Do you guys have problems with your traps firing in freeze n thaw conditions when you sift a little native soil on top of your wax dirt to blend them in. My first season making and using wax dirt.

I’ve found that sifting a little of the surrounding dirt over the waxed dirt can cause problems under the right conditions. I have gone to using a whisk broom and giving the set a very slight dusting of native soil from a distance. The set literally has only a dusting from the surrounding soil when I’m done .

That's what I was nervous about. Here in NE Pa we have freeze thaw conditions 90% of our trapping season. Do you get a lot of refusals with wax dirt if you don't blend set? Thanks for tip Golf ball I appreciate it!

I think your better off just top coating the area with a thin layer of the wax dirt. I had issues last year top coating with the local stuff and had a dry spot over the trap.

There is a fine line when top coating with soil at the set site, all depends on soil type. More clay in the soil, less top coat. This is why I use all 4 coiled traps, If the paw breaks the crust the trap fires... I normally just break up the outline with duff at the set site. Sandy type soils dry out quicker than clay types. If the set is in grass, I use grass, if its in soybeans I use bean chaff. Etc, Etc....

Sniperbbb I appreciate the tip but I've tried the thin layer trick with peat moss and have had bad results with it in my area. Don't have much luck with flashy sets in my area,small blended dirtholes and flat sets take majority of my k9's.

Trappergbus that's they same way I blend my peat moss sets. Just sick of getting rain and have to rebed with dry peat all the time!

I like the whisk broom idea and have seen Jeff Dunlap use that method many times on his videos. I guess I'll just keep blending like I did with the peat moss also. Thanks for all the good tips!

No peat all waxed dirt will eliminate 95% of the problem. The only thing that puts it out of commission is ice storms. trap bedded all level no low spot..

Didnt say anything about peat moss. Straight waxed dirt.

PAFP I trap in southern NY and probably have very similar conditions as you do . A lot of moisture , freeze , snow , ice , rain . I have had major problems using a VERY LIGHT coat (1/16 inch or so )of surrounding dirt .I bed in waxed dirt and make my bed level with the surrounding dirt . It seems that the waxed dirt holds the rain/melting snow or whatever moisture there is right at the top of the trap bed which soaks the local dirt on top and when it freezes it makes a solid plate of frozen dirt right on the trap bed . I have several photos of fox tracks right on the pan of the trap without setting it off . It took a lot of pressure from a stick to break that plate of frozen dirt to get the trap to fire . The waxed dirt in the bed was as dry as the day I put it in . It gets worse when there is a little snow on top to help disperse the weight of an animal even more . I sort of solved this by doing two things . One is bed the trap like Zag Man does when he makes a pipe dream set whenever possible . Two when I can't bed like the pipe dream set I cover the waxed dirt with a very thin layer or scattering of ground up leaves/grass/weeds that I run over with the lawn mower several times and dry earlier in the year . It still freezes but doesn't seem to form that solid plate over the trap like dirt does .

I know you said wax dirt. All I was saying was when I tried giving the set a little coating of peat so right were my trap was at didn't look so unatural i got a lot of refusals. I'm guessing same thing would happen with wax dirt cause it still looks unnatural to everything else around it. I appreciate the tip though

When the snow comes I dont blend waxed dirt at all, in fact in most situations i only blend with enough grass or duff to break up the out line. I'll even scater more waxed dirt around to create a runnway, most will walk all over it even unblended. Actually I trully beleive the frost that sticks to it blends it very well.

I to have had good luck with zaggers bedding method and in fact use it more all of the time. Also bean chaff, flood chaff, grass clippings or what ever the situation calls for at that location. I can’t see any sense at all in going to all the trouble of making and using waxed dirt only to put too much natural dirt over it and have enough of a crust to have a failure. I don’t have enough coyote on my small line to put up with mist opportunity’s no matter what the reason.