Trappers

[snowdown]

When Frank J conibear invented the conibear trap his first proto-type for the small trap was 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 when he sold the patten
they desided to make it bigger to the 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 we have today

I harvest around 50 weasels a season in my marten sets
having a marten come and eat the bait while theres a weasel hanging in the trap is not uncommon.
Marten are worth alot more than a weasel.
I will not shoot down the idea of a small trap
but i don't think it would be a seller unless they were cheap,,,IMO

But if someone sent me a dozen i would try them out.

[puppa]

A 1.5 lonspring or coil foot trap set with the loose jaw in the vertical position works well as a killer trap for weasel. It even has a pan trigger which is easier to set off than the wire trigger of the conibear type trap. The weasel has to enter from the dog side, steps on the pan and the jaws close around the abdomen. I have used this setup and it works well. I have caught weasels in conibear style traps up to size 220 and it amazes me that they have the unfortunate luck to set off that tiny wire in such a big opening. When I set the traps off with a stick, it seems to me that the weight needed would be far more than a weasel can exert, but they definitely succeed. I'm not trying to express a negative opinion about a small conibear, I am sure there would be some market for them. There have been times when I wished I had a tiny conibear for different purposes including the small mink tunnels a person occasionally comes across.

[bigmac5]

In some situlations a smaller trap would come in handy not just for weasel,,but mink & muskrat to.