Setting CDR Beaver Traps Safely

I don't belong to the CDR club and I hope I never do. I saw what my friend's finger looked like after he got caught in one. Setting 330's and 280's doesn't stress me like the CDR's. I belong to the 330 club and am confident I can get out if it happens again.

I respect the CDR's greatly and I am probably just a little bit afraid of them. I set and use them when needed but I am especially nervous if I am by myself when using them. I occasionally trap some beaver with a friend or a friend may ride along with me here and there but I am usually alone when trapping beaver and sometimes I am way off the road on an oil well road or farm lane.

When I use them I pull the pan up high so that I can safely bed them. Once satisfied with the trap placement, I pick the trap up and pull the pan down into the set position. I then replace the trap carefully into the spot where I bedded it. Obviously the water is muddy and I don't mess with them any more at that point.

Does anyone else do it differently or have any other suggestions? Is there a safety device of some sort that I haven't heard about that can be used.

I actually think the CDR is the safest of the beaver footholds to use. I'm never nervous about setting and placing them. I like the way the pan wants to stay in the up position until it's pulled down past the button on the dog. I can easily do this under the trap, and not on the topside.

I definitely pull the pan down from under the jaw.

I have had to start using my CDR's more and more the last few years. I would rather catch them in body grippers but it seems like I am running into more and more educated beavers that know what a 330 is.

They make one hand setters for them.

Except if you sit down on them, lol.

How do you anchor them? Do you use rods or cable? If you use cable or wire, maybe carry a cheapo pair of cable cutters in your pocket so you can cut it if you do get caught? Be easy to get out of once up on dry land.

Yup, push the pan up and flip the loose jaw up under the pan and it's safe to carry anywhere. Set them at the truck and don't pull the pan down until it's in the trap bed. With the nightlatch bump it can be done safely under water by feel.
I don't know any other beaver foothold you can do that with.

Best beaver trap on earth

Who sells the CDR? Thanks

Wildlife Control Supplies as the WCS Pro. They bought out the design several years ago. This is the third generation of them now.

Big thing on the CDRs is making sure that the bump on the dog isnt too close to end of the dog. Ive had to file a few back as it made the traps pretty hairy.

Yes, I have dressed mine with the file, because the traps are old now.

I have been using drowning rods the last couple years.

I was back in an old strip mine today 1/4 mile off the road. There were no good 330 sets and the ice was too thin to walk over to the lodge built by the high wall. I put in 2 sets with CDR's and got to thinking, what if !!

Randy and Les, I wondered if a dogless CDR would be possible and as efficient?

THE BIG THING, is make sure you have several pounds of pound tension. I set the trap and I just had to go back and check the dang thing, to make sure it was bedded securely. I pushed on the leavers and due to low or no pan tension the pan fell and set the trap off. One minuet I have a great set the next I had a great catch. My dang finger. This was when I quit using CDR's, which I have started using again. Dang trap is really fast and you have better have some setters to get yourself or, or some critter.
It's a really great trap. I only use two trap beaver trapping. I have no time for misses or pull outs. CDR's and No - BS extreme Beaver traps. Ones dog on pit and the other dog less.

I set my cdr s put them in my backpack and go…..

Best beaver trap

These have become mandatory on my beaver gear both footholds and conis. Push come to shove I can unhook and walk out.

Now there's a good idea!

Jakes are dogless. The way I set them with my hands, they would be hard to safely set, if even possible, under the jaw. I have never tried to set them that way. NO WAY would I want to set a CDR the way I set Jakes.

Done that for yeara, especially when i was trapping straight up and down river banks and i had to set traps at the tip of the bank and then climb back down the bank to set.

I don't worry at all about getting caught in a CDR. It doesn't hurt all that much. It does get a little dicey once you reach the deep end of the drowning cable...

I love CDRs you can set them in a warm dry shop the night before and then haul them around. Like Boss man says they might be the safest beaver trap I know of.


Down in the water and half cold I'm betting the 1 hand setters pay for themselves on the first remake tho

If they've got a downside it's getting the beaver out of them and reset.

Yep the only one, I like the trap

However you set them, I am confused about pulling them up after bedding them.

Developing a trap holder the past few years, I have used every coil beaver trap on the market, and they are actually all great traps. Get a good latch onto a beaver with any one of them, and they will probably be there.

What keeps CDRs in my truck is that pan setup, and the fact that I can set the trap (I use one hand setters) and then keep that pan popped up. I drop the trap or lower it with my rake to the place I will be bedding it and slide my boot across the loose jaw to the pan and step on the trap. If that does not bed it, like a rock or stick or hard ground makes it unstable, I pull it up (pan still safely straight up) and rake and stomp a bed. Drop the trap back, foot under the pan again, stand and maybe bounce and twist a little, and repeat until it is solid. Then when the trap is all stepped-on solid, I flip my rake around to the handle end and slowly push the pan down until I hear and feel that “click”. Walk away.

If the other traps had that same pan setup I would not hesitate to use them, but the CDR (called WCS 7.5 now) just feels safer to me and easier to bed than the rest.

Do your CDR’s click when you push the pan down? Why do you pull the traps back up after bedding? Not that Im saying you are wrong for doing that, if you show me a better way maybe I will switch!

Yes they click when I pull the pan down. The reason I pull them up is, with the muddy water, I don't feel comfortable trying to push the pan down when I can't see the trap. I have tried your method in the past using a stick, and I set the trap off more times than not.

You and a couple others have mentioned one hand setters. I'm not sure what you are talking about. I have CDR setters that Carl Jones made. There is a setter for each side that hooks onto the wire lever. Are these what you are talking about?

I made this video for Dave years ago, he makes setters for almost any trap.....

Thanks ADC. I have never seen those before. Definitely different from what I have.

And here's the standard setters.

Warrior those are what I have. I set them the same way. Setting the trap is not the issue. Getting the trap properly bedded to my liking and being careful not to accidentally fire the trap are the issues I have.

I would suggest you check the dog “night latch”. Once the pan “clicks” into the set position, it should take another 1/8 or maybe even 3/16” of downward pan travel before it fires. This gives you enough “wiggle room” to click it down without firing. It also seems to be the the right amount of travel to ensure that the beaver is fully committed before the trap fires, giving deeper better holds. On a number of mine I have had to file the little flat a bit to make it longer. You actually lay the corner of the file against the “bump” and file so you arent making the end of the dog thinner, but making that little flat a bit bigger. I dont have one in front of me to measure, but im thinking from memory that the little flat should be around 3/64” of an inch. Also, to make the step down crisp and sharp so it really clicks. One other thing that might help is to make sure the dog is centered on the pan. If it is off to one side, you get a little less travel before it lets go. The only other thing that comes to mind that has been an issue for me is to clean any gobbed wax from the dog and pan where they engage.
When i push the pan down, I get a GI Joe kung foo iron grip on the rake with both hands and use the slow but powerful approach as I push down. Every once in a while one might trip, but it hasn’t happened in a while.

I would be less concerned with that trap than with the MB-750s that I use. I use Dave Sheldon’s One Hand Setters with the 750s. The two pieces of the setter are tied together and always within easy reach with either hand. Using the setters builds confidence for one handed extraction. They are invaluable to me. I ordered a backup set in case I ever lose mine. They are also great for safely and easily adjusting the trap in the open position.

Warrior - thank you for sharing the great idea for the easily removable but secure safety feature! I will add the finger locking carabiner to all beaver footholds and 330s.

Gosh! Someone actually did that???

I've used several large beaver traps and feel the safest are the CDRs. If you have the setters, it's rather simple to set. I set it pretty much the way you do with the posi pan up high. Then reach under the loose jaw to pull the pan down until it clicks. Even if it would accidently fire, with your finger under the jaw, it won't catch you. Changing your underwear will be the only damage you should experience.

None other than the boss himself. Grabbed his fat wallet if I recall correctly. But he tells the story better. BTW, ask him what the D in CDR stands for.

CDR stands for Carl, Don, and Randy. At least that's what I was always told. They were the 3 guys who manufactured the trap originally.

CDR=caught dobbins rear

I knew it was Paul. He admitted to it a while back. I don't recall the story anymore. Just remember it was funny.

I would sure try them out. I havent tried the newer version of the cdr yet, and havent heard any reviews either, dont know if they hold beaver as well, if the springs are as strong...?

Boss man must be busy. I tossed out the bait hoping he would weigh in with some CDR knowledge. I know he shared it before but seeing as how we got new folks I thought it would do some good to hear from one who was there.

I don't see how a dogless would work and still retain the best feature of pushing the pan high. The only concept I can think of is some sort of two piece pan dogless catch with the pan pivoted on that. Over complicated.

I agree , I guess on that great pan feature, but I like the jawspread look of the CDR the way it is .

I see no reason to make a CDR dogless. If you want dogless use one of the dogless traps. My experience has not been that CDRs necessarily hold beaver better than the others, they all seem to do that just fine for me. The pan setup is exactly why I prefer them.

The only reason to even consider a dogless anything is to do away with the dog. Dogs are vulnerable to damage and why I prefer dogless on coyote traps but I've never had a CDR dog damaged but they go down the rod so its all over quick. If I did I'm sure the dog could be beefed up from underneath.