Missed a few raccoon this morning,, catfood was robbed and the dogproofs laying on the sides..
They are the freedom brand dog proofs,,,
I was thinking about zip tying them to some extra long stakes to increase resistance and allow the pull to work a little better…
Any one else come up with a solution to deal with stiff triggers??

Wax them if you have to. You don't want to stabilize them very firmly or the coons will damage themselves due to lack of swiveling once they are caught.

It appears I had this issue with one of my Coon Daggers unfortunately. They person I bought them from made the trigger a pull only instead of the factory push/pull.

Was laying on its side pulled to the end of the chain.

or tune that dog with a file
waxing can make them a hare trigger
a few cuts with a file and make sure your trigger moves freely can get you going in a couple minutes

Wax is an option. It’s made my Duke DPs really sensitive and I had to clean the wax off the dog and trigger assemblies because they would just fire randomly even sometimes as I was walking away after resetting I hear the clink of one fire.
How deep you set the dog into the notch of the trigger matters too. Just like footholds. Take a file and square up and flatten the end of the dog and same with notch of the trigger so they match well, then setting so the tip 1/8” inch of dog is all that is engaged in the notch means the trigger doesn’t have to travel as far to release the dog. You can play with this in your shop. A file can shorten the end of the dog a little so the tip of dog is t so far into that trigger notch. As far as making it less sensitive though the trigger isn’t adjustable like on most footholds so it’s all pressure from the dog and springs only. Wax will help lubricate that connection but just shortening the throw will help too.

this was a brand new trap the week before nothing for prep
day 1 , 2 got cleaned out
I was moving the dog out a little further in the notch each time I set it

day 3 connected

They are freedom brand, I was assuming it was the FB1's with their weird trigger design. Just use a crayon and wax the connection of the dog to top of that plate thing on them. You could even push that dog up slightly so it isn't engaged as far.

Keep in mind some coons and other critters like possums and skunks and even deer will knock over the traps and dump the bait rather than reaching it. One reason I use a sticky bait or at least have something in there that won't dump out easily.

Critters can do some wonky things…
But this was undoubtedly a coon,, not a deer,, it was on a steep slope along a pond edge.