Many people have started to use waxed dirt or sand, myself included. For those of us that do not have a cement mixer I am posting some pictures of what I have decided to use. The black, heavy duty plastic pan in the picture was purchased from Lowes. When filled with DRY sand it will make about 2-3 gallons of finished product at a time. If I have enough sand dried I will use 2 pans at a time. Make sure the sand or dirt is dry and free of any unwanted roots, stones, sticks, etc. I put approximately 2-3 inches of sand in the bottom. The pan is tipped somewhat facing the sun. Throughout the day I will re-orient the pan(s) to keep them directly facing the sun direction best possible. Using the flake wax that is available from most online supply businesses, sprinkle enough to almost cover the exposed surface. I then use a hand held three prong garden tool to mix the wax into the sand. I then sprinkle more wax on top. Cover the container with any type of CLEAR plastic to help retain extra heat. When no more wax is visible and the surface looks wet, I uncover and use the tool to mix completely. If it looks completely one darker color the wax has been evenly melted and distributed. If dry spots are visible adding a little more wax and recovering until melted will almost always finish the process.
The pan needs to be moved out of the sun to cool. However, only a few degree drop in temperature will cause the sand to set up. It needs to be mixed while cooling or you will be breaking up chunks and putting it all back through a sifter. I have made some waxed dirt and don't believe is clumps up as fast as the sand when cooling. Most of the areas I trap are sandy so I do mostly sand, but sometimes do mix the two.
I will use it in the bottom of a trap bed for a pipe set, or complete under and over for dirt holes. Same for flat sets. If one is in doubt about it not freezing, your choice of antifreeze can be added to a container and mixed for straight use, or simply sprinkle your favorite antifreeze while making the set. Kind of depends on the temperature and weather conditions.

Thanks for the pics. Have not tried sand yet. For those that have do you prefer sand over dirt and if so, why?

I do the process just about like is pictured above but I lay down a sheet of black plastic to put my pans on. For two reasons. The black plastic makes everything hotter still. And also if you are on grass or the ground and you have several tubs in a row covered by a single sheet you will get moisture under your plastic from the natural evaporation of moisture in the grass or soil. You can take care of this problem if you have the tubs on concrete or up on a table.

Bison,
I use mostly sand because most places I trap have sand when you dig a trap bed. Sand does take less wax to finish than dirt.

The ratio ive heard for wax to sand is a pound of wax to a 5 gallon bucket of sand. In your experiance is that about right?

I use sand makes wax go farther, and use anthill dirt for blending. Juniper duff works good to. Let alone sand is as ez getting as it gets, just back up to the sand pile at the local pit .

This ratio works great for me. Sand also packs much better than dirt. I have used waxed sand for 4 years with excellent results. Just sift a very fine layer of native soil over the sand to blend. I use a mixer and weed burner to make around 100 gallons a year.

Thank you sir, I appreciate your input. Being mostly dryland here just e of the rockies, last yr was a wakeup call, shut me right down. I need some wax sand in my life, for those moist days.

The smell of waxed dirt nauseates me, just can't handle it. Waxed sand is easy make in small batches and I do it right in my basement during the season as I need it. It does tend to clump but it is easy to break up and it stays separated once you do. Beds great. I buy 50 lb bags of tubed sand at the hardware store.

What I did this year is I pore 10 gl of sand out on black plastic about 2 inches thick on the South side of my green house(out side), sprinkle a coffee can of flake wax over it which is 2 1/4 pounds of wax. When it melts I put it in my cement mixer and let it spin a bit to mix it well, seems to work well

Last year I made up 200 gl of waxed sand with a weed burner and cement mixer, got it to hot I guess and scorched the wax. I did catch a dozen or so coyotes with it but had lots avoid the sets like it had gas on it

melt your wax before you add it to yourheated dirt/sand. You can avoid scorching wax this way

Get a temp gun so that don't happen. I heat the sand to 130 degrees and add the wax. As soon as I add the wax, I shut the heat off. The sand will stay plenty hot enough to melt the wax.Last year I melted block wax and added. It worked good also..

I made 30 gallons last year using a nestco roster. Took a couple weekends but gives good control of temp and don't have to watch it very closely.

I make mine the same way accept I put a piece of scrap glass over the top of the tub. My dirt is a sandy loam - works great here.

Is it possible to use melted wax instead of flake wax, in the black tubs? I suppose mixing it in the sand is the secret to both.

Not sure how melted wax would work in the tubs. I used it with the mixer last year with good results. Try one batch, might work good.

I followed LDW's one pound to 5 gallons of sand this summer worked like a charm. As has been said many times while it's cooling make sure to stir the sand repeatedly I did have one batch that set up like a rock (it wasn't too bad to break it back apart but why waste time if you don't have to). I made 300 pounds of it in two days without a whole lot of work involved using the solar method. I tried both the black menard's tubs and then two 8x10 black tarps. I will do the tarp from here on out can spread it out thinner and get all the sand coated with less stirring and time dealing with it.

I use waxed sand but the color sticks out like a sore thumb against natural dirt.

Archeryguy,
You can always make some waxed dirt and mix with the waxed sand for blending better. I lived in NYS for 53 years, everything I saw was dirt. Mostly sand here.

Peat moss is more available