That is a very interesting story from the "R & D" section!

My favorite wolverine trap for years was the NH 114, but the large space under the jaws led to chewing problems as Dave describes. Not much of an issue for the fur trade, but certainly a major consideration for the taxidermy market.

My solution was to search around, find and buy, a dozen NH 48's. MUCH less space under the jaws. For the most part, it solved the problem for me (at least until I caved in and began using 330's!) For those not familiar with 48's, they are basically a NH #4 with teeth. Originally manufactured as a premium beaver trap.

I would agree though, that finding a dozen #48's is NOT easy! I treasure mine!

Pete

Hey Larry,... long time no see. Yeah, I can't trap like I used to anymore either, but I still poke around now & then on TM just to see what's happening.

One thing I forgot to mention that took place when Dean had the Alaskan #9 trap business, is that he/we looked into making a 2nd model of the trap, which would have been called the "Alaskan #7", exactly like the #9, only with a 7" jaw-spread instead of 9". The point of this was to make an ultimate wolverine trap, and yet would still be big enough for wolves too. It would have had a double-jaw design of some sort, to keep a wolverine from getting his mouth underneath the jaws,... something similar to what I did to some of my #4 coils (picture). But it never happened, because when it was all said & done, building an Alaskan #7 would only have been a few bucks less than what it took to make the #9,... and we both agreed that not too many trappers would be willing to shell out $100 for a wolverine trap,... or even had wolverine numbers that would justify buying it. And now the way that the wolverine markets have developed with taxidermists, skull collectors, etc, body-grippers are really the best way to go, because catching a wolverine by the foot, even if you can keep his mouth from getting under the jaws, still leaves the trapper with a wolverine that only has long sharp claws on one foot, and a lot more chipped teeth. But, it still would have been fun to have had built a couple just to test and seen how they would have worked.

Hey Larry,... long time no see. Yeah, I can't trap like I used to anymore either, but I still poke around now & then on TM just to see what's happening.

One thing I forgot to mention that took place when Dean had the Alaskan #9 trap business, is that he/we looked into making a 2nd model of the trap, which would have been called the "Alaskan #7", exactly like the #9, only with a 7" jaw-spread instead of 9". The point of this was to make an ultimate wolverine trap, and yet would still be big enough for wolves too. It would have had a double-jaw design of some sort, to keep a wolverine from getting his mouth underneath the jaws,... something similar to what I did to some of my #4 coils (picture). But it never happened, because when it was all said & done, building an Alaskan #7 would only have been a few bucks less than what it took to make the #9,... and we both agreed that not too many trappers would be willing to shell out $100 for a wolverine trap,... or even had wolverine numbers that would justify buying it. And now the way that the wolverine markets have developed with taxidermists, skull collectors, etc, body-grippers are really the best way to go, because catching a wolverine by the foot, even if you can keep his mouth from getting under the jaws, still leaves the trapper with a wolverine that only has long sharp claws on one foot, and a lot more chipped teeth. But, it still would have been fun to have had built a couple just to test and seen how they would have worked.

Beautiful foot catch.