With the low pan on those 550s, I tuck the corners of my screen under the jaws then there’s no worries.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting ideas. I hate to be real dumb but I will go ahead. When you talk about spraying down the leaves to get them wet, are you spraying with water or some liquid anti freeze like propylene glycol etc.?
Thanks again
Mac

With creek water so the leaves look natural and lay flat.

Thank you, makes perfect sense. Very good idea. I have used leaves but have run the through a sifter but a wet down pattern looks a whole lot more natural.
Thanks again for the great ideas.
Mac

Dfabs - thanks for the tips. Those deluxe pan covers are slick. Add the leaves and grass ahead of time and deal them out when setting traps. Somehow add a feature on the premium luxury model - an opossum guard.

I think they call that the ole rock under the pan. Of course, it keeps everything else out too.

Experimenting with methods to keep traps from freezing is never a bad idea. If you've read my stuff, you know I've been bedding my traps this way for a LONG time, even before the Pipe was added to the program. T-Bones, grass tufts/post sets, Grab and Die Stakes, etc.

With the dirt ONLY being pushed against the sides of the jaws and NOT on top, and NO dirt on levers, I think for a WHOLESALE approach/100's/1000's of sets, this would be cumbersome to add to the mix FOR ME. Dry grass and salted walls/tops of hammered dirt and then salted grass covering keeps me going decent enough to stick with that program, again, for ME.

I'd never poo-poo anyone's ideas or attempts to make something work for their system/program and applaud the efforts.

I WILL say I'd also NEVER spray leaves or grass with water......maybe I don't have to up here since, as Matt Jones has said (like death and taxes) "As sure as it'll rain on coyote traps"

I DO like the way grass looks after a rain on my Pipe Dream Set for sure......and understand the premise. If setting in the woods with leaves, no matter how dry it is or has been, there MUST be wet leaves under the dry ones to accomplish the same idea vs. carrying a bottle of water around?

With leaves OR grass, I think MOST guys put FAR too much cover on their traps/screen. If you use black colored screen, bits and pieces of it being visual after the set is complete is ok......and I'd say more times than not, parts of the trap are visible when I am done as well. I believe its innate in all of us to want to hide that trap/screen completely from the all-knowing eyes of the coyote and fox. DON'T DO IT! Less is more.......and the THINNER the cover, the more likely it'll be operative after rain/freezing/snowing........

Good discussion........let us know how these methods work in practice!

MZ

Mark - my interpretation of your grass covering is “sparse” which works very well. Suspend the levers, pound and salt the sides, screen, a sparse covering of clippings - and whamo catch Wile E. who then magically turns into a mudball!

I still can’t understand how the conduit pounded into the ground will make a pipeline system of drainage to keep all of the water off of the trap and out of the fields. On some sets I have even used elbows, valves, and T fittings but somehow it still rains. Should I run the conduit from one trap set to the next and the next to make a pipeline? Do you know where I would get a permit? Should I send blueprints.

Did Tom send you any royalties yet from my email? 😂

Today, I start my season of coyote hunting on customer properties.

I am looking forward to Coyote U. He, he, he.

Tom pays me nothing....I just pay him!

You need to sign up for Coyote U to look forward to it...........:)

MZ

Up until now, I thought ole Willy Firewood had all of the answers. Definitely dropped the ball this time.


Limestone ring around the set. Everyone knows opossums can’t cross limestone, and it’s about the only fool proof way to preserve good sets in ‘possum country. In a way it’s like the rock strip the ghosts from field of dreams couldn’t cross.


Learn more here:

https://www.amazon.com/Limestone-Paranormal-Properties-Comprehensive-Possibilities/dp/1517326982

Did you get into the eggnog again, Jeff?

Wow, I certainly don’t have all of the answers. I am still working on the questions. We are in a crisis and must all reorganize our lives, jobs, fashion sense, hobbies, and choice of marriage partners. A couple counties here in Ohio including where I live are now officially the northernmost tip of the officially designated area of Appalachia. We finally fit in. We are home! But I want to know WHO has that much authority to declare that? We did not have a war or invasion or Bigfoot, or Elvis, or anything else truly important. The only governing body with that much authority must have made that executive order - the County Fair Board.

Sometimes something just strikes with me. The nicest pan covers with full out nature treatment are like carpeting for the trap pan. A new status symbol

Now that opossum proofing stuff is way above my intellectual level. It is interesting and I BLEEVE it would work. My goal is much lower and that is a possum guard to prevent recatching the one you just released. As a young trapper I quickly learned that I did not like anything about those pouch creatures. So I would release them and remake the set. Next day the possum looked familiar. After a few such experiences. I ,earned to carry the possum off for awhile and release it not near a trap. That bit of edjumacashun was my thesis topic for passing into 6th grade.

It sounds sort of like how you capture and contain Amish people. You lay down on the ground an extension cord that completely encircles them. Then you plug the two ends together to complete the circuit. They will not cross the wire.

You make a good point there Mark. I have been dealing with heavy rain, deep freeze , snow, thawing, deep freeze , mild. Up till fairly recently ive been using a combo of peat moss and wax dirt. Made the switch from dog on traps to mostly dogless with heavy screen and grass. But i have for sure been putting too much grass over the screen. And if top covering with wax dirt been getting a frozen crust on top. Ive found too the fixed jaw has been freezing down also. I hesitate to use salt but....and i have been bedding in wax dirt. Covering the levers too. Thanks for your input, ill try it your way and see what happens.

Also i have a question. When you use stiff heavy screen on a dogless trap with low pan, does it theoretically lower or increase pan tension?

Very interesting thread. Thanks for sharing.


Zag, it has rained so much over the last year that we’ve simply had to get used to mud here, and it sounds like it’s been the same story for people across much of the country. If I were a coyote trapper, I’m sure I’d be bedding every trap using your method. Some day I’ll need to catch a few coyotes, and I’ll be putting your methods to work, no doubt.


I still get a laugh when I think of the ole coyote squirt bottle taste, and Antony’s reaction to your offer. That was definitely one of the highlights of Minktember, and I’m glad I had a front row seat for that stunt.


Mr. Firewood, I know those pouched critters serve a purpose, but they’ll make catching targets a challenge at times. I tell myself that I’m helping quail by removing grinners. If anyone ever prints a map of opossum population densities, they’ll need a fresh ink cartridge, because they’ll be using a lot of ink covering the entire area around where I live. Good thing creamed opossum and sweet potatoes is a hit in my house!

Were don't have possums in my area.

There was a time when possum trimmed coats were a hit with teenage girls. NAFA - rekindle that?

Depends on stiffness.....I'd say in GENERAL it WOULD increase kill area and LOWER pan tension......

MZ

Mark,

Do you put your salt on after or before you tighten the dirt up on the jaw faces?

Good post guys. Thanks for sharing

I'd say after...though I've done it both ways.......

MZ

Ttt