Looking for cage trap that will not get destroyed by coon. Cost secondary.
Thanks

I use tomahawks pro model, 10x12, with backdoor. Costly with shipping at $150 each average. But, they last wirh doing adc work. Held some big coons and zero damage.
Sarge

I get 1x2 12.5 ga wire from out your way and build my own I never had a coon break a weld lobster trap wire made for cage building. Price went crazy tough to get now.

This is the Tomahawk trap that is more or less the twin to the Havahart, but no coon is coming out of these. They must make at least a half dozen variations on this one, but the 108.1 is like the Havahart. Build quality is excellent.

https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30174

A year or so back, I was driving by the factory at Hazelhurst and dropped in, thinking I might be able to get traps direct from them. Not so.......they didn't even have samples to look at. Made when ordered, and takes about 2 weeks to get one.

Another well made trap is the Wickenkamp. Build quality is also good.....no coon tearing one of those up either.........but trigger mechanism and locks entirely different. Gravity lock means if you turn cage upside down, gate falls open and animal can walk out. Good if you want release. Not so good if they just turn it over, gate falls down and they escape. So cages must be stacked down. Lost a big boar a month or so back when he rolled an un-staked cage about 30 feet from where he started. Gate was still down, but cage was empty. It was a Havahart and he either came out of it, or gate fell and he played with it all night to get the marshmallows out of it. Got him a week or so later with a Wickenkamp.

https://wickenkamplivetrap.com/products/ols/products/model-302

302 ADC seems overkill to me, but if you don't want the cage full of grass and dirt or ground tore up, may be a good idea.

Tru catch traps in Western SD makes a good trap the state gave away a bunch for the tail program I have several of all sizes I’ve collected over the years.

I made some of Mercer Lawers brand and haven't had a breakout yet.

I don't have any trouble with the HD Duke cages for raccoons. If you wanna spend more money, just buy more of them.

Check out the bark on that tree, you know those late season boar coons were putting that cage to the test to get in to her.

Good trap for the money. Also a wickencamp is a great selection for coon

If money is not much of a concern, Comstock, but you almost have to be getting paid well to catch things to justify the cost.
Any sturdy gravity door, washer lock trap works well.
I prefer 1"x1" mesh with 1/2"x1" around the bait area to discourage reaching in from the outside.
If it's mainly for coon, I don't like overly large cages.
It seems like the more room that they have to move around, the more damage they can do to your trap.

Wire prices are out of control now expect a big hike in prices.

I Agree

A rod door is a big key element to making a cage trap good for coons. They concentrate nearly all their effort trying to get out through them bars and don't work the corners of the cages like they will if the doors are solid or wire mesh. They will tear up and drag into the cage anything they can reach through them bars but its really easy to flip a trap like the Duke over and dump out the contents. Don't set them by anything you don't want torn up.

If however you are using them for nuisance wildlife control as your job, then you can maybe justify more expensive cages, but for fur trapping, my vote goes to the Duke cages.

You make a good point on trap placement. It's no fun dealing with a trap full of hay or a half spool of baler twine pulled inside.

Some folks frown on it if it's their siding or shingles too.

Last I remember is I think his son took over the business. If anyone has contact info I'd sure appreciate getting it. I've got 10 and I'd buy some more, they are worth every penny.

Sometimes the best cage is a 220 or DP.

Got this knothead playing games with me. There's a baited cage directly under him.



If he ain't in it in the morning I'll show him something he ain't seen yet.

I've caught a lot of coons here at the house with a Duke trap, granted we don't have huge coons, but it's held every one of them so far with no damage.

No joy this morning. So I guess he wants to do it the hard way.

Fine by me, my bag of dirty tricks is pretty deep.

i make my own ive done it several years ive found that if you make a trap big enough to catch a coyote bobcat what ever they will go in it a lot easier than a small one that most make that sell them ive caught several multable catches and they wont fight the bigger traps near as much ive seen them currled up in the back of the traps asleep when i check them several times

playing a trap base board-Tray or plastic under a cage trap on shingles etc . stops them from being able to pull any material inside from under . Especiallyin ADC Work.

building a cage With 1" x 1/2" cage wire stops that also.

1x1" wire is not something I use unless only on rocks or sand

I have a Wickenkamp 302 ADC cage with 1/2" x 1" wire. Entire cage. Due to the way the pan's trigger sets on top of that bolt end, I thought it would be easier to set if I cut out one section at the trigger so I could put my finger in to set it. It is easier to set. It is the only hole a coon can get his paw thru. They typically will dig out a hole the size of a soup bowl just outside that hole. If the whole cage has wire that big, they will dig out a moat.

As to the picture ADC posted of that Duke cage by the downed tree, if there is a coon in that trap, from where I sit, the caught coon is the one what stripped it. Tree damage stops where the cage wire goes from 1 inch to 1/2 inch at bait end. They are brutal. Can only surmise they are trying to pull themselves out of the trap. Same principle as "a drowning man will clutch at a straw".

are the poly ones any good?

like this one?

https://trapshed.com/collections/tomahawk-live-cage-traps/products/tomahawk-plastic-raccoon-trap

I could see how it would look that way. However the tracks in the snow show she had at least one if not more visitors and there is no way that big ol' sow coon could reach that far through 1" wire. But even you are correct it still shows the toughness of the trap, which was the reason I posted it.

I believe Jim's traps are made by Tomahawk. Anyway the beaver traps are. They are sold by the name Tomahawk Comstock.

The bigger the trap opening the more the coon feel at ease when entering thus you will catch more coon.

Tomahawk puts a product catalog in the box the trap ships in. There must be well over 100 different traps they offer, including all of the Comstock traps. Building they operate out of is about the size of your typical Tractor Supply retail store. Maybe bigger. Judging from number of cars and trucks in the parking lot, must have a pretty big payroll.

When I'm ready to lower the boom on problem coon, I have been know to pre-bait these traps before arming them. Free vittles in form of scattered dry cat food for a week and they come racing up to see who gets in first. On the traps with gravity doors took me a while to figure out to just turn them upside down to lock the door open when pre-baiting them. The doors on the others locked open by running a stick under the door.......to hold the door open.

Best cage traps I have used were Williams traps. Bought over 100 in the 1990's and all are still in good working condition today. I often used them as a step stool to reach something higher than I could reach and I weighed over 300 pounds, they held me without bending. He made a great woodchuck trap that was 8x8x24, held 100's of coons in them, many so big that they had to squeeze into the door when I used the cage trap in blind trail set locations. Do not believe they are still being made.

Have heard of Williams. Never seen one. Found this image that is supposed to be one. If so, very similar to the Wickenkamp, and those are still being made and available.