Texas Hunting Forum

Claw Traps?

Posted By: RMR

Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 03:31 AM

Anyone use them? I work at Gander and had a gentleman come in their and buy some and had a really neat conversation with him. I have never used them but it sounds pretty fun and he had good results.

Posted By: jdw

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 03:58 AM

what do you mean by claw traps? if your refering to footholds(steeltraps) that have the teeth on them, they banned those many many years ago. they are no longer in production and are illegal to use.

Posted By: Closed Traverse

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 04:01 AM

Originally Posted By: jdw
what do you mean by claw traps? if your refering to footholds(steeltraps) that have the teeth on them, they banned those many many years ago. they are no longer in production and are illegal to use.


who the heck told u that????


steel traps are still available for purchase all over the place and are legal. now maybe there is a certain version that is not legal idk for sure, but i know that u can buy some that are able to trap any yote koon opossum what ever. i know lots of people that use em, and have several myself. and ryan, they work good. if ur just doin it for fun, then you really dont have to try all that hard ive never descented mine or whatever, i usually put it somewhere and bait around it. ive caught lots of yotes, and more koons and oppossums than i could imagine lol. but i quit with the yotes because i was scard id catch someones dog.

Posted By: jdw

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 04:11 AM

you didnt pay attention to what i said. i said the footholds that have teeth on them from back in old days. ive been trapping for 15 years and yes you can still buy them and use them including myself just not the one's with teeth on them

Posted By: Closed Traverse

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 04:14 AM

Originally Posted By: jdw
you didnt pay attention to what i said. i said the footholds that have teeth on them from back in old days. ive been trapping for 15 years and yes you can still buy them and use them including myself just not the one's with teeth on them

gotcha up

Posted By: jdw

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 04:23 AM

the one's with teeth on them are collector's items, which i have a couple myself. if you find some or have have some hang on to them they are worth alot money and will gain value years to come.
they are good conversation piece too.

Posted By: RMR

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 05:09 PM

I don't mean the ones with teeth. I don't know what they are exactly called, that is just what the guy asked for. Brandon, how would you secure the trap for yotes. The guy said that just staking them down aint enough...that you need to attach it to a log or logs so they will have to carry it and get tired. He said if it is just staked, coyotes can get out of em.

Posted By: Txtrapper10

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 05:20 PM

Ive staked mine down for coyotes forever using bridger #2's and have lost one that i can think of. If you have yor traps adjusted right and multiple swivels on the chain you will be good to go. A buddy of mine ties his off to a big ole log and it works too. Im a fan of the catch circles!

Posted By: abilene3006hh

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 05:28 PM

Don't u mean jaw traps

Posted By: RMR

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 05:53 PM

Originally Posted By: Txtrapper10
Ive staked mine down for coyotes forever using bridger #2's and have lost one that i can think of. If you have yor traps adjusted right and multiple swivels on the chain you will be good to go. A buddy of mine ties his off to a big ole log and it works too. Im a fan of the catch circles!

Yeah he was tellin me that is a good way to make a circle of logs

Posted By: Closed Traverse

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 06:24 PM

well ryan, ive staked a lot of mine down and ive chained a bunch of em to a tree. the first time i ever tried it, was in a creek and i was about 10 yrs old. i ran 2ft stakes into 2ft of sand. Baited it with perch i caught out of my tank. the next mornin i checked emm and 2 of the traps were gone and one was untouched. so i think u can stake em down, just make sure u arent stakin into something as soft as sand lol

Posted By: jdw

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 06:52 PM

i always use 1/4 rebar, 16 inches long and never had any coyotes pull it out and ive caught many 40 pounders over the years

Posted By: Txtrapper10

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 07:01 PM

I use 1/2 rebar 18 inches long. Had it pumped up a few times and pulled out once but that was because of my own stupidity and staked it in pretty much sand.

Posted By: kyotee1

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/26/10 07:55 PM

If the ground you're setting in is soft and will not hold a stake in place, then double stake it making an X pattern with your stakes. Or if you have sufficient brush, small saplings where you can use a 2-prong drag on your chain (at least 6-8' of chain with at least 3-4 swivels), having the species move away from the set sight and out of passerby's eyes sure does help plus it fun to always find what you may have trapped.

Good luck!

Posted By: Closed Traverse

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 12:42 AM

kyotee are u sayin chain the trap to something a yote could drag??? sounds interesting.

Posted By: TAT

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 02:26 AM

what is a good bait to use on those?

Posted By: Closed Traverse

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 02:42 AM

Originally Posted By: 214tat2guy
what is a good bait to use on those?


placenta

Posted By: RMR

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 02:52 AM

Originally Posted By: Brandon A
kyotee are u sayin chain the trap to something a yote could drag??? sounds interesting.

That is what the guy told me he did. Something it could drag but only enough to where it would wear the yote down and it wouldn't go far at all.

Posted By: Txtrapper10

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 03:02 AM

what kind of country you trapping? Lot of thick trees or bushes?

Posted By: RMR

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 03:18 AM

oh no where yet...just getting ideas and curious. Thick trees as well as south texas brush country

Posted By: Txtrapper10

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 04:31 AM

if its think you would be fine with just a drag with a hook. Remember location is the key to catching animals

Posted By: kyotee1

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 02:34 PM

Originally Posted By: Brandon A
kyotee are u sayin chain the trap to something a yote could drag??? sounds interesting.


I didn't use drags, 2-prong made out of either 3/8" cold roll or rebar and have the points bent in opposite directions, until the gov't hired me to do depredating coyote work for the state back in the early 80's.

It really depends upon if you have the type of brush, saplings, cover where once the animal is caught and pulls the chain and drag from under the trap, it will go a ways before getting hung up. Sometimes I would find a good location and hook the drag on a couple of saplings or brush within the set location but 5-6' away and hammer the chain in the ground up to the point of the trap location where the trap was buried. Coyotes and other species see and smell iron and other metals/smells all the time, and a piece of iron sightly sticking out or hung-up somewhere isn't going to alert them. But having any portion of the trap itself exposed, it moving or wobble when stepped on, only puts that animal into 'cautious' mode and/or makes them dig. This is something, once you get a digger species or one that has associated a particlar smell with a trap snapping or something out of place, you usually will have a problem animal to catch.

Posted By: kyotee1

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 02:39 PM

Originally Posted By: Txtrapper10
if its think you would be fine with just a drag with a hook. Remember location is the key to catching animals


Absolutely!! And if it is a good location and you set ONE trap, it is worth a couple 2-3 more. Gang setting will increase your catch since most species travel in family groups, pairs, etc. and especially in toilet locations, scent-marking/scent post locations, feeding locations (deer feeders, corn fields, barns, turn-rows in cultivated fields, road intersections within a ranch or farm, etc. Sure is nice to put in a set on a 4-way intersection within a ranch/farm and come back the next day and see a couple species caught or could very well have one in each trap.

Posted By: TxTechsan

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 03:40 PM

Not sure where they are legal but I saw the claw/teeth style trap in Sportsmans guide.

http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/grizzly-bear-traps-by-beamshot.aspx?a=132229

Posted By: azcoyote

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 06:24 PM

Originally Posted By: TxTechsan
Not sure where they are legal but I saw the claw/teeth style trap in Sportsmans guide.

http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/grizzly-bear-traps-by-beamshot.aspx?a=132229



Purely for decoration!!

Posted By: Txtrapper10

Re: Claw Traps? - 01/27/10 06:40 PM

Originally Posted By: kyotee1
Originally Posted By: Txtrapper10
if its think you would be fine with just a drag with a hook. Remember location is the key to catching animals


Absolutely!! And if it is a good location and you set ONE trap, it is worth a couple 2-3 more. Gang setting will increase your catch since most species travel in family groups, pairs, etc. and especially in toilet locations, scent-marking/scent post locations, feeding locations (deer feeders, corn fields, barns, turn-rows in cultivated fields, road intersections within a ranch or farm, etc. Sure is nice to put in a set on a 4-way intersection within a ranch/farm and come back the next day and see a couple species caught or could very well have one in each trap.



The whole keyto being a succesful trapper is location. My favorite place to set is a intersection of roads or where to fencerows come together. Gang set! Great point Kyotee

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