I agree with Ted 100 %, strong traps mean fast traps = better catch rate when conditions are not ideal. Remember the coyotes like to run when the weather is crappy, be ready to make catches in any weather. It's not the coyotes you catch it's the coyotes you don't miss.
If you can always check your traps early in the morning you should be good. If you can't check until later you should consider offsets.
Imo offsets lock up without bone breakage, braking bones is a huge no no if that animal is in the trap for any length of time. They really fight a trap after daylight because they are in the wide open.

The more they fight the more damage they do to themselves.

Thanks everyone for their input

In some ways I expected the difference in opinion. Like what is the best deer rifle, or the best make/model of pickup.

I looked through the bmp reccomendations and have sought out some advice, looked at catologs, etc. Even the bmp recommendations seem vague.

For someone with limited experience I guess I will just have to try a couple of different things and decide what works for me.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Onyx

IMO regular jaws are not going to break anymore bones than an offset,why would it?Laminated or not is what decides that.

Constant pressure and the pressure building everytime the animal jumps.

Here is question for you , did Glen Sterling make any canine traps that weren't off set?

I must have coons with some big feets because I've never had one yank out of an offset trap.

Constant pressure and the pressure building everytime the animal jumps.

Here is question for you , did Glen Sterling make any canine traps that weren't off set? [/quote]


Have you or anyone else ever measured the pressure difference between OS and reg jaws. People say OS have less, I say the opposite based on phsyics

All I’ve used so far are offsets. My experience is different than everyone else’s. I’m now trying regular jaws to see if I have the same experiences.
My opinion is the offset gives wiggle room. Not enough to lose critters, but enough to cause damage. And that’s everything from possums to coyotes. Not every time, but enough times to really notice.

Canebrake, I have seen coon caught by the front foot get out of a offset trap. Back foot is a different story usually not going anywhere.

There should be no wiggle room.The foot shouldn't move.Now it is impossible to design one gap that will work for every land dwelling furbearer,across the country.A coyote trap should be geared toward coyote. I find the offset gap on,as an example the MB550,ideal for coyotes,red fox and bobcats.That is exactly what I got them for.I get the least damage of any trap I have used,for those animals mentioned.It isn't a coon trap but I hold most- not all.There are much better coon and gray fox traps.

The MB650 does pretty well too.There are many others.You have to gear your offset to your most targeted animals.Don't expect a good coyote trap to work well for coons and skunks,etc.That's just the way it is.Also,an offset with with sharp edges won't work well either.Dress those up a bit.

If you have too much gap most can be reduced by a few file strokes on the jaw gapping lugs.Go slow.With some traps it doesn't take a lot.

^^^^^:good post, spot on imo

As far as pressure on the foot, Glen did a great presentation in Iowa on that subject. Not easy to explain why .

If the offset's jaw lugs meet and I have many pictures where they do,all pressure stops.Otherwise it doesn't.That is why the gap is important to be right for your target animal.It will never work the same for all size animals.

As far as broken bones,it has nothing to do with closed or offset.It also has nothing to do with laminations.Those can reduce cutting and distribute pressure.Nothing to do with broken bones.If you are getting broken bones you are doing something wrong.Lack of good swiveling can be a contributor as can a very heavy trap on a too small an animal,especially those with fragile bones like rabbit or gray fox.

It can also happen with a trap that has too much gap and is very heavy.An example is a coyote in a well laminated MB750 and a 3/8" gap. (Too much gap) for this unintended catch.

A lot of this is common sense guys.Experience is a good teacher.

In about 5 min the foot swells up and then you have added pressure. So in my opinion there isn't any advantage between the offset or the closed jaw trap.

When I trapped live market fox and coyotes the only thing that made a difference was INSIDE LAMINATION.
The other thing you don't understand Is the un seen damage these bigger 4 coiled offset jawed traps inflect. That may not be a issue when fur trapping but for live market animals or your domestic non target critters it's not a good thing.
I have some info from the coyotes study but I'm not going to post It here.
I was told most long line coyote trappers use offset traps because some states mandate them.

The notion that an offset trap provides any more comfort to an animal is pure myth; there is JUST as much steel touching the paw on an offset jaw as there is on a regular jaw trap -- yet I've continually heard offsets described as being more "humane" because "they don't clamp down on a paw as hard." Bull malarkey. People aren't actually looking at what the trap is doing if they believe such nonsense... a paw would have to be LESS than 3/16" thick for that statement to be true.

The ONLY consideration that is even remotely noteworthy of discussion is when people say an offset allows the levers to come up higher for greater holding power; however, if you think logically through this argument for OS traps as well, each lever is only coming up an additional 3/32 of an inch -- hardly enough to really allow for any discernible difference in compression.

It has always been my theory that a quick-witted trap maker was either ingenious in his ability to produce an alternate solution to the PETA-type libtards who wished to limit foothold trapping, or he simply stumbled upon the idea by mistake and was able to pass it off as "more comfortable and humane" trapping method. Either way, I'm glad it's allowed more people to continue trapping and being able to pass on our great heritage to future generations.

So there's really no pros to offsets whatsoever, but the big con to me is allowing a toe-caught animal to escape. Yes, I know there are many pictures of animals being held by a toe in offsets, but there's just as many stories of empty catch circles where a toe-caught critter once was. Why take the chance if you don't have to?

I like offset because they leave less of a blister when I get my fingers caught in them!

Are your fingers less than 3/16" of an inch thick?

Unless you get your finger caught in the corner of the offset....

[quote=Greg / MO]The notion that an offset trap provides any more comfort to an animal is pure myth; there is JUST as much steel touching the paw on an offset jaw as there is on a regular jaw trap -- yet I've continually heard offsets described as being more "humane" because "they don't clamp down on a paw as hard." Bull malarkey. People aren't actually looking at what the trap is doing if they believe such nonsense... a paw would have to be LESS than 3/16" thick for that statement to be true.

The ONLY consideration that is even remotely noteworthy of discussion is when people say an offset allows the levers to come up higher for greater holding power; however, if you think logically through this argument for OS traps as well, each lever is only coming up an additional 3/32 of an inch -- hardly enough to really allow for any discernible difference in compression.

It has always been my theory that a quick-witted trap maker was either ingenious in his ability to produce an alternate solution to the PETA-type libtards who wished to limit foothold trapping, or he simply stumbled upon the idea by mistake and was able to pass it off as "more comfortable
and humane" trapping method. Either way, I'm glad it's allowed more people to continue trapping and being able to pass on our great heritage to future generations.

So there's really no pros to offsets whatsoever, but the big con to me is allowing a toe-caught animal to escape. Yes, I know there are many pictures of animals being held by a toe in offsets, but there's just as many stories of empty catch circles where a toe-caught critter once was. Why take the chance if you don't have to? [/quot]

SPOT ON,!!!,

My bridger dogless #2 off sets had no problem holding a toe caught coyote. The problem I had was the2 toes stayed the coyote didn't. I think the problem was the coyotes pulled harder than the strength of its toes. I'm not saying a toe cought coyote may not escape an off set. I am saying my off set held longer than the coyotes foot. No fault of the trap it got away.

I have had a few coons pull out of them.

You can blame some of the toe caught animals on traps that are center swiveled and a offset In this situation Is even worse. The first initial pull when the critter Is caught Is going to have that foot sliding In the trap. In a closed jaw trap that Is less likely to happen And If the trap Is swiveled from the end of the frame that foot Is going to be pulled Into the tightest part of the trap. In my opinion that will give you less toe caught critters.