Last fall when I was running a small coon line I was having trouble with coons getting out of my standard cs traps. Wondering what you guys do to alleviate the problem. I was thinking about modifying them and laminating the jaws but wondering if it is worth the effort. Thanks for the help

Lamination would only exacerbate the problem rather than cure it.
Double jaws would be better if chewing is the issue.

Check spring strength...move up to music wire springs when replacing

They weren't chewing out, I would go check my traps and there was the trap set off and at the end of the chain and you could tell it was held for awhile with the catch circle. I am wondering if I need to adjust pan tension so it is a tad heavier.

Are you sure they were pulling themselves out and someone wasn't tasking/letting them out?

If pullouts, then pan tension and spring strength would be a good start.

are the traps center swiveled?

I looked for tracks and didn't find any human tracks, and they are not center swiveled. It didn't happen all the time but once is too much as far as I am concerned

How do you know it was a coon? If there wasn't much of a catch circle and the trap was just pulled tight at the end of the chain my bets are on deer. If there is a defined catch circle then not a deer

What kind of sets are we talking about here?

Pan tension. It doesn't take much to hold a coon, but you need to get a solid catch on them. A little #1LS will hold a coon all day long if he is caught solid. On CS traps I make sure I have decent tension on my coon sets. Also, night latching really helps. If a coon feels a pan move, it will jerk its foot away. I try to remove all movement in my firing system. I trap both water and dry land, and for coons it comes down to the pan.

deer?

I have experienced coon pullouts from 1.5 Bridger Specials. I only use them on drowners now.

Was there any blood on the trap?
Sometimes you really have to search the catch circle to find the left behind parts from a chew out

Poor catches and setting around too much entanglement can be detrimental.

Add some pan tension and watch your location selection next time around. If you set around too many leverage opportunities, they will take advantage of that.

These two suggestions may not be all the answers but these two practices can make a difference at the end of the day.

How do you know they weren’t chewing out?

Sounds like weak springs or not cleaning the wax off the inner jaw surface

There was a catch circle and tracks were evident. Not a catch circle like with my dogproofs, but it holds them all night. My traps are nightlatched but the pan tension is set pretty low since I had intended to use them for mink traps as well. I also did not scrape the wax from the inside of the jaws so that can definitely be a reason. There was no sign of chewout like I have seen on my coyote traps, with blood and fur etc

Sometimes possums wring off. Their feet are more fragile. It doesn’t always leave much evidence with a cs.

Agree

Just curious how long you wait between checks? We’re on a 24hr check here and I’ve never had a “chew out” on anything.