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