Hey folks.

Wondering what you experienced guys prefer in the way of traps? I bought a bunch of cheap dukes mostly, to get me started,

6 # 1 1/2 coil spring dukes
5 # 3 coil spring dukes
1 #5 offset Bridger for beaver/otter.

6 # 110/120 duke conibear
2 # 220 dukes
3 #330 dukes

These traps should be able to take muskrat, mink, otter, beaver, coon, fox, coyote from what I read.

Do you guys have trap brands for coils or conibears you love or hate? why?

For a few bucks extra I would mind getting traps that "work better" or "last longer" etc.

Also wondering what you do when you are done with them at the end of the season. hose them off and hang them to rust till next season?

I just do this part time when work is slow, but we are looking at my wife retiring this year at 30 years old and me taking winters off (hopefully) and just living very minimalist going forward so I want to be conscious of where I spend my dollars.

Thanks,

Carpenter

In today's times we are blessed with a lot of good traps that are very effective at catching their target animals.
I know several top tier coyote guys that prefer the Montgomery dogless type of trigger, im becoming a fan myself

I think your good to go. Nothing wrong with Duke traps.

A duke person here, those #3 are great and the 1 1/2s are even better. You have a good start there, better than that you have a great start there. There are "better" traps out there but what do you really need. these will work fine.......jk

Those traps will suit you fine for a starter kit. Your preferences will develope with time in the field.
At the end of season I wash my traps and dry them asap. Then store them dry till next season when I dye/wax or paint. A few weeks before the open season

THIS^^

It's the Indian more so than the arrow.

I like to pressure wash and clean boil
the spit choke pee and poo traps.

Make America Great Again.Boycott china-Taiwan.

OK so I just saw where you live and you may not have the options like I do.

Probably should thow out whatever technology u just posted that on then

Exactly. Lol

Love my victor 1 1/2 coloring traps with pinch pans for mink and muskrats

You know what you like till you get some experience

IMO they all work. IMO they all have a flaw here and there.

A real good trapper might get a few more critters with one brand over the other but it will be very few.

What you picked will do fine.



I’d go MB for footholds for about everything. 450 and 550.

Belisle for BGT

No-bs for beaver foothold.

The #5 Bridger is a good trap but be careful using being it is offset. My have to set deep for back leg catches. Nothing wrong with Duke traps, caught quite a few coyote in the #2's.

I would say both of these replies are true.

All my beaver traps are Dukes. I have twenty 330s, and forty #3s and #4s. I wouldn’t want to invest big money in beaver traps, because over the years, 3/4 of my traps lost to thieves have been beaver traps. Dukes work fine for me…..all my coil springs are set up on drowning cables. Solid jaws. A beaver in a trap has only minutes to fight the trap before it’s dead. Not like your’e trying to hold a lunging coyote with a back foot catch.

I don't like offsets for beaver or otter, otherwise they will work. You may find over time that you prefer other brands in particular models of traps, but Dukes are reasonably priced and have caught a lot of game. Start out with those and use them enough to decide what features you don't like and then look at other brands and see if anybody makes a trap that alleviates that for a price point you find acceptable. Until you have some experience to know what you like and dislike it is hard to choose the trap that will suit you best.

Personally I'm not brand loyal, I like different models of traps made by different companies for different situations.

Thanks for all the replies folks.

The things I didn't like about the dukes were the coil springs trap chain wasn't in center so I just drilled it out and moved it over and added swivels for coyotes (this will be the year I get my first coyote!)

The small body grips, i'm not quite sure how to best explain it, but when I squeeze the spring together on the small ones by hand, they always bump the frame where it's a 90 degree cut. I see on a savaguex BGT they are rounded off heavily and slide right over. Maybe it's my inexperience in setting traps by hand.

Thanks again folks. doing some scouting lately and found some spots for trapping. getting excited a bit too early yet!