What is the difference between the wolf and the beaver 750? Thanks ahead for you info.

The Wolf has heavier springs and a different chain than the Beaver.

The chain on the trap I found is fairly heavy and is swiveled. My guess this would be the wolf trap?

I believe they were the same chain, the key is length. Short chain (12 inch??) on the beaver trap..... the wolf trap has several feet of chain.

Looks like a wolfer according to your article snakecollector. Thanks a lot! Now to get the owner to sell.

I've got a wolfer with long chain and a snow drag.....I assume the drag was a later addition but the seller tried to tell me it was "factory". I didn't care because the trap was shiny steel new.....

MZ

Zags what kind of spring strength is on that 750? Is it say as strong as a Jake trap? Never seen the wolf model just a few worn out beaver models....

I'll have to go play with it and get back to you

I know some guys are still using some of these as wolf traps up here and like them.

I just picked up a 750 beaver. I don't have any experience with the wolf version but I can see that the beaver version is not that strong. I would compare it to setting a MB550 on my knee and easier than say a MB650. Mine also looks new and don't think that it would have lost any strength.

I have had recent communications with Jim Helfrich in which I have asked him to provide as much information as he has or can remember about the differences between the beaver and wolf 750s. Jim verified much of the available information such as spring strength and chain length. He told me that the wolf trap springs have one less wrap than the beaver trap springs which makes them stronger. Since that seems counter intuitive I did question him to be sure that is what he meant and he did so. The wolf traps were sold with long chains AND SOME WERE SOLD WITH DRAGS(which I have never read any where before). The beaver traps were sold with short chains and drowner locks. That is about all Jim can recall(40 years have passed).

I then queried him about a trap I purchased some years ago that came from Dean Wilson's Alaska stuff. This trap has a smaller pan and the pan shank is longer and considerably heavier than those on other 750s beaver and wolf traps I have owned. Jim then recalled that when they first brought out the wolf traps, the caught wolves were breaking the pans and they did indeed produce some 750s with the pan as I described. The trap I owned is currently in the collection of a noted Iowa collector and i have asked his permission to show the pan here.





The photo above is of the 750 with the small pan and long heavy pan shank mentioned in the second paragraph above. The photo below is of the trap with the small pan/long shank and a regular 750.

Here are some of my pictures of the Beaver model for comparison.

Great information, thanks for sharing!
Waz

I include here photo of a 750 wolf with a heavy chain with a large center swivel that is likely a trapper modification. Jim Helfrich told me that they sold the wolf traps with 10 foot chains.

Dad had a 5 gallon bucket full of those drowner locks. I sold them until they were all gone. I don't know where he got them, but they were identical to the one on this trap.

Well, we have photos of several 750 beaver traps with original chains and drowner locks(we can be certain that Paul's trap is original as he had the bucket of drowner locks that Jim Helfrich used on them) and Okies trap appears identical which helps greatly in authentication. And we have photos of several different wolf traps. I have asked Zagman to include a photo of his wolf 750 with long chain and drag and I here invite others who have traps they believe or suspect are wolf traps to post photos of those traps so we can have a more complete history.

I'm wondering if dad supplied Jim with the drowner locks, or if dad got them from Jim.

I can ask Jim but I think the important fact in authentication is that we now know that traps with short chains(looks like 7 links((?)) between the cold shut and the drowner lock) and that drowner are original Helfrich beaver traps and are not modified.

I asked Jim, and he said that dad provided the drowner locks. I didn't realize that until I saw the different 750 with that lock on it. Dad had some 750s with those locks on them, and I thought he had put his drowner lock on those in place of the factory ones.

Anyone mind explaining why a beaver trap has offset jaws ? Just really curious

I think it was done to get the jaws higher up and in practal reasons if you catch a beaver by a toe and web of the back foot it probably makes escape harder.