Classic traps
#8449455
08/05/25 10:16 PM
08/05/25 10:16 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2011
Craigmont, Idaho
marty weatherup
OP
trapper
|
OP
trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Craigmont, Idaho
|
Perhaps it’s been done before but I thought it might be fun to go down memory lane to the old traps that you may have started out with or have fond memories of as a new trapper. Or traps that despite being far behind what’s available today, still bring you enjoyment to use.
I have several but will start with one which will always be dear to me. The Blake and Lamb 2 1/2 long spring. Far better traps exist today and did back then as well. Still to a teenage trapper any trap was a good trap and bolstered the inventory. I had a couple dozen #2 low lever Victor coil springs and used them for fox but more than once had coyotes turn them into mangled piles of steel that vaguely resembled a trap. I was lamenting this to my mentor and he offered me a half dozen 2 1/2s at a really reasonable price. He said they would hold a coyote and I could use them in the spring when beaver season opened. I fired up the logwood and got them dyed. A few days later they were in the ground with the greatest of expectations for a coyote catch. I was impressed with how strong they were. As a smallish 14 year old kid they seemed way stronger than any other trap I had used up until then.
And within a couple weeks fate smiled on me and my first coyote awaited me, securely held with a deep pad catch in one of those 2 1/2s. I was one happy trapper. And the 2 1/2 B&L was to have a place in my heart. And still does these 50 years later. And as the season progressed I didn’t catch anymore coyotes but several coon and a skunk or two with those 2 1/2s.
A few months later I was able to put them to work on beaver. I caught my first beaver in a 330 under the ice but when the ice went out a short week later I tried my luck with a couple castor mounds and the fresh castor from my first beaver. And caught another 2 beaver in those B&Ls. I used electric fence wire for a drowner and burlap feed sacks with almost more weight than I could lift. Drowning locks were pieces of angle iron I cut with a hack saw and drilled holes in to create a drowner slide. The beaver weren’t pulling those bags up.
I still like and use 2 1/2s. I took a bobcat in one this past season. When I trapped in eastern Washington, I liked them for any time I had to pack into a beaver area. Are there better traps? Certainly. But there are a great many traps that strum a nostalgic string and bring back floods of memories.
I’d love to hear your stories of traps that are near and dear to you and I’ll spin up a few more tales of other traps that bring back fond memories.
Trail cameras and fresh snow have broke a lot of trapper’s hearts.
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449468
08/05/25 10:53 PM
08/05/25 10:53 PM
|
Joined: Jun 2018
White House, TN
camlock
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Jun 2018
White House, TN
|
My first traps that I started with were #1 long spring Victor and Blake and lamb long spring #1 long springs. I did catch a bunch of fur with them as a kid and a teenager. Most water trapping., but I have caught grey and red fox with them when set on a log. Mink, coon and muskrats paid my gas money and extra for my date nights on Saturday night!. i would go to the local fur buyer and sell my fur and get a check.. Then cash it. Man I was rich.. My girl friends did not know how lucky they were dating a trapper!. The fur buyer wanted to buy green fur. My mother gave me the ok to store my fur in the outdoor freezer. I would put the fur in bread bags and thaw them out on a Friday. Then go the fur buyer Saturday after noon. Some times my girlfriend would have to wait and watch when I would stop at a bridge and get out and see if I had some more money!.
Last edited by camlock; 08/05/25 11:13 PM.
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449493
Yesterday at 12:23 AM
Yesterday at 12:23 AM
|
Joined: Jan 2007
MN
160user
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
MN
|
Big Sam just gifted me a B&L #44 DLS that I hope to make some memories with. I love the traps but being an unexpected gift just makes that trap special to me.
I have nothing clever to put here.
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449566
Yesterday at 07:45 AM
Yesterday at 07:45 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
SEPA
Lugnut
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
SEPA
|
I remember getting a dozen Oneida Victor 1 1/2 long springs for Christmas when I was a kid. My brother also got a dozen. We used those traps for everything but mostly caught muskrats, possums, skunks and weasels in that order.
For a brief period I used # 2 Victor square jaws for land-trapping but they were not very good traps.
Then I discovered Northwoods 1.75's and the rest is history. I still run them on my fox line.
Eh...wot?
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449576
Yesterday at 08:04 AM
Yesterday at 08:04 AM
|
Joined: Jun 2022
Manitoba
Shakeyjake
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Jun 2022
Manitoba
|
Right now, I’m having an affair with big DLS. My coil springs and 330s are collecting dust while the few DLS I have are catching all the ADC beaver….lol.
Wind Blew, crap flew, out came the line crew
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449606
Yesterday at 09:05 AM
Yesterday at 09:05 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2009
The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
|
"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
The Hill Country of Texas
|
When I started out trappin as a teenager, I stuck to the water for a few years. Then at some point I was sellin some fur to a buyer and he had a set of square jaw Montgomery coil springs. I caught my first few coyotes in them and loved them.
Like a lot of things they aren't all that easy to come by anymore so I have learned to love John Graham's coyote specials and every paw in them reminds me of my start land trappin.
What"s good for me may not be good for the weak minded. Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449611
Yesterday at 09:16 AM
Yesterday at 09:16 AM
|
Joined: Jun 2007
Illinois
foxkidd44
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Jun 2007
Illinois
|
Gotta be the 1.5 longspring for me.
Stand by your principles, Stand by your guns, and victory complete and permanent is sure at last. Abraham Lincoln
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449641
Yesterday at 10:13 AM
Yesterday at 10:13 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Oregon
beaverpeeler
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Oregon
|
Victor 1.5 longsprings for nutria. Was getting $3 for carcass nutria which would buy me another trap at the local hardware store. Pretty soon I had 8 or more!
My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449657
Yesterday at 10:36 AM
Yesterday at 10:36 AM
|
Joined: Aug 2011
Craigmont, Idaho
marty weatherup
OP
trapper
|
OP
trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Craigmont, Idaho
|
The #1 long spring. The trap that launched many a trapper’s careers. My trapping adventure began in 1969 at the age of 10. Out of jealousy I suppose. My brother’s birthday is in January. He is a year and a half younger than me. He asked for and received three #1 long springs for his birthday. We had a mild winter that year and the pond behind the house on our dairy farm was open in places. It held a couple of small muskrat huts. Brad managed to catch two muskrats in short order. He sold them green to a local buyer for the princely sum of $3 each. Being fairly good at math I realized my brother was onto something here. Our small dairy didn’t afford Dad the ability to shower us with large allowances so $6 in 1969 was a pile of money to a 9 and 10 year old. I didn’t make a fuss about it but did ask Dad if I could get three traps since Brad was going to be able to make money trapping and I, not having traps or enough allowance to buy them, would not. I offered to pay him back out of future fur sales. My birthday is in August so Dad said he’d buy me the traps but that I should not expect a birthday present in August. I was fine with that as long as I could start trapping and raking in the money. So with a half dozen muskrat traps between us and the enthusiasm and energy of youth, Brad and I joined forces to battle the mighty muskrats. There was a ditch in our lower field that ran through our land and across the neighbor’s fields. We also had a larger pond back on one chunk of ground next to the railroad. When the season ended we had taken 18 muskrats. We thought we were rich. With the sale of a few of the first rats we bought a few rat stretchers and another half dozen #1 long springs. So began our trapping adventures. We trapped together a few years. I kept at it all through high school and on into my adult life. Brad was a jock and ended up drifting away from the trapping. I’m 14 (the good looking one with all the hair) and Brad is 13 in this picture. Some of our fall catch including the first coyote I wrote of in my first post. ![[Linked Image]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Fur/i-GBNPrV3/0/LcBkMQGTpM76nSrf2WfjRXbkRm5XPNqZxjhnJgBQg/L/3-L.jpg)
Trail cameras and fresh snow have broke a lot of trapper’s hearts.
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449680
Yesterday at 11:15 AM
Yesterday at 11:15 AM
|
Joined: Jun 2015
rogers city mi.
jeff karsten
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Jun 2015
rogers city mi.
|
#1 victor longspring my Dad had a few Somewhere in the early 60's I acquired Hardings "Trappers Companion" even though it was summer I set 2 of them in a trail leading under an old outbuilding next morning there was a skunk in one I wont go into dispatch but I gotterdone flushed with success I noticed the other chain going under the shed Never realizing in my wildest dreams I'd caught my first double i pulled out an irate skunk I learned many things like how to live without being able to breathe or see and standing naked in the front yard with ice cold water and scrub brush while my Mom watched with her hands folded and pointing for another application of suds I remember this even as i contemplate the price of skunk hides today
olden tyred
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449752
Yesterday at 02:16 PM
Yesterday at 02:16 PM
|
Joined: Feb 2018
Hi-Line Montana
Wild_Idaho
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Feb 2018
Hi-Line Montana
|
Only been trapping 7 years but my first trap was a Victor #2 double long. Caught my first and my second mink with it in blind sets. Still have it and run it. I also have about 8 dozen #1 long springs of B&L, Victor short spring and Triumph. Catch a lot of rats in them and like using them, even though there are much better options nowadays.
Real name Eric The sharpest hammer in the box of crayons.
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449775
Yesterday at 03:02 PM
Yesterday at 03:02 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2010
Central, SD
Law Dog
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Dec 2010
Central, SD
|
I still use Victor #3 and #4 longsprings for my beaver and cat trapping just the traps I like to use for those critters. I run #3 longs for yotes in the right ground conditions but most soil conditions here doesn’t make them practical often.
Was born in a Big City Will die in the Country OK with that!
Jerry Herbst
|
|
|
Re: Classic traps
[Re: marty weatherup]
#8449787
Yesterday at 03:35 PM
Yesterday at 03:35 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
St. Louis Co, Mo
BigBob
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
St. Louis Co, Mo
|
I still have and use a bunch of B&L and Northwoods traps. Very well made and did what they were supposed to do.
Every kid needs a Dog and a Curmudgeon.
Remember Bowe Bergdahl, the traitor.
Beware! Jill Pudlewski, Ron Oates and Keven Begesse are liars and thiefs!
|
|
|
|
|