Your far more than a man than I if you say they are easier. At 45 I COULD set them by hand. By 50 I could not. Wonderful trap and I made a Jiffy type setter. Even with my petite 250 lbs standing on them, I have to use a setters.

IMO all the beaver sized traps work well, starting with the Bridger #3 coils on up to the 4 1/2 Sleepy. I am a double long fan cause it gives me warms fuzzies to imitate mountain men to some degree. Economically the Bridger #5 dbl long is a great trap and quicker to pay for itself. But the best buy, to my belief, are the Bridger #5 coils. Just make the pan tensions in the 4lb area and they will do everything you would ask of a beaver trap, and check the tension regularily between catches.

Well probably for spring beaver season. Any more info on it?

It would of been if you had done the convincing you needed too on the teeth.

You can pm bill Duke. He will let you know on them and their expected availability.

I have chatted with Bill as I sell Duke traps and have a lot of folks here chomping to get some 850's for wolves. I do not believe either model will be ready for spring season per any conversations i have had with him. I would think more along the lines of next fall for the wolf models and the beaver shortly after that.

Heard from Bill and he said that they are months away before they are out.

In that case you should buy something to use that has a good resale value in case the Dukes are awesome. Lots of people like the TS85, you may want to give them a shot. If you don't like them or want to upgrade later on you'll get almost all your money back on resale. Like everything else nothing is going to get cheaper.

$155.95/6 at Funke's. They will have them shipped SpeeDee to you, super fast, likely in 24 hours or less. https://www.funketraptags.com/product-page/ts-85

I concur with this...^^^^^

I've heard nothing but good about them.

CDR is the best I've used hands down. Yes they are a pain to set but its worth it.

CDR, but my reason has not to do with holding power or setting difficulty, or any of that. What I LOVE about the CDR is that I can flip that pan up, drop it to the bottom, slide my boot under the pan and step it right into the mud for a good solid bed. Click the pan down and walk away. Also, my beaver rake will slide under the pan and hold the trap so I can just lower it under and push it into softer mud without wetting my boots.
I have every beaver coil currently on the market, unless there is one I’m missing - TS-85, MB-750, Montana #5, Bridger # 5, NO BS Beaver Extreme, and CDR (Now called WCS 7.5 I think). They all catch beaver just fine, it’s the pan system and bedding ease under water that sets CDR’s apart.

I’ve been really happy with my MB750’s. I caught a couple fifty plus pound beavers this fall by their toes and it held them just fine. I think I need to increase my pan tension to avoid that. I like how there isn’t a loose jaw and they bed real nice. Good luck.

I'd consider snares since you are in Iowa where the snare laws are terrific for beaver snaring. The snare marks make zero difference in the beavers value for the hatter market where they go these days, so there is no real down side, plus they are very effective.

TS 85s, you won’t be disappointed, back foot, front foot, all they do is catch IMO, easy to set every time.

Same.