I have never had a broken chain before yesterday. It was a mont #3dogless. 3 swivels the chain broke between the 1st and second swivel. About 4" of chain remain on the trap. Anyone have seen this?

once when someone tried to steal it with a truck winch

broken or cut? had a j hook straightened out this year...was scratchin my head till i saw the bootprint in the catch circle. Wouldnt you know the landowner found my trap in the bed of the "problem" neighbor's truck. He dealt with that situation for me. Tresspassing, tampering and stealing traps.

Kinda - I had bought some #2 link chain from the local hardware to attach to super stakes. This must of been import chain as when I pulled a bunch of those traps this season with the MB Beast stake puller the chain broke off in the ground. Links popped right open.
I would like to say it was my awesome strength that did this but the chain was junk as I could see the stretched out links.
The American made chain on my older Super stakes has held up fine for close to five years.

you didn't say if yote tracks were around.........if so....AND it was twist link,,,he probably bit it open..seen it.

If welded link, cheap imported product, as mentioned above.

I've seen chains break/open and J-Hooks opened but not come apart while pulling them, then come unhooked when an animal is caught after resetting the trap. There's potential for a bad link in any chain as well. I have never seen a target animal break a chain.

I caught a deer this year and held it long enough to make a slight catch circle and open up the j hooks in a Bridger #3 before it pulled out . Like ADC said I didn't realize it till I set the trap and went to reposition the cable extension.

Had this waiting on me one morning this year. Ground frozen no tracks. Threads pulled

Looks to me like the threads pulled from the long side, FH indicating that they were tightened too much. I've seen this happen with quick links if they are tightened with pliers or a crescent wrench.

On a side note, I had a chain broke this year. Those MB550s are tough, but no match for a Cat 650. Didn't hurt the trap a bit though other than the chain, and the dozer operator even spent half the day looking for it since he told me they wouldn't have the dozer near that set. If he hadn't found it, the power company was gonna pay me for it though. I'm happy to have the trap back.

Is that an 1/8" quick link for coyotes. If so you got what you deserve for using such weak gear. Use 3/16" links for coyotes.

Was 1/8. Set was for cat but ya never kno

Those are not my pics. My trap was baseplated with a mb swivel on the bottom of the trap,2 links of #3 twinlink chain another swivel then 12" of the same#3 and a 3rd swivel on my drag chain. Maybe it was damaged somehow and i didnt notice? The whole setup uses j-hooks that i crimp on with the special tool.