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Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 5:23 pm
by coyotelatrans
What is your top coyote trap and what reasons make them so..................

Mine would be a Jake,Sterling and modified Bridgers #3 with PIT pans and jaw lamination.

The jake is a heck of a trap and on 3 day checks holds coyotes well, plus no stake pumping with the shock spring, the sterlings are great as well many key parts make this an excellent coyote trap and far ahead of it's time when built in the 70's probably the most copied trap ever. The bridger modififed makes a goood coyote trap at a tad cheaper price, hate the cheap swivels and have to look over the chains real well, but once modified and PIT pans added make a good coyote trap but they still take some abuse over my top 2 traps.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 5:31 pm
by Coyotehunter
I like the bridger #3 modifieds. Your right though the swivels are junk, the j hooks they have in them are terrible. If you weld them you can make them work but I do not understand why they do not upgrade to some of the crunch proof swivels that are on the market these days.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:42 pm
by Prairie Ghost
+1 on the bridgers all cadilaced up with the j hooks and swivels replaced with crunch proof stuff. Sterling makes a hell of a trap but they are spendy.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:32 pm
by EO caller
MJ600 . #3 dogless Montgomery, fully modified............Thats all I've ever used so I'm a bit bias. I bought a dozen brand new fully modified #3 bridgers and came across three MB 650s that a kid sold me that were never used. They need laminated. I can't wait to get em dirty.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:25 am
by lyonch
Coyotehunter wrote:If you weld them you can make them work but I do not understand why they do not upgrade to some of the crunch proof swivels that are on the market these days.
Coyotehunter, now that Minnesota Brand baught bridger traps, i think you will be seeing some of these minor improvements done to the newer bridgers. I am a fan of the MB brand and Bridgers. What i really like about the MB650's is that simple fact there is no loose jaw to try and bed :D . Now if i can ever trap more than a random coyote, i might be able to say which ones actually hold up :oops:

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:38 am
by Coyotehunter
I hopeful that they at least get a better j hook. You I hear that about the loose jaw but I just do not have any problems with it. I have bedded traps for coyotes in 4 states and used lots of different dirt and just never thought it was that big of deal. It may be faster I suppose with the sterlings or that syle of trap but I have not had any issue with getting the bridgers bedded up nice and firm.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:57 am
by DustyC
#1 modified #3 bridgers, #2 full mod MB650's, #3 full mod Montana Special 3's. Have held coyotes and bobcats with all 3 kinds and work great. Just depends on what your used to I guess.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:54 pm
by coyotelatrans
I have never had issues bedding the bridger either but the JAKE and Sterling bed nice and fast and very solid. A bowl shaped bed helps with bedding the bridgers really solid as well.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:48 pm
by RandyRoede
If you can afford to but them, Sterlings, you will luv them and you will soon see that they are worth the money in the long run.

That's a very big perk of this job, we get to use and purchase stuff a normal man would not and get to put it thru a beating and see how they hold up.

I have not found one weak part in a Sterling, I've bent up modified Bridgers, Montgomerys, and Montanas after awhile. Sooner or later parts had to be replaced which is normal but not on the Sterlings.

Like Randy said we run on a 72 hour check so those coyotes beat the heck out of your stuff.

I've seen the MB's have not used them, they looked a little hob cobbed together. When you are getting that close to the price of a Sterling with Jakes or MB's I just go for the Sterlings.

Jamie and Brad if you used them day in and day out you would luv them, when they fire there is something there waiting for you, very rare to have a snapped trap and nothing in it. Tough SOB's!!!

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:03 pm
by Tim Anderson
I like the MB's cause a friend of mine makes them. :mrgreen:
Just out of curiosity whats not to like about them? Perhaps I could pass it on if changes need to be made.. :wink:

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:18 pm
by Coyotehunter
I have messed with those sterlings some. They do look bullet proof. OGorman has his own #3 modifieds that are a little beefer of a trap than the stock bridger #3 modified. I have replaced levers, primary and helper springs, pans and a shit load of dogs on the bridgers. along with the shitty swivels, the dogs are very weak. OGorman has a replacement dog that is pretty stout and I have not had problems with those.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:16 pm
by coyotelatrans
Tim the MB's are a knock off of the sterling mj600 a good story behind it all but won't go into detail here. The biggest problem I have seen with the MB's are they shouldn;'t offer this trap in a standard model too much power with to thin of jaws, secondly the MB has a much larger "dead" area over the pan than does the MJ600 all due to the pan design, can be over come for the most part with proper foot guiding but that has be a known thing for years.

I bought my first MJ600 in 1990 and wow what an eye opener, I used these on my private traplines in 2 states and they have been an excellent trap. I have been using some Jake traps as of late and been very impressed with them as well. I love the shock springs and also how flat these traps sit and having the pan as the lowest point makes for ease of bedding and the pan being the lowest spot on the pattern as well.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:59 pm
by Tim Anderson
To my understanding some of the MB's are offered without laminating for those that wish to do it themselves and save a few bucks and also have it the way they want.. Also you can get them laminated on the inside and outside or just one side or the other.. I believe he also makes a MB with thicker cast jaws but not posative as they were still in the works last time we talked about them... Don't know if you know the guy that makes them but he is one heck of a trapper and the only one I know that still makes a liveing off of trapping.. He brings home around 600-800 mink a year and double that in coon. I also know he tries to keep the trap prices down if he can get parts that may already be made by someone else rather than make them in his shop, but he may have changed that and now makes everything except for the chain..

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:24 am
by coyotelatrans
Tim they are made at Tim Cavens at MTP correct? The cast jaw models have been around since the beginning and they where a copy of the sterlings, I don't get where the last time you talked they where in the works? They have been around for awhile. They also make them in a rubber jaw model now too. The problem with the non laminated we all know some are going to run them as is and not laminate them and they are paw cutters in that configuration. Tim trap parts somewhere else??? How could that be? They aren't interchangable as Glen Sterling isn't selling parts , besides there are some differances between the 2.

Re: Favorite coyote trap and why?

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:08 am
by lyonch
Jamie - i have been kicking around the idea to weld a part of a 20D nail on the top of my bridgers dogs. This should help beefen them up and help prevent them from bending. Have you attempted this before?