I was recently given a mixture of old victor and herters square jaws. Mostly #3 size. I’m not really interested in taking the time or spending the money to modify them to be comparable to modern traps.

I know the #2s are a good mink trap with the expanded pan.

Does anyone have any good uses for the old #3s?

I use any of them that I find for muskrat traps. I use them on my rat floats, so the cheaper the better. I also like how most of the time, the springs are worn out.

They make a pretty fair killer trap for under ice muskrats. I used to use them that way as a young trapper. I’d wire them to a stake with a slice of potato wired to the pan. It would catch them right behind the ears. Back then we had to be a minimum of five feet from a muskrat hut. I’d put a few around the hut several feet out and did fairly well with them.

The number threes also make a good mink trap with a barkers pan