I wax the entire trap,it improves the striking force and the waxed jaws are easy on fur like marten and mink in freezing weather(dont stick and pull guardhair).

Generally speaking, I use #1 if I am just after raccoons. #5 with the wires shaped like ( ) if I am also trying to catch mink.


That’s with 160s and 220s

Have watched Sam Woods Fast Track to Coon youtube (the one that runs over 2 hours) a few times, and he also uses trigger pattern #1 on his 160's, and claims to get nearly all catches right behind the head. Shows several caught that way. Assuming he didn't edit out the ones that were not, seems like a good way of setting them.

My videos continue, but it's slow going. No visits for 3 days.......then last night had 3 different groups come through, all of which are now trained to stick there head in these traps and will. Problem for getting good video being the only one that counts is the first one. Unless you get that, you don't find out much. Out of well over 50 videos of coon with heads in the trap, have yet to get one timed right to catch the trap firing. Again, jaws are wired open, so when trap fires, jaws only move 1/4" or so......so for now, using these guys as a research project.

OK, have now obtained several videos of trap firing....so can document where they would be when trap goes off. In almost every case, coons are much deeper into the trap than I would have expected. Most already have one leg in and sometimes two. Have both adults and kits and response seems to be the same for all. Again, not what I would have expected.

First up is the trigger wires bent backwards towards the bait. The trigger position recommended in the video for trapping coon in boxes using 5 x 5 traps, except this has the clip on the outer jaw. Again, this is a CTM 5 x 5......strong springs, built of same stock as a 160 or 220 and heavy trigger wires (vs. some of the other 5 x 5's.....which except for stronger springs resemble 120's)



This was position of coon the moment the trap fired. In most cases, I have been able to advance the video frame by frame and can catch the dog motion. It happens fast.

Inner jaw might have caught him behind the ear, but with one leg in, I'm thinking the outer jaw would catch him in the chest?

Next up has trigger wires positioned straight down and off to one side. Leaves an open pathway in.......



Left this up two nights. Both coons have a leg in and are reaching.........

Next one has what we had been referring to as trigger wire pattern #1.......same as Sam Woods used on his 160's in the Fast Track video.....



Both of these were this year's kits......half the size of some of the bigger coon that have been visiting. Still remarkable to me they can get that deep before the trap fires.

Trap is tuned well enough. Horizontal wire on top won't lift 3/8" before trap fires......vertical to the side won't move 3/4" before it fires.

Position of all coon is remarkable similar regardless of trigger configuration.




BTW, have all these documented on video, so will be putting together a youtube when I run out of triggers to test.

Next up is a pan trigger. With these guys bringing in a paw, it might fire sooner.

Haven't updated lately, but tests have continued. Tough slogging. Been nights when it looks like as many as 10 coons came to visit, but the only one that matters is the first one that fires the trap. If the game camera misses that one, that day's test is ruined. So got a lot of nothing video.

Anyway, have concluded that these 5 x 5 traps in boxes are not for me. Never found a trigger pattern that would get a neck strike on the small coons......most would have been suitcased.......and yet not get a refusal from a big adult. Once fired, they can all get in, but a big boar is a tight fit. Another observation.......if the trigger pattern is open enough for a big coon to enter......it is open enough for the smaller juveniles of the year to make it all the way in and not fire the trap at all. Either they steal the bait or the trap fires with them fully in, so you would get a strike just behind the front legs and over the hips. Not acceptable to me. So for me, it's 160's or 220's or not at all.

Here is a slightly updated trigger pattern chart.



From my observations, the best timing of the strike came from trigger options 9 and 10. Both require a trap with 4 way trigger....and trap fires as they push the trigger to the side vs. back and in. Trigger pattern 9 got every coon that tried it. Some just way deeper than others.

One of the best may be the plain jane option 10. I've watched juveniles go all the way to the back, clean out the bait and never fire the trap. Yet an adult fires it when you want it almost every time. Came to realize that can also be a size filter. Small coon, cats, grinners, etc. are living on the edge, but probably won't fire the trap. An adult coon will. And as a bonus, no special fiddling required. Just use it as it comes out of the box. Centered or offset slightly. Neighbor down the road caught 10 coons and a possum in buckets this summer. I asked and he used trigger 10.....and centered it. He said every coon he caught was a neck strike and was found dead in the bucket.

Lastly, I'm putting any youtube video on hold for now. They just moved a harmless video of mine to the age restricted section. What offends their sensibilities has offended me.

BTW, one other observation.......if you want to catch every coon that comes along, put a coil spring foot trap beneath the lip of an elevated box. You will probably get every one. If you do go that route, do not use a plastic bucket for your cubby. Next morning I had my coon, but the bucket had been destroyed......must have been shredded into 1000 pieces.

years of experimenting settled me on a single long trigger wire set as far to one side or the other set on hardest notch for 220's in trails(95 % 0f my coon trapping) as it let most all smaller animals pass without settling trap off. Very few trash animals taken.

Very interesting and a ton of work. Thanks for sharing.

This is similar to what I concluded and mentioned 2 or 3 posts up. And one of those "trash" animals might be a young coon.

One of the problems that plagued these tests were the different age groups of the coon that showed up. There were about 3 of them. Adult boars and sows with kits.....year old males and open females......and this year's kits. The latter have been a big problem, as there are two groups of them......a pair and another group I refer to as "the three amigos". When going for video of the trap firing you only get one shot at it per night per trap. All too often, it would be one of the kits. So conclusions based on what happens to them leads to bad advice when it comes to the bigger adults.

So some definite trends would show up. Get the trigger space too open, and the kits could go all the way to the back, steal the bait and leave, and never fire the trap. Get it too choked down and you get refusals from the big adults. Typically, they reach, then move on. Also have watched two instances where a big boar stood outside the box, put his chin straight up in the air.....then straddled triggers with both arms and reached in as far as he could go to get the bait. In both instanced, he fired the trap. Had it been live, bars would have caught him above the elbows......probably breaking both arms, but not killing him. Would not want to find that in the morning.

So two best trigger patterns I found were #2......and #10. If offset to one side, #10 filters out the trash. If centered, #2 and #10 get about everything.......some deeper than others. Really small ones and grinners....probably a deep suitcase.......found dead but not the way I want to get em, if you get my drift.

BTW, as of this week, have begun thinning the herd. Found one of those kits shown in photos just this morning. A 160 in a box......trigger pattern #2, and a perfect neck strike behind the ears. Struggle lasted a few seconds and he was done. The way it is supposed to work.

BTW, this all got started wondering if using body grips on coon would be a viable option, when upper size limit in our state is a 5 x 5. Have concluded no.....at least not for me.

Could be the traps I was using......which in my case was either a Victor, Belisle 120 or CTM. The latter is built heavy enough for coon, but mine only fires as a 2 way trigger, so only trigger pattern I could get to work was #2. I got refusals from big coon. The trigger patterns mentioned in DVD on coon trapping using 5 x 5 traps......let smaller animals and trash in but usually suitcased them eventually.

Don't know when I found these, but there is information out there on Best Management Practices........

This one......from USA:

https://www.fishwildlife.org/applic.../AFWA_Bodygrip_2017_final_compressed.pdf

Gist of it seems to be related to how to avoid collateral damage using body grips.......

And this one from Canada:

https://fur.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/best_trapping_practices-July-2018.pdf

Far more helpful in actual how to. Note recommended trigger pattern for coon is #2......with spread at the tips of 11.7 cm, or 4 1/2 inches.

I also note that in both cases, recommended body grip trap size for coon is 160 or 220. Nobody recommends 5 x 5.

BTW, before I get into any imperial entanglements with my warden, I am using both 160's and 220's, but using them in elevated boxes, inside my barn. As allowed.

I’m using Bridger 160’s , pattern 3 in the type of box required in NY. Have not caught a lot but what I have trapped looks humane to me. Trigger wire bend to the back of the box.
ps we don’t have Iowa coon here!

Thanks for the time to share results, HayDay. Have you tried a study with the circle triggers? If you haven't but would like to I would send you one to try and test.

Neat info. Thanks for posting your findings.

I have not tried circles, or pans.

But I have gone so far as to put in same type of grass blocking used in trail sets, in upper corners even in the buckets. That is with the wide V pattern of #2. Without it, about 1 in 4 would try to go to the side and over......and likely as not, hit trigger with a foot and fire before being in far enough.

With blocking in the upper corners, what they see is basically a triangle shaped tunnel no different than a circle.......can see and smell the bait......and push in.....and trap usually fires at right time to get em right behind the ears. A double bend on the triggers to make a <> diamond would so about the same thing as circles, using stock triggers. But if the opening is too small, I think you get back to refusals from the big boys. When that happens, they almost always reach for a bit, then move on.

That US article on body grips made mention of something I had not thought of when using buckets. When making a trail set using H type stabilizers, sticks, stakes, etc, the trap is fixed in place. When it fires, springs are free to move both directions away from center of trap, so jaws close in same vertical plane trap was set. In buckets or boxes, with traps set in a slot and pushed all the way to the back, which is how 99% of us probably have done it, when trap fires, springs to the back have no where to go, so trap has to be propelled forward several inches out of the box to close. Would slow it down and change strike location deeper on the animal by the same distance. Might even weaken power of the strike as inertia of getting trap to move has to be overcome, plus any friction of springs moving in the slot.

Not sure if that's a theoretical solution in search of a problem, as a lot of coon been caught in buckets with 220's. But something to consider. Suggestion was to make slots deeper to allow for movement fore and aft so trap fires in place, but then the problem is fixing the trap in the slot to keep it from sliding around. I setup a 160 box like that to try. So far, its worked well.

If you set a trap springs tight to the end of the slots,the trap will be ejected 25 feet from the box.Seen it demonstrated many times at trappers meetings.There is a lot of force there.
Marten trappers use deep slots so the trap doesnt move when closing like you pointed out. A trap moving with that force can damage marten fur,probably not coon fur though.

Wasn't there a post or article some time past about having longer over hang on boxes with smaller(<160) size traps ? Seemed to make a difference in that authors opinion

HayDay - I have always ran a tall rebar through the circles on the springs on bucket sets, as stabilizer posts. Started doing this as a kid bc I was afraid my traps would walk away if I didn’t get a clean hit. Now I know that isn’t a problem, but I rarely have anything but a clean neck strike, unless it’s something small. The small animals do get in too far bc I run the #2 trigger set up, but I don’t have a ton of that (a few opossums and one exceptionally small skunk from last year, all raccoons were clean hits).