Can you use 160s for Badger

Can use 160s for Badgers ? Thank you

sure can if your state allows it..

With the shape of their head and neck, I'd say it would be the bare minimum size to use on them. A 220 would be a lot better, however if you can rig your triggers and get them to enter the 160 far enough before it fires, it should work.

I never tried it but just based on my experiences with badgers and catch poles they have a STOUT neck. I’d go with a 220

ADC we already beat that horse dead...

That was coons, lol. When they start asking about muskrats and mink we can change our answer.

A 220 is just a better option all the way around, but I must confess... my coni boxes are built for 160's..

You can use a mousetrap but you wont catch as many

That was seriously going to be my first answer, but I didn't want to be a smartass on this one.

I think people underestimate how strong and determined badgers are. I’ve had them rip springs off of #3s, bend pans in half, twist levers up. They’re like little destruction machines with bad tempers.

My buddy killed a badger stone dead In a 160. He turned It In to the DNR
And It was one of the cheap junk yard duke 160s that did the deed.

... and I've held them in NW #1 coil springs with zero damage and had them DOA in 220's on coon trails numerous times and never even move the trap off the stabilizer. They are also, 95% of the time, as aggressive as a possum. So there's that. lol

They must be more mild tempered in Iowa lol. I’ve had them chase me across hay fields. Never saw one back down from anything, human or otherwise

You need to feed them more corn Bob. lol They just set there looking at you unless of course you try to pet them or poke at them with a stick.

Not a lot of corn in the desert lol they’re probably mean cause all they have to eat is rodents that are full of ticks and taste like sagebrush, rattlesnakes and scorpions. That’d make me mean too I suppose lol

Me too.

They must be more mild tempered in Iowa lol. I’ve had them chase me across hay fields. Never saw one back down from anything, human or otherwise[/quote]
I'm sure you misunderstood their intentions --- they just wanted to "play" ,

x2. They can put up a fair resistance if you don't do things right and like Jayme says they are odd shapped

If you have one down a hole, sometimes a 160 is a better option due to fitting in the hole. When a body grip fires in a hole, if the jaws or spring hit the sides it will be thrown away from where it hits and most likely away from what set it off. I have taken a fair number of badger in 160's set on holes. If a 220 fit I used a 220. But can assure you a 160 will often put a badger down on contact. Often they do not move from the looks of it. I was using Belisles and have a lot of faith in them. Bigger is not always stronger or better.

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.