Has anybody ever tried these traps on muskrat.I am thinking about getting a couple to play around with and was wondering if anybody else is using them.

Wow! This could prove fascinating, Edward.

Just marking it, so I can follow it

I see that WCS carries a couple sizes of Fen Rat Traps- https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/SSEARCH.html?Search=fen+rat+trap

I saw the Mark 6 in the link above once. Didn't know until now what I was looking at. $44 for a rat trap's pretty steep.

Plus shipping? Nice trap but either way it's going to take a lot of dollar rats to pay off that investment.

At That price? A man could probably do alright buying in and shipping out cases of genuine Springers to you guys!

I have no personal experience of " Muskrats " what so ever. Googled them and got shown a load of coypu(?!) mixed in with what I'd take to be muskies.

Is there any compelling reason why one might want to use a Fenn / Springer Mk VI against muskrats, rather than a decent 'Coni'? Legality? Something specific about musk behaviour? Surely not cost?!

Fascinating thread.

I have used them for rabbit and stoat back in the UK and in Spain. But I would have used a coni instead if it had been legal

One might want to use a fenn do something different. All people don't trap for the almighty dollar. Lots of fun catching fur different ways with different tools. A lot like buying different caliber guns, crossbows,and bows to shoot a deer when one will do or buying different reels,rods and lures for fish when you can catch them better cheaper or easier a different way

If " The Almighty Dollar " strikes you that way, Dale? Let me know. I have a couple of Mk VI's taking up shelf space here. Make me an almighty offer

Actually; Someone ~ I can't remember who now. But, I have an example. Saw it just weeks ago ~ had replicas of the " Fenn Mk VI " made. (Taiwan? Korea? Think it was one or the other?) Released in US.

Annoys me that I can't remember the trade name now, either. Feel like Joe Biden. Sitting here, trying to force my mind to remember what I should know and say. But, no ..... " Kwik Kill "? " China Is Our Friend "? " Kill Kwik "? Can't pin it down.

Practically as much a Trap Collecting question now, as a general one.

Either way; I'd advise extreme caution around the so called " Fenn ", or even " Springer " traps of today. More knock off rubbish out there than Nazi memorabilia.

Haven't used a fenn trap but when I was young used triple J traps for muskrat and they are similar and work on the same principle

I'm asking my buddies across the post if theirs someone who can ship them over at a cheaper price

This is good stuff, Dale.

I've genuinely never heard of a " Triple J ". I don't even think I've simply forgotten them. Clue, please? Were they in the nature of the Fenn Vermin type? (Forgive me. Mr Fenn created So Many traps. I'm a hard core 'Fenn Fan' so have to stay on track )

Since the early fifties? Statute covering the Fenn said that it Had To be set in a certain way. Basically, what was accepted as 'In A Hole / Man Made Tunnel'. We were always told to use Fenn Vermin's in a tunnel, constructed so the jaws had the least wiggle room at the top. Maximum critter in the bite of the upward closing jaws.

Oh! I now realise that Edward is in NJ? You're in NY? Didn't NJ ban 'Steel Traps' some time ago? Wouldn't know about NY.

Guys; All I can really offer, at this juncture, is that the Genuine Springer Mk 6 is a piece of work! Last I knew? It was still being produced by the gentleman who worked, shoulder to shoulder with Mr Alan Fenn. There since the beginning.

Mr Fenn passed. His business I understand, passed. " Mr Springer " took his own tools across the road and became ... " The Springer Trap ".

I've had the personal pleasure of talking to the late Mrs Fenn. A lovely and humble lady.

I've also spoken to 'Mr Springer'. A gentleman.

All this was, of course, decades ago. And I came out of the loop long since.

Alan Fenn spent his life and career heck bent on designing and producing ever better versions of 'The Perfect British Humane Trap'. The " Fenn (Vermin) Trap " ~ Commonly, latterly, known as the " Fenn Mk 4 " ~ was, I believe, the longest running 'modern / non Snap' " Rat Trap " - If I may use these terms? - ever.

It gets complicated, of course. I'm trying to talk here with a mouth full of legislations. Different times. Different countries. And from a decades old perspective.

I dont trap for money.I have trapped every year for the past 43 years since I was four.I seen fenn traps for sale on amazon.I think it was 275.00 for 25 traps and free shipping for mk4s.
I live in NJ a bunnyhugger state.Although footholds are illegal here I can say my catch hasn"t changed since they passed the law.You just get better with the traps you can use.Conibears
have to be submerged when set here so a trap that sets flat when set would be nice to have.Northwoods came out with a quick kill body trap in the 6 inch size for muskrats right after
footholds were made illegal here.I think they were a fenn knockoff.I thought about getting a few of these traps just to play around with but was wondering if the mk4s would be big enough
for muskrats .

Triple J was a walk through trap with a step on pan. There was either 2 or 4 jaws depending on model that were curved rounded bars that grabbed the rat. Don't know how to post pictures but maybe someone can for us

I gotcha

Thanks wolfdog

Thanks, Wolfie!

Northwooods! Thanks, Edward. That's the one! I have an example here, amongst my few American traps. I probably got it to compare with my huge Fenn collection.

Mk IV? Against musks? Aren't musk rats somewhat larger and generally more robust than 'Barn Rats' (Rattus norvegicus)?

Dunno, mate. I'm not here to speak to your own compass. You guys work with what ye given. Generation ago? My peeps thought a whole lot differently than I do, today.

Bottom line, off the cuff? I, personally, would only use a Springer Mk 6 against a Musk Rat. Ye know where ye are with a genuine Springer.

Here's a place I found, through googling. Haven't really read it, let alone digested it. Seems to mention the " Springer " man. I last spoke to him nearly two decades ago. Lovely chap. No idea if he's still going?


Lincture.

The reason the law in the UK stipulated a that a tunnel should be used was/is two fold.

1. The Fenn is designed to jump up when it is sprung. The "Z" shaped kink in the side arms give it a kick upwards so that it enhances the catch rate by squeezing the vermin against the roof of the tunnel so that theb
two jaws catch the vermin in an optimal fashion ie by the head or body rather than the legs. It also means a better success rate against animals with ultra fast reactions.

2. A tunnel prevents collateral damage to non-target species. A man made tunnel can be used or a natural burrow in the case of rabbits. This was mandated because some people were setting traps on to of fence posts and were intended to trap birds of prey. A cruel death for birds as they would be caught by the legs and then fall over to die a slow death upside down.
Hers's the Fernn Mark6 used here for rabbits and mink.