A Trapperman member, through homework and footwork, was able to obtain all the Isle Royal wolf research traps with "Mech" jaws.
I was offered a few and accepted without hesitation. Very much appreciated..!!!!!!!!
All are pretty much set up in the same manner, And even came with a letter of provenance.
There is a lot more to this story but I just wanted to show that there are still collectable traps out there to be found.............Dale

Unique teeth\jaws and pan spring. Were the traps used for wolf research? When?

From the info I got with the traps; These traps were used for wolf research on Isle Royal starting in the late 1980s.
The 30 sets of jaws were ordered from the same foundry that cast the Mech jaws earlier.
There is a good write up by Dan VanShaik about Dave Mech in the Trap Collectors Guide 2nd edition...

Those are pretty cool traps Dale, you lucked out. I read where the jaws came from the Kirsh Foundry - did they put any foundry marks on them? I wonder if they were sent back to ATC for final fitting or if they were modified and assembled locally.

I don't think there are foundry marks but I believe the jaws came from the foundry with two large casting lugs on top of each jaw. (like in this pic.) All the Isle Royal jaws had those lugs ground off.
From the info I got with the traps it states that the Isle Royal team replaced the jaws on Newhouse #4 ATC raised pan traps and had to drill the Mech jaws to fit the jawposts.
If the Kirsh foundry is in Wisconsin, that could be correct..

I have looked at many Mech jaws (on & off traps) and have never seen a foundry mark. I found Kirsh Foundry very guarded when discussing these jaws and got most information for my research directly from Dr Mech and his wolf team. The jaws came undrilled & with casting lugs, and were fitted onto traps by the individual project leaders. A Gov't trapper from Texas that I know well helped the Mech team fit jaws from the original casting run onto #4 ATC traps. I have a detailed description of the fitting process from interviews with him. Some had standard pans and some have the P-I-T pan with "safety pin" underpan design.
I have jaw sets and trap photos from various wolf teams in different states that received them for experimentation with capture-recapture projects.

Dale's trap with provenance is a great artifact of unique wolf project history...that is what trap collecting is all about.

Great info guys, keeps trap collecting fun.

I’ve researched Mech Jaws, and talked to Dave Mech about them. I’ve been looking for the version with the 4 nubs in the offset instead of the 6 teeth if anyone has any pictures or one for sale.

I have a trap with Mech Jaws, but NOT with that pan...........

MZ

Can you post a pic?
Here are a few with different pans. I can't confirm they were used by the wolf researchers but all have Mech jaws. It wouldn't surprise me to see mech jaws show up on a stamped pan ATC Newhouse..... Notice the teeth on the second one... I think that may have been done in later years to appease the bunny huggers...

I'll get some pics later......

Mine has a #14 pan on it

Mine has the foundry nubs on the top ground off

Mine has a trap tag that says: "Wolf Ecology Project-University of Montana-MIssoula MT"

MZ

Diggerperson, do you have any information about the study when your trap with the softened teeth was used? IWM, are you familiar with the wolf study from which Zagman's tagged trap originated? The folks there may have added "Mech" jaws to used Newhouse traps. When we see the photos it will be interesting to see if they used OC or ATC traps. Have you seen any "Mech" traps that were made up from OC traps?

Cohunt,

"Nubs" were fashioned from original Mech jaw teeth sometime in the 1990s in response to pressure from animal welfare groups. I have the correspondence with MN wolf team members about nubs in my files. For whatever reason, nub jaws are hard to come by.

I am not familiar with the Montana project described in Zagman's post, but there is a professional Montana wolfer on this site who would know. Although I have not had one before, it would make sense that Mech jaws show up with a #14 pan; as that is the original trap of choice for the MN project (see story in back of Trap Collectors Guide). I have owned/looked at numerous Mech traps with ATC 4 stamped pans (first run).

Since the first casting of Mech jaws was decades after OC trap production changed to ATC in 1925, it would be very unusual to find an OC with Mech jaws. All my research on various projects has shown only ATC traps used. However, anytime experimental jaws are distributed out among project leaders in different agencies, it is "possible" that they installed them on OCs laying around.

A collector stopped by with these awhile back. I don't remember the exact story but the jist of it is they both came from a deceased, retired, gov worker in northern MN.
The long chain on the #14 looked factory to me and I suspect it was special order for wolf research. Both were probably used in the same time period.
So like I said earlier; It wouldn't surprise me to see Mech jaws on an ATC stamped pan trap..

Here's the pics......as promised What I called "nubs" incorrectly are those things on the top of the jaws that have clearly been ground off of my version.

Thanks for posting the pics Zagman. Great trap!!!!!

Wowww great traps! Thank you for the pictures

I was fortunate enough to be offered 2 different Isle Royal wolf traps by the above mentioned T-Man member. I have one of the MECH jaw traps and thought I would add pictures of the other Isle Royal Wolf Trap. The trap pictured is 1 of 6 purchased by MTU professor Rolf Peterson in 1976. The 6 traps were previously used in wolf research in Alaska.

The trap is a stock Newhouse #114 with added chain and rebar drag. Peterson used the traps to capture wolves in a study at the Kenai Peninsula. Later the traps were available for use in wolf studies at Isle Royal but there is no documentation of actual Isle Royal wolf captures.

The 6 traps have the distinct hand stamp "MICH TECH UNIV".

I also received a letter of provenance with this trap which is where most of the above information came from.

Nice traps and nice history of them Trapper Pete,

Always learn something on this page. Thanks guys!
Question for the wolf trappers that have used some of these traps...I noticed that the #114 has the chain attached off the base. And the collectable #44 traps have the same chain attachment...off the base. Wondering why the #14 and the Mech traps aren’t rigged up the same way? BMP data indicates that chains centered more paw friendly....wondered if actual field use on wolves indicated similar findings? Thinking the “nubs” as Zags called them might have a factor in this?
Thanks