Just sold some firewood so time to buy more traps. Because of state regs. on land body grippers must be less than 5 1/2. Is the 5x5 sufficient for coons? Please keep in mind we don’t have those big Iowa coon.

Yes spread the trigger wide apart and outwards away from the trap.

been wonderin this myself,i was worried about reaching.curious what others say.

I think they are sufficient in most situations. In Missouri we have to use those as well. I bought 5x5's from R.B.G. (Round Body Grips). If you go to RBG tab on Minnesota trapline products, they have a 5x5 square conibear trap you can buy.

They may kill them but you'll have to set them where they are already forcing their way through very tight holes. IMO you'll catch way more coons in just a couple cage traps or a few DP's than you'll ever get to squeeze their way into a 5x5 trap. I get a lot of coons avoiding 220's, climbing over and going around.

The higher the body grip is off the ground the less the chance for a reach in catch.

Scott Adams has a video on 5x5 coon trapping

Duke 160's measure 5 3/8 when set

A lotta truth here^^^

You need to get the trap up off the ground by about 5". You need to put the trap where the coons head Is. It's the same with the 160 or for that matter even the 220.
When a coon Is running a trail It's on a mission to get from point A to point B and he has his head up and moving he's not hunting with his nose to the ground.

when you say reach-ins are you asking about cubbies(boxes) I haven't used 5x5s yet but with 160s I have better results with the trigger wires bent inwards toward the back of the box and having the trap 8 or 9 in back from the opening so the critter is committed to enter instead of just reaching in as far as it can as far as trails I agree with ADC as I have seen the same

5x5 conibears will surprise you what will try to push their head through it. Even when it's a trail going to standing corn. I don't use blocking I just look for natural tight spots for them. Only played around with these to have a 48hr check.

Nice catch.

This last season I slayed a bunch of coons with 160s in trails. Best season I ever had, by far, and they were super easy to use. Next season I'm going to have to use 5x5s since that's what's required on public land here. I'm not interested in using them in boxes, I'm going to try them blind in trails, with footholds set in the same trails as a backup, to experiment and see if coons will be willing to stick their heads in them. I'll report next season with my results, but im not optimistic. They look pretty small.