Prepping Foothold Traps

[HunterDave]

I bought a couple of dozen Duke #1 long spring stop loss traps and they are in my Wife's dishwasher getting de-greased right now.

I tried one of the traps at Halford's and it seems to me that too much pressure has to be put on the pan for a muskrat to trigger it. How do I go about lightening the trigger?

I'd like to dye them. Should I wax them as well?

What is the logical order to get these traps ready to use:

- De-grease
- Tune trap
- Dye (Wax if recommended)
- Confirm function and adjust as required

[nube]

Rustoleum paint. Wish I would have done it to all mine

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I tried one of the traps at Halford's and it seems to me that too much pressure has to be put on the pan for a muskrat to trigger it. How do I go about lightening the trigger?

I'm going to have a look at prepping the traps this week. Anyone have any words of advice on what I should look at doing to tune the traps?

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by nube

Rustoleum paint. Wish I would have done it to all mine

x2 mine are all gonna be done this way,adjusting pan tension screw by slacking off so pan falls freely should fix tension problem,don't forget to add extension cable to your chain HunterDave,once your degreased than dry and paint,ready to go

[Red Bullets]

This will give you some ideas.

http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbt...Wax_Traps.html

[HunterDave]

Thanks guys.

[HunterDave]

So, I decided to go with the advice on painting my foothold traps with Rustoleum paint. What colour preference do you guys have? I'm thinking a flat, light brown but I'm wondering if there might be any reason to go with a different sheen and/or colour.

I know that I'm over thinking this but I want to make sure that I do it right the first time.

[mark-edmonton]

Depends. White if trapping in snow ! Think about where you will be placing them and go from there

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by mark-edmonton

Depends. White if trapping in snow ! Think about where you will be placing them and go from there

I'm putting them on float sets for muskrats in the Spring & Fall and maybe in feeder huts in the winter.

[mark-edmonton]

Sorry pal I have never trapped rats. I can only access our line after freeze up! Maybe a tan colour?

[shakeyleg02]

Dont think a rat is going to care what color the trap is .. hes lookin at the orange tasty veggy
hes about to eat . I did mine in a blackish tone

[nube]

Mine are black but go for orange just in case you drop one in the snow lol I really think it doesn't matter bud.

[HunterDave]

Well, I'm going with a designer colour......Leather Brown.....the muskrats ought to like that.

I picked up 4 cans of Tremclad because it is a paint/primer and Rustoleum needs a primer on bare metal.

Putting the finishing touches on my new skinning shack and I'll be painting traps and boiling snares.

[GStyler]

Here is a good page on tuning:

http://www.trapperpredatorcaller.com...de_to_trapping

Gibbs process here looks good if you decide to speed dip/formula 1:

http://www.trapper.ca/cnta/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7845

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by GStyler

Here is a good page on tuning:

http://www.trapperpredatorcaller.com...de_to_trapping

Gibbs process here looks good if you decide to speed dip/formula 1:

http://www.trapper.ca/cnta/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7845

Thank you GStyler! Excellent info, particularly the "Foothold Trap Adjustment and Modification" in the first link. That is exactly what I needed.