I have done some searching so please don't have a come-apart on a subject that has been covered before. But, my question remains unanswered. Nothing seems to work with the situation I am currently facing. 2 to 4 inches of snow one day. 40 degrees the next day. A couple days later, the cycle begins again. Wax dirt, flat sets, even my go-to bedding system which is basically the pipe dream style of bedding, ends up being a ball of ice every week. Even with a flat set, the trap is the lowest point on the set and ends up as a puddle that freezes solid. My last reset, I got creative and set it on a slope, and used a 6" wide chisel type tool to cut a sharp narrow drainage away from the set to allow for run off. covered it with grass pulled from nearby so it was not noticeable. The trap is not flat, but the darn thing WILL fire. I guess time will tell if this works as far as coyotes are concerned, but at least I won't have to reset those. All is not lost though. I had an antelope step in one when the weather cooperated, and one of my cows.

The depth of frozen temps you experience is much more severe than us here in VA. But we get lots of rain this year, and most winters, and constant freeze thaw.

I have kept several traps running on my place the last few weeks despite lots and lots of rain. Only had to rebed one trap once that didn't have a catch. I use straight peat moss and moderate antifreeze (table salt). Been using it for 8 years with no problems and much less line maintenance.


If just a coupe of inches of snow or a crust of ice, I use my trowel to cut the snow/ice off the trap bed the following check.

Yeah snow doesn't bother me, just brush it off, or dig out if its deep enough. Even a little ice doesn't bother me. But peat moss, wax dirt, antifreeze get soaked or covered with a layer of ice. Sometimes I can pull it off the wax dirt without setting off the trap but not often. If this slope idea produces I will be setting more of them, but so far this year, nothing is producing anyway.....we don't get a lot of rain here, especially when fur is prime, but I can't imagine that is a lot of fun either.

Grubbie I get a bit that stuff up here lol wax dirt is all i use .
I try keep trap level with it surrounding by spreading wax dirt out further it sheds water off all sides, wet snow unfortunately has to come off or it make a crust over trap.
Being in Wyoming get your self some coal shale.
You can bed your trap in coal shale ,use the wax dirt for covering .
There might be places on your place that has some these features that have coal shale set there if you got them.

I had the same problem and use a slope when I can but cover with waxed dirt. It took me several years to get my wax dirt right but now I can leave it all season without a hitch !

I fight the same problem tried wax dirt and didnt have enough wax in it so it soaked up the moisture and froze tried salt that attracted more moisture and froze so this year tried wax sand and wax paper pan covers and its worked great just put a layer under the trap plenty thick and pack it hard around jaws and over levers so the moisture has to run off making it flat instead of concave . Ive been doing very good through snow and freeze thaw with this

Are you talking about scoria? Got plenty of that here never even crossed my mind to use it for bedding.

Yep been a tough season for me here in VA this year. LOTS of rain & freeze/thaw cycles. Only 4 years into this so still working on my trapping game

shoulda added rain in that order.flooding pretty good here now.

Try using coal shale, a lot of guys in Montana use it.

I deal with this every year and this year it has been pretty bad. Last week it was -22, today the high was +41 and raining By Monday it is suppose to be back down in single digits Our cycle this year has been about three weeks. I tried it all, peat, waxed dirt, coveralls, holes in the bottom of the bed ect. I finally settled on hay sets. Pretty easy to maintain and effective.

And now flooding. 45 degrees yesterday and 51 degrees today put many of my traps under water. In two days it will be below zero again. Pulled my traps, done for the year.

Me too, Grubbie. I pulled the last of mine last week. This has been my worst season ever.

Caught this one this morning

That trap and the 3 traps still set near by have been in the ground since Dec 17th
I know it's a ugly fox, but those and my nemesis old 2 toes is all I'm after with those sets
I have not touched those traps a single time since setting them
I'm going to do a pictorial later, after season.
Till then I'll just keep it to my self
Not being selfish just want to be sure before posting my results

Overwaxed sand, no low spot over the pan. In fact I build the bed so its a high spot . Ounce the snow flies the blend comes off.

Maybe I will try that next year. I was always under the impression that the trap had to be the lowest spot. I did learn some things this year, I will take that as a win.

The low spot is an invite for a skating rink, the moisture runs right of the high spot..