Well I gotta start learning to set footholds, no more snares for me. Started fooling around in the backyard practicing before season.















Any tips?
The ground is soft at this spot. I packed the dirt as hard as I could around the trap with my hammer. Red tool marks location of dirt hole. White is my wax paper directly over pan.

Looks good from here. Maybe you already did this but to be sure your trap is bedded correctly push down on each jaw and lever with your finger. If it wiggles you aren’t done.

Sheldon's 1 hand setters work nice.

Thanks. The soil is super soft. I realized you can’t see the rock and rotten log I figured would act like backing.

You do not need a hammer to pack the dirt done you can use your hands for that. Like stated make sure the trap dose not wiggles on you.For me I push the dirt down in the bed with my hands and then place the trap and then lift the loose jaw and place the wax paper and then put the dirt around the trap and under the jaw that is lifted and pack the dirt by hand then put that one jaw down and see if it is even with the rest of the trap and then if so make sure the trap dose not move and then place more dirt around the trap to make it all even and then if it is sift some dirt over the trap after. I normal use peat moss under and under the jaw of the trap and pack when I see that the trap dose not move and then sift some over the trap and then sift some dry dirt after over every thing.It works for me.

In super soft soil one method is to put sticks or rocks under levers and jaws. Trapping in muddy places last season I carried a bag of short pieces of waxed lath that I used that way. Because of muddy ground and intermittent freeze thaw conditions I used grass strands to break up outline of traps (with just enough dirt to keep wind from blowing grass off). A bit time-consuming, but it kept traps working and took coyotes. Even so, I still find quick-dispatch snares more reliable in those conditions.

Did it pass the 4 way test?
Pushing on each lever and each jaw, one at a time, to see if the trap moves...before your final covering of dirt is sifted.
If it wiggles in the least, it is not bedded well enough.

What about the leaves? The ground around here has a lot of duff, unless I’m near a sandy old road or hillside. Better to leave some piled around the edges as guiding? How much should I spread it back across the bed area?

Depends on how you want it to look. A fresh dug dirt hole would have bare dirt but any hole in the ground might be interesting to a critter. Especially if there are interesting smells in it. In general a dirt hole set has bare dirt in front of it. Flat sets are usually blended so that nothing seems out of the ordinary except the odor.