Footholds: 5.75 inch inside jaw spread maximum for land traps....measured same direction dog lies. Any jaw spread over this must be set underwater.

Bodygrips: Jawspread in excess of 9.5 inches must be set in water or within 10 feet of water.

Snares: only legal for beaver and must be set in water or within 10 feet of water. Any animal, other than beaver, caught in snare cannot be legally possessed.

550s are good and B2 dogless are better.

www.georgiawildlife.com

We have all three in the bed of the truck right now. My favorites, in order: Bridger #2, Duke #2, MB550s.

Bridger- Ours are modified with inside and outside laminations, and baseplates. They're a beast of a trap, and the only problem I ever have out of them is an occasional bent dog (which could be remedied by replacing with a heavier dog).

Duke- These are basically a replica of the Bridger, with one exception - the "dirt gap", which is the space between the jaws below the levers. Duke's dirt gap is considerably smaller than Bridger's, which was supposedly leading some to have trouble with the jaws closing all the way. My husband ground out the dirt gap a little bigger to be more like the Bridger's, and with the inside outside lams and baseplates... the only way I can tell the Dukes from the Bridgers in the truck is by reading the pan.

MB550- I know most of the people here love the MB550. I don't. They are always the last traps left in the truck after a day of setting, as we both just avoid them while grabbing traps to set. I can't point to one specific reason, there are several. Sometimes, the levers won't go down far enough to allow you to set the trap. Often the dog will be bent. Sometimes, even with the levers all the way down, the dog won't clear the jaws enough to set. Way too often, the pan will be all the way down, and the trap not fired. Sometimes, the coyotes foot will be cut. I have nothing but problems with the things.

We have all three in the bed of the truck right now. My favorites, in order: Bridger #2, Duke #2, MB550s.

Bridger- Ours are modified with inside and outside laminations, and baseplates. They're a beast of a trap, and the only problem I ever have out of them is an occasional bent dog (which could be remedied by replacing with a heavier dog).

Duke- These are basically a replica of the Bridger, with one exception - the "dirt gap", which is the space between the jaws below the levers. Duke's dirt gap is considerably smaller than Bridger's, which was supposedly leading some to have trouble with the jaws closing all the way. My husband ground out the dirt gap a little bigger to be more like the Bridger's, and with the inside outside lams and baseplates... the only way I can tell the Dukes from the Bridgers in the truck is by reading the pan.

MB550- I know most of the people here love the MB550. I don't. They are always the last traps left in the truck after a day of setting, as we both just avoid them while grabbing traps to set. I can't point to one specific reason, there are several. Sometimes, the levers won't go down far enough to allow you to set the trap. Often the dog will be bent. Sometimes, even with the levers all the way down, the dog won't clear the jaws enough to set. Way too often, the pan will be all the way down, and the trap not fired. Sometimes, the coyotes foot will be cut. I have nothing but problems with the things.

We have all three in the bed of the truck right now. My favorites, in order: Bridger #2, Duke #2, MB550s.

Bridger- Ours are modified with inside and outside laminations, and baseplates. They're a beast of a trap, and the only problem I ever have out of them is an occasional bent dog (which could be remedied by replacing with a heavier dog).

Duke- These are basically a replica of the Bridger, with one exception - the "dirt gap", which is the space between the jaws below the levers. Duke's dirt gap is considerably smaller than Bridger's, which was supposedly leading some to have trouble with the jaws closing all the way. My husband ground out the dirt gap a little bigger to be more like the Bridger's, and with the inside outside lams and baseplates... the only way I can tell the Dukes from the Bridgers in the truck is by reading the pan.

MB550- I know most of the people here love the MB550. I don't. They are always the last traps left in the truck after a day of setting, as we both just avoid them while grabbing traps to set. I can't point to one specific reason, there are several. Sometimes, the levers won't go down far enough to allow you to set the trap. Often the dog will be bent. Sometimes, even with the levers all the way down, the dog won't clear the jaws enough to set. Way too often, the pan will be all the way down, and the trap not fired. Sometimes, the coyotes foot will be cut. I have nothing but problems with the things.

I just sold the last of 7 dozen 550’s. I did not sell any of my full mod dogless bridger #2’s.

USMC47 is spot on, they are better in different areas but I find the B2 to be easier to bed and that won it for me. I like the dogless version so much I took a beating selling brand new dog on ones on the trap shed!

With a PIT pan and rod dog the B2 dog on ones are equal to the dogless, but that costs you about 4 bucks per trap, and to get everything to work you will have to do some work on the spring pin location.

For me the choice isB2 dogless with outside lams.

Tom

I think it really boils down to what you get used to. My thoughts are if I have to do a bunch of mods to a trap to get it to be equal to an mb, for the same money I might as well go with an mb. I have cheaper traps for certain areas that I could lose some, predator pros, but I do zero mods and I got into them for a good price.
I bought a new Bridger #2 dogless, it's not for me. Doesn't make it a bad trap, just not what I like. I just got 6 new mb650s to check them out. Tanks for sure but to much trap for my area. At some point I'll move them for more 550s.
Try one of each if you can, different strokes for different folks..

not the duke... I'd prefer the 550 but you may want to try to get your hands on a few bridgers before you make a final decision.