what is your preferred cage trap?

I favor the koonce cage trap...sets flush with a hole if need be...tough enough for the biggest coon and when you lift the door it sets itself...the back door is an awesome feature too....livetrap.com has em for $77.50 each

I do agree the Koonce traps are easy to set. But as far as catching and holding I've put my money on Comstock's and Williams' traps. I have sold everything else I owned including several Koonces. Just my opinion.

I've put my money on Comstock's and Williams' traps. X2

I've put my money on Comstock's and Williams' traps. X3

These are the ones for me in most cases.

I prefer the one that's right for the job. No one brand or model does it all.

I use Safeguards, Tomahawks, Comstocks, Advanced, WCS and Freedom Brand.

For a single door with rear release application my preferred brand is safeguard.

Leave it to Joshua to come up with a trap we don't own. And it looks like a pretty decent cage at that. I was washing cages today

( Yes, Mr. Jameson, apparently I'm the only one allowed to clean cages around here ) and putting them on the rack. Here's what I

noticed: We have some of the old style Havaharts, Plasti-catch, Safeguards, Wickenkamps, Advanced, WCS, and Tomahawk. I think some of

the guys must be hoarding the Comstocks. Joshua, if I could only have one cage, it would be the 9x9x28 inch Tomahawk professional. I

have caught everything from chipmunks to 30 lb. raccoon in some of mine. ( Okay, the chipmunks weren't on purpose but they were still

in there )

I haven't used half of my traps yet, but my reached for is my 30inch advanced trap. For squirrel I use flush mount panel trigger comstocks, and to be honest, for skunks o had to pick up some advantek tractor supply co traps that do the job fine. They,are still Chinese junk tho

Hard to beat the Northern Industries T101232P for price and quality. $62.00 for a GAW 1/2" wire spring loaded door trap.

We own over 50 of these now and have had no problems.

For racoon, I don't think the cages from Little Wolf Trapping Supply can be beat. Cumberland's is about the only retailer Brian uses, if you wish to buy from a dealer, otherwise he has a fb page.

I like the 8 x 10 x 28” Wickenkamp (1 x 1/2”) for baited sets and 9 x 11 x 24” Comstock’s for hole sets. I love the easily adjusted pan tension afforded by the torsion rods in the Wickenkamps. The Comstock’s are the best thing that ever happened to catching critters under sheds and decks.

I build my own squirrel traps, either pan triggered for baited sets or panel triggered for hole sets.

For 90% of trapping with cages, it is a Comstock trap.

Mostly safeguards of all sizes a few comstocks and advanced traps. All good equipment for most any application.

williams. comstock, plastic catch

So next question......where is best place to buy these traps?

I was set to order a couple traps until I realized shipping was almost half as much as the traps were. Or is that to be expected?

Edited:

Two traps were $180. If memory serves, shipping was going to be $79 (WCS)

If that is right, it is what it is.

Should not be half as much as the trap, But shipping is getting more expensive every day. If you can find a dealer at a convention, saves shipping.

Since my reply here on 04/01/20, I have had some very unusual and challenging jobs. I have a good arsenal of cage traps from which to choose, but it seems that the most versatile and adaptable cage trap has been the Comstock 9x11x18 with a separate cage material nosecone.

The difficult situations have been conquered with that workhorse trap and nosecone along with some indispensable accessories - zip ties, a roll of electric fence wire, fender washers, screws, and shortened step-in electric fence posts. A good dose of ingenuity or imagination allows that trap to be fitted into just about any space with minimal site modifications. Alternate escape routes are easily blocked if necessary so the path of least resistance is right through the trap.

I agree that the shipping charges are high. But there is no realistic alternative.