Hey guys, hope you all had a great holiday. We've been running a bunch of 160 Bridgers in boxes this year, as the three of us had three fisher tags to fill. Filled mine on dec 12th, before the warmer weather hit here in Wisconsin. Anyway, here's my problem- we've been seeing a lot of snapped, empty traps. I've never seen this so much, but I'm no Jeremiah Johnson either. So I'm wondering- how many of you take a file and tune your conibear traps? Also, we made some new boxes this year, and I'm wondering if they're a little too small maybe? So if you've got the inside dimensions of your boxes and possibly your slots cut into them, it would be helpful. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be as clear as possible. Thanks in advance!

This is for 120's.

Use a pan trigger trap set close to the bait. Recess the pan trigger trap into the box so the trap is about 4-5" in front of bait at the back of the box. In this situation the animal is stable at the bait, not moving thru or jumping over the pan going to the bait. A mink or marten will be standing on the pan with their front feet, or bumping it with their chest, and fisher will bump it with their chin/chest, while working the bait. This results in a quick humane dispatch virtually every time. This is for a 120 trap set for marten, mink or fisher, for a 160 for fisher probably set trap 5-6 inches in front of bait for a neck thorax catch.

When placed in the box the trap dog should point to the box entrance and the pan over the back jaw towards the bait. The pan should angle upwards about 20 degrees or so towards the back of the box over the back trap jaw. If set level the pan may hang up on the box floor and not fire. Also after placing the trap into position, always bend the springs downward and this raises the trigger dog a fraction of an inch above the box base.

Bctomcat would you still use pans if they were set vertically on a tree?

I don't know as I've never thought of tying it as the system I used worked very well for me and I've never had a problem finding a leaning or windthrow tree to put my box on.. If I were to try it I would set the box with opening down and the pan trap up into the box on the tree side so the animal hit the pan clawing its way up to the bait. Unfortunately I won't be trying it as I am unable to trap anymore. Go head yourself and good luck.

Do you guys think it's worth filing the dog to reduce trigger play? I've never done it, but it seems like that could also be an issue. Also, boco, I noticed that the slots on your box are quite thin, about a half inch. The boxes we built, I cut the slots about an inch high. Maybe that also has something to do with it. Thank you guys for the great responses!

Tuning your triggers is always a good idea. The spring slot size will have no influence on trigger movement and firing as long as you have the springs clamped down on the slots holding the trap firmly in place.

Narrow slots hold the trap rock solid until it fires.That is even more important when setting with the opening down with the L shaped trigger.Wide slots allow too much rotation/movement of the trap when contact by animal,especially if he steps on a spring outside the box.

Most reduce trigger travel by tapping a punch into the trigger yoke to open the gap so the yoke engages the dog sooner

the other way is to put yoke in a vise and tap on the 2 straps on top.

some dogs would need filed DEEP to accomplish the same effect

BUT, filing the bevel to clear sooner speeds trap tripping.......like the photos show in the Basic Sets Forum

I sweezed my triggers with vice grips,made a big difference on my 330s.