Conibear Safety

[protrapper]

Checked out this months Trapper And Preadator Caller magazine about the guy caught in his 330 conibear. he was caught for two hours in Alaska. And survived. I have had my finger permantly bent after getting it caught in a 220. These traps are for experts only..

[EXTREME]

I could only imagine getting your hand or arm caught in a 330. Just think if it was a underice beaver set and you only chopped a small hole in the ice...and it was -20 below and windy. You would be a hurting unit for sure!!

[fishermann222]

Had a friend do it last year, but luckily I was with him on his beaver line. So I was able to help him get it off. He was worried about how to drive the snowmachine with a 330 on his right hand, luckily I was there. There is a one handed rope trick to get the trap off your arm, LEARN IT, if you ever set alone.

[Gissert]

I have not read my issue yet. I'll have to check it out tonight.

I have some older 330's that have a link that connects the spring eye to the frame. It is held on with a cotter pin, and you can remove the link by pulling the pin, and then remove the spring from the frame to gain your freedom. These traps are 20 plus years old. I have not seen them like that for a long time.

I agree 100% to learn the rope trick, and practice it every year.

[fishermann222]

How do they hold up when being thrashed around? I would like to use those. My 330's that I have I use for mostly beaver but next year I will be making otter and wolverine sets, think they would hold up to a wolverine?

[Gissert]

I've never had one open up on a catch before, but that is with beaver. Wolverines, who knows? It would suck to loose one because that link failed.

Protrapper - I read that article last night - WOW! That guy did a great job keeping his composure. For those who do not subscribe to this magazine, this involved a trapper in Alaska running a wolverine line.

He came upon one of his 330 cubby sets that a wolverine had visited and it looked like the trap had fired and missed. He stuck his arm into the snow, right onto the trigger of a still set 330. Is closed up and had him by the wrist. His snomobile and his parka were agonizingly close, but just out of reach. His bootlaces were all knotted up and not strong enough to do the rope trick.

He was finally able to just reach a bow saw on his sled, and cut the tree down and escape. Lucky, lucky man.

[BLACKJACK]

Also be careful where you set them so you're not catching people’s dogs and generating a lot of negative publicity.

Many years ago, I was pheasant hunting along a slough with a 20 foot wide strip of cattails along a road when all of sudden my dog yipped and came back with blood on her nose. When I investigated, I found a connibear trap set in the cattail tunnel where coon were entering the water. My dog was lucky and I learned my lesson, I no longer hunt cattails close to roads/easy trapper access.

Last year we had a guy in the Willmar area - a professional trapper - that was trapping nuisance coon by using conibear traps in buckets and caught two labs - kids pets. They were dead, and it made the front page of the West Central Tribune.

If you want to avoid bad publicity for trapping, be careful where you set your connibear traps!!!

[Gissert]

Agreed. There is some discusion on conibar sets on the Raccon Set thread.

[fishermann222]

If I was still in Minnesota I would progbably not use any connibear unless fully submerged. Up here I don't have much of that stuff to worry about so that is good. I do have to worry about being 60 miles from the nearest village and the snowmachine breaking down