i always set my coon traps on my knee but for fox and coyote would this contaminate them or should i not worry about it. it just becomes a pain settin traps with my feet.
Tyler

you shouldnt be setting traps with your feet it can cause spring damage

Get a kneeling pad and you won't contaminate the set. I've caught plenty fox using a kneeling pad.

I generally wear hip boots when setting canine traps, so setting on my knee is not a problem. However, I frequently check wearing only knee high rubber boots. When I find myself setting traps without my hip boots on, I'll set the trap right on the ground where I plan to dig my trap bed. I've never used my feet. I always wear rubber gloves when handling canine traps.

How does setting a trap with your feet cause spring damage? A compressed spring is a compressed spring.

your weight over your legs is stronger than your arms, and you can put too much pressure on them without realizing it and over-extend the springs. You can damage levers and frames too, if there's sometging under the frame like a rock or stick. I had to use my feet early last season after I broke my arm last summer. I'd extend pressure with my ankles, being creful not to transfer my weight forward, which might put too much stress on the trap.

BuckNE setting longsprings with your feet can cause spring damage because it bends the spring at too sharp of an angle but it doesn't hurt coil springs.

I just kneel in my jeans, sometimes I have on foam knee pads, I have still caught k-9's, but I am no pro at it. I always set the trap on the ground kneeling infront of it.

I use nearly all Double Longspring traps and set them all over my knee, except for a a few Livestock Protection company traps. Those have to be set with your feet due to the design of how the jaws are mounted to the frame.

CTtrapper, if a stick can damage my trap, I have much bigger problems than just setting them with my feet!

I better throw all my MB-650's in the garbage then, because I set them everyday with my feet, so they are probably ruined. Being a full size yote can put 400 foot pounds of pressure on them on a full lunge when he hits the chain end, I probably ruined them all by standing on them to set em with my 165 pound self. I better throw away my new jakes also, as I have been standing on them to set em. Personally, if I can ruin em by setting them with my feet, I don't want them!!!

Does anyone want all my traps, be warned though they are obvioulsy ruined? Don't tell this guy that though, he might just take his foot out and walk away...... NOT .........

yep andy you better send them to me LMAO


Bob

Andy,

If they are all coilspings like the one in the picture, you can keep them.

But I'll be happy to take all of those DBLS that you have junked out!

Well, I might agree to an extent that setting with your feet MIGHT cause a problem as some point, I really don't agree that it is damage worth talking about. As was said, a compressed spring, is a compressed spring. My sons both set with their feet and have had NO problems. I know that trapperSteph sets with her feet cause she shows that method in the traps4Kids videos. So in short, although it could have some validity, that is the most absurd thing I have heard in a Long time. LOL>

If it is cool out I have insulated coveralls on, or just my jeans. I kneel at most of my sets. Once your knees become covered in dirt they wouldn't leave much scent anyway. T.20

Stepping on traps damage's them??????? Must be alot of Duke trap user's on here, lol.

If your using REAL traps it won't hurt them any, i kneel on a kneeling pad and just shove the levers down with the heel of my hand's then set the trap.

My baseplated, laminated traps will handle some vehicles running over them, maybe a little work is needed. T.20

i said CAN CAUSE, thats just the way i was taught...i aint saying that if you go set a trap with your foot itll break im saying that its a possibility so why take the chance

It can damage some longsprings by overcompressing the springs if not careful. You wont hurt coils at all.

I've been trapping 52 years and I never seen or heard of a trap spring being weakened by setting on your knee, with your feet or even by using your butt cheeks like many southern beaver trappers do.

Wasn't that long ago Kraig you ancestor's were using their hands as feet as it? lmao.

Not to get off topic, but back to the original question. Yes, you can set a trap over your knee and not worry about contamination. Be clean, but you don't have to be as sterile as an operating room either.

Ive known of bridger and duke #5 springs breaking from people standing on them the wrong way. About 2 years ago on this forum a guy had three of his bridgers break like that. Myself I find its easier to set longsprings over my knee, except for newhouses or the #4 1/2 sleepycreek because the baseplate is so long. Id say the springs were over tempered to break like that on the #5's. The new sleepycreek wolf trap has a warning not use it in water because of the massive ammount of temper in the springs.

Tempering is just re-heating hardened steel a bit to draw it down (soften) so it's not so brittle.

Just "food for thought" but if you're setting on your knee, wouldn't you have more of a chance to over-extend the levers (past horizontal to the frame), as opposed to standing on them, where the lever travel is pretty limited by the ground?

U would have to weigh 500#'s and trap centered on a railroad track to hurt the springs, then again your going to hurt the base plate before the springs. Thats on coils.... Just my opinion.

If I'm trapping in a creek with a muddy bank, I'll set my 1 1/2s by hand, wearing gloves usually.

Stronger coyote traps, sometimes my gloved hands, but mostly my feet.

If you want to know how to set a coilspring with your hands, watch the "Destroying the Myth" video, there's a beaver trapper on there that does it really fast. (that's where I learned, anyway!)

As far as breaking or incurring damage, never had a problem.
Scent contamination? If I set with my feet, my boots smell more natural than the coyotes do by the time I get to the set, and under water it dosn't matter.

I'm only using Coilsprings, but I do have two #3LS, which I set over my thigh.

Good Luck!

thanks guys for all the responses but let me ask this question. how many of you set over your knee when setting for fox and yotes?

I went to a fabric store and bought a piece of vinyl for like a couch cushion. It is cloth on one side, vinyl on the other. It is about 3 feet by 3 feet. I use it as a kneeling pad, vinyl side down. My pants don't get wet and I set the traps on the pad. I also use it to lay the trap bed dirt on before sifting.

Tempering is actually hardening steel so it wont be brittle. The act of transforming one of the brittle components(martensite) into ferrit(less brittle). Over tempering can have an adverse effect, making it to hard for the intended purpose. Thats why sleepycreek has this warning on their #5 wolf trap.
Warning: Because this trap is intended for land trapping only. The Springs have been tempered to maximum hardness. They may break if used in water sets.

Any time ya step on a trap and a spring gives up chances are it was junk already.i use my hands and knee or the ground. RayA

Ky
Hardening steel is heating to the highest temp and then quenching taking it to its hardest and brittlest stage.
Tempering is done after hardening by taking to a lower temp and quenching to make the metal softer and less brittle, but still hard enough to retain strength.
The softer the steel the less brittle it is.

Im sorry but its not taking it to its hardest and most brittle stage. Its taking it from its current brittle stage to a harder stage. .The whole process of tempering by the very definition is still hardening the steel to change the basic makeup of the metal. Its taking the brittle elements and changing them to a harder element. Not making them hardest and brittle. Then the metal can be softened from there.. True softning is part of the after process but only if the operator wants it to be. The actual act of tempering is the chemical change of the elements. I.E Martenite to Ferrite. From a brittle component to a hard less brittle component.