I just set out my first traps for the year. Bridger #3 double springs. I have had two animals pull out of three catches. I caught a very nice bobcat but it did not have a a good deep catch. The next day that set with a different trap was pulled out with no animal, hair or blood. The trap had a drag and was pulled 5-6 feet before losing the animal. Today I lost another animal in a trap I put out yesterday. This trap had a little blood and fur. I have only put out 4 sets and lost 2 of the three animals. All sets have been dirt hole sets. First two on a drag. Last one earth anchor. My traps are only a couple years old and were waxed last week. I did fail to file off the wax on the dogless night latch with the bobcat but made the correction on all other traps that were set. I am looking for some feedback and wonder if You can over wax a trap and make it slick and susceptible to a pull out. This is my second year trapping and last year I never lost an animal but am struggling this year. I appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

Could be deer

I’d look at increasing your pan tension, I like a firm pan but short travel to fire. I shy away from hair triggers also look at how much dirt are you covering the pan cover with so look into that.

Here is your answer to your problem^^^^

Thank you. I will check the tension and adjust accordingly. Thanks.

Thanks again! One other change I made this year was using wax dirt. Last year was very cold and I wonder if my traps were in some way a little slower to react because of freezing temps. This year it has been warm but I am still using the wax dirt. Could last years cold weather have masked the light pan tension? Thanks again. Everyone’s input is greatly appreciated.

Sometimes you over think things a bit. If you have good pan tension, and bed your trap solid, with the proper cover and freeze proofing you should be good. After that, it is mostly always a deer, or just bad luck. Rebed, and see what happens. How do you know you had a cat in that one set? Did you see it, or did you find evidence of a catch? In that case, it could be tension, or placement, or bedding. Hope you get it figured out and maybe you'll have something tomorrow! Best wishes!

Thank you. I caught the bobcat. Lost the other two animals.

This for sure.

You cannot over wax a trap and create pullouts. You’re likely seeing deer step in the traps. If it’s not deer, it’s possible it’s pan tension but a #3 trap would generally hold anything that was inside the trap enough to set it off. Got pictures of the area?

Put out cameras, that will tell you exactly what’s tripping them. I’ll go with deer as well. Get them tripping new sets all the time. Deer trip them, then a coyote, fox, or cat comes by and works the set and leaves a calling card, lol.

Thank you for your service!!! Appreciate the input as well.
No picture of the areas were I lost them. I’ll try to take some tomorrow.

And get a knife and file and get the wax off the end of the dog and out of the pan slot. It won't make much difference on how you set your pan tension if you leave that slippery wax in those areas. That trap will fire with little pressure. The other factor in light pan tension is the animal does not need to put weight on and thus the downward inertia to set the trap off is minimal and the animal can react fast enough to give you a poor hold. Should be nothing wrong with traps that size and nearly new.

Bryce

Thank you. I have taken care of the wax on the dog for all traps and will adjust pan tension as well. I appreciate your input.

I tune all traps before the season but sometimes I miss one and tension is light and wax is in the way. Scrape it off and rub some sand/dirt ron the contact point to give it some hold.

That's a gorgeous cat congratulations !

I run 4 lbs. of pan tension on my yote and cat traps , it keeps a lot of nontargets from firing my traps and everything I've caught has been deep pad catches.

Well, I made the adjustment to pan tension on all traps running about 3 1/2 to 4#s. I checked traps an hour ago and had another pull out. I will include pictures of the trap. I was using a 12 foot chain and a sabertooth drag. Animal pulled it across the path and was gone. There was blood on the trap and it looked like the start of a catch circle beginning to form in the taller grass.

Coon. Coon and offsets don't always work well

If that had a coon it was not by much the area it’s not even ripped up.