Conibear Removal

Seems logical to put this in trapping or dog forum but those area’s don’t get hit much and this topic is very important to me. The question is how do you save your dogs life if it gets into one? I’ve read enough to know you cannot simply man handle them off the dog and must use a technique with tool or rope. Instructions would be nice but this concerns me enough that I would be willing to travel some distance for someone to teach me in person. I live in Woodbury. Anyone close by willing to teach me how to release one of these killing machines? Maybe we can get a group together? Thank you.

Depends on the size of the conibear, the smaller ones that are used in coon boxes, or in trails on land it is possible to do those by hand and get the safty latches on the outer springs but as for the 220 or 330 size made for beaver and otter, those almost always require a rope or a trap setter, if you take the rope and run it through both spring circles and then take one of the ends back through, step on one end and pull up on the other… sorry if that is hard to follow. this should help some..www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZK9EqpnQ_E
. you can pick up a trap setters fairly cheap on many websites. just squeaze the springs and put the safty latches on, that will allow the trap to be opened. but just so you know the larger 330 size traps if in the right spot on a animal will kill very fast. hope this helped some.

It helped some. I have seen pics and videos but want to handle one myself and get used to it. Is it truly impossible for a man, adrenelin flowing, to release a 220 with bare hands?

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Is it truly impossible for a man, adrenelin flowing, to release a 220 with bare hands?

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“where there is a will there is a way” i guess if you can get the animal in the trap to work with you, yes possibly a 220 could be un done by hand but they do have alot of force, they sell these kind of traps at fleet farm if you dont have a trapping store near by, but if you do they are always great people to talk to.

Mike, I hope you never have to use this knowledge. From what I saw in my limited experience last fall, anything caught in a 220 or up will likely not survive the trama.

check out page 34 of the mn hunting regs. A buddy of mine traps coon and said this would work

If you can get your hands on one – get it and practice. I used to trap a lot and I never owned a pair of setters. I handled 220’s and 330’s with my hands without issue. If your dog gets into one past his ears, you have a short amount of time to get it out. I would highly recommend getting your hands on one and getting familiar with it so that if you ever need to deal with it, it is not a totaly new concept. Hopefully, you never, ever need the knowledge.

T

As Timmy said, you have small amount of time to get the animal out of the trap. The conibear was designed to knock the animal out and then deny the ability to breathe, thus suffocation takes place. And yes, it can be done easily by hand.

Found this online if it helps:
http://www.terrierman.com/traprelease.htm

Not sure, but I think it is illegal to set 330’s on land. They need to be under water.

I am out of my office until early next week, so I’m at a loss of taking/posting any pics. The link Slop posted has a great diagram of the “rope” proceedure.
I set up to 330’s by hand, but thats also a trap without an animal in it. Up to the 220 Mags (full closing springs) can be done by hand. Be sure to stay calm so you don’t loose the grip on the spring…as your dog will most likely be thrashing around. Once you are able to latch the hook on each of the springs, you will be able to open the jaws wide enough to remove the dog.

As most on here know, I am a trapping fanatic. If you find a trap has been set illegally – report it! It is the few incidents (regardless of fault) that has a huge impact on the use of coni’s. These are an enormous part of my arsenal. the continued growth of restrictions make a trappers life more difficult.
As a dog owner, a few steps that will help aviod this situation. Don’t trespass, ask a land owner if they have anyone trapping their land, and don’t let your dog run un-attended. I’m not saying that there isn’t trappers that break the rules, because we all know there is a few in every sport. But, I’ve had land owners give permission to bird and bunny hunters and never tell them that I was also trapping their land. It gets very ugly, very quick. Also had a few dogs over the years in footholds that were wondering free down a creek……

what about the 90 degree turn method that they mention in the regulation book? do you think it will work?

I think that is just to get the jaws off the animals windpipe to give you more time.

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I think that is just to get the jaws off the animals windpipe to give you more time.

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That is correct. By design, they compress the soft tissue of the bottom or lower neck with the muscular/bone portion of the neck. Time is definetly of the essence to remove from the wind pipe.

ahh got it. thanks

Scary Sh*t there. My dad had his Springer in a snare a number of years ago. No knowledge of the trap at all and almost lost the dog. Only a good set of wire cutters saved her life. I carry a set on me at all times now. I’m all for buying one and working with it to get familiar Mike.