# Pan Tension.......



## rangeman (Dec 7, 2006)

Are there any guides on pan tension settings for all of the different fur bearers? Does the type or size of trap make any difference? Does the type of set have any bearing on it? Thanks!


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## smitty223 (Mar 31, 2006)

Yes, it would be dependant upon their weight. For rats & mink, most run "zero" pan tension. If you're using old longsprings (that don't have panbolts), you're pretty much there. If you have traps with panbolts, tighte the panbolt just enough to remove as much pan "wobble" yet still allowing the pan to drop freely under it's own weight.

For **** fox, a couple of pounds. For coyote 3-4 pounds. They will have 1 foot on the pan, say a coyote averages 30 pounds, divide that by 4 (feet) would be 7.5pounds which would be plenty to evercome the pan tension of 3-4 pounds. Pan tension also helpsavoid "non-target" catches lik rabbits, 'possum, squirrells, etc., and lets a coyote have alittle more weight on the pan, therefore assisting on a "deeper" catch on his foot. This will help in eliminating "toe-catches".

Size of trap mainly matters for the target. You can run 5 pouds of pan tension on a #1, but couldn't hold an animal required to fire the trap. You could run 0 tension on a #5 but would be an extremely bad idea, as it would injure smaller animals which the trap isn't intendedto be used for.

I mostly run 0 tension for water traps. For dirt sets, I set for the animal I am targeting. In some cases where I may catch fox, coyote, or ****, I may run 2-3 pounds on my traps. Our K9 season comes in a month before **** season, so I may "up" my pan tension to allow a 30 pound coyote to fire it, but not a 15 pound ****. I may miss some fox at this time as well on these sets, but may also set some smaller traps for fox.

Keep in mind, setting pan tension is the very last thing you do to preparing your traps. Do any modifications, adjustments, cleaning, dyeing, waxing, then set tension. Wax is a lubricant, and if you set tension, then wax, your tension will be too light.

Smitty


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