Entanglement is part of your problem but I’ve had broken bones on coon with DPs which had full swiveling, no entanglement, but super beefy springs.

I picked up some refurbished z-traps about 4 years ago. The springs were ridiculously strong. One very large coon and a small one both left a foot in the trap. I always thought our big northern coon needed lots of power. Now I’m not so sure.

Those traps were sold to some people in New York after this happened. The Dukes, Griz and the rest of my z-traps are close to 8 years old and they’re fine.

Entanglement is the problem. They hang up that trap with a chain that is all swivels you will still have problems!

simple, just catch them by both front feet!

Lay your chain out all the way and stake your DPs out in water if you can, but keep the DP on shore. I've found that if you can keep a coon wet he wont struggle nearly as much. If you keep your traps staked as far out in water as you can, they'll mostly stay in the water and get soaked and wont fight so hard.

Loosegoose has a good point. Keep the coon in the water and he’ll be yours. But water isn’t always available. For dry setting I prefer disposable stakes. 24-inches of rebar is my second choice. Snares would be my third but this thread isn’t about snaring.