Comstock Traps

Make sure to use the long trap for blocking a hole when you are driving something to the escape. I used a short one and the door hung up and didn't close. You need the door to be fully closed before it is hit. Got lazy and used the trap that was handy. Should of been easy
In thinking about it he was probably doing better than 40 feet a second

In the past when I have tried to push animals through gravity door, pan traps, animals merely jumped the pans and beat the slow doors. With wire triggers and powered doors you have a much better shot at driving an animal into a trap and catching him, a very good chance because they will hit the wires and fire they trap. With that said, nothing is 100% and there are guidelines to increase the odds of catching. When pushing animals into open double door traps with wire triggers and powered doors its best to be gentle about it if you can so that animals are merely passing through a trap while walking or more or less jogging. Shorter traps work fine if the animal is moving more "normally." If you jump an animal and push him hard, like being fired out of a cannon, the only way to have a chance at making the catch is to use the longest trap possible. Though the powered door traps are the fastest traps available, even they have limitations. It's possible that the trap could be used with the outside door closed too. In most all aspects of ADC I find it best to be gentle with animals to keep them for understanding that they are being targeted.

I have faith in my Comstock traps...we have to remember that we are playing with the odds stacked against us from the get go...

Generally, I'm impressed with my Comstock cage traps. They're sturdy, with a sure fire spring loaded door, the wire triggers will get those critters already educated to pan triggers, and the rear door makes setting and baiting easier. Yet I've had 2 wily coon to beat these traps. The 1st time a coon pulled the wires to him, about 40degrees, then pulled the can of sardines from the rear of the cage. A brief dremel job and the trigger now releases at around 20 - 30 degrees both rearward and forward.

Yesterday
a coon, popped a backdoor slotted holding rail off, then squeezed out. When I get the foto to download, you can see a wash clothe in area where coon did his squeeze, with the rail set on top of rag. It looks as it might have been epoxied on. Anyway, coons are pretty violent inside their cages. Thought I'd share. Caught him the next nite in my other Comstock cage trap.

Wish I could post photos here...but I can't...no way I would ever put in a set with out my Comstock traps!

That is the first I have heard of a slider door failing, but I will pass it on to manufacture. We first made a flat back solid single door trap and then a bait door that hinges at the bottom of the trap and then we asked that a slider door be made available for those who preferred them. This is the first we have seen a failure of any of the three options. Always sorry to hear about any issue. If anyone ever has any issue of any kind with any trap, we most definitely want to hear about it so that the necessary changes can be made to prevent future happenings. Its all about problem solving, which often just requires a little tweaking.

If you have a smart coon that pulls trigger wires towards the front of the trap rather than pushing through the wires you can slip a rod down through the cage wire in front of the trigger wires to keep them from moving toward the door. In this way the trigger wires will only trip the trap when they are pushed toward the rear of the trap. We never underestimate raccoons, smart, strong and they have hands. Smart ones may try to pull bait out the front, so it doesn't hurt to wire the bait in place.

I run Comstock traps quite a bit and have had no problems guarding the entry/exit holes with a positive set Comstock trap and running an animal out. With the powered door they can not out run it even though some animals have met their demise by being caught by the hard hitting powered doors. I always use a recessed door closest to the opening to ensure there is no way to have the door catch on anything.

I have had critters beat the door on them by its rare. Plus If I used a
Little longer trap or modified the "dog" It woundnt have happenned.

No matter what the "out of the box " trap, they all have some limitations, at least at first, which can be often be overcome with ingenuity or transformed with slight modifications to suit the need. When faced with what appears to be adversity, its great to hear the countless success stories from those who came up with ways to beat the odds in unusual situations and make equipment work. We are always amazed with what people come up with. Animals do win some battles, but perseverance usually will win the war. Due to the configuration of the trigger on the aforementioned traps, trigger travel can be modified for "quick fire." With the small squirrel traps an additional spring will allow them to be set vertically. Lots of ways to achieve different results.

Love settin these comstocks in castor mound sets

Or in channels below dam crossovers...5 beaver in 4 checks and job done

Nice pics! Like conibears and footholds, castor and cages also go together incredibly well, a very quick set, immediate results. Can't believe Johnny and I didn't use castor in the mid 70's for beaver in Virginia with conibears, his call, I was the apprentice. When I began to venture away from the norm, which was setting the side of beaver houses where they were mudding, I tried castor with conibears before there was anything written about it. Super results from the start. I remember the first beaver I got first night with one set was on an island in a small natural channel, crawl out, a 54 pound male, the biggest beaver we caught. Kept doing it, then more often and still do it without hesitation with complete confidence. Unless a beaver has been wised up, big or small, male or female, they all have to check out castor. With uneducated beaver the success rate with castor is just about the same as channel sets.

After thinking about it the short trap could of worked good. Just needed a speed bump. Put a stake down thru the trap to slow the speed, but still leave an escape route.