Anyone with opinions on chain length and center locating on coon traps.got 2 dozen #1 bridger square jaws and the idea to dress them up lol there going to be used strictly for dry land and theyl be stapled to trees or large wood drags at different points in time

Short chains on all coon type traps. Keep coons away from tree roots and branches or you will not have any coon in your traps when you get there. I only use DPs on coons any more.

With the price on coons now it probably sounds simple to trick out traps just for them but I like to tinker I figured on center locating with #2 straight link and rigging some of them Just for stapling to big log drags and trees never stapled to trees but seen a guy do it with success it'd save on stakes

I just use cable looped on each end. One end through the other around a tree and a quick link to the trap. I’ve never had a coon pull out of a DP or an MB550...yet, lol. I’ve had the cable so wrapped up around stuff that I was tempted to cut the cable rather than unwrap the trap. It saves time to have it cleared out before hand, lol.

Dos center locating help keep the possums from ringing off that's my main reason for thinking on centering the chain I prefer to turn grinners loose and feel a little bad when I find a foot or the chain wrapped up and a mangled leg hanging on by some skin I'm promise I ain't a ninny lol I just don't want more suffering than has to be

There is a lot of use's for opossum hair. They will just keep coming back to your set to get the bait from that set. They are just looking for food and you keep giving them more food. Do you have a lot of opossum's in your area or is it the same one's just keep coming back all the time.

Some spots I hit are plumb full of em others not to bad what uses do you have for them ? What a buyer pays ain't worth killing them or the work putting them up.also often enough when I get them in stock traps the chain ends up wrapping around the trap and looks to be the cause of broke legs would centering the chain eliminate the problem

I would not center swivel for coon with those little traps. IMO, it just causes pullouts.
You might think about the cheap shock springs if you want to mod them.

How many swivels do you have in your trap chains and what type of chain are you using. They use the hair in paint brushes. If you are trapping for the fun of it, you should put them up, if you are trapping to make money, then you are in the wrong business.

It's double loop chain j hook at the corner of the trap typical swivel at the the end of the chain.i definitely ain't quitting my day job for trapping lol unfortunately. I typically don't monkey with them because I'd be lucky to get 4 buck on a good one same reason I turn small coons loose

Is your chain what some of us call figure 8 chain or double loop chain, that comes on the traps when you buy them. That chain is many used on rats. You want to use straight link chain, on leg hold traps. You want 3 swivels in your chains for coon or any animal that does a lot of spinning after they get in a trap, so it does not ball up on you when a animal is in your trap.

Iv been using stock duke 1 1/2s I order square jaw 1s just for coons and the usual suspects for non target catch's I figured on straight link #2 and a swivel mid chain

Swivel on each end of your chain, plus one in the middle of you chain too. All my traps are Duke's, I trap a lot of state land for canines. When I'm after coons I only use Duke's, DPs on them, with caps to keep the rain and mice out of them.

I have caught 10 coons In my coyote sets. I'm using #3 Dukes and #2 dukes with 18" of chain and 3 swivels. I haven't had a chew out yet. So much for big traps and chew outs.

It happens. I think 1.75s are as bad as bigger traps, maybe worse. Still only lose maybe one in 25 or something like that, if you check in the morning.

i'd add chew guards if it was me

The traps I have on the way are #1 square jaws don't think a coon can fit his nose under the jaws to chew my main thing is making it to where grinners don't wrap the chain up and break a leg I noticed when I get them in center located 2s they don't break legs and wrong off

A motivated coon can get its nose in or under just about anything.

Are those traps double jawed? A number 1 double jaw double coil spring trap works very well. If buying number 1 double jaw double coil spring traps today, I would buy the Sleepy Creek brand.

In the past when they were not available, I bought 4 dozen of a different brand specifically because of that design, but they have poor a poor swivel rivet, weak chain, and a pathetic ring. Each one needed quite a bit of trigger tuning. Plus, the steel is poor quality. I bought them because there were no better quality traps of that design that I wanted for a muskrat job for feedbed sets. As heavily modified they work well for incidental raccoon. Very disappointing quality and will not last decades like the traps of old.

Double loop crimped chain contributes to twisting since debris can catch in the middle of the link on the cut ends of the wire. Smooth straight link chain along with a swivel at the trap, in the middle, and the end will minimize twisting and tangles. As also suggested, keep them out of reach of brush, saplings and trees.
Where I trap the trees are valuable so anchoring to or wrapping around a tree would cause negative landowner relations!

Most of the time, excellent quality pull only dog proof traps are easier and quicker than footholds.
But sometimes, a real pocket set is desirable if a mink may be around.

There regular jaw I figured on adding more swivels and #2 straight link chain if there that bad quality I might be in for more adding than I thought lol