Hey everyone, wanted to start out and say thanks to all who have posted so many incredible tips, tutorials, pictures etc.
I have spent hours the last few weeks reading all kinds of threads and have gotten a pretty solid education.
Trapped a coyote and fox in cables last year and want to try my hand at some footholds. My father-in-law gave me a bunch of his old ones and they have some rust on them but not too much.
So two of what I am sure will be many more questions 😁

1. How do I identify what the traps are for and what sizes they are?
2. I know there are many opinions on trapping and dying (read for 2 hours on that the other day). For me to start I have decided to go with formula 1 dip. So much is new and I want traps in the ground without taking on much. Question is how I go from some rust on traps to a dip. Do I need to brush that off? Boil then brush then dip?

Thanks so much everyone!

Unless the pans have been changed or are unreadable, you can ID them by looking at the pan most of the time. Failing that, you can open the traps up and measure the jaw spread of the traps to determine size and what they will be suitable to be used for.

If there's flaking rust on the traps, wire brush it off then boiling, rinse off, dry and they'll be ready to dip

Just bury a couple of those traps and see if they catch (if they're #2s or bigger, that is for yotes). You can do all that prep after season. My .02 anyway.

Looks like most are victor with a Bridger
1 1/2, 2, 3

Rust is not flaking

X2



Look up your traps on a site like this... https://www.schmittent.com/product-category/oneida-victor-coilspring it lists the animals the traps are designed to catch.