Thought this might be interesting… what’s the one most overhyped trapping gadget you guys have ever seen??

Skunk smell in lure.

You mean like trap the trappers?
A good web site, it's gotta be good than.

To many to list, but got me thinking

1 ounce bottles of lure.

Night latches.
Really though, not much gets over-hyped when it comes to trapping, trappesr are pretty quick to dismiss hype imo.

Lure

Most websites have catch pictures and testimonials form customers.
the “perfect “ lure is what works locally and confidence in it.
Takes some trial.
I disagree with swamps on 1ozs.
It’s how you find what works.

Because you say overhyped, it’s gotta be lure. It’s everywhere. Having said that, I think I’m kinda a lure collector……lol. I’ve got lots, but never cracked the bottle open on 3/4 of them.
On a side note, you go find yourself a good skunky lure and never look back…….lol. Until the next year.
My biggest savings was making my own little concoctions. That stuff sure ain’t cheap!
If you have beaver and your momma has a kitchen, you got all you need to make world class lure.

Blue Buckets

Vechile maintenance.
Just catch more furs and buy new trucks.
With ac of course.

I got to sell these coons to pay for this truck
to catch more coon.

Try and smile.

What Shakeyjake said.

Laminated jaws and base plated traps. 90% of the time it's overkill if you run short chains with multiple swivels. I've never had a trap (even dukes) blow-up from an eastern coyote when running short chains.

Lure is over stated----hard work ==results

Swivels on the end of a snare.

Saw pink buckets at Lowe’s recently. Might work for mink.

Another couple of items;
Otter lure
Cat lure
Marten lure, although I do use it.
Imo, location is the most important consideration for those three animals.

I had a feeling that the blue buckets would make an appearance!!! lol.

tinfoil hats to protect you too....

The trap has to be xx inches here and x inches there.

Tire sets.

Post hole sets.

The low spot..

Trail sets no good,
put a DH at both ends.

probably all the books and lures there could be 15 lures for coyote that are good and since the company that has the catalog doesn't want to discredit a product they are all equal in they're opinions even though they aren't equal. all of the books at least the $5-25 books are generally worthless.

Coyote trappers that think they are wolf trappers.

Ah, there are so many already addressed- Bic, Boone Laine, Wright Brothers & others for me to pick&choose beyond! Commonsense and knowledge of inherent behaviors will lead a trapper in the honest & correct direction.

I'm not a wolf or coyote trapper; I've only ever caught a couple of each. However, experienced wolf trappers I know that have experience with both, tell me they have more problems catching coyotes than wolves. The well know wolf trapper Coke Wallace told me that he thinks it's because wolves are arrogant and coyotes act like they have a guilty conscience, and are always nervous.

Well I am gonna take my tin foil hat and blue bucket and go home

In my area wolves are easier to trap than coyotes. Fresh snow shows how many times coyotes walk past sets, not so often with wolf tracks.

Gang setting every location like your on a dead pile in SW Ks.

Good one!

The fur market....

Actually, that’s what I thought. Then I added barrel swivels to the Lightsout set up. Not to allow twisting, because they’re normally dead before it gets ugly, but to help getting the snare loop to sit nice. It all depends how you’re tieing off the thing. Mine start off about 7-9’ long with an eye loop at one end big enough to feed the spring through. I choke this on a tree and wrap the remainder of the cable to keep it short as possible, but after wrapping, the cable gets a bit of a twist. The barrel swivel makes it nice and easy, snare dangles just nicely.
I’d like to say that that was my idea, but I found out Corey Grover himself did it before me……lol

Older one popular in the 70s & 80's replace trap with a clean one when trapping fox, BS

Trying to get kids involved.

I wonder about wax dirt. I personally have never used it and I know it probably definitely has its place but I've seen some issues in my own area when people have used waxed dirt and have talked to other that have seen issues with it. Now in the worst conditions it might be the best option but it seems like some trappers think its an absolute necessity if your tempts might get to 31°.

Trappers cap. Bought one years ago then learned how to proficiently bed a trap.

Also BS when trapping coyotes....just reset it.

"Mink run a 20 mile circuit". "Mink dont like to get their feet wet".

If gotta disagree on this one.

Set a dirty trap back in the ground here right now and you WILL get dug.

Offset jaws is another good one.

Offset jaws x2. Lost too many critters from a pea sized chunk of frozen in the jaw. Or a pebble that went through the sifter

Maybe animal squeakers to use at a set. I also agree with so many lures.

I don’t see that here...never have....when setting trap right back where it was when it caught the 1st coyote...in that coyote saturated dirt.

You must have smarter coyotes than me.

To the original post,..Bishops( sp) trapping instructions, did the rounds during the fur boom. Dan, maybe?
Doubled up with Milligan and others, I think, use to Add previous to convention datelines.Motel times.
There were a couple Bishop methods at the time,..one was considered fraudulant and misleading at the time.
A booklet was established, similar to a larger format as O'gorman put out.
I am sure there are some on here that remember that time, that may contribute more?

Canine urine

Is a otter toilet a lure?

^^^^^
No, that's a location.

nite latch

trap brand

Long chains.

Not sure if they were over hyped, but remember the soup can trap?

My brother went to one of Dan Bishops instruction classes, the only thing I remember was he taught to set two traps at every fox set. No coyotes around yet. I think he went to Rochester Mn.

I always thought body grip setters were all hype but as I get older maybe not. I actually picked a set out of a metal scrap dumpster but haven’t used them yet.

NAFA top lot coon award….

I do indeed remember Dan bishop
Although I never went to any of his seminars, I do remember seeing his ads in magazines.

I do remember the soup can trap, it was made nearby here in SE Nebraska. I caught a few coons on them but they didn’t last long the springs got weak after just a couple seasons and I had a couple buckets full of soup cans I’d saved up to go recycle.

Those plastic coyote and fox feet you are supposed to stomp it around your trap

Im pretty sure you wanted to "stomp" it right over the pan so the animal followed suit.

Trap bed cookie cutters.

Actually . . . that did improve the chances of catching red fox in snow in trails around cattail marshes back in the 60s and 70s when we had a good red fox population. I used the foot of a fox to make the mark and always did it right on the snow on the pan. But, you're right, there was no stomping over the pan.

Big pans
Colored objects
Secret sets
Secret methads
Colored lures
How important targeting alpha males is in a depredation setting
How important alpha males are

Taking a breeder right off the hop makes things a lot easier with wolf trapping...... if your goal is to take out the entire pack. That ain't overhyped.

Those track maker thingies.
Was suggested for kids to bring extra t-shirt to youth field day.
Print tracks with ink onto them.
Fun learning, right?
Wrong. Was suggested we be liable for inking up their car seats.
How is a kid supposed to have fun anymore?

I'm only three years in and still inexperienced, but I would say the top three overhyped things are as follows:
Lure: I have yet to catch a coyote on lure (yes, I'm inexperienced) Imo a well-placed snare outperforms every time, and lighter too!
Trapping in the water for coon: I like to be near water, but a DP on a trail works better imo.
Finding 'the' spot for a coyote trap: I'd rather gang set snares on 20 faint trails than try to find 'the spot' every time. I took five coyotes off of roughly 60 acres with just snares, including a really old smart one that knew where all my traps are.

A caveat to all I've said above; I am yet inexperienced and my opinions may change as a branch out and cover more territory and get more traps out.

I think with experience you will learn that pocket sets in the water will by far out perform DPs. Pockets will also catch bonus rats and mink.

Speaking about coyotes not a wolf guy

Just a couple more drywall finishing jobs and I can afford to trap till I’m broke again…

Not a thing but an idea...

"A coyote won't work a dirt hole with a backing higher than 6 inches."

Baloney.

Agree! And the plastic trapper's cap to prevent dirt from getting under you trap pan as you bed the trap and thus eliminate the need for a pan cover.

Oh I almost forgot about colored or glow in the dark bait/lure!


And yeah, the whole “you gotta get the alpha first”. Haha

Guess who the easiest one to get is!?!? The bold aggressive “alpha”!

I've never used screen pan covers but why the love for them? They're more expensive than many other things, more work involved with cutting them, and it looks like it's a little difficult to get them to lay flat. Isn't wax paper, coffee filters, cupcake wrappers, or polyfil just easier all around?

I’m really trying to stay well behaved on this one

Pan caps, trap setters, white colored trap dip.

Sullivans trap pan weight tester!

Coni-bears stands also.

And drowning rods

Not setting traps barehanded….or setting undyed,untaxed traps

Les, now they’re taxing your traps in Minnesota too? Things are getting out of hand up there

Those are both speed things. Not necessary, but it's not that they don’t work.

I agree. you can't beat a pocket set for coons, plus they catch mink and rats.

4 coils store more heat and are freeze resistant.

After a couple thousand (or less) you can recognize the alphas,
or just ask em.

That statement tells me that you’re not inexperienced and could teach a few old timers something…….but they’re usually stubborn, set in there ways and that’s it. That’s where you come in and clean out the rest of the trouble causers…..lol




What?

Rigid and breathable.

Both very positive attributes.

Foreign t
raps may be subject to Tariffs I hear….

How are lures a hype? Anyone who has tested scents knows some are way more attractive than others.

And every manufacturer has that special ingredient that will increase your catch.

offset jaws being easier on an animal.Same pressure is still on the foot.

Rubber jaws!

Id put my money on a water guy over dryland guy for numbers the majority of the time.

Maybe it is hype, but I believe that coyotes living in wolf country are nervous and a bit more difficult to catch.

Can't sell it if you don't advertise, I guess. I actually don't see as many saying their stuff is absolutely, without a doubt, the best ever made anymore. But yeah, many formulas are probably pretty close from one lure maker to the next.

On some lewers the label is the only difference.

Can make money fur trapping

Lol sucks to have to trap southern fur.

That’s my pick too. Another heavy item that causes more work and make too much noise pounding it into the ground.

Zip code grading can be a (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman)!

Having organized and managed our WTA demos for the last 20 years and 4 nationals we have had 464 demos during that time of which I have been present for probably 350-400 of those. Yes some are the same presenters but after one has seen and heard dozens of canine or dozens of coon demos etc. one sees that even though many presenters have taken instruction, gone to FTA etc. and learned for decades on the line there is some conformity but almost all develop a method or style that fits them and their regions the best. Yes there are many that have gadgets, lures, baits, urines etc. they have developed, or use and promote. Is this over hyping? I think overhyping falls on the one hearing, seeing and or reading and not so much the originator. After dozens of demos one can gain a lot and sometimes it is just a one sentence tidbit the presenter does not even know it is a neat thing as he/she has done it for so long. Many have great ideas that never get published, or sold etc. It is amazing how ingenious many people are. one thing I have noticed over the last two decades is that now more frequently the presenters with items to market don't promote the items as much, they invite trappers to their booths. I believe they realize builiding relationships and finding out about others situations can help them move product and keep longer marketing situations.

Bryce

Been control trapping for a long time. Will salvage fur during winter months. Fur value definitely varies greatly by region.

I've likely made way more money on Georgia fur than you have on Canadian fur.

Albeit it took a higher number of pelts to do so....

Its good for the hatter market.lol.

Wish someone would have told me lures are over hyped sooner