yes it doesnt float however, if you make a small hole lik ei did for my ets with a hatchet or even a drill with a large spade bit or something just big enough to jam the rerod down the hole then when you pull on it with the cable centered it will work like a giant bershire. and it cant come back out the original hole.catch what im throwing at ya?

Lennie I read the whole link, thanks. I was going to try that with a piece of rerod, sounds like that would work the best. How long did you let the ice freeze back over the hole in the ice? I was thinking about two full days, that should be enough? Im going out to experiment with making the hole and anchoring this morning. Ill take pics and post them tonight.

im traping reds they arent veru strong so i set it that day. i pulled on it and it didnt pop thru so a red wasnt poppin it.

The amount of snow(weight)on the ice itself has allot to with backflow.

How thick was the ice where you set? I dont know for sure how thick it is here, but its been -20 ... 3 degrees here for over 3 weeks, so Im guessing the ice has got to be thick enough, and there is no snow insulating the ice either.

Maybe you guys can coerce Lt. Grey into reposting his below the surface of the ice scent post set.......a very unique application of Grey matter....pun intended.

How about just an old fashioned blind trailset with a drag? Approach the set area from the side. Slip your trap under one of the yote/fox foot prints and toss the drag up on the bank. If you have no snow to slip the trap under you could probably just put down some dry grass to set the trap on and cover lightly with a little bit more grass...then add a stepping stick both sides of the trap. No need for bait lure or anything since they are already traveling there.

-Skunkly-

Lt Grey oh lt.

i was wondering the same thing i did that on my river about 25yards wide and i just tied it to a huge log but it did not work to well i think this year i am going to drill a hole and put rebar in it on wire to make it hold . there are tons fo tracks on the river. i had a like ice hole set and i would think a hay set would be much better.
Shawn

Well I went out to a dugout thats full of water at the farm this morning, Tried to use a chisel to get through the ice. It works really good, but I dont have a chisel thats long enough. So I have the wife getting me a masonry bit from a hardware store. I took some #11 wire and made it into rope by twisting it, then wired the wire rope to a 5 inch piece of rerod for the stake.
As far as the set itself, I had another crazy idea, Has any one ever seen that post for fox, where the person used a straw bale and basically made a urine post with it? Im going to try that also, I ll take pictures of all of this.I keep getting more crazy set ideas and Im really interested to see if they will connect. lol, Darn I feel like a fat kid in a candy store with this idea.

Roman

Forgot to mention, drags will not work where Ill be trapping on this creek. There is almost no brush or small trees. Its surrounded by farm fields and some CRP grass. Ill take pictures of the areas tonight and post them as soon as I can.

I'm with bearbait, a small hole in the ice big enough to get about 4"-6" of chain into, pack that tight with a little snow/water from a thermos. I first saw this demo'd at a ATA wolf trapping school. The next morning to prove that it'd hold the instructor hooked his snowmachine to the chain and hit the throttle, even with several feet of slack before it got tight that chain didn't pop out. You might also consider attaching your chain to a 4" dia. log about 3' log. Dig a trench in your snowmachine trail, lay the log in there and bury it with snow. Run that over a couple of times to pack it down and you'll have to chop it out.

We made some sets for lynx last weekend on the ice infront of pee posts. There wasn't enough snow to bed the trap so we chopped a hole slightly larger than the trap about 2" deep. Made chaff out of swamp grass and used it as bedding for the trap. Tossed the drag out into the brush, added a little fox urine and covered the area in the remaining chaff. I'll let you know how it turns out, the set looks great though. I also made a step down trench set by chopping a sloped area out of the ice. A small about of gland lure on the stump and trap bedded in chaff out front.

Anyway, just some thoughts of what we've done here.

TrappinAlaska

guys drags arent the greatest idea on cricks....LONG SMOOTH FLAT surface void of brush? animals could litterally go MILES before either gettin off the ice or gettin hung

I agree lenni, especially here. Posting pics of the area now

How does a person add pictures to this post?

Just wanted to clarify what TrappinAK said about the "drag"...if you have enough snow, put your drag log in your snomachine track and after you run over it a couple times and once the snow sets up it will be an anchor and not a drag...I do this a fair amount and use a 4-6" log about 4-6 feet long..those things will not pull out once they're packed in...I guess it may depend on your snow conditions though..

Hey I finally got it to work. Now I know how to do pictures... lol, look out everyone, Im goin picture crazy now...lol

The first pic is where I trapped muskrats, for some reason they were really thick there. But the most coyote activity is in the 2nd picture. There are some muskrat houses and what looks like a feed bed. There are tracks investigating the houses and feed beds.