I must have caught him late last night when I heard them yipping nearby. Come towards trap this morning at probably 75yds and he makes a lunge for it and pulls out before my eyes. Heart sank. I had one rolling around in the same set the night before likely (smelled like coyote and trap was sprung) so I reset the sprung trap and added another beside it.

These are in new-to-me victor offset 3ns. I didn’t think the springs were particularly weak. Is this why people are selling them? I heard they were awesome but now my confidence is destroyed. Do I need helper springs? I don’t know how he was caught. Maybe by a toe or something. There was a small bit of blood at the edge of the catch circle.

I’m hoping this would have happened with even the best traps but not sure. I got dls for the longevity and low maintenance but question my decision.

Very likely a toe catch but I have no experience with LS and coyotes. I'd guess it has happened to everyone at some point.

Without actually seeing how it was held it's all a guess on what really happened. This is why it's called trapping and not catching.

Never had that happen with a coyote but did have it happen with a big bobcat. Got a picture of him and went to get my dispatch pole and when I came back he lunged and pulled the jaws right out of the trap. Heart breaking for sure.

Two things I've learned. Always have the gun loaded and ready when I pull up to a set and always check the position of the foot in the trap immediately upon arrival.

No trap catches and holds 100% of them 100% of the time,especially if its a toe catch.

Buck thats 100 % true. You catch coyotes for 35 years and you will see odd stuff Like = took me 33 years to catch a deer. Caught on short chain staked down MB 550. In Pearsal Tx. Caught a coyote by the mouth 1 time. Posted that 2 years ago. Had 1 caught by hamstring in MB 550 by back leg. Post on here West Texas last thread. Dont know HOW it held. Have never caught a piglet over 30 lbs in a MB 550. Till last year. Caught a 100 plus lb pig in West Texas. Has to bear its hoof out with masonry hammer. My point??? Trap long enough strange things will happen. !!! DONT bear yourself up over it!!!

Yes Sir makes a good point. Especially on bobcats. Not going to ly. Had 1 last year escape from a MJ 600. Pulled up. Dead end road. Cat was jumping and flopping. Turned around at end of dead end road. Past bobcat. Again. Open tool box. Got choke stick. Reg say must release. And bam!! End of the 30 inch MJ 600 chain and gone. Didnt think -++ toe catch

Some good advice here! Also I prefer to approach the coyote from the down wind side when possible? Keeps them a little calmer sometimes. At the time 3Ns DLS where the best coyote trap made and they are still a good trap when you learn how to adjust pan tension on these traps. Not trying to start a Fight. But the modern Dogless #3 offset coil spring traps are a Better overall coyote trap IMO, Based on many catches with both traps. I am not saying sell your 3Ns! Just get better at setting & adjusting them. This will reduce toe catches.

Mark. After 35 years of coilsprings. I can say I love MJ 600 Sterling traps!! But in West Texas. I had the chance to set some 3 &1/2 LPCs Longspring for coyotes and some # 8 LPCs latter on for mt lions and I must says = LPC is a fine Longspring. True its the modern version of what a Longspring should be pur still agreat trap. Very Well made. MR James Lucero agrees. He likes the LPCs 3 &1/2 Longspring traps and used them and still has them today

Steeltraps. Those are well made LS traps for sure!

It wasn’t the traps fault, those are good traps. Sometimes it just happens. Check your pan tension, in my opinion most toe catches are the result of pan tension being too light. If you need help raising the tension I believe there are threads in the archives about it. I forget the name of it but I like to file a v notch in the end of the dog and file the end of the pan latch to a point so it nestles into the dog notch. Takes some testing and filing but once it’s done it’ll fire nice and crisp with enough tension to eliminate a lot of toe catches.

Don’t lose faith in the victor 3n

It happens. As others have said trap long enough and you will see about everything. Makes you appreciate what really all has to go right in order to catch them! Its mathematical probability at work.

Animals will escape from any live holding device from time to time.

It happens two years ago I had one pull out of a Sterling,re caught it about 10 days later with 100 yards from where it pulled out.In another Sterling both were flat sets.

I’ve got PIT pans and tension around 3.5lbs. Y’all may be right about it not being the traps fault, but I guess helper springs wouldn’t hurt right?

I’ve been finding lots of sprung traps dug up lately which doesn’t help to inspire confidence.

If you’re finding dug up traps then you need to look at a couple things. Could be that your traps have been contaminated with bait or lure or some other interesting smell. Or it could be that your traps haven’t been bedded solid enough and the animal feels it wiggle under the ground and digs it up to investigate. Also, what are you using for pan covers? The stiffer the material the farther the animals foot can be from centered when the trap fires.

Definitely possible on the contamination. Traps are solidly bedded being longsprings in pretty moist clayish soil. I use a trappers cap - no covers.

I use fresh wax from hobby lobby and no gloves when setting. I’ve been using cotton gloves to apply lure. I’ll say though that I had lure bottles and traps in the same bucket at one point. I tried to keep them separated by other gear like sifter/stakes/hammer but maybe that caused slight contamination. I need a bucket boss organizer or something- didn’t want my clothes pockets smelling like s*ite and now I’m paying the price.

If you had lure bottles in the same bucket with traps you’re almost guaranteed to have contaminated traps. No matter how careful you are there will always be some lure on the outside of the bottle and cap. As far as the toe catch, if your traps are bedded solid, your ban tension is correct, you’re not using a stiff pan cover, the trap isn’t on a super fine hair trigger, then the only other thing it could be is sometimes, despite our best efforts, weird crap happens on the trapline lol. Sounds like other than the contamination you’re getting everything right, I’d just chalk it up to crap happens and move on. If you trap long enough you’ll have a lot weirder stuff than that happen lol

Haha thanks for the tips. I’ll pull them and boil them and try again.