Guess I have to try the Dukes now.

I just set a few traps today. One hog pays for a lot of 5x5's.

I’m making my money by trapping ghogs and coons, I’m up to 21 ghogs and I’m still catching more! I will let you know what sniper tells me, how will I know it’s you at the convention?

I will be at my daughter's t-shirt booth. It is called Tight Chains. You will not be able to miss it. Looking forward to meeting you. See you there.

By the way my daughter claims that I have met you Sniper. If you have the chance stop by the booth or I will have Lydia point you out of the crowd. Thank you for helping the new people!

Theres a good chance if youve been to any OSTA functions as I am one of the directors(i think im the youngest again of the men anyways) for the association.

Alright makes sense I am looking forward to meeting you also

On coon and 155's, if one is blind setting on a trail, won't matter. But if using bait in either a box of some type of cubby set.......is it better to have trigger clip on front jaw or back? Someone mentioned bending the trigger wires back.......bend about halfway down.......and back about 45 degrees.......so coon would push thru with it's forehead. Depending on if clip is on front or back jaw, the strike point moves about 1 inch forward or back. And if on back jaw, it seems they are more sensitive. Just not sure which is best with these smaller traps.

Bending the wires backwards allows the coon to bump the trigger with its back so its fully committed in the trap. Same goes for setting the trigger on the back, least sensitive notch. You dont want hair triggers when targeting coon with the smaller traps. One reason you can get fired traps when they try to go over the trap.

Huh that makes a lot of sense

Now I see the issue with the Bridgers. Old used ones are mildly annoying to set. I pulled out one that has not been used and I did not enjoy wrestling with that one at all.

To answer the question about if a groundhogs head will fit....how did this happen? If the photo does not show up, I caught an adult groundhog by the hips this morning.

Trigger throw on some of the smaller traps is quite excessive and require a couple whacks from a hammer on the tugger assembly to shorten it up

I wish I could post a photo. It looks like he backed into the trap. There is absolutely no way he could fit through going forward.

Maybe he smelled the trap and tried to turn around. Put his tail in the trap?

This is the first time I have seen this.

What in the heck

Here is the stabilizer that I use. It is a $0.20 plywood clip from a lumber yard bent with pliers. A drywall screw holds it to a small piece of scrap wood. Before screwing it down to the wood I put a large nail through the center of the wood. Spring pressure holds it in place and you can push the trap in place with the springs to keep your hands out of the way. The trap is stable but can spin on the nail. I push a length of 3/8 rebar or a 1/4" smooth rod or whatever is in my bucket through the springs to stop rotation. I like to add just a little grass or vegetation to make the trap opening look more inviting but it is not needed. Fast and cheap.

Wow that’s a giant opening, maybe that’s what I need to do to get the coon to go through but those are some pretty cool stabalizers that you make

Here is that trap today. See you at the convention!

Dang, Is that the average ghog for your area?

I think the average older adult is more like the first photo where it is caught by the rear.

The last photo might be just a little small. Remember these are 5x5 traps so the pigs look bigger. 15# is a pretty big pig and might even place in a contest.

A 15# raccoon is not even worth a photo.

My guess without any actual weights is an average of 10-12#.

I will weigh one next week just for info.

Same for my area, the average is 10 pounds and I might have caught one bigger since it’s neck filled up a 220