Victor vs bridger 120

I’m looking to expand my marten traps for next year and am currently running ldl traps out of Canada with magnum jaws and 2 ctm 155s. They’re all great but a little expensive. I would love to stay with US made traps so am wanting the Victors. Just wondering how they kill? I had sleepy creek 120s first and while they did ok I wasn’t a fan. The Bridgers are intriguing because of the jaws and the price. Anyone have experience with these brands.

Bridger is not on the aihts list of approved traps for marten in Canada.This could be either it did not kill efficiently or maybe because it wasnt forwarded for testing.
The only victor approved for marten in Canada is the 120-3 stainless steel.I want to try these traps in the future(likely expensive).
The old 120 victor and BMI traps that we used for marten years ago were garbage compared to the aihts approved traps which are much stronger and kill reliably thus less damage.Doesnt take much for a struggling marten to wreck itself in a bodygrip.

The bridgers are notorious for having small eyes. While it certainly gets them closed tight they are a PIA to set as they hang up bad on the hinge welds.

I had a few dozen BRIDGERS. They would not stay set no matter how I reworked them. The spring eye is at an odd angle and combined with the magnum jaw there is incredible tension on the dog. You cannot get it to the 3 rd notch. Worse yet the safeties do not stay.

I was caught by those things will setting them repeatedly. Or I would walk away and hear them snap off.

To be clear I use Bridger 160s,220s,280s and 330s. Just say no to the 120s. Stick with CTMs in my opinion

I have a couple dozen Bridger 120s and a few 150s (I think, their single spring 5x5 that was offered free when you order $X worth of stuff). They both work, but double springs are not only stronger but stabilize in boxes just by bending the springs, easily. The 120s are stout and have very short springs and are a pain to set by hand when new. Also the safeties, flip opposite directions on the two springs, so there is no way to put them in a vertical box without one safety falling off as soon as you lift the trap up. They are what I would buy if buying more new marten traps though, the price is very good and they work well, just the couple non user-friendly drawbacks I mentioned. The jaws close tight and if you get a thumb (or both thumbs, speaking from experience) in them they hurt and are a pain to get out of. Personally I don't find completely closing jaws on bodygrips necessary or desireable, we aren't trying to trap cigarette papers! And if I have a nontarget stick its paw in a marten box I personally would rather have it pull out. But pretty much all your new traps are going to have magnum style jaws.

Only Victors I have used are either the old square jaws or a dozen 110s I bought as a teenager when they first came out with the eared jaws. Both work but the old square jawed 120s I have are fairly weak, not really that much stronger than the eared 110s. I've heard many people claim that 110s can cause fur damage on marten, I haven't ever seen this with my 110s but went to mostly 120s because they are easier to stabilize.

I have a few miscellaneous 120s, mostly older traps that I use, square jaw Victors, Dukes, Northwoods, one Belisle, and a couple I don't know the brand of. The Bridgers are stronger than all of them (maybe not stronger than the Belisle, but harder to set by hand), and cheaper to buy new than any of the others that are still available new.

I've never had one snap on its own. On the other hand I was caught a few times when I first started using them, and I always use the outside notch on them, the other two notches are just for looks in my opinion, because you can't squeeze the jaws together enough to set it on them due to the spring eyes, and the safeties are put on in opposite directions on the two springs so at least one always comes off.

No experience with the Bridger’s but do have some Victor that I’m not terribly fond of for reason above. I don’t really see much difference in the regular Vic vs the stainless Vic. Have some old BMI that I like for spring strength but not the offset spring eyes. Whenever I replace any I go with Belisle, but that doesn’t help you if you wanna keep it made in the USA.

I'm no fan of Bridgers either.
IMO buy the Belisles and even though you'll get fewer traps for the money at least they will work great and that will put more money in your pocket to buy more traps.

In idaho we don’t have to worry about that but that’s why I didn’t like the sleepy creek and bought ldl after I sold them.

Thanks bearcat, I’ve read a lot that the bridger 120s are a pia to set, have you had any issues like stated on this thread. If I did use victors they’d be factory new as they’re still offered for sale even tho victor halted production cause inflation made steel prices rocket. I don’t like using old worn out traps for most things just cause the investment usually isn’t worth it.

I think I’ll probably just buy the ldl 120 mag out of Canada like I already have. I wanted to live the victors to support US workers but also won’t buy an inferior product, and would rather give my money to our northern neighbors than to the overseas brand. The ldl imo work just as good as belisle ( my cousin bought some for his traps that we ran together for marten) but the ldl mag is cheaper Canada made and has magnum jaws.

ADC, what did you not like about the bridgers?

No issues other than already stated, safeties one could be taken off and switched around, I should do that. Just a pain to set new then, and after they have been set a few times they seem to become easier to set but not noticeably weaker grip. I didn't know they weren't approved in Canada and am a little surprised because MTP was on the ball about having most of their traps approved. I don't think it is because they don't kill efficiently, perhaps they thought the Canadian 120 market was already saturated so they didn't think it was worth submitting them? I've heard that Canada suspended testing on some species traps because they deemed there to already be enough approved options, I don't know if there is any truth to this rumor or not. I do always set my Bridgers on the outside notch of the dog, they are very difficult to set on the middle notch and not possible to set on the inside notch. I've never had a problem with their functioning, staying set, or killing efficiently, just not as user friendly as some to set. To me the price makes up for that, others may have different opinions.

The main problem was the spring eyes as someone else mentioned. Makes them a pain to set and if that spring eye gets around the corner of the trap they are a real bear.

ADC that sounds like the exact problem I had with the 155 bridger and that got on my nerves real bad I had about half a dozen of them for a short time and got rid of them.

Bearcat that all makes sense. Definitely going to have to ponder on it long and hard before I pull the trigger

Honestly the Duke 120's are better than the Bridgers IMO. I don't use many of them though.

That makes sense, have you tried them for marten or mink?

Only for mink, and not a ton of them. I haven't used any for probably 3-4 years now though because of the market.

I’ve used quite a few different types of 120s. My least favorite BY FAR are the Bridgers . As others have mentioned the small spring eyes make them a real pain to set, and I do not like the safeties. I’ve also had trouble keeping them set. I definitely wouldn’t recommend them. I do like bridger traps, but the 120s not so much.

That's my opinion of them also for what it's worth.

I have had some fisher in 120 bridgers that were active much longer than they would have been in a sauvageau. I have been moving towards all my fisher/marten bodygrips to sauvageau, second are belisles. $13.50 a piece at the snare shop for sauvageau 120s. They’re great traps

The Victor 60s are a different animal that their 120. Great mink and martin trap. Just to small for fisher.

Bridger are alot better then Duke .

How so? What is a lot better about the Bridgers in your experience?