sleepy creek 1 1/2s

[braggadoe]

just got an order of 3 doz. sleepy creek 1 1/2s. every single one, wouldn't fire out of the box. had too remove the pan, and bend/file burrs. on all of them,not impressed!

i like modifying/tinkering with traps, but 100% inoperable out of the box, for an american made trap seems odd.

never owned any sleepy creeks before, wonder if there all this crappy??any one else experience this?




we got them all back togther, hopefully they'll at least hold one rat.

[Marty S]

Gary Godberson loves his Sleepy Creek 1 1/2s, I think that's all he uses for a steel foot trap. They probably aren't all that bad but who knows. After you are done working one them you will have a pretty good trap though.

[braggadoe]

he got me onto them, very surprised they needed so much work out of the box.

[Marty S]

I'm a coil guy myself but Gary and I don't seem to hold the same view very often when it comes to traps!!! But when I buy coils, I have to do some work to them too, but minimal.

[South west trappin RG]

Are your hands black yet doe? I had to do the same thing with the three dozen I got last week. I have never bought such low quality in trapps. Some of them had to be worked on to even set them. I had to look twice to see if they were accually made in the U.S. There is no quality control here. Marty I got the singal long springs for eaise of setting in waders what coils are you using and do you have to add weight to them?

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by South west trappin RG

Are your hands black yet doe? I had to do the same thing with the three dozen I got last week. I have never bought such low quality in trapps. Some of them had to be worked on to even set them. I had to look twice to see if they were accually made in the U.S. There is no quality control here. Marty I got the singal long springs for eaise of setting in waders what coils are you using and do you have to add weight to them?

well guess ill hold off on buying some of these then,how come no other company offers 1 1/2,victor used to have them,why are sleepy creeks the only long spring available to purchase,i bought some duke 1 1/2 coil springs,only issue round pan,should be square, IMO, plenty of weight for rats Peter

[braggadoe]

with the pm's and swtrapping, i'm glad to hear i'm not the first to have issues with them.

we fixed them up, and they probably will be a good trap.

just wish it would stop getting so cold at night.we're ready to go!!



just put one of my 4 1/2 newhouses for trade on Tman, for 1 1/2 longspring and have got all kinds of offers for older victors. hopefully get a bunch more from there.

PCP, SWtraping. i'm building some funnel traps. we need to get some fibre glass stakes. you guys should make a group order and i'll trade funnel traps for stakes.

i'll have 10 done by this weekend. 20, if it doesn't warm up.

[South west trappin RG]

Iam going to the states on Tuesday I plan on bringing back a bunch of trappin supplies.

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

with the pm's and swtrapping, i'm glad to hear i'm not the first to have issues with them.

we fixed them up, and they probably will be a good trap.

just wish it would stop getting so cold at night.we're ready to go!!



just put one of my 4 1/2 newhouses for trade on Tman, for 1 1/2 longspring and have got all kinds of offers for older victors. hopefully get a bunch more from there.

PCP, SWtraping. i'm building some funnel traps. we need to get some fibre glass stakes. you guys should make a group order and i'll trade funnel traps for stakes.

i'll have 10 done by this weekend. 20, if it doesn't warm up.

Just waiting on a quote from company for 4 bundles of 20 stakes at 2.72 a piece,will let you know what i hear Brag and i will definitely be wanting some subs as well

[nube]

Just got 60 #1 Longsprings off Tman and just picked them up at my P.O box in Montana yesterday when I went to visit my Grandma in the hospital in Cardston. Sure is a cheap way to get trapping supplies. Will be ordering a pile of snares from the snareshop along with a bunch of other stuff and pick it up when I go down this summer as well. The guys at the border don't usually even bother to charge you duty or anything as well if you don't get too carried away either. Have been surprised as 9/10 of the time it is not worth the time to do the paperwork for them I guess. I like that

[gman1978]

Braggadoe, how does that set up work with the carrot above the trap? Under the ice I am guessing but all the sloughs in my neck of the woods have 30 inches plus of ice on them. That would be a lot of chopping for me!

[G_Godberson]

Yes, they are a frustrating trap when you buy them. I too went through that... although never had NONE fire in whole box. The first thing to do with new traps is to file the sharp jaw corners round so the spring eye doesn't cut into jaw steel. If you pull jaws out of frame you can also round square jaw ends where they sometimes bind. Once this is done, spray jaw ends where they go into frame with WD-40 and repeat once a week when using every day... especially in spring on floats this is needed

Also keep tension on pan sensitive (backed off bolt) as rats can do head stands on pans if you aren't careful

Once broken in, they are a good trap. This is the only new longspring 1 1/2 on market that I know of.

Long vs coil? Well for me I can reset them much faster when standing in water, in canoe etc., This isn't just about weight.. Longs are more efficient. There is also tension issues with 1 1/2 coils.. and they need coils changed out to smaller ones if you really want to go that way. Nothing is easy, and rarely does a trap come out of the box ready to catch animals! Belisle 120 for marten may be the only trap I use, that I consider ready for the line immediately;

GG

P.S. Hope this helps. Didn't mention modifications / filing of jaws in Black Diamond course boys.. sorry forgot to mention.

[braggadoe]

the belisle 120's/330's are the only traps i've bought new recently. it's been a long time since i bought brand new long springs. that's what had me so disappointed.

we did file some of the jaws on a few of the the worst ones....... should of/could of, done them all i guess. mostly it was the pan tension.bend the dog back.

we got them all fixed up and they seem to be working well.

[G_Godberson]

Good to hear J. I see that your boys are fully engaged in this operation! Good luck GG

[ditch donkey]

[/QUOTE]

Trapper in a penguin touque! Times are changing! Looks good!

[Big Grey Wolf]

Guys, I hate to pick on our friends in China. I bet the 11/2,s are being manufactured in China even though sold as product from US. Just try buying stuff from Princess Auto these days, lots of crap with poor quality.

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by G_Godberson

Yes, they are a frustrating trap when you buy them. I too went through that... although never had NONE fire in whole box. The first thing to do with new traps is to file the sharp jaw corners round so the spring eye doesn't cut into jaw steel. If you pull jaws out of frame you can also round square jaw ends where they sometimes bind. Once this is done, spray jaw ends where they go into frame with WD-40 and repeat once a week when using every day... especially in spring on floats this is needed

Also keep tension on pan sensitive (backed off bolt) as rats can do head stands on pans if you aren't careful

Once broken in, they are a good trap. This is the only new longspring 1 1/2 on market that I know of.

Long vs coil? Well for me I can reset them much faster when standing in water, in canoe etc., This isn't just about weight.. Longs are more efficient. There is also tension issues with 1 1/2 coils.. and they need coils changed out to smaller ones if you really want to go that way. Nothing is easy, and rarely does a trap come out of the box ready to catch animals! Belisle 120 for marten may be the only trap I use, that I consider ready for the line immediately;

GG

P.S. Hope this helps. Didn't mention modifications / filing of jaws in Black Diamond course boys.. sorry forgot to mention.

We are all human Gary,it was an AWESOME course and look forward to canine trapping in the fall,think i'll still grab the sleepy creeks,only ones available,waiting on shipping quote for fiberglass stakes,guys taking forever getting back to me,ship out of IOWA he said,looking forward to hitting hard water,if it warms up ,Thanks again for your wisdom Peter

[Marty S]

So Gary... Don't you think that changing springs out of the 1 1/2 coil and filing the burr off the dog is going to be faster than filing down all the sharp edges on the Sleepy Creek?

Also, I believe you are gravely mistaken... The 1 1/2 coil is a far more efficient trap than any standard 1 1/2 longspring. I used to use 1 1/2 long springs heavily, then switched to the 1 1/2 Stoploss which was a massive step up from the 1 1/2 long, but then finally settled with the lowly 1 1/2 Duke, not only the best trap for the money, but yes the best trap!!!


Hee hee

Surely from a speed setting standpoint, you will be setting the Sleepy long over your leg while standing in the swamp? I suspect if we had a race setting 10 traps, the winner would go either way.

I've never felt the need to spray WD40 on the duke coil neither. I've always felt that water was a good lubricant, perhaps in the rat houses high and dry?

[braggadoe]

marty are you big into the lathe type set??

the reason i ask is,,,,,, the coils and jump traps i have at home here. i've noticed i can't get them as close to the bait as with the long springs.

in the pic above, i believe the trap is too far from the bait. and have adjusted them so the bait is right up against the trap.

with the coils/jumps i can't get the pan as close to the bait due to the spring.

not sure if this is an issue? and will be setting them this week end anyway. can't see it being an issue on any other type of set. probably just use the coil/jumps in push ups/huts.


thoughts,,,,,???

those cagey rats!! love it!!!

[G_Godberson]

Friends don't argue online ... No point. 270 rats in last 4.5 days, about 60% in 1 1/2 longs, rest in coni's. Working good here

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by G_Godberson

Friends don't argue online ... No point. 270 rats in last 4.5 days, about 60% in 1 1/2 longs, rest in coni's. Working good here

Question for Gary,went to Frank Lake today extensive marsh system east of High River,Ducks Unlimited care takers,here it is conditions were rough with thaw and freeze there was top layer of inch of ice then water,then ice again,I checked a couple of push ups only to find frozen solid,There is a inflow from Cargill Foods which has a ton of open water,I sat and observed the area for an hour and the only sign's of life were the vast numbers of waterfowl,not one rat to be seen any where's,open water you would think you would see something,wondering if you can shed some light on this situation,Thanks Peter,P.S. was pretty sobering moment to not see any at all,looking forward to fall and canine's

[braggadoe]

thats awesome gary!

struggling down here. 8-10-12 inches of water/slush on top of the ice on the week end. with whirl pools going down the push ups. we set mostly under the ice, in the huts as well.

on checking, the ice had risen(floated up i guess). had to re adjust every thing.

interesting, we could see where the rats where still coming up where the push ups were. the whirl pools created big holes and was able to set some floats in the holes. hopefully they'll solve to rising/dropping water level problem. as every thing melts. and fluctuates.

peter, we only saw tonnes of ducks/geese as well while out on the sloughs during the day, and no rats. last night,as driving home, just at dark. there where rats in every piece of open water we drove past.

[G_Godberson]

It is tough to trap conditions that are not winter or spring .. Twilight in between. Be real careful on ice - sure you have thought of life jackets, ice picks around neck?
I am still using snowmobile for now, may get to weekend so I can finish project.
You may want to Wait until edges of lakes melt enough - you don't need more than 1.5 ' of water (to bottom of lake, not false ice bottom) to drown rats if using long cables/chains as I showed you guys

As far as Cargill inflow/frank lake ...be patient. Frozen push-ups don't mean rats are dead necessarily , they just lost a few grocery stores- May mean a little smaller rats though

[Marty S]

Friends do make fun of each other from time to time! What are friends for?

The lathe set looks cumbersome, like lots of stuff to pack. If I was going to go with a bait set, I'd try something else.

[PCP_ECOM]

Well ill check it out on weekend and take some float sets along and give them a try,put them out later in day and come back early in morning and see what takes place,Thanks Gary and Paul for input,Peter,rigged all my foot holds with extra 1 1/2 feet of cable as well.

[The Spruce]

Just shined up 2 dozen of them, only one didn't fire out of the box. I like shortening the dog so the pan dropps with less travel anyways, so no big deal for me. Rats beware, campaign starts tonight.

Spruce

[Marty S]

Those poor people that have to staple Bar Code tickets to each and every muskrat pelts head...

[braggadoe]

got'em working well gary. to bad it's supposed to get cold and snow a bunch.