Upside Sets with Comstock Beaver Cage Traps

Upside down setting with Comstock beaver cages might seem gimmicky, but it now appears there is even more science to it than previously thought.  Not only can a cage be dropped into a brushy sunken dams, feed piles or where ever there is debris and sticks without risk of the doors getting jammed because the doors fire upward, these cages can be made even shorter than anyone thought possible.  On the first two outings with the newest experimental unheard of 32 inch short beaver cages, the result was 2 for 2, both beaver large blanket beavers.  The first beaver weighed in at 45 pounds, while the second was a pound larger at 46 pounds.  The body length at 30 inches was almost exactly the length of the inside of the trap door to door.  With the tail, the beaver was nearly a foot longer than the entire trap, proving that if most of the beaver is in the trap when it fires, the beaver will be ushered in by the power doors that contact his back feet and then simply pull himself in the rest of the way.  Taking into account, beaver sizes,  trigger travel, forward inertia of the beaver, distance to center, along with the distance the door protrudes beyond the confines of the catch compartment, it could be that 32 to 36 inch traps may become more the norm than the exception.  It just takes some time to move from hypothetical to experiment to the accepted method.  It's not always easy for new concepts to gain approval and people to get their head around using a shorter device.  I'm still amazed.  

A few Beaver Cage Statistics-Weight

Size and weight definately play a role in the selection of a beaver cage trap.  Engineered and configured for strength and durability, the traps are built from the lightest materials that will hold up.  The standard 12x18x39 beaver cages weigh a bit over 23 lbs., well within the range of acceptability.

Always experimenting with shorter and smaller cages, the last two beaver cages we made to try out were even more user friendly.  The 12x18x32 "shorty" weighs under 20 pounds, 19-13!  A second trap  measuring 12x15x36 came in at an amazing 17-10, both incredibly light for their capabilities.  Both traps produced large beaver on the first set, the first a 45 pound beaver and the second a 50 pound beaver.

FYI, Lexington, Kentucky

Judy and I will be attending the WCT, Wildlife Control Technology, conference in Lexington, Kentucky, on November 7 and 8.  We will have a booth to show and demo Comstock and Tomahawk cage traps and accessories.  I will do a power point on Beaver Trapping November 8 at 3:30 p.m.   Hope to see you there.

The past two days, using a couple of odd sized one of a kind traps, just because, proved rewarding.  Yesterday the 12x18x32 double powered door trap produced a 45# beaver and today a 12x15x36 inch trap produced a beaver just a shade under 50#.   These are the first to be taken in the new traps and both pretty good sized in relation to the size of the trap.  We did take a 42# in a 12x12x36 last year also.  I would bet that larger beaver can and will be taken in each of these traps without issue.  They just need some more time in the water.

Pictured is the long stick that must have been in the 45# beaver's mouth when he was captured in the 32 inch trap.  There was also a 1 inch diameter stick in the door, but the gap between door and frame was large enough not to jam the action.  The door fired and locked as it should, even with the second stick wedged in between the door and frame.

We have done a lot of experimenting with shorter space saving double door cage traps, pushing the envelope to the limit.  Though some double door traps for armadillo have been made as long as 48", we found that double door cage traps as short as 24 inches would accomplish the same goal without issue.  Likewise, we found that double door cage traps as short as 18 inches were more than adequate for skunks and chucks, misses pretty much non-existant.

With beaver we began with a 36 inch double door trap, taking beaver up to 66 pounds.  The 36 inch traps never let us down.  From there we began using 40, 39 and 38 inch long traps to err on the side of caution.  After hundreds of catches, studying and running the numbers it seemed likely that shorter just might work, 34 inch for sure, but maybe even shorter, a really short 32 inch?

This is a picture of a 45 pound beaver taken today in 32 inch long 12x18 double powered door cage trap on the first attempt and in all likelihood a first for a double door trap this short.   The trap was set upside down in 30 inches of water on the bottom in a stream channel with the powered doors lifting the beaver up and into the trap.  Time will tell if this was a fluke or the norm and just how short double door traps can be made.

Superior Trigger in Comstock Panless Traps

All of the panless traps we produce have one common characteristic, simply the most stable, consistent, sensitive trigger system available in cage traps, a big plus for setting, placing,  and firing to take animals large or small without issue.

With standard pan type trigger systems or wire triggered traps that use conibear type triggers, triggers that have moved even slightly after setting in what is often an undetectably small amount of travel,  triggers become very "touchy."  If one of these cage traps is jarred by the user or an animal, the trap may fire prematurely, even before the animal has entered the trap.  Pan type triggers have a range of sensitivity dictated by where the door catch contacts the door itself, very light to heavy, difficult to see or understand if the trigger is heavy or light.

With the swing bar and swing panel triggers on the Comstock traps there is no accidental light or heavy setting.  All of these traps have wide, easily seen contact points.  The trap is set no heavier or lighter by the position of the contacts between the trip rod and swing bar.  It is always the same every time, no guess work.  Though the amount of trigger travel may be more or less if the trigger contact is off center, the amount of pressure required to fire the trap remains exactly the same.   Also, the trap will fire exactly in the same prescribed position each time, no surprises.

On the larger heavy duty traps trigger pressure can be varied by positioning the door hook either close to or farther from the trip rod.  You are in command with the ability to regulate the pressure needed to fire the trap since the door hook position can be easily seen.  No other traps afford this option or reliability.  Even the small squirrel traps have the same stability as the larger raccoon and beaver traps.

Because of the features incorporated into the triggers, traps that are rolled over or even tossed into the water remain set and stabile and at the same time, sensitive enough to catch a small muskrat in the beaver traps and sensitive enough to capture a mouse in the squirrel traps.      

Luke sent in this picture of a very small mouse in a 5 x 5 x 24 Comstock Swing panel chipmunk/squirrel cage trap, proving that the trigger is incredibly sensitive and the cage mesh is tight.