Trap advice

So my son was bitten by the trapping bug hard. That’s all he talks about. He dug some of my traps out and has been using them. What I am after is to get him set up with more traps and possibly condense down to same brand and style. He wants to trap everything with coons in DP and fish sets as his main target with rats and mink also. He is trying to catch a predator now which I never have done.

What he has
2 dozen Duke DP
1 dozen duke 1.5 DJ
5 sleepy creek #11
3 victor #11 (one needs a pan)
7 #2 DBL I think victor not sure
6 150 size trap
5 Belisle 330
13 110 not sure brand
6 MB 550
3 MB 450
1 victor #4 DBL
A couple colony traps

Would you guys go 1.5 for fish stick sets?
What brand? Leaning toward NO-BS
Can he use the #2 dbl for fish stick sets? We can mod them if you guys tell us how
What 110 would you get? Or would you go bigger for rat and mink?
Stick with 550 for coyote,cat,fox?

Thanks for any help. We want to have a list ready to start getting ready for next season and we are looking to go to a couple conventions this year and get him all set up and ready

He likes the #11 sleepy creeks really well

Those duke 1 1/2, SC #11, and #2's will all be good for coon, mink and muskrat for fish sticks and pocket set
I like victor 110's for rat and mink because of the 4 way trigger

My opinion...for the muskrat trapping go with the larger body grippers like the 150 and 159 style....fill those larger channels.
AND colony traps are excellent for muskrat/mink
Add a few more 330 Belisles and more MB550s and the #11 Bridgers are hard to beat in the water.
Top notch collection for a young trapper...really any trapper.... so far

Those 550s will hold coyotes all day every day. The 450s are reputed to as well, but I have never used any, so can't speak to it. Good job Dadding goes to you!!!

My opinion is don’t go selling everything to buy him one brand. If he sticks with it for a few years and is still on fire, do it then. For now, let him try as many traps as he wants and let him develop a preference

The Duke 1.5 DJ is the top choice for water traps of most coon long-liners that I know. Nothing wrong with the Dukes 110's, I knew a fella who before he passed caught hundreds of mink/year in them and BMI 110's. You can get more Duke 550's for the same money as the MB brand, and they are just as good,,, however you can buy a lot more #1.75 or #2 Dukes for that same money and they hold fox and coyotes too. More sets = more fur. Good luck to you and your son.

Also, Those #2 DLS are more versatile than most folks give them credit for. In the water they will hold anything that steps in them and drown mink and fast with their added weight. Set them in deeper water or on drowners and they are great coon traps as well.

I don't know all your regulations on snares, but they are easier and safer to use than 330's for beaver and on the K9 line they really stack up the fur.

If a person could only have one trap and catch everything from coon to coyote, the mb550 would be it.

Get a bunch of 110’s for muskrat.

Heck, he’s got everything he needs already, lol.
I’d give it a few years and then see if that fire is still there and go with one brand.

I have a doz MB550s and have caught at least 30 coyotes in them with no problems and a few coons, possums and bobcats as well

That is what was recommended by a trapper I highly respect and who has caught a ton of coyotes

Thank you guys. He will be a senior next year and really wants to hit it hard. He would love to even do an out of state trapping trip but heck I wouldn’t know where to start on that. I do know we will be taking some trips next year hopefully hunting but tags are getting tougher to draw. And I am going to burn a lot of vacation running a line with him. It seems sappy but he’s my best buddy and I’m going to miss him. He has his sights set on the Air Force academy with West Point as his number two. And Air Force ROTC as his third choice. He’s a great kid and I want to make some serious memories this year with him. That’s why I want to make sure he has enough traps. His goal is 250 coons next year and a beaver and otter. Hopefully his first predator comes this year.

And on the snares I would have to check the regulations I have never used them and haven’t trapped in a decade. Used to be only cable restraints were legal and you had to take a course for them which we could do. He wants to trap a beaver with a foothold the 330’s are just some I had back in the day for nuisance job that never happened

Well I'm the farthest thing from an expert trapper.

It looks like he has a good assortment of traps to get started with

I wouldn't spend the money on buying all matched equipment.

Let him use what he has access to so that he can get some experience and see if he wants to stay with it.

IMHO buying good lures and baits will help him more than new matched equipment will.

Really isnt a "bad" 1.5 coilspring out there anymore. If you want to get top of the line stuff. The no-bs traps are pretty much that on every trap they make with few exceptions, the MJ 600s and original CDR being the exceptions).

i run no bs dbj and i love em, they are good and stout too

My standard go to coon trap is the Duke 1.5 DJ. I've got several hundred and have ran them for years.
If you are going to standardize styles and sizes of traps I'd go with Dukes.

Updated the trap totals. The one #11 needs a pan. Should we put a pit pan on it? Make it dog less? We are going to night latch the Duke 1.5’s thet are new. Ordering some coni stands and brackets. Might order a NO-BS 1.5 just to look at. And we are both excited to hit the convections and hopefully pick up more traps.

Also what is a good number of DP traps to run a good first time line? I am thinking 4-5 dozen? The boy has set a goal of 250 coons next year and hopefully his first of each predator coyote,fox,bobcat

The only thing he would need is some more 1.5's if he doing any water trapping for coons, mink and rats. Duke or Victor's are fine. Maybe dome 120' for mink on dry land.

Its really hard to quantify # of traps to recommend as most of it has to do with how much land, what kind said land is and what the sign is like.

Maybe start out with a dozen and go from there. I would rather have a dozen good sets out than a hundred "Hail Mary" sets.

You already have over 160 working traps. How many does he need or want? If he is only going to use DPs and l.5 coils for coons, he has 36 traps already. The 7 dozen 2 dbl are actually 1.5 size traps with 2 springs but they are not the best coon traps if you want to minimize foot and leg injuries. If most of the traps you already have are not the ones he really wants to utilize then maybe selling, trading or swaping for wha he would like would be best. Leaving dozens of traps hanging to me is not the best way to manage a trap inventory.

Bryce

Just curious, how many coon has your son ever skinned, fleshed, and boarded himself? Not trying to be a smarty pants and I know that was not your question, but 250 coon is some work to handle even if done in chapters. I would bet that is a couple 55 gal drums of fat off the beam alone, man gonna need a pile of stretchers and push pins too, lol.

I would try pedaling a bunch of those #2 doubles, or trade for DP's and 1.5 coils unless you have 80 good drowner locations, they would make ok drowner traps for coon, but as mentioned, they are a foot chewers houdini trap if on a live coon.

All that aside, do everything you can to help him, I bet you 2 will have a ton of fun and the memorys made will be worth it when you are done.

He will be selling his fur green. Unfortunately all the buyers around here are gone so he will be selling to GFW when they come around. He wants to get some muskrats and have a hat or head band made for his mother. Also some mittens not sure on what fur for those yet.
I would like to learn how to out up the fur. And I’ve been working every holiday I can at work because I can convert my holiday pay over to personal time. With my schedule I might be able to take the whole month of November off

And I had a typo. He only has 7 #2 DBL. we were thinking of using those on fish stick sets? Would they work for that? He did catch his first coyote today so he is on cloud nine. I made a post in trapper talk about it

I would have no hesitation using those at a fish stick set if you can drown the coon. Should be easy to find enough locations to do that.

Look up coon creek outdoors on Youtube for fur handling videos, Stu covers it all. I would say look at next gen trapper and Iowa coon trapper on there too, both guys catch coon in high numbers and have streamlined their approach, if you look they run basic sets and lots of them to get numbers.

You're over thinking things a little, IMO. Just pit a regular pan on the 11, and forget night latching those 1.5s. Just adjust the pan tension so the pan will fall on its own and you're good to go.

I’d spend the money on a fleshing beam, a really good knife (I love my post), and an apron. That’s a lot of coon fleshing.

We have a beam. I’ll get some pics of it. Need to figure out how to mount it. And I have a really nice knife but I’ve never used it. Wish there was someone close I could apprentice under to lean how to do it. I missed my chance always wanted one of those top lot awards

Sig, have you or your son joined your state trapping association yet? Great source of info for ALL your questions and supples.