Welcome to the Wild-About-Trapping.com Forums

My dad wants to try and get rid of coyotes and bobcats on our 100 acres in Georgia, so he wants to try trappin. Georgia law says "It is unlawful to set on land any trap with a jaw opening any larger than 5.75 inches." So from most of my lookin around, that limits us to coil springs only, since snares can only be used for beaver and most long springs designed for coyotes and cats will have a jaw opening too big. I've looked at Duke 1.75 coil springs, mainly because theyre the cheapest, and its not like we're going to be doing a whole season, only 2 weeks max. But I've read a lot on here that Dukes fall mainly into two categories among people- either like them or hate them. I doubt we would modify any traps we buy, and we're only going with half a dozen or a dozen max.... What would be a good coil spring for us to use? Would the dukes be fine?

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

Dukes will do anything you are going to ask of them.

Dukes will work, and if money is tight they are better than no traps at all. They are far from my favorite traps, but I have caught a good amount of fur in the ones we have currently, and ones from the past. You might also strongly consider Bridgers, they are slightly higher than the dukes, but are quite a bit heavier and better built trap. Definitely keep an eye on your jaw spread because the Bridgers tend to run a little bigger jaw spread in the same size trap.

_________________




"The bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" ----Benjamin Franklin on duke traps

i would go with duke #2's....or maybe some bridger 1.65...thanks, denny

So far this season Duke owes me for two lost marten. Yes they will work. Just not well. I would look into some used traps. You can usually find a decent deal on some. And a lot of times the major tuning and kinks have been worked out.

_________________
Ive gone to look for myself. If I should return while I'm gone, please keep me here.

The Dukes will work, but as previously stated, they are not exactly the caddilac of the trapping world. I use them alot, but I would highly recomend working on them at least a little. It does'nt really take that long. At a minimum I would shorten the chain and add an extra swivel in the middle, as well as night latching the pan. Also, they are going to need a little adjusting to get the correct pan height & tension, which is'nt hard to do. I hope this helps. Good luck with the trapping adventure. There's alot of good information here, just take your time and do a little research.

get a dozen minnessota brand traps.. the cheapest part of trapping in buying the trap..

start out small and simple..keep it basic..you dont need alot of investment to start trapping, however there is a benefit to buying top of the line traps...well a couple benefits..1. if you decide that you dont like trapping, you get a better percent of your investment back when you sell your traps...2. mbs are already set up...alls you gotta do is rust em, dye em, stake em, plant em and prey for em...they will grow you nice healthy coyotes if you tend em properly.

dont make the mistakes i did...i bought way more traps than i knew where to put them, i bought a huge variety of every kind of bait and lure...way more urine....dude, if i were put a starter package together for coyote trapping it would look like this

1. 12 mb550
2. 12 36 inch rebar stakes
3. powder river paste bait
4. cavins gusto
5. cavins violator 7
6. trowl
7. sifter
8. wax
9. dye
10. vinegar
11. 5 gal bucket
12 bag of poly fill
13 large hammer.

i guess what i am saying is let it evolve...buy the bare minimum and if you stick with it i guarantee that you will have more trapping crap laying around than you know what to do with, in five years...keep your sets simple...master the dirt hole and one other set, get to where you can catch critters consistantly in them before moving on to the double gainer whirley gig sets.. practice bedding traps well, keep organized, develop a system...keep clean..

i did none of these things when i started out..could have bought a new car with the money i wasted my first few years trapping.

Dukes work just fine but everyone I have I worked on them a bit as they definitely come "rough" compared to others. For what your talking about talking about I'd say they would do you well but be prepared to play with them a bit. If money isn't an issue and you don't want to tinker with them then MBs are where it's at. I like my #2 offset Victors as well and they fall kinda in between the Dukes and MBs.

This is exactly what I was about to recommend. If money is tight, Duke is a choice, personally duke traps haven't really did me much good along the line.. The live trap I bought from them broke after 3 skunk and 1 large boar coon, and the #2's that we have are big, and hard to bed, and use along my coyote line.
In my opinion the MB550 IS THE WAY TO GO! They come with the night latch already installed, good chain, nice springs, (you can order 4-coil traps) The cast jaws are great especially with the offset, when trying to reduce pain on animals. They also come with multiple swivels in their chain, and the base plate structure is very stable!

That's my biggest complaint with the Dukes, their base plate is a bit flimsy.

If you end up looking for MB's, the 550 is a good trap, but I highly suggest going with the 650 instead. I have used the 550's and they are nice, but the 650 is another step up in my opinion, especially for cats and yotes. If you look at the Inside laminated 650's, the jaw spread is 5.75", which is what you wanted. I know they are a little more pricey, but they are well worth it.

_________________




"The bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" ----Benjamin Franklin on duke traps

I was told to stay away from Duke traps by an older trapper. He said they don't work good

_________________
13/14 hunt/trap season
Geese-13
Grouse-1
Squirrel-6
Coon-4
Muskrat-8 (1 eaten)
Mink-1 (ranched)



Check out my youtube channel? I'm retroslickbass. I have some videos of me playin piano and bass in church!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/retroslickb ... rid&view=0 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul. Mark 8:36

I really dont understand why it is that when somebody asks about traps everybody starts talking about getting the cheapest thing around or the most expensive. There are a lot of good mid grade traps around. Not to mention used traps. I know a lot of people are asking way too much for them. But if you look around a bit you can find a good deal. If anybody wants MB750s give it ayear and a bunch of people around here are going to be selling them cheap.

_________________
Ive gone to look for myself. If I should return while I'm gone, please keep me here.

Thanks for the input guys. Jase, we've tried predator calling before with little success, theres a lot of hunters around our property and Im sure the predators around us are pretty educated when it comes to calls. Besides, I would really love to try trapping, even if I dont have a huge success. I just talked to my dad about it, and he's rethought it and says he doesnt have time to fool with it... But I do! So he's leaving it up to me to, as he put it, get-r-done. I've looked at Dukes, Bridgers, and Sleepy Creeks on amazon.com, and Dukes of course are the cheapest. However, you get what you pay for, as the saying goes, so I've looked more into Bridgers and Sleepy Creeks. The only legal Bridger would be the 1.65, so whats everybody's opinion on that for yotes and cats? I was also looking at the Sleepy Creek 1.75s, and they seem like they could do the trick just fine.

Also, what about Duke #2s?

Thanks!

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

My duke #2 have held every coyote that stepped on the pan, now most of them are all modded up but they worked just fine with alittle tunning and some wax.

_________________
Creator, El presidenta, and head laborer of TTA (trap tinkerers anonymous)

Good to hear Fuzz. Knowing that this is up to me has got me a little pumped

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

I agree with Jase. Bridger 1.75s are a excellent trap. 4 3/4" inside Dim. 5 1/8' outside.

Thanks for the recommendation guys. Amazon.com doesnt sell them unfortunately, and my parents like to stick with them for most of their online shopping... Whats a reputable trap seller that you guys trust? I saw one site listing the Bridger 1.75s for like $8.50 each, which is about as much as a Duke, and it seems like the consensus would be better quality too.

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

All of these we trust

http://www.fntpost.com/

http://www.minntrapprod.com/index.php

http://www.schmittent.com/index.php

_________________




"The bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" ----Benjamin Franklin on duke traps

Well thanks for everybodys help, but now it doesnt seem to matter... My dads work called and they said he has to work on a day that would be right in the middle of the trip... So looks like no trapping or hunting for me...

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

Ok, well, trips back on, lol. But not for as long as we originally intended. We should be gone January 1st to either the 4th or 5th. Unfortunately, I never ordered any trapping supplies, so if I intend to lay some steel, I need to have equipment by December 31st. Anyone know if its possible to order gear and have it shipped to me by then??

_________________
Indian build little fire stand way close. White man build big fire stand way back.

As far as the suppliers, most ship as fast as they can. Often that day or the next. But the postal services are so busy this time of year you might have problems getting them in time.

_________________
Ive gone to look for myself. If I should return while I'm gone, please keep me here.