duke 1.5

[deerhunter]

does anybody have a way to keep the frame from bending, I have 4 duke #1.5 and haven't caught 5 coons on each and the frame keeps bending 

[krank]

That is called base plating. They sell flat plates to weld on. I am too cheap to buy so I weld 1/4" rod on. Kinda surprised a coon gets out of a 1 1/2 duke. Maybe you ought to look at swivels....They might be twisting up chain until base flexes.


Attachment Deleted

[pops]

I bought a Duke a few years ago when I got back into trapping. I was just using DP's and running a small coon line. Found cat sign and actually saw a cat so went to orshelns and bought a 1.5 duke. Gave it a quick tune up, shortened the chain and added a center swivel, boiled it to clean any oils it might have had, took it out and made a set for bobcat. 2nd day I had a tore up set, bobcat hair and a trap with bent frame and popped jaw. I will never buy another one! My thought is why buy something you have to rebuild while its new before you can use it? There are brands out there that are already base plated and ready to go with nothing but a tune up and a good cleaning.

(ok let the arguments begin) lol. I just told ya my opinion.

[bigjohn]

I agree pops.

[krank]

Other traps come ready to go, sure. Doesn't matter.
If you own some Dukes then you got to modify them.(disregard if trapping just possums and muskrat)
I hate those razor sharp jaws on dukes. It comes from shearing the material and not deburring during manufacture. Sand,file, or grind that nasty edge off them jaws. Throw the swing set chain away. If you don't want to baseplate then bubble weld the jaws. (Prevent pop out) Add two swivels on the new chain. File/adjust the dog for a crisp spring. Just takes a little elbow grease. We have tutorials archived.

[deerhunter]

I have a duke #2 that i upgraded the chain and swivels and replaced the pan bolt with stainless it works fine. I have body grip traps and long spring traps that work fine but I've a stack of 1.5 s that constantly have problems with . I'm curious about the #2 new 4 coil square jaws traps they came out with anybody running them yet. they look good I'm considering trying to trap coyotes this year.and looking for a good cheap trap.

[krank]

I was impressed with the bridgers. They cost maybe a dollar more than dukes and are ready to go after you boil the oil off.

[tjm]

I don't need any 1 1/2s of any brand, they are fox traps primarily and a fox is rare here these days. I have 4-5 dozen 1.5s laying idle. I don't want or need any 4 coiled traps either, but I'll accept that if it's wire levers.
The Dukes look like close copies of the Victors that were once the go to trap and as such require the same stuff the Vics did and probably still do, as krank described above. They aren't bad traps at all, but there are better out there at greater cost, so it becomes modification versus spend out. If buying that class trap I'd go with the Victor Montgomery dogless in #2 or #3 and do what needed done to make them suit me.

[pops]

I bought Bridgers. I like them. They are what I call ready to go right out of the box (minus shortening chain adding center swivel tuning and cleaning) but you do that with any trap you buy, at least I do.

[krank]

I went to Rays Fish Fry and he gave me a box of new Bridgers as a door prize. They are better than the Dukes for sure.

[deerhunter]

so whats a good trap for coon on land I trap mainly along the creek more than in it. I have some Duke DP's that work good in some places ,but I trap for possums and skunks to keep them out off my wild turkey nest and last year I caught a grey fox (in a modded duke 1.5) so I need some sort of foot hold.

[tjm]

Best Management Practices =BMPs -a series of studies involving top trappers, wildlife biologists, veterinarians, wildlife managers in many states, good place to learn basics and is the foundation of Trapper Training in states that require such.
www.fishwildlife.org/application/files/3515/1862/6191/Introduction_BMPs.pdf

www.fishwildlife.org/application/files/1615/2105/2995/Raccoon_BMP_2014_F.pdf

Bookmark this page and from it you can navigate to the studies done on each species:
www.fishwildlife.org/afwa-inspires/furbearer-management

imo, that is "in my opinion" the coon trap list goes sorta like this; LS #11DJ, LS #11, CS #1.5DJ, CS #1, LS #2DJ, LS #1, LS #1 1/2DJ
(imo means that you can't sue me if I'm wrong, and, that another day I might have a somewhat different opinion; it is just my thoughts with no guarantees implied-others will naturally hold their own opinions)
*Where DJ stands for double jaw.
**LS=long spring; CS=coil spring
Always add swivels, I like six swivel points on any trap and nearer the trap is better than near the stake. Always make sure that the trap+chain extended is 3' from anything the coon can grab and pull on to leverage out.

[deerhunter]

I use a mix of 1.5 coil & long spring and DP . I picked up a few #11 last season seams to work good but only used 2 days before the season ended . 

[tryinhard]

I went to MB 550 for coyote & won't use anything else. They make a 450 model for coon & fox. They are truly ready to go right out of the box out side of getting the oil off & dying/waxing. No adjustments needed. No tuning. Set the trap & go.

[deerhunter]

I have played with MBs before and they seem really good but at that price they should come gold plated . personally I enjoy tinkering with traps but I like having something decent to start with. IMO the Duke 1.5 cs would be good for the price if the frame was thicker . I don't really want to put a base plate on a 6 dollar trap for coons when the company could very simply made the metal a hair thicker. I could deal with a junk brass pan screw and a sloppy dog system. The thing is they have came out with this new #2 4coil trap that looks to be to decent why can't they give me a 1/16" thicker frame on a coon trap heck I'm willing to pay the extra .50 cents or less it would cost.

[tryinhard]

For me, having a wife & 3 kids, I don't have time to be constantly readjusting pan pressure etc while I'm trapping. I'm a down & dirty get to it & get it done kind of trapper. I use the MB550s for coyotes, cats & what few grey fox I catch & Lil Griz dps for my coons. I do set some 1.5 long springs early season to catch the possums before I coyote trap. I'm restricted to long weekends when I can travel the hour & a half to my farm to trap though. Otherwise I trap resort boat docks for mink, muskrat & otter.

[tjm]

Short and sweet a decent coyote trap cost at least about $30 in your bucket. You can buy a $5 trap pay $5 postage then do $20 in modifications or you can buy a $25 trap and pay $5 postage and start trapping, or somewhere in between.
The MB550 will do all you want and more for a little less than that, I would add a swivel to the chain.
Traps I would buy if I wanted really good coyote traps;
www.jcconner.com/traps.html
www.highcountrycontrol.com/coyote-cuff-traps
suddenvalleysupply.com/shop/704/
sterlingfur.com/traps/sterling-mj-traps/

I think that one good coyote might pay for any of these traps and am fairly sure that one good cat would pay for one and maybe two traps. Even if it takes two coyotes to buy one good trap, the trap will last as long as you will be able to set traps and has the potential of paying you back with hundreds of catches. If I wanted traps and had a tight budget I google trapping forums go to the classifieds in each one til something turned up. Craig's List search could turn up some bargains. (try all cities within your travel distance)

[bigjohn]

Lots of used traps for sale now. Trapperman classifieds are full of them. Clay Creech buys and sales lots of used traps also. Kinda silly to buy new when so many used available. You can buy them stock or modified used.

[tjm]

I was going to mention Clay but wasn't sure he was still doing that.

[deerhunter]

Is there any way to laminate the jaws on a Bridger #2 dogless or a Montgomery #3 dogless traps to dodge the 6 inch jaw spread law. Both trap fall just inside the law but I wouldn't mind mind making the jaw surface a little wider. It looks like its will hit the pan