I am replacing and expanding my trap collection, I have an advanced, getting a few comstocks, and was just thinking about the wire triggers vs the pan triggers.

Most of you talk about using either comstock or advanced traps, but usually when you talk about bait placement it is in reference to pan location.

Does comstock or Kirk even make a panned trap? What are the pros and cons of a pan and times you would prefer a pan.

I have now switched over to almost all Comstock traps and wish I would have done it 30 years ago (I know they weren't around then). So many people around us will rent or buy a trap and catch a problem animal and take it to the first park or forest preserve they come to and dump it out. So many of the animals around here learn about those pans but pay no attention to a couple of wires in their way. I use the Comstocks in positive sets where I can, but I also bait them where needed typically trailing bait through them, they never pay attention to the wires. My catch with the Comstocks has gone up greatly.

I use traditional pan fired traps (Safeguard, Tomahawk and Freedom Brand) along with Comstock and Advanced traps and haven't noticed any one having a higher catch rate than the others.

I think the advantage of the Comstocks and Advanced traps is in their walk through design, strongly powered doors and exceptional quality. Advanced also has the single door, rear release models.

I blend in the bottom of my cages so the pan and/or wire is not exposed. When I get down on my belly and look through the traps, the Tomahawk is clear as a bell and wide open. The wire trigger traps have, of course, wire in the way of travel. To me, that's an obstacle but it's not to the animals, in my experience.

All of the designs work. It comes down to personal preference in my opinion.

I personaly , agree with SGS ...it's your own preference.. When it comes to Beaver in the state I live in ...in most cases we have to use a cage or box trap to take anything..but for Beaver I prefer a Suitcase style trap compared to any cage box trap out there, I just have better luck with them I guess as they are completely open...

Swampdonkey it sure is interesting hearing from different parts of the US and what everyones first thought is when we talk ADC work. You bring up beavers as a main point and I have never seen one in california. In fact, I have only seen them twice in my life. On one occaision I had an adventurous big brother have us swim inside a (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) when I was small enough to fit. Probably only five years old. Amazing we didnt get stuck or mauled my a beaver. I only really trap skunks and coons and I am hoping to get into squirrels and moles.

The biggest difference in my opinion is the effectiveness or the ability of the newer wire trigger traps to function especially on two or more doors. The same trap can be used on land, in water, or under water.

To try and point out what I mean here is a video of a two door hava hart trap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CrnQA7Qdiw

Notice 10 seconds into the video how long the pan is. It would be possible to miss the animal if he ran through by jumping over the trap pan because of it being raised, or in water by just swimming over it.

Here is a second one. Harbor freight- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ZLj7daB3c

Notice one minute and twelve seconds in the video that the pan is about the same size. Also notice he has to hit the pan two or three times to fire the trap. How many would you miss and what would it cost you? It shows that shiny and new doesn,t always equate to effectiveness.

That's a good point Kirk. I wonder if the wire causes avoidance ever

When catching feral cat kittens and small feral cats a four way trigger is more effective. They try to slink through the wires. They just bump the wires and are caught. At least that is what I have found.

There is a video somewhere, maybe Clints, that shows beaver coming up to a 330 and going around. Some of it I believe could be the smell we leave behind when adjusting the wire trigger on an exposed set. Some times it is not all bad to have the smell on the trigger, just needs to be the smell you want and where you want.

I know I can put castor on the trigger wires and catch bobcat and beaver. Got video showing it. The bad is when you set a positioning set with a cage trap where the lure gets on the trigger and the animal fires the trap prematurely by smelling the hanging trigger wires that were contaminated. I usually spray the trigger wires with a no scent mist to help. Here is a picture of a trap I just set with a camera to test. Bait is in two different locations. One on the front (left side in a dirt hole in the trap and one at an angled dirt hole on the right side. The set is made so that the animal will be completely in the trap when he works the dirt hole bumping the trigger. If the wire trigger is contaminated the animal may get missed if he smells and touches the trigger not going to the dirt hole first.


A pan set up would not work as well in positioning the animal I don,t believe because there is no visual guide.

I know how the wires are configured, guides the animal. I learned that one from Newt, years ago, when snaring otters. Just a blade of bent grass on the bottom of the loop will keep the otter from going under the snare and direct him into it.

I believe in a baited set the bait just needs to be prevalent over the wires. On a forced set, wire configuration that he thinks he can squeeze through, works best. Especially on a run where he is moving at a clip. Not just for the distraction from the wire trigger, but the distraction from the shape and presence of the trap, itself.

Yes, I have several traps that can be fitted with a metal pan in place of a wire trigger, but don,t show them in my videos or on my website, in detail.

The trap on the above post can easily put one in place. Tension or pressure on pan can be adjusted. Look close to the right side of the trap. There is a mechanism that a wire trigger set as a pan could be placed or a metal adjustable pan. I don,t promote the feature due to a little additional cost and the efficiency of a wire trigger set as a pan. The metal pan only has to move 3/8 inch to fire the trap.

I have never mixed lure with equipment, about like putting a gob of lure on a pan on a foot trap, trapping 101. Traps and lures want to be separate. The lure or bait simply wants to be placed in such a way that the animal goes over a pan, trips a wire trigger or whatever to get to the bait or lure, the reasoning behind virtually all fur trapping. Where and how the trap is placed in relationship to the bait is what trapping is all about. When animals smell an attractant, gland lure, call lure, bait, whatever, they are on guard, watching and looking, wary. By keeping the attractant a distance from the trap of any type the animal is less tense when we passes over or through the trap at the time he smells what you put down. The farther the trap is from the bait, the better. I used to place foot traps some distance from a dirt hole or flat set, noting that the animal was not coming up out of the hole to go over the trap, but from some distance. I use the same logic with beaver and castor, placing traps from 5 to 50 feet or more from the lure, catching as many returning through the trap as entering, 50/50 coming and going. I don't want an animal smelling the lure at the time he is entering the cage if I can help it, too much stimuli that can cause a miss.