At the state trapping convention yesterday, some folks were talking about how they put a baited dirt hole under the cage or wire cubby. Have some of you tried that?

I just did a demo at the Ohio convention showing kinda the same thing. When you got some smart alec coons, or your really cheap on bait, just excavate a shallow hole and place the cage on top of the hole with the hole being at the back of the trap, preferably under the pan if it has a wire tredle and not a solid one. Stake the cage down so an animal can't move the cage.

I've had some really annoying coon decide to dig the bait out from the side so I ended up setting a foothold besides the cage where they were digging from. Since I went to bigger cages, that issue has went away.

I make depression, to place bait, under my cage traps when setting on ground. I always set cage traps thisaway.
Depression usually made with heel or toe of my boot.
Place cage at your spot. Eye ball where pan is located. Place cage aside and make a depression for bait. Fill depression with bait. Put cage in place over bait.
Make sure cage is rock solid. No wobbling, no rocking.
I like bait centered, half under and half just outside back of pan. Hansel & Gretel critters into cage.

When a coon gave me a hard time going in the cage, a dog proof was wired inside the cage so the coon had to reach thru wire. He looked embarrassed in the morning with one hand still in the cookie jar.

I put stink lure(castor,anis oil,fish oil etc) in a container in small hole under cage(behind pan) and bait in the cage.I also cover the cage with an old piece of carpet.