications.

If you are running a few dozen non- modified traps, checking more often and early so the animal is not in the trap very long. Modifying the chain with extra swivels and a spring can be done without a welder.

Proper sized traps for what animal you're trapping, multiple swivels, and early trap checks will greatly decrease any foot damage to any caught animal.

2X wide cast O/S jaws are the most forgiving I have found! Often when you get home it's tough to figure what foot it was caught by!

Imo one of the many pluses to the Sterling traps, in regards to foot damage is the off center base swivel point.
Imo once a foot gets locked inn it does not move again.

I'm with you on that.Im using cast,offset mb 550,s,short chains, plenty of swivels,2 coils,early check.Everything I can do.Im even settin 200 yards from the woods out in the field to avoid coons( canine line) and still catching them.Ive never had the problem anywhere else except this one farm.Not getting pad catches,it's grabbing them too high.Mabee guide a different way to center the foot? I hate to waste time guessing.I got so frustrated,I quit trapping it altogether

It's the pan tension on the 550 that is the problem. It's to high for coon in my opinion.
I had the same problem a few seasons back and now I run cage traps with a VERY well blended turd set 10 feet down wind. The noise of a trapped animal will attract predators to the area.
Or try dirtholes with a lot of bait in the hole. You know you will catch a coon or a Grinner first. I blend a blind set 5-10 feet down wind. I call this set the walking dead.
Just how I have found the best way to keep k9 traps catching k9s.

If you put two traps at a set make sure they are on the same stake.

The MB 550 is not a good coon trap.I would much prefer a 4.5" jaw spead for coon.When you have coons and coyotes on the same line,there is no perfect trap for all.A 5.5" jaw spread has too much room for a coon to get under the jaws.

The way I set farms with coons is to incorperate DPs at ALL locations on each end of K9 locations. It only adds to the attraction for the K9s. You can also add 220's on the trails for coon where possible. MB 450's are an option too, sure they are a bit small for yotes but I sure don't loose them and they hold coon fine. All my land traps also have 5 swivel points with a JC Conner rod swivel at the D ring. I also adjust my pan tension on 550's to 2# and they are all 4 coiled with 18 inches of chain and swivels to the anchor point. I loose very few coon with this setup. The MB650 with OL/IL lams holds coon well too, to my suprise too. The longer well swiveled chain is key with holding coon. I beleive it gives them more freedom and stuff to chew on besides their foot. The wide jaw face helps too.. Coon are Coon you gonna loose some, all you can do is try and control the losses. I used to loose 30 percent of paw held coon in land sets , now 5 percent with the above setups. Only took 20 years of trial and error LOL..

IMO time in the trap is the most important. I agree with the short chains as well.

Thanks guys,I appreciate the response.All good points.This is a prime example of how valuable this forum is.A trapper has a problem,there is enough experience on here to most likely get it solved.

Interesting note on “evil” toothed Traps.

When the grand exalted power was trapping Canadian wolves for reintroduction into the lower 48, they found the BEST feet were coming out of traps with..........wait for it.........TEETH!

You won’t hear it talked about much though.

Interesting enough they still do Boone,
A lot agencies use Lpc