Louis had all MB 550’s when he came down. I went through my pile today and picked out a few dozen to set and it occurred to me I truly have a hodgepodge of equipment. Some MB 550’s and 650’s, #3 Duke, Victor,Sleepy Creek and Bridger coils. #3 longsprings. #2 Bridgers and a few Northwoods. Anyone else have a Dukes mixture?
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I have a few but mainly victor,bridger and Montgomery
I’m like Donnie about the same mix but have a few
K 9 Wolfers which is a stout little trap for its size
I’ve got a little of everythang for land traps bridger dukes,mb,Northwoods sleepycreek,Jakes in coils, Blake and lamb Victor bridger for long springs.
I’m a bad hand for always getting in my head that one trap will do it all so I then buy several of them then I realize that’s it’s a different trap I like better.
The worst thing is I’m tight and usually the traps I like the best wind up being to high to stock up on so then I start searching for a suitable substitute…
Witch usually ain’t available cause if there was something that would substitute for the best of this trap it would already be main stream…
But wait I can modify them!!!
But that’s to high to buy,too time consuming to fabricate, so I get a few done but then the rest ain’t the same so that bugs me…on and on and on I drive my self nuts some times!
Thank God finally season opens I load the boat or truck up and start putting them out and say crap on it who cares.
Summer is a bad time!
Colt
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Bridgers and some Victors mostly but bought some Alphas this year and really like them so may get some more of those for next season.
Look on the bright side ! You have been able to see what works well. and what does not! You have field test knowledge that few people ever get to experience! I have wished a thousand times that I could have had the know how of a large group of experienced trappers years ago, when NO ONE would tell you anything! Long before the days of local conventions, demos, and the internet! I groped in the dark for years with a dozen of the old #2 square jaw victors because that’s what a book I bought called Space Age Fox Trapping said to use for fox! TRUST ME, IT WAS NOT THE BEST FOX TRAP! And it SUCKED AS A COON TRAP! You on the other hand, could write a book on what works, and why for everything from mink to musk ox I bet! So don’t stress too bad this Summer when the urge to tinker and modify kicks in; I think you are way ahead of many folks when it comes to choosing the right trap for a given set !
Till I was 18 I had 12 110s ,11 1.5 Victor coils, 24 1.5 Victor longspring 6 Victor number 1 ls , 1 bridger 4 and 1 bridger 5 that’s what I did all my “big” trapping with.
When I was 18 I bought 1 dozen duke 1 3/4 modified coils (four coils offset center swiveled) I lost about ever coon I caught in them in fox sets. If I knew know all.i had to do was put new coils in my 1.5s and been on my way cat hing fox and coon in PA. That next fall back home I decided I was gonna trap full time and I found trapperman forum and found out you could buy sell and trade!
Then my trapping partner ordered all kinds of stuff so I’d order traps when he made an order to save on shipping it’s been down hill from there.
The first convention I ever went to was UTK the last time it was at Paris when Steve was pedaling them army coats. Think the first demo I ever saw was Brandons on cage trapping cats enyhow wish ida knew about demos and conventions allot sooner, Hawbaker never really covered eny of that!
Colt
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I enjoy playing and tinkering with traps but buying premium traps is the way to go, I had a pile of traps that needed tinkering already so I just tried to do whatever they needed. I realized as a kid traps could be improved from stock. Charles Dobbins trap modification book was one of the first books I purchased. I thought lamination was something like a zinc or aluminum cold dip 
. Guess I’m too old now to standardize. My old junk has been with me so long they’re like old friends every year.
I started using a few different traps and decided that I liked the MB 550 the best. Then I would just buy 6 or 12 ever chance I could and finally got to the point that I had enough so that’s all I use land trapping now.