What type trap and what size trap are you using? What is the weather where you are trapping? If it is cold and the dirt you are using has a little moisture in it, it could be slowing your traps down some.

Excellent analysis! But Ric had the foresight to ask what kind of fur was between those jaws. Fast jaw or slow jaw, an average size foothold trap is not going to hold a deer very long. A more pressing quesiton might be "What kind of mess was in the catch circle?" A deer will pull out in a heart beat and not even mess up a catch circle.

Hal

As per Hal's last response, I am pretty sure that I had some canine traps spring by coons this past fall. I had some dirthole sets a little too close to woods/swampy areas and several times had a sprung trap with silvery hair between the jaws. I also had coon tracks in the dirt at the set. I don't know for sure --- but I am guessing that the coons belly sprung the trap, even though I keep my pan tension up near 3 pounds. There was never a catch circle but the trap was usually pulled out of the bed to the full extent it could go.

Ron

Deer have visited me a couple times this year. First clue was deer tracks at the set obviously. In regards to the anatomy of a deers foot, I'm going to compare it to an 1 1/2" pipe, round and smooth. If you were to set a trap off with a pipe, you will pull the trap out of the bed, reach the end of the anchor chain and then pull the pipe right out of the jaws of the trap. If you get a good pad catch on a canine, that canine is not going to pull out of that trap as long as it has good springs and is in good working order. There are far too many contours of soft tissue in the coyote/fox foot to simply pull out. A couple times my traps have held two of the toe pads and the coyote was jumping around as if he was on a pogo stick. There has been mention of a catch circle, never once has there been a "spin" at the base of the chain when a deer has set off a trap. It has always been extended straight to one direction and very little disturbance at the set. As far as hair...what length are you ending up with in the jaws? Deer have very short leg hair with my experience. By my comparison, coyotes have longer foot fur than deer do on their legs. In my area color of fur doesn't mean anything, coyotes come in brown to red to grey and everything in between. I have never knowingly ran into the problem of "rolling" on a set, but if that were the case I would imagine that the hair in the jaws would be long and not short. If you are using 2 to 3 pounds of pan tension I would think that if a coyote set off that trap under good circumstances that it would be buried up to the pad. If you throw in frozen ground or wet ground with thick soil then the scenario changes...that's another topic and/or headache.

Sometimes this trapping thing can get frustrating with what Mother Nature gives you but that is the game that's being played. I am defiantly here to tell you that failure in this game is the best teacher. You are not the only one that has experienced these problems, you can read about it in these threads for hours, I have!! Just keep plugging away, things will work out.

I don't want t get off track here, but sometimes pictures help when my words don't.
This is one of the toe catches that I mentioned above. This coyote was going bananas when I was as far out as 200 yds approaching it on a 4 wheeler. It didn't pull out as you can see, by being held by the two middle toes.



This second picture is a full pad catch, no way this coyote is getting out unless there is a failure somewhere else in the system. Deer just will not be held like a canine or other "soft pawed" animal. Also you may be able to tell somewhat that the catch circle is pretty torn up around these traps, i have never noticed any sign of struggle with an incidental deer. Normally the set can be remade with minimal effort. I hope these illustrate some helpful information for you.

Thanks guys for the information. After reading I think i'm dealing with deer. Thanks again for the info. I will keep plugging away.