BEAV, i have aways been in fear of over quiding! and have have before.
i have also have had them blow threw my guiding.

heck savel us desert folka don't know nothin lol

Great post Beav.I'me using 1 3/4ths traps right now,'cause that's what I got. On several occasions last fall I saw a track right on the jaw,missed the pan,no catch.It didnt detect the trap. For me ,that's maybe a good thing. I'me not overly guiding,just a little bit...subtle. If I had #2s or a few #3s,I might set them. I've got a couple week window before freeze up here.I dont get much dirt trapping in,and havnt done a whold lot of it. 24 hour check limits the amount of country one can set up,or I'de practise a little more.And alot of sod around here, none of that dezzert .

I use as big as the state allows. Except the 550s.

I have cought coyotes in traps from a#2 dls to a 4 1/2 newhouse. I meen 1 1/2 coil to a CDR a MB 7.50. Bridger #5. dont use exposed sets and yes I have just aint for me.I like #2 TO#4 COIL OR A #3 TO #4 Longspring. I have cought alot of coyotes and cats in #5 longs and larger traps with and with out teath. The big coils up to the AK#9. Have never seen eather a cat or coyote that didnt have foot or leg damage in that size. Not haten just sayn

this is such a good thread and so many things going on. i cant seem to figure out what i am doing different cuz i am not getting any damage! this trapping season i will carrie a camra with me.

Count me in for small traps. 550's, #1.75's, etc. #2 CS's unmodified at the largest. If you are using little to no guiding you have to use big traps to compensate and I will bet you still get more misses then you like to admit. With proper guiding you get the cat to step dead center every time and a smaller trap is just fine.
Small does much less foot damage and they are easy to carry and cat trapping usually involves a lot of walking. Less is more.

like you said bigger traps means less guiding. dont you think a set is more inviting with less guiding?

i watched a video on how to catch cats in #1s why dont you guys use those?

I don't think it is possible to "over guide" cats. Heavy guiding helps keep my worthless coyotes from plugging a good cat set.

A half pad or toe catch is better than a tracked up pattern

Good point Chuck.

Does anyone use face guides?

Dont know what that is,I guess.

Here is the thing that kills me and I do not see it here nearly as often as on hunting pages.

I don't care who you are your way is not the best way to do it everytime and this applies to every aspect of life. I work in the medical field and work with people that say this is the only way to do it. When you get this attitude you are missing out. My dad taught me to hunt one day after I had just bugled in my little brothers first archery bull elk on the hill with tears in his eyes he told us how proud he was that we had takenn what we learned from him and others we had hunted with and mixed it with tatics we had learned on our own and stored things away and pull them out at the correct moments he had watched us use some different tactics that morning leading up to the shot, and it worked and hit him hard how much we payed attention but didn't get stuck in a rut.

I apply this to my trapping, I am very new to this so when I see one guy say this will not work and another say it will I experiment and figure it out for myself. I then write this new info in a journal and trying it one time proves nothing. I then pull that info. out when it is relevent to do so or when the normal just isn't working and it suprises me how many times it works and suprises even me.

My point you need to be open to change and to try different things it will make you a much better trapper, hunter, professional,or any thing else for that matter. The guys that knock something because they tried it once and it didn't work or worse yet they didn't try it at all are never going to advance themselves they may get great numbers but they won't bump those numbers without putting more hours in. Learn to improvise think outside the box.

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im sorry i thought we were talking about big traps?

This was an informative thread concerning big trap vs little trap.You said you're very new to this.maybe you should give it a little more time.

I read this whole thread and I also posted. I see no where In the thread where any one said something wouldn't work. All I saw was a bunch of Ideas thrown out and other trappers systems and thoughts.

I guess I must have missed something.

Me to beav heck I just confuse everyone anyhow on here

Well your In good company.