What size traps for Cats

[Jacktheknife]

Howdy Ya'll,  Being 52 years old and having a graybeard myownself.
One would think I would know this stuff but...  
             I use 1 1/2 coils and #2 LSs for coon.
              #3 longsprings /os  for coyote.
             But Cats???  I am really getting into trapping Cats, and am going to buy more traps this year with my whole fur check. Specifically for Cats.
                                      But what size traps?
   1 1/2 coils are a small jaw spread.
But the newer traps the 1 3/4 and #2 coils, are too strong springs for a cat .
I caught one just a few days ago in an old  #2LS  and was going to use her for a urine donar.  Save a gallon of urine out of her when she comes in heat and her pee turns pink and when the weather gets warmer just let her go.
 Her leg wasn't broken, but the hide was ripped pretty bad. I brought her home and threw her in my old Bobcat urine gettin cage, got out the peroxide and thought I had a Cat urine donar.
              The next morning her foot was swollen, her leg looked bad and she wouldn't have healed up. So now I have a $25.00 Cat hide in my freezer instead of the gallon of Cat-in-heat urine which would have been good for several big males at least next year. I would have been happy with her pee, and she would have done her time and been out! happily eating roosting birds all summer but for the wound.
 Cat are thin skinned critters, aren't they?
               My favorite Cat trap has always been a #2 square jaw coil, because they are light,  strong enough for a Cat, and are not good for anything else.  I plan on getting a few dozen traps for Cat with my fur check this year, but what size??  Would offset jaws help enough
Or should I use 1 1/2s like I do for coon???  Maybe two or three per set ?  Or just snares for the urine donar Cat of the year???    The traps have to be able to hold ...well...anything coon- yotes,  {I caught a yote in a #2 LS this year}       but not so strong as to mess up the Cats.   #2LS ?? has always been the ultimate all round trap in my opinion.  Maybe I should just get out on the line earlier every day.
 
                 This is a quite confounding problem for me.  I see why urine costs  $10.00 for 4 oz    A gallon of Cat  urine would cost $120.00 !!!  Six times more than she was worth. Hmmm

[RdFx]

Everyone has there own opinions on traps for certain animals.  You can catch a cat in a 1 1/2 but  in my opinion too small.  I would use nothing less than a nbr 2 offset jaw trap.  Mine are laminated.  I also use nbr 3s offset ,fourcoiled and laminated.   I trap in snow and in muddy and freezing conditions so the nbr threes are fourcoiled.  The cat  should have gotten a shot for the foot.  If you want to know more on that subject contact Bob Wendt on Trapperman.com and he will tell you one way or the other and he pulls no punches.... Good Luck

[trappenjoe]

I use #3 long springs offset , with a heavy throw ( I don't like toe holds )
I buy my cat urine from milligan brand here in nm at 25.00 a gallon . I have caght cats in 1.75 but those little duds pack almost the same punch as my long springs .  Now I've held cats in my junkiest traps that a yote would distroy .  If I had my pick probally #3 coils (because I go for yotes
hoping for a cat . Works for me..

  Little Joe

[Wackyquacker]

I concur with RdFx completely.  I routinely release my shecats and kittens.  A #3 Bridger, Montana, Montgomery Dogless or #4 Montgomery Step In are fine cat traps.  Offset, laminate, four coil and use wire screen pan covers and you will have the best set up or cats and yotes.  I would not go smaller than a #3 Double long which is the same size as most #2 coils.  #2 Bridger square jaws make a good compromise but laminate them and I strongly recomend offsets to minimize foot damge and hold those toe catches.

[Jacktheknife]

Rdfy, Trapperjoe, and Wackyquacker!   I really appreciate the input!
 I got out some old traps, set them on my table in the den, held one over the other, and looked up the jaw spreads in a catalog. Hmmm  I have trapped since 1959! and tonight I have had a real education! I never realized ... !!!  that the difference between in jaw spread between 1 1/2      1 3/4  and #2 coils.  As well as #3LSs   was so small.  And that a heavy throw would preclude toe catches,
A heavy throw is possible with a coil but not with most  LS... or that with out toe catches I could use off set jaws on my coon traps as well as the Cat traps. I have used off set #3s LSs for yotes, because not only do I love dogs and I catch a few every year, but I admire and respect Coyotes more than I do most people.  Coyotes are the ultimate dog...
 Coyotes have big feet compared to a coon.  Pads rather than toes...
          #2 coil off sets will be my next big trap buy. Actually not that much bigger than my 1 1/2 coon traps ...  so since the bigger coils are also what I would use in the woods for coyote, where coon are around,                  {easier to bed in the woods where roots ect are under the ground everywhere}...    off sets with a heavy throw would not be any harder on the coon than the old 1 1/2s without the off set ...   Since the jaw spread is basically the same as a #3LS os... I can use them for yotes as well as Cat too!

          Very good guys!!!   Thanks      J. Knife   ...

[Wackyquacker]

Jack, I'm no coon trapper but most curse offsets for coon.  Laminated offsets maybe fine, I just don't know.  Also, when you put three lbs pan tensionon your traps I would think your coon miss rate would jump...again I really don't know for coons.  A #2 bridger is a pretty good size trap (square jaw) and I'm certain it would be over kill for coon with the coon being able to chew at their feet under the jaws.  For your cats and yotes if you night latch and tune your pan / dog you can crank your pan tension up and most of your catches will be good strong whole foot holds.

[Jacktheknife]

Hey Ya'll,  Snowed last night!  I haven't seen snow like this in 20 years!  Sure is beautiful.  
Anyway... Whackyquacker, I am still obsessed with the size problem. All the input from ya'll has really!   got me to thinking.  I  always wondered if off sets would be good for coon as they have those little fingers, rather than pads.
A heavy pan tension would help that problem with a good solid catch. Thanks.
But I think you said you didn't really like os traps for coon and that is reasonable too.  Hmmm...  The problem I am wondering about is that one never knows what will step in a trap.  I catch coon down in the woods above the flood line as I don't want to loose traps or coon when the creek floods. Coyotes I catch in the uplands, fields with grown up fence rows and gullys, where mr. yote can see a long way. So far no problem. ......But  !            Cat...  I catch on the upper edges of the coon woodlands,  Where it is steeper and thickly overgrown. And the lower edge of the Coyote uplands, in between the ranges of the coon and the yotes.  Now I have a problem.
           But location does not work all the time. Type of bait does not either. I am beginning to realize why a lure, is preferred as an attactor to get the interest of a specific critter, coyote gland lure for instance, will not attract coon like a meat bait.  A Cat gland lure or coon lure which is targeted towards a specific critter does not attract Coyote as much ... but that doesn't work all the time either. I know there is no perfect trap size and am realizing if all the critters in the woods were yotes, trap size would be simple. Same with Cat, or Coon. It is the overlapping of critters territorys and that they all will eat anything, which make it hard to pick a perfect trap size.  I gotta go right now I will be back and take up this in an couple of hours, just a few chores.  This is as profoundly an interesting subject to me as any I have ever thought about. When I got into trapping in 1959 in the fourth grade, I was taught by Randy Gibson
, who is now after 43 years one of my very best friends. Cubbys were the first set we used and I think we used cubbys for years as that was all we knew.  Sandy is barking I'll be back.   J. Knife

[RdFx]

Ive found that a yote or fox gland  lure is tops for big  coon bar none.  At least up here in northern Wisconsin it  works great.  Bvr castor works  for everything  fm wolves to chipmonks LOL  :-D

[Wackyquacker]

Anything I say about coon is purely hear say.  Why don't you start a post like what is the best trap and jaw configuration for coon.  Then ask for opiions on offset reg and offset laminated jaws I'll bet you get the info you need

[Jacktheknife]

Howdy, Saw a picture of Wackyquakers New Mexico Bobcat,              and damn!!!  They could eat!  a Texas Cat!  
Beautiful creatures they are!                                                                      I see why ya'll would use a #2 coil o/s          rather than a #1 1/2 coil             {even two or three!}     Still  I will get the #2 coil o/s  to use a Cat trap.
It has the same jaw spread as my coyote traps [ which are all #3 LS - o/s]
 And as such would be a good Coyote trap too.
                                              Thanks  J.  Knife

[RdFx]

Jack what size are yr yotes down yr way?   Our yotes up here in Wisc go over 50#  regulary.  My biggest this yr  was 52#.  They do test our equipment for sure.

[Jacktheknife]

Howdy Red Fox Dude,  
       Most yote in a year was 13...  6 trapped and 7 snared.
Biggest yote I... {well I say I,  but my hounds caught this one}
Biggest yote we ever got was 43 Lbs and he is still on my wall in the den.
Tanned him myself.

                                                        Thanks for asking   J. Knife

[jim-NE]

maybe our 'yotes aren't very big here. I have yet to catch one that pushes #30, and that would be one huge male for this area. I've caught several old, worn-teeth, scrufty males that barely pushed #27 pounds. I have yet to take a #30 pound coon yet too. I got a #26 pounder one year that I put up on a #6 coyote stretcher. It was actually more "wide" than long and was difficult to get a decent shaped stretch on it. Lots of fat on that one, too.
Our coyotes just don't run very large in this area. I get away with a #2 longspring on all of mine. Occasionally I'll use a #3 coil, but only in areas with very little chance of accidental dog catches. I've held quite a few coyotes in #11 longs on dryland coon sets. Double jaw models I think saved me there with the stiffer jaw design. I like this #2 long for cats and fox, too. Its also easier on dryland coon catches (but #2s are too big for coon in my opinion on dryland catches), so for me I've resorted to using #2 longs or similar-sized models in this corner of Nebraska almost exclusively on dryland sets.
My best 'yote season was 45, and I had nearly that many incidental dryland coon catches that same season. Our region is nearly all farmland with frequent small creeks, weedy draws, pasture areas with brush piles and old buildings, etc. There is a tremendous amount of species overlap due to relatively small habitat pockets available. One decent post or dirthole set along a cornfield edge and near a brushy creek may yield a fox, coyote, cat, or a coon (or of course a skunk, possum, etc. etc.) so is tough to find a mid-range trap to work well on all species. They all seem to respond to similar baits, lures, sets, etc. as well. Trapping around here truly can be a multi-species event if you set for any potential critter working that edge.

[Jacktheknife]

As far as Coon here in north Texas, I have never caught a Coon that went 20 lbs, just under 20 is about as big as they get. Now I have never weighed one so I am just gussing, but when I go down to sell my fur I'll ask old Al for definate Coon weights.  I was up in Denver back in 1989-90, and on the front page of one of the sections of the newspaper was an article about the "biggest Colorado Coon"  and I looked to the right and there it was!
A 68 Lb Coon! in a cage trap!  It was a monster!  Sort of a Colorado Coonzilla!  
I still don't know if it was real except that it was in the newspaper. And newspapers never lie... do they?  
                                                                  J. Knife