We don't have the same laws as you.

In our marten sets we will catch a fisher every now and then in the 120s and the Belisle is far superior than the others in relation to fisher IMHO.

Yes there is a reward to faster dispatch, less chance of fur damage.

Any 120 will probably kill a marten fast enough to prevent fur damage from being alive too long. However, in many cases you need the animal to flop a bit to come off the pole or limb so they swing free and are elevated in the air to prevent fur damage by rodents and shrews or other marten. I've seen way too many pictures on here where dead marten are still hung up in the box instantly killed apparently. This is not an exact science.

I'm not saying I've ner had a marten hung up in the box but I don't recall one. With our limit being so low my sample size over 30 years probably isn't as high as your best year.

As a recreational trapper I tend to check them every couple of days and that helps to alleviate the potential for vermin complications.

Gary I'm surprised you don't like the dogs. A good friend of mine has shown me the light and I'm replacing thedogs on all non Belisle 330s to Belisle ones.

Im considering a marten trapping trip to Wyoming
Im 70 so it might be a one and done thing. Its just on my bucket list.
I could buy Dukes and spend the xtra $200 on a trap permit. I have a dozen or so Victors but Im not crazy about them. The springs are too twisty and flexible.

Why are you talking about footholds?

Belisle every time. Best body grip. Period.

Somebody on here was worried about finding live marten on their internut trapline. If you find one, they are not that time consuming to dispatch anyway.

Since Duke seems to be copying the Belisle traps, maybe they think the Belisles are a better trap than standard Dukes.

Well, I switched from having around 100 120's of various brands including a few dozen converted 110s. Then I took the plunge after handling a Belisle a friend of mine used.
I bought a dozen to try and was hooked.
I sold all the mis-matched and cried once. I standardized all my traps, including 280s and 330s....all Belisle. And I love both the safeties and dogs.
I built all new boxes to fit the Belisle traps, so no more fussing around with fit, different safeties different springs, etc. Everything was the same.
I did the same thing with my wolverine traps and small footholds.
For me, redundant same worked well. Still does.

I use belisle conibears. No live Marten in my traps.

Mic drop.

Go with the belisle....they are hard hitting ..which is needed for fisher.

Caught plenty of fisher with them

How bout Bridgers? Theyre cheaper than Dukes! Their 120s are made in Taiwan.

MTP owns Bridger Traps... they are doing a re-design of the Bridger line of body grippers. The newly redesigned 330s are being introduced now with the 280s,220s, 160s 150/155s 120s 110 are being re-done down the road. Bigger spring eyes and tighter trigger/dogs. Contact MTP for more info

I agree

When the springs are set do the line up like dukes or are they offset like victors? Only matters in boxes for slot size and stability.

The problem with Dukes,IMO, is the looseness of the trigger assembly. If you flatten the barrel a little to lessen the engagement of the dog , you can make things worse. I solved it by putting on Minnesota brand triggers before I attached my pan bracket….but I tuned 7 dozen of these traps that were supplied to me and bought another 4 dozen Beslisles and put pans on those. The Beslisles are superior in tuning and overall performance. I made “several “ hundred catches last spring/summer with the Dukes, and just performed an overhaul of tuning on those and the Beslisles and tucked them away for the upcoming season.

I’ll eventually just run Beslisles and sell the Dukes.

I have no complaints about my dukes, they have always worked well for me, even got an otter in a 160, set for rats,

Yes, the Dukes are suitable for fur trapping with the stock trigger assembly, but not so much for the work I was doing…apples/ oranges.