Two days in a row I have had pullouts in Duke and Montana #3. Both of these traps look the same and I usually don't use them for this reason but I ran out of my MB's so I had to set a few of them. What can I do to help stop this. Four coil or new springs? I also lost two traps because they pulled my wolf fang right out the ground, I have never had this happen before, and it makes me want to go back to rebar.

I use some Duke 1.5 and don't have pullouts .No its not my go to trap . As far as wolf fangs if they are in the ground 15 inches re rod wont help

I have never had a coyote pull out of my duke 3 ,I have been using them only for three or four years do you have enough pan tension so you get good foot catch don't know of anything else ,maybe not stable enough is trap bedded good ,hope you have better luck soon

Could be coincidence. May just be bad luck that you had a couple toe catches that they managed to get out of. I'm like you, my MB550's are my go to, but i also run my Duke #2 squared offset jaws, some 2 some 4 coil. I much rather my MB's, but my Dukes hold just as good, so i don't think that's your problem. What type of set are you running?

is it deer pulling out?

I have never had a pull out on a Montana #3, I use the Specials, offset and 4 coiled. I agree on the pan tension and bedding, might be part of the problem, doesn't sound like a solid catch above the foot. As for the wolf fang, sounds like you need to go deeper, I always pull straight up on the chain to make sure it is set properly and if I can can't pull it out of the ground I know a critter can't. Hope you figure it out, both scenarios bite!

Bear? Deer?

I've had problems with deer stepping in my traps as well. Put a trail cam up, and 9 out of 10 times it was a buck. And almost every time i was using a gland lure. For a while, i thought i had a pull out as well. May be your problem.

sounds like deer setting it off, happens to me a lot if I happen to set an area with high deer traffic

Or is it pan tension, how much are you using?

Some lure may contain a generous amount of Tonquin Musk per volume or using too much lure. If it does, you can run into more deer problems then you want at times. We have a lot of deer in my home state and I hear this happening often with some local trappers.

Toe catches due to light pan tension, rolling on the set etc. can also have fired traps. Sometimes it isn't easy to read the sign as to what happened unless you find long hair in the jaws.

Gland lures and too much urine can cause deer and domestic animal interest ( cows, sheep and horses ) in this material pawing, nosing or licking at the odor. Rabbits can be attracted as well.

I don't like to trap in pasture areas too often due to this reaction.

I would say deer... here's what happened last night to me

11:37 PM Two bucks in the field behind my house, one stepped into a #3 Bridger in a dirt hole set and pulled out

* Notice the squirrel conveniently positioned in my 2nd set- #3 Bridger compass set

11:57 PM... 20 minutes later here are two yotes, with both taps rendered useless


12:00 Midnight- the squirrel is magically transformed into the goat in Jurassic Park

I have caught over a thousand coyotes in Duke 1 3/4 OS traps. I still have about 150 that wear them out. Don;t get proud, think about what you did and analyze why you had loses. It was not because of the trap.

Hmmm. And your sure it's not somebody stealing fur and in some cases trap as well?


Osky

Sounds like deer to me. If it is deer you would see a trap pulled to the chain and no catch circle. I don't think a coyote would pull out easily and you would have a pretty good catch circle before it did. I've had it happen with Duke 1.5's where one jaw came loose but the coyote made a typical catch circle before it broke the trap. Had plenty of times when the trap was pulled to the chain but no circle, until I learned to stop using urine at canine sets where I thought deer might travel.

Sure would be nice if dnr allowed more doe tags, way too many stupid deer here

Just a thought but how is your pan tension? If set too light you could be getting toe catches due to a light pan and then getting power outs?

Most the time a deer snaps it off without hardly moving the trap, if coyote is caught it will usually be there long enough to make a mess