MJM, I like your answer.
It all depends on where the trap hits them. In a coni box I would prefer a 220 but if what I had was 160's I would use them before i would go buy more traps. Years ago I roped a couple of them at different times and killed both them with rocks. "I don't like badger holes in cattle and horse country, so it was sort of a personal thing.
Pete

Use a snare it works to your advantage conis have a lot of misses and you won’t get a second chance often, if a snare gets bumped just reset it no harm no foul that way he’s still coming and going nothing to fear. I believe conis have a lot of pullouts as the badger can slip that neck skin over the skull when needed, most of the ones you hold have a leg in the jaws or is stunned on impact from the trap.

I’m talking Belisles also just had a miss in a road ditch the other day a nice large hole easy to set with a 220. Had to use a 220 to try to keep it from being taken if seen in a foot or snare attracting attention.

Bend the triggers up like this....to get them in deeper....160 belisle is a stout trap

160 Belisle will wreck em

I have 6 160 belisle out and 1 220 for coon. Deadly traps

Count how many your missing with snapped traps during the season.

The Belisle with triggers bent or hardwood pan should work,if you have any of the MB 160's that would also be a decent body grip trap.

The guys who are pushing 160 size traps have likely not trapped many badger , at least not the size badger we have in South Dakota. Law Dog is correct. Many(perhaps most) of the adult badger that get into body grips in holes (brand does not matter to them, we are not talking coons or possum or cats or fisher) will not be killed. If they are in a small hole where a 160 fits nicely, they back down until the trap wedges and then back out, and they often do the same with 220s in larger holes. I have had empty traps wedged so tight that I dug them out rather than distort them pulling. In trail sets where they cannot get the leverage against a solid trap, they ARE often killed if the trap gets either a bar across the skull or the chest but I have seen evidence that they lived some time. I have been trapping badger since the 1950s and have taken a number. On the other hand, they are easily held by the foot due to their huge feet(especially their front feet) with long toes and claws. Often a 1 1/2 will hold them. In my earliest 10 years or so of trapping them for bounty, I had no traps larger than 1 1/2 and because badger only pull steadily against a staked trap with no lunging they rarely pull out. If caught by a front foot as they usually are when trapping them in their holes, they dig around in a circle using mostly just the free front foot. If caught by a hind foot they go around in a larger circle while digging with both front feet and those mounds can be impressive, but even then the pull is steady and they are easily held. In those early years I had a number of little red fox break the wires that I then used to secure my traps but never a badger. Finally, because the round body grippers seem so suited to the round holes that badger dig, I gave them a fair test a decade or so ago and never held a badger in one.

Great Info^^^

Yup...we don’t have them around here...so I have no clue

I feel a badger is often pushing dirt when he comes out of a hole. It will result in sprung traps and snares pushed out of the way. I don't feel I ever had a badger work out of a belisle. Often the support sticks are still in the ground. I have caught a few badgers. I targeted them in the early spring hard for eight years. I am not saying a 160 is my favorite badger trap, I am saying if it is what is called for it will work. I never cared for digging out a hole in froze ground to fit a larger trap. As far as foot hold and snares, I have caught my share in them too. I have caught them in cage traps too. But the OP didn't ask about them.

Your putting a square plug in a round hole is what’s going on, do it the best way it works for you.

Yes, you are. But as you stated above sometimes it is the best option due to location. You stated you just had a miss in the road ditch. You must have thought it would work. I feel a trap jaw or spring hitting the ground will cause you to miss more badger on a hole set, than the difference in size between a 160 and 220.

A coni is a option if you don’t want to get ripped off (dead critter in the hole) was what I said no trap no chances a coni 50/50 chance then.