Saw these in Mason City in 2001. Had to be put on a waiting list for production to catch up. Great trap and still using them.

Hope to read about the rest of the story. Unfortunately you haven't even started your story, and the thread is already going a little too fast into the corners. Hopefully you add to the story and it isn't derailed, and deleted before I get home from work this afternoon. G.

I remember meeting you and much of your family at that convention.

My apologies for the delay. Putting 25 years of memories into words takes a little time. I work for a eastern red cedar logging crew and we have been dealing with some major equipment breakdowns as of late.

Thank you all for the comments!

Gary

A few things to mention before I start....

I did not invent the dog proof trap concept. The DP Trap Co, Egg Trap, Duffer's, Coon Cuffs and Bob Best made one before I invented the Grizz Trap.

This story will take awhile and hopefully will be archived once finished.

Please be patient with me....

Who am I?
My name is Gary Bonnot. I have been involved in the fur industry for over 50 years. My involvement started as a trapper, professional fur handler, fur buying and inventing, manufacturing and marketing the Lil' Grizz Get'rz DP coon trap.

Enough about me, on to the history of the Grizz Trap....

It starts around the early 1980's. Coon trapping back then was basically what it took to catch coon....traps, fish and location. Typical coon set was finding a snag or root ball and wiring a piece of fish to a root with the trap underneath with the chain wired to a large root hanging out over the water. Drowning cables were unheard of then. You knew you had a catch since it looked like a bomb went off before you got to the set. Coon was tangled, trap was tangled, oh what fun with a not so happy live coon glaring and daring at you to get closer. Years later I graduated to pocket sets and to stay away from any entanglement issues. I still staked solid at the pocket set and delt with rebuilding the set after each catch. When drowning wire or cables came out, it lessened the need to rebuild or redig the pocket. Then heavy rains and high water issues became problems to deal with. Locations that were hot with tons of coon activity could not be set due to solid rock and such. I always thought there had to be a better way to do things differently. I accepted this is how things are done and kept moving on. At the time I was talking to other coon trappers that were big numbers about how they delt with pocket set issues. Was told that it was an issue they all had to deal with....rain, flooding, headwater, backwater, ground conditions in making pockets, etc. In around 1990, the T&PC had an article about using PVC pipe for an artificial pocket set. I tried it and found success....

More to come .....

Gary

Thanks so far.

... and oh, the drama that ensued. lol

The Victor black hole trap predates all the dog proof traps it's design is basically a dog proof minus the stake. How did you get around patent issues with woodstream ?

Several differences between the Griz trap and Victor’s Black Hole.

The whole line of DP’s Gary made were good traps. The Griz’Gtr, the Sterling Griz, and the V2 Griz. I run all 3 on my line.

Have several dozen and won't buy any of the clones.

That was the first NTA convention id attended since my first one in 1984. The next spring i went to work for the gov. and somehow managed to finagle you out of 6 dozen of those things for our rabies work at the time, you were so far behind on orders at the time i imagine it's taken 25 years to get caught up , lol. Other than having to do a little work on the trigger's they were good to go out of the box. Hard to believe it's been that long ago.......................................

Maybe thats why yer boys are so tough!

How long ago did I make you that full size copy from moose antler?

DanN, to answer your question...

The Black Hole Gopher trap and the Grizz Trap share similar looks but do not share similar functions. The Black Hole is a killer trap. The Grizz Trap is a encapsulated foothold trap. Patents are specific in wording and such.

All for now ...will have more in the morning.

Gary

2002 I think. Still have it! Always been very impressed with your work!

The stabilizing system sucks.

You need to know how to use it and when to do something different.

Gary -
Thank you very much for making these traps. They changed coon trapping and obviously worked well with all the other ones being made these days. No matter what complaints you received, I thank you. I saw the rush on the demand, listened to happy trappers and (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) off trappers that couldn't get exactly what they wanted in the time frame they expected it. I watched your family crank them out by hand at the conventions and watched you donate many to trappers and researchers to test out.
Personally, you were an awesome gentleman who donated the traps for my Masters of Science degree I earned while utilizing your product to conduct my research. I watched you stand behind your product when a bad batch of springs came out - you replaced them at your cost. I know of NO other trap manufacturer that has done that. I encourage you to keep thinking and addressing short comings with your ideas - you definitely changed trapping. Thanks, Keith

PS - I still have all my Lil Griz and do wonder how many ring trigger ones you ever made - I still have all those and really like them. I would bet many on here never knew about them.......

I mentioned I still have and use lil Grizz's, never had a pull out... but I remember early on you were experimenting with a similar design for bobcats, did that ever go through?

Got a big insulated mug of coffee, just took a sip....now to continue....

The PVC pipe I used was 4 inch diameter sch40 x one foot in length. One end was beveled to make it easier to insert into a creek bank. Most of the time I just used my boot and kicked the pipe in place. Reached inside and took the mud plug out and baited with fish pushed deep inside the tube. Bedded a Montgomery #11 with a drowning setup. The weather was good, no water fluctuations and the water was clear. Caught coon like crazy. Oh boy, thought this was the ticket. Had very little bait theft and set remakes due to using drowners. The next year was the opposite...cold weather, high water and major bait theft. The coon did not want to go into the freezing water. The pipes were getting torn out of the ground for the bait and the pipes that were frozen in, the coon were swiping the bait out missing the trap entirely. I changed trap positions, tube positions, moved sets to better options....realized I needed to do something different.

I had read a post on a trapping forum about trappers having better luck using smaller diameter PVC pipe. Specifically one inch and 1-1/4 inch diameter. Supposedly, the coon work harder trying to get the bait out of the tube. So I abandoned the 4 inch tube and spent the next 2 years doing research on which pipe diameter worked best, the height of the tube in the vertical position and the length of the pipes for ground conditions. My plan had changed....I didn't care how many coon I caught, just how the coon worked the pipe.

In 1997...I was about to give up. I was resetting a short line on my line and I would use the length of pipe for the creek ground conditions...short pipe for clay, long pipe for soft loam, etc. As I got to the last set of the day, I reached in the canoe and grabbed the last pipe. Hard clay bank...3 foot long pipe. I did what any trapper would do, beat that pipe in till 8 inches stuck out of the clay. Placed the trap in the water below it and baited the tube with ground up fish. Got finished, pushed off the bank in my canoe and went home. For the next 3 check days, a very curious and determined coon taught me a very valuable lesson....

More to come....

Gary