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Dog proof traps

bigdave

Junior Member
My buddies and I made 200 of them about 3 years ago. Learned a bunch from the first prototype we started to what we finished with. We had the chance to run them for 3 years now and decided to make some minor modifications to them based on performance. I have a few pull outs every year but I blame myself on all of them. I don't care what kind of trap you are setting if you give a big coon something solid to pull against he will most likely be able to power out.

1. Winding springs - Sorry but we already have the next 200 springs and catch loops already wound and bent so I can only show a finished set. I you want to see a winder search for users freeburgtrapper and Merc on www.trapperman.com they have posts on the winders like we made. The first batch of traps the catch loop is square and pinches against a 3/16" pinch block of steel inside the trap. The modification here was to round the catch loop and radius the pinch lug. Also when winding the springs we stopped just a bit less on the last coil to add some more strength. Hopefully this will decrease some of the pull outs my buddy has experienced in the dairy barns he traps.

Our Spring and Catch Loop


Here are some pics of our early attempts using the baler springs from Tractor Supply. Thankfully either Merc or Freeburgtrapper posted a video of their winder and we switched over to the wound spring.

First design we bent the catch lug. Didn't like it so we switched to a welded in lug.



First triggering set-up. Too many parts and hard to weld straight so we switched to the bent base and trigger/ spring legged part we have now




Now on to our new traps. My buddies and I looked at Gary's Grizz trap and started modifying to what we wanted. I drew all the parts up on our Pro-E software (during lunches and breaks of course) and had them nested to the lasers. I was able to take some pictures of the lasers while they burnt out the parts.

Here is the new Trumph at work cutting the plate that the catch loop and trigger goes through. Guy running it said on light 20 ga steel it runs 1000 inches per minute (I think that is the figure he used) On the .119 material we were cutting today it was 170 inches per minute. Took a total of 3 hours on 2 lasers to cut enough parts to make the 300 traps we plan on making.



Computer nest of the 300 face plates


Our other laser cutting out the top plate


Finished triggers and dogs


Finished base of trap, holes in wings are for the spring and trigger pins (we use 16 and 20 penny nails). The slots and hole around the base are for drainage. I have to bend them on the brake before they will be ready to weld up.
 

bigdave

Junior Member
Here are the first parts of them that we welded up. We used regular wire to make the spring and catch loop just to determine lengths of cuts on the wire.








Now here are pics of the traps we made 3 years ago and have been testing




We only used the cheap chain on the first prototype. New ones have #2 machine chain


Here is a used trap that I dipped (wont do that again)
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Very cool. Thanks for sharing your idea made real with us. Looks like they work just fine to me. I figure with any trap your going to have a small % of escapes specially when it comes to coon.

Are you guys producing these traps for consumers or just for your own use ?
Is the square box easier to secure to a stake then the cylindrical style ?

If only I had the money to buy a bunch a of traps lol. I have a few hundred acres of river bottom and over 1k acres of crop fields in my hunting grounds. To say I have a just a few coons to take out is an understatement. I could take a dozen traps and have them full every day the entire trapping season and not make a dent. They are thick as flies up here and I want to get as many as I can this trapping season but with only a few traps I will have to set what I have and also try and do some night hunts. (no dogs to tree them lol.)

Thanks again for stopping in and sharing this information with us.
 

jdcrappiefish

Junior Member
I hadn't trapped in 20 years until 2012 season. I have 2 little boys and they wanted to try trapping. as we cashed in our furs we bought 3 of the duke dp traps and I love them. talked with a lot of trappers at fur house and quite a few of them are starting to paint their dp's white. they say catch rates went up a little and the paint attracts the coon and holds up better than the dye. we are gonna try it on a few this season.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
I hadn't trapped in 20 years until 2012 season. I have 2 little boys and they wanted to try trapping. as we cashed in our furs we bought 3 of the duke dp traps and I love them. talked with a lot of trappers at fur house and quite a few of them are starting to paint their dp's white. they say catch rates went up a little and the paint attracts the coon and holds up better than the dye. we are gonna try it on a few this season.

Keeps us updated on the painted traps. This could be fun to see if it works and attracts them better.

Plan on getting a few more traps during the off season myself. See how it goes I guess lol. More coon around here then you could shake a stick at lol.
 

yotehunter

Member
1,527
36
spencerville oh
Been using them for a few years I love the dukes with sheep's wool in the bottom with Clint locklears coon crack on it its good stuff but just about any thing will work a big marshmallow with shellfish oil is also great in them