In August of 2001, two good friends, John Graham and Gerald Schmitt, sat in a hotel lobby visiting. Topics varied, as conversations between friends do. However, the main topic at hand was the industry demand and need for an affordable, simple, maintenance-free, dogless design type of trap, especially in the #3 size desired by canine and bobcat trappers. Both parties agreed that by far the most popular modern #3 trap was discontinued after the bankruptcy of an eastern trap company in 1988. John well understood this void in the industry, as he had always considered the #3 dogless type trap to be "The Best All-Around, Trouble-Free Trap Made". Gerald knew, from several years of being directly involved with the nations top trappers, that the #3 dogless type trap was very highly thought of and sought out by serious trappers from East to West. Together, they started making inquiries and researching the feasibility of producing a new trap. In general, they were getting a feel for what the industry wanted in a trap. The result was the birth of MONTANA TRAP COMPANY, LLC.

We took the first prototype of our new trap to the Western NTA Convention, at Blackfoot, ID. To say it was "well received" would be an understatement. Time after time, trappers would come up and study the trap, make their comments on the overall construction, and actually thank us for bringing out a trap of this design. Many top professionals commented that previous traps of this basic design were "their personal all-time favorites". The bottom line and general consensus was that yes, we were going to build an affordable, well-built dogless type #3 trap, that would essentially be useable "out of the box".