Hello all,
I've been experimenting with the pipe dream set this fall targeting coyotes. Have only connected on one coon so far. I'm using earth anchors with a pilot hole started in frozen ground with 3/8" rebar. I'm using mb650 traps. I'm noticing when I dig the trap bed out I need to make it fairly deep so the bottom of the trap doesn't sit on top of the trap chain or it will wobble. Once I did that I will still spend a loooooong time on my knees trying to get that trap to bed rock solid. I try to pound rectangular shaped notches in the ground for the trap levers and make it so the jaws are sitting on the ground or just inside the bed I've cut in the ground and then I try to power bed/use a hammer to hit the dirt toward the jaws to power bed the trap. I'm doing something wrong because the trap will still wobble in the bed. It might be solid on one side but when I push down on the opposite jaw the trap wants to slide up and out of the bed.
Is there any videos/tips you folks might have to help me out? I've watched the zagman video of him on that Illinois deer property but there's just something I'm not getting here.

I'd appreciate a little help if anyone feels my pain and can relate!

You need to dig the trap bed a bit deeper. Then sift In about 1" of dry dirt then rock the trap around to get It stabilized.

What are you bedding your traps in during these conditions?

Beav is spot on
J

I'm taking the Zagman approach and trying to suspend the trap by the levers. Some are sitting on a little waxed dirt but I don't fill the hole where the chain is, with waxed dirt. I then ran out of waxed dirt so use a little peat moss instead. So by sifting over top/adding 1" of dry dirt it still doesn't fill the bottom of the trap bed yet finds its way under the jaws?
I think in my bed design the sifted dirt would just end up in the bottom of the bed since the jaws aren't really resting on top of the surrounding dirt/ground. Kind of challenging to describe.

Practice the set while the ground is still frozen.
If you want to get good at anything you practice

Are you using anything under or over the pan?

You can't expect a trap to be stabilized with only the spring levers making contact with the ground. And frozen ground even makes It worse. You need to have those jaws making contact with a stable surface.
And peat moss In my opinion Is a terrible bedding material. It's pretty much freeze proof but It's to loose to stabilize a trap.

I've tried it all. Zagger's way works good most of the time but you have do like he does and put screen over the trap pan and cover it with dry grass. It's hard to bed it that way when the ground is froze a foot deep. You have to be right on the money and just about inlay the trap int he dirt. All of the my Jakes I bedded the Zagger way worked until it rained and froze. Then the holes filled with water and the traps froze into a big ice cube. I tried making a couple holes with a driver so water could get down into unfrozen dirt but it still froze. I made sets on slopes too but they filled with water and froze too. One set I dug a trap bed and the water came in from underground and filled the hole with water before I could set the trap.

In bare ground I chisel out a bed 3 to 4 inches deep and 12'' around. I bed my traps in dry or waxed dirt. This year has been so wet that waxed dirt is all I have used. Blend your set in. After it rains and freezes check the dirt. This year there has been a lot of rain and it splashes muddy water on top of the waxed dirt when the rain hits the unfrozen top layer of mud during these little warm spells. Then the cold comes and makes a froze shell over your trap. Take the frozen shell of the top of the dirt and bend it all in again. Be careful to make it just the way it was before so you don't start ending up with a weird looking set. This takes a lot of dirt and a lot of time. The only sets that stayed even close to working for me this year were grassy trails on tops of water ways where I could keep busting the frozen ground and filling in with dry dirt. Nobody does any good when it is like this.

Here's a set remade after a coon and a coyote. After that big snow I could only keep a few sets working...Tough year




PS- Thank you to whoever put the rotate buttons on the picture file page!!!!

I too use the 650 and I think it’s the perfect trap for Zaggers bedding method. I’ve been digging the trap bed somewhat cone or funnel shaped with the he bottom of the hole at least 6” deep. That being said my trapping spade fits the shape of the bend in the trap jaws, I don’t know that it needs to but seems to make it very easy to dig the bed . Put your set trap on the ground upside down and cut your bed to fit the jaws tightly. Pound out a place on each side for your spring leavers and set the trap in place. Doing it this way takes the least amount of time and adjustments and I’ve tried it several ways over the last few years.
Full disclosure, I’ve not had much success with the screen wire pan covers for one reason or another ! This year I tried peat for the first time in many years and like what I’ve seen . With this method I use a small amount of peat between the jaws and bare ground and also under the spring leavers. I then pack peat as best I can between the jaws and even under the trap, once finished I add just enough waxed dirt to shed a little weather and to blend with my surroundings somewhat. I know the peat and the waxed dirt are not needed with this method of bedding but having lost a few pan covers to the wind I am more comfortable with my way. Besides I’m a dirt trapper , lol !

Stablizing a trap is easy once you learn to secure the 4 points of contact of the trap. The two levers and the center of each jaw underneath. A well placed small clod/rock or more set dirt can fix a tilting wobbly trap pretty quick. Gotta learn to identify that low point and make it better supported to stop the tilt/wobble if it is significant.

Just like when making exposed cat sets on top of the ground. I use sticks most of the time broken to the right length and diameter to stabilize the trap. It is much easier to do with a buried ground set trap. I don't use or like any type of screens.. Coffee filters or heavy wax paper work fine for my method.

A little practice and you will get it down but you need to make your adjustments according to the ground you are working in. A few seconds is all it should take to bed any trap once you have learned to dig your trap bed real well first.

Lots of personal ways of bedding traps. Find what works best for you and is done routinely and quickly. It should become second nature. If you work at it too much you need to spend more time perfecting your system of only cutting and digging out the size of the trap. Less work and less dirt needed to complete the set.

Lots of ways to antifreeze a set but most have their limits with freezing rain, sleet and cold wind. There will always be maintenance it seems. Moisture is your enemy as is frost creep. As long as a trap can release from the soil and cover media most of the time you will win more often.

Actually 3 gutter spikes with the heads cut off work wonders when stabilizing a trap In It's bed. NO mater what the conditions.

I will heed all of your advice and keep practicing. I'm currently using steel trap pan covers from F & T that I just trim to fit JUST inside the jaws and lay it over top of the pan. I've never tried putting the peat moss between the jaws to stabilize the trap but if I do this, should some polyfill be put under the pan so it still functions or is that stuff spongy enough (if it's dry) to compress if it gets under the trap pan? I'm currently using my trapper tool to chip my trap bed and am not sure if a trapper's spade would be able to cut into the soil the way it is currently, Golf ball, but I am curious what kind of spade you use. I like the cone analogy to describe the shape of the trap bed, that way as the trap sets in the bed it kindof wedges in a little. At least that's how my mind pictures it. My beds are probably only 4" deep so maybe I need to go deeper to get that chain down and away from the bottom of the trap.
Again, thanks for the help. I get the statement about "keep practicing" but wanted to get some help from people that have been doing this a lot longer than I.

Much appreciated.

Use a axe to cut your trap beds In frozen ground. Wear eye protection when doing so. Polyfill works well under the pan. But peat moss Isn't going to stabilize the trap.

Try the spike method.
Place the trap In the bed. Lets say your looking at the trap and the dogged jaw Is facing the dirt hole. Drive the first spike In where the left hand spring leaver intersects with the dogged jaw. Then drive the next spike up tight against the loose jaw. Do It right at dead center. Then rotate the trap to the left until It's tight against both nails. Then drive In the 3rd spike In the intersection of the right hand spring lever. If your spikes are long enough and tight enough against the trap It will be stable.
The trick In digging trap beds Is to have them just big enough so the trap just fits. So when the critter steps off of solid ground that step Is going to be right on the pan and not on any loose disturbed dirt. I know that is easer said then done.

Good luck

I use an adze to cut out a trap bed in frozen ground. They are heavy but it only takes a couple well placed swings (and you can drive stakes with them). I found that if I make my trap bed just right which takes practice, I then put my loose jaw on the stake washer and that firms it up good enough. I see you use disposables, maybe try stakes in frozen ground instead?

I agree with Bob Jameson. I've seen how he does it at convention demo's.

Why not just lay the trap on a bed of grass or hay and cover with either if conditions are that bad? Sort of like a hay set.

hay or grass freeze as well and when they do they contract pushing your trap up. So after the first freeze you have a wobbley trap or a frost fired trap. I've had my best long term results from a diamond shaped bed then trim to fit. I want my jaws a 1/4 " below ground surface. A hole punch in the center so chain has a place to sit. Speed is nice but id rather take longer with 10 sets that work flawless over 20 wobblers.. Heavily waxed wax dirt will compact. As stated practice good luck don't get discouraged one day it will all click

Yep, note the heavily waxed dirt of that post. It's agame changer. Dig the bed a little deeper than normal, make sure the trap fits, cover it with waxed dirt, lift the trap so the waxed dirt falls in place around and under the trap. Pack it in, cover with more waxed dirt, pack again then blend and guide. The entire trap including the levers can not touch the native soil. When complete it all should be level, no low spots to collect water.

That's the correct way to freeze proof! I've had sets were surface water was trickling into the trap bed that worked flawless 3 days later after it dropped below freezing. Gbus gave the secret grab the trap levers and lift and twist then push down doing the same trap sets and stays solid!

DarkNight the spade I am using is one that I made 40 some years ago while still in high school , lol I don’t even remember if it was an old tree spade or tile spade. Yes you are correct, the cone or funnel shape of the hole let’s you kind of wedge the trap in just below the surface of the sod . I’ve been packing the peat around the jaws and between the pan and jaws and just kind of letting it fall under the pan and it is soft enough to allow the pan to fall . This worked well for me this year until the water came up over the trap bed and then froze , the water left and the ice stayed. Can’t beat Mother Nature all the time !