do you guys feel the need to cover your water traps?one gpa who used to trap and catch alot says no, while the other who traps and catches alot now says yes. who am i to listen to? from my experience there is no difference in ratios of catches for either.my traps are died a brown/black color.Thank you! Minkmaster

Have you ever tried wrapping your pan in foil or the inside of a beer can and setting in shallow water. A coon will come right up and grap for it (its shiny). I don't trap coons real hard, we have a season limit of forty and I prefer to chase 'em with my hounds, but I did set two traps for two nites like that and caught 4 coons and the traps are fully exposed. curiousity kills the coon.

that is up to the trapper i don't catch lots of animals but from what i have been told one guy i know says it helps and gerald schmitt says its a waste of time. its really up to you.

I cover my water traps with water.....

Found out this year, that, in my opinion, it's WAY more important to have your trap bedded solid under the water, in the sand/muck/mud/whatever than to worry about having a cover on it....

thank you and smashedfingers lol curiosity also killed the faox and yote and all other animals.

I agree. I never cover my water sets for beaver and coon. Rarely cover land sets for coon if that is my only target. Like Nick said, I believe solid bedding is more important. I push down on each jaw and each lever to make sure nothing moves just like fox sets. If it moves or tilts, pack more dirt/rock/stick or whatever your bedding in.
shane

While I have never done anything beyond Nick's recommendations, some trappers attempt to camouflage their raccoon/mink water set traps with either waterlogged leaves, or dissolve some bottom mud to "silt" the trap over to break up it's outline.

I do not think I would ever consider "covering" my water sets in this manner, even if I knew that the mink and raccoons on my water line were wearing Polaroid sunglasses, or night vision goggles.

Jonathan

theres no need to cover them under water.

bed them solid........push the chain or cable into the mud.......no worries

i dont worry bout it myself .... unless trappin hightheft areas ... then ill cover my traps

I always cover my traps with old dead leaves. It just gives me more confidence. I am not saying that you have to, but thats the way I do it. I mostly trap mink. I have seen avoidance from mink by seeing their tracks, several times. When the water raises and comes back down it exposes the trap and this is when I notice this behaviour from mink. I don't think it is as important with coon. Like I said it is just the way I do it. I think also that there is a difference when using pocket sets versus blind sets. The mink is investigating a pocket and just traveling along with a blind set.

I never cover water sets for coon or rats. Don't trap anything else in water so can't help there.

On some of mine I set the pan a little high so the jaws were under the sand in bottom. The pan was slightly higher than the bottom. I have set them with level pans too and catch rate is the same. The higher pan keeps the pan from gtting covered by sand silting in.

I have even caught a few just sitting the pan in water. These are usually younger coon. The foil thing works real good if the area is lit a little or there is some moon out. I have caught more younger small coon with foil too.

Usually though just push down while giving it a couple of twists. Solid does catch more coons so make sure it doesn't wobble, especially the front jaw.

I'm with Gary on this one I only cover in high theft areas.