Somebody stole my trap

[Ray357]

Most hunters couldn’t find a trap properly set.

Just depends on the set. A flat set is hard to find. A bank set or a flat hole set is not so hard.

 

[Ray357]

Mostly 550, but that particular trap is a #2 Duke with 4 coil springs. No offset.

 

[Doug B.]

Mostly 550, but that particular trap is a #2 Duke with 4 coil springs. No offset.

Wow!

 

[buckpasser]

That’s wild. @Ray357, you’re saying they chewed the limb off??? I could see a fox being chewed off by a coyote potentially, but I can’t imagine a coyote chewing itself off in 24 hours, but hey, I’m pretty new.

 

[Ray357]

That’s wild. @Ray357, you’re saying they chewed the limb off??? I could see a fox being chewed off by a coyote potentially, but I can’t imagine a coyote chewing itself off in 24 hours, but hey, I’m pretty new.

Neither looked chewed off.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

We used to trap ground hogs out of our garden. We had the old long spring traps. Every now and again a groundhog would chew its leg off to get out. An old man told us that the trap was too strong and caused more pain or numbness and that's why they done it. Daddy took a old coat hanger and wrapped it around one of the jaws to leave a little gap....that ended that. We weren't trappers by no means, but that was before we heard of offset jaws and things like that.

 

[furtaker]

It happens every now and again. Had a fox leave half it's leg in the same trap a few weeks ago. Definitely rare. Not an everyday thing.

I've never had anything happen that is even remotely close to what you are describing.

It sounds to me like somebody is messing with you or your catches.

 

[Ray357]

I've never had anything happen that is even remotely close to what you are describing.

It sounds to me like somebody is messing with you or your catches.

If they are, they are some stealthy, no track leaving, devil's. They also getting up early in the morning and invisible to the cameras.

 

[CritterCatcher]

Neither looked chewed off.

If it wasn't chewed, it must have twisted off, and that makes me think one of three things happened. One, you need more swivels in your chain, two, the area around the set gave him an opportunity to bind the chain/swivels up and twist off, or three, the jaws on the trap don't line up, and it broke the bone and allowed him to twist off.

I'm not trying to shame you, I have had all three of those things happen to me. Just trying to give you some ideas. By the way, I have only ever seen one animal that would chew their own paw off, a fisher, and they aren't around here.

 

[NCHillbilly]

If it wasn't chewed, it must have twisted off, and that makes me think one of three things happened. One, you need more swivels in your chain, two, the area around the set gave him an opportunity to bind the chain/swivels up and twist off, or three, the jaws on the trap don't line up, and it broke the bone and allowed him to twist off.

I'm not trying to shame you, I have had all three of those things happen to me. Just trying to give you some ideas. By the way, I have only ever seen one animal that would chew their own paw off, a fisher, and they aren't around here.

Muskrats and beavers will frequently wring their front legs off if you don't have a drowning set.

 

[Ray357]

If it wasn't chewed, it must have twisted off, and that makes me think one of three things happened. One, you need more swivels in your chain, two, the area around the set gave him an opportunity to bind the chain/swivels up and twist off, or three, the jaws on the trap don't line up, and it broke the bone and allowed him to twist off.

I'm not trying to shame you, I have had all three of those things happen to me. Just trying to give you some ideas. By the way, I have only ever seen one animal that would chew their own paw off, a fisher, and they aren't around here.

Have two swivels. Trap was not twisted. It's a flat set. Jaws are aligned. The only traps I have ever had feet left in are these particular traps. I bought them modified years ago with 4 super heavy springs, to hold small to medium hog. They have held many a hog. The fire super hard and will snap 3/8 dowel. I think I am going to replace them and save them for hog. They have caught a lot of yote too. Broke a lot of yote leg bone too

 

[Doug B.]

Have two swivels. Trap was not twisted. It's a flat set. Jaws are aligned. The only traps I have ever had feet left in are these particular traps. I bought them modified years ago with 4 super heavy springs, to hold small to medium hog. They have held many a hog. The fire super hard and will snap 3/8 dowel. I think I am going to replace them and save them for hog. They have caught a lot of yote too. Broke a lot of yote leg bone too

I would not use them if they break any things legs. Even though I'm not fond of coyotes at all I don't want to cause them pain that is not humane. That's why we trap with the right size traps. I like the offset jaws for my land traps. I really don't think four coil traps are necessary for predators either. JMO

 

[furtaker]

Have two swivels. Trap was not twisted. It's a flat set. Jaws are aligned. The only traps I have ever had feet left in are these particular traps. I bought them modified years ago with 4 super heavy springs, to hold small to medium hog. They have held many a hog. The fire super hard and will snap 3/8 dowel. I think I am going to replace them and save them for hog. They have caught a lot of yote too. Broke a lot of yote leg bone too

I think I would change traps.

 

[CritterCatcher]

I would not use them if they break any things legs. Even though I'm not fond of coyotes at all I don't want to cause them pain that is not humane. That's why we trap with the right size traps. I like the offset jaws for my land traps. I really don't think four coil traps are necessary for predators either. JMO

Four coils are not necessary where the ground doesn't normally freeze. Trappers in the north do need them, but the frozen ground slows them down enough so they don't break bones. I have a couple of Victor 1.75s with #3 springs in them somewhere around here. I used them when I was trapping in Maine, but I don't use them here because of that fact.

 

[CritterCatcher]

Muskrats and beavers will frequently wring their front legs off if you don't have a drowning set.

Absolutely. Wring offs happen in all animals, especially if there aren't enough swivels in the chain.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Absolutely. Wring offs happen in all animals, especially if there aren't enough swivels in the chain.

I've never had it happen to anything but a front leg of a muskrat, and that's out of thousands of critters of all kinds.

 

[Doug B.]

I've never had it happen to anything but a front leg of a muskrat, and that's out of thousands of critters of all kinds.

You can almost wring a muskrats front leg off by hand. A beaver ain't much harder. You can't do that to other animals. I've had a muskrat or two wring off. I've had a beaver almost wring off before it drowned. Never had any other critter do it though.

 

[NCHillbilly]

You can almost wring a muskrats front leg off by hand. A beaver ain't much harder. You can't do that to other animals. I've had a muskrat or two wring off. I've had a beaver almost wring off before it drowned. Never had any other critter do it though.

They used to make those longspring traps just to prevent that with muskrats. They had a big extra jaw just like a mousetrap on a spring that would come down and hold the critter's leg to keep it from twisting. I used to have a dozen of the Blake & Lamp Stop-loss brand. I never trapped beavers, they didn't show up in my neck of the woods until after I had quit trapping.

 

[Doug B.]

They used to make those longspring traps just to prevent that with muskrats. They had a big extra jaw just like a mousetrap on a spring that would come down and hold the critter's leg to keep it from twisting. I used to have a dozen of the Blake & Lamp Stop-loss brand. I never trapped beavers, they didn't show up in my neck of the woods until after I had quit trapping.

I've never used the stop-loss traps. Do they work?

 

[NCHillbilly]

I've never used the stop-loss traps. Do they work?

Yeah, they worked pretty good.