I agree it's interesting. I absolutely hated the DP traps of the past that were designed to be buried IF you buried them. (coon cuffs, bandit busters, duffers, yancy's, etc...) Way too much work for me for raccoons. May as well dig a dirthole set and get my incidental fox and coyotes and such. HOWEVER if in fact they do up your catch % and you have the desire (or a better coon market) I can see why folks would like this option, especially on trapline with a limited number of traps.

~ADC~

YES your right ADC! But not in New Jersey,where we cant even own a foot hold trap.(thanks to the liberal democrats)
We here in New Jersey were forced to THINK OUT OF THE BOX.

THINKING OUT OF THE BOX:
Jonesie has developed new snaring methods,took the cage trap to new excreems,worked the DP trap into a more efective tool.
Who have heard of snaring mink. Before Eric Space ?

Lots of these methods have been given away FREE. Some of the newest developments are still kept close. Only learned through personal instuction.Also at the SOUTH JERSEY TRAPPING and SNARING SCHOOL.

Still seems like a lot of screwing around to bury a DP unless you have to. And the soil conditions you have to work with will have some bearing On this burying deal.

I don't have any problems with just using them the way they were Intended to be used.
Even zip trying them to sticks and using them as a fish stick set seems to work just about as good as a fish stick set using foot holds.
What about when the ground freezes? But If It works In your area I would say go for It.

Does the words SOUTH JERSEY have any meaning to you Beav ?
We dont live in THE NORTH
Yes it freezes here. But that not the norm.
And most of our ground is sand.
Sure it may not work in Wisconsin.You haved trapped in Mississippi. Surly you have used methods down there. That would not work in Wisconsin.

That's true Newt.
When I trapped In MS Dps weren't even invented yet. Well The little grizzs weren't.

Why would anyone want to live In South Jersey. LOL

Beave we are stuck here, but southern jersey is better than north jersey lol Beav also I can dig in a dp pocket set, mound set or no see um set (dirt hole) as fast as you can put in a foot trap, most likely faster if soil is not frozen. And when it is cold I use anti freeze just like any foot trapper.

I have had a raccoon dig up and turn over a foot trap without setting it off. Was it trap shy or just a spaz? My vote is spaz.
I have had refusals at DP sets. I would say that it was from a full belly rather than from being DP shy. I have had a grown one get caught in one DP, then drug the drag over to another DP and stuck its foot in another DP.
Was he looking for the key to unlock the other DP? My bet is he was just acting like a typical raccoon. Greedy as a Pennsylvanian deer hunter. (No offense to raccoons. )
My bottom line on using DPs is getting out as many sets as possible in a given amount of time. I can set 3 times more DPs than I can make foothold sets in a day. I won't have any of them stepping on the pan and jaw at the same time leaving me with empty traps.
Foothold traps may have a higher catch rate due to raccoons investigating the set even if they aren't hungry, but if I can only set 1/3 as many compared to DPs, my total number of catches will be lower.

If coon prices ever come back to their worth trapping I might just have to bury a few to see how they work.

Beav if the prices come back I would prefer no one digs the dp trap in a hole, mound or pocket set. Trappers don't need to advance their know how and understanding. Just keep doing what works for you. I saw somewhere that the average trapper catches less than 50 coon a season.

The Beav's been working towards that goal most his life now. Maybe adding the DP to his 'coon line will help push him up and over the big five oh!

If I only caught 50 coon a year I would give up. I catch that many when I'm not trapping coon. LOL
Now 50 coon a day when we could trap the ROW was a no brainer. And we didn't run any freaking DPs either.

If the coon market ever comes back there will be so many coon it will be mind boggling because I think guys were just starting to know the tricks to dp’s when the market took a crap.

Pretty hard to beat a body grip placed In coon trail to put up big numbers.

No kidding. Big lots of possums, skunks, rabbits, etc... you even catch a raccoon once in awhile. LOL Now is you were using a snare your incidentals are just mostly fox.

The good old days ...

You made your point. LOl

WE can't do the snare thing but 150 160s In trails leading to culverts will put some coon In the truck.
Now that the ROW thing Is gone were going to have a coon population explosion.

And along with it...a distemper out break.

That's become an annual event down here.

Sometimes, nothing in an animals world will get their attention quicker than fresh dirt.

So since the fresh dirt thing has come up. Will a coon dig out a DP that has been buried In pocket set or how ever you bury It? If so with that DP laying on the ground will It still catch that coon. Or maybe a fox or coyote will dig It up then what.

I would say anything is possible with coon, but I have no 1st hand experience with the question you ask beav. All i know is they love to dig at a canine set with fresh dirt.
I have thought about taking a shovel and dig a small divot, make it look like you spent 20 minutes doing it and put a dp in the divot or on the overturned sod, and I can about guaran-darn tee you a coon will atleast check it out. Lol