So, out of curiosity, has anyone played around with the wold creek traps? Been looking at maybe getting a dozen of the #2 dog on style to play around with. I'm a big fan of the #2 bridges, and these look very similar at a better price point. My plans for these would be to baseplate/center swivel, laminate, 4coil, bubble tip jaws, and possibly a paws I trip pan if the one for the bridgers fits the wolf creeks. And yes, I know there are other traps out there, such as the no bs (have half a dozen) that come with this stuff already done, but I thoroughly enjoy tinkering and modifying traps and trying new things. So what has been everyone's experience with them?

I saw pics of the Wolf Creek traps and was impressed by what I saw...lay your hands on them first would be my recommendation...then modify the perceived weaknesses.

If you're planning to do all that work to them then it really doesn't matter if they are a good trap or not IMHO. Doing that much work can turn even a trap that is rather poor in stock form into a good trap. If you enjoy working on traps and doing modifications you probably just want the cheapest trap you can find that has the jaw profile and size you want. Anything else you will be fixing anyway.

Good advice Seth.

I modified plenty of the dogless ones for a guy laminations baseplated bubble tipped and new chain set up with everything welded shut. Lots of work but end result was very decent trap. Definitely change out the chain for I found a few links not closed welded all the way.

Piece of chain I took off the ones I modified for someone.

Gary, I remember finding chain links like that on quite a few Northwoods traps in the early 90s...glad I took the time to inspect.

Very good point, when modified to the extent I want to, it'll turn any trap into a decent trap

I'm glad you pointed this out. I hadn't even thought of the chain, but seeing this, I'll definitely put on #3 american and save the factory takeoff chain for rat or mink traps

I run a couple dozen dogless that size. Up front, I think the Montgomery dogless system is about as good as it gets.

Now that said the wolf creek is exactly what they purport to be, a copy of the standard workhorse Northwoods trap. I actually like the Northwoods levers and jaws over what Mongomery had so IMO work creek has created the best of both by combining the two.

BUT, and it's a big but, they are a BUDGET priced copy. So it boils down to what was left out to bring costs down.

Fit and finish was it but the solid bones are still there as for my experience.

Rough jaw faces, northwoods/bridger L on the spring twisting levers out of whack, poor quality chain and swivels.

I swapped out chain and swivels, clipped the L and twisted levers and put them in the ground.

The pan and dog like all Montgomery style needed a file and final tune.

All in all a good budget trap and starting point for a personal preference build.

Maybe not the best for beginner without the knowledge of trap tuning.

I have been running some(4 doz or so) modified WC 2s & 3s dogless for 4ish years. No issues. I only added jaw lams, base plated the 2s, smoothed jaw faces, and added a crunch proof mid chain. I am like warrior...I can't imagine a better "get it set and forget it" system than the monty dogless system. Trap just seems to engulf their feet with that low pan. I wish I had all #2s...

If I had to choose something other than a Monty dogless pan it would be the pit pan the crimps onto the spring pin. Nuts and bolts are meant to be loosened and tightened. I don't want that on a trap.

I run some dogless 2’s. Once modified and chain swapped they are awesome traps. 95% or the time the paw is buried and still touching the pan.

Not for everyone, but for someone who wants to tinker then sure.

If running a dog on trap, a north woods or Bridger posi-trip pan should work.

Every once in a while, evil bay will have a 1 or 2 pack. Might be the ticket to get your hands on one to test out. Glenn’s shipping prices definitely favor a larger order than a small one.

I bought some 550’s after the WC dogless 2’s. And the ease of a 550 is great. But everything you said it spot on. The WC dogless 2’s are awesome. Pan tension never changes. Nothing gets bent. They just go back in the ground!!

I actually ordered 3 over the weekend to play with and I noticed that about his shipping prices! Gonna do some playing and tinkering and see what I think of them!

I will be watching for the verdict. I have thought about trying them. Does he have a good amount in stock? The website still says temporarily out of stock.

Not sure what his stock is like. I got 3 of the regular dog on #2 offsets to tinker with and try different things, and they were showing in stock when I ordered

Thanks. I was looking at the #2 dogless offset. At first I didn't see you were looking at dog on.

So, I finally got the traps, and they took more than I anticipated to be up to my liking. They have solid bones for sure, but take quite a bit of modifying. First off, the chain and swivels are pretty well junk, cut off an threw right in the trash. The jaws, as expected, had sharp edges that needed to be smoothed, then laminated the jaws. The pan took some playing with as well. Out of the box, both jaws angle slightly upward when set, to help this I flipped the dog upside down and it helped, but not enough. So the pan notch I welded shut, then used a cutting wheel on the dremmel to cut a new notch that was lower, this also fixed the issue of the dog pointing upwards into the pan notch when set. The other pan issue was the hole was very big, so even a #10 bolt had a fair amount of slop, so I welded the pan hole shut a redrilled to the proper size. The jaws would not free fall when setting the trap, so I took the jaws out of the frame and bent them in slightly so they would move freely when setting. Lastly, I cut the L of the spring ends, then used those pieces to weld on the dog for reinforcement, added my own baseplate and chain setup, and now I believe they'll make a decent trap, just took a fair amount of work and playing with them

And you just listed all the reasons I prefer the Montgomery dogless system. Only two points of contact and neither rely on bolt holes to be in spec.