I mow. Bag it. Dry the clippings on my fence line. Re-bag and I’m ready for the season. The heat of the day right now is a killer and I sweat all over things.

There is a school near us. The school district mows all summer long. They tend to mow when it’s long. It takes about a week for the clumps to dry out. Last night I raked up a a big plastic garbage can of dry grass in 10 minutes. The school didn’t mind a bit. We don’t have nosey neighbors but if we did, I would have given them the rake. I now have a season’s worth of dry grass and I didn’t even break a sweat.

Sort of the same thing here. My neighbor who lives out of state pays me to mow his lawn. But he only wants it mowed every 3 weeks to save money. Long clippings easily rake. Win win.

I am just learning about pipe dream sets. Why do you need grass?

When you make the set, you use stiff screen over the pan. Over the screen you put on a thin covering of dried grass. On YouTube, query Mark Jagger. Eventually you’ll find his 20+ minute video. It’s his invention and he is very open about explaining how it’s done.

Once you’ve read about the set, get some screen pan covers, your trap and make a few test sets in the back yard. You’ll want a couple inches of clear space under than pan. This is so rain water has someplace to go. You’ll also want to practice hammering the dirt next to the jaws to tighten everything in. Make sure you get some plastic pipe so you get a feel for the distance between the pipe and the trap location.

This set takes a little practice but it absolutely works. That’s why so many people are using it.

NAFA bags are good for gathering trap cover
Gathering grass clippings can be tricky. Grass should be completely dry. I prefer clippings to dry to a tan color. Leave clippings lay for a few days, with no rain.

My sportsman's club mows areas and lets grass/weed lay. I gather that up as well.
I spread this haylage out at home and mow 3 times to get it smaller.

This method takes some time...
a bag full laid out


same bag full, mowed 3 times (disappears)


raked, mowed haylage

Tip of the day-
I found the easiest method to gather trap covering is-
Go to barn, sweep or rake up floor of hay loft. The fine, dry duff on the floor makes a great trap covering.

Every neighbor farm around me was more than willing to let me sweep up their hay loft. Good for them and opens that door for hunting and trapping.

Grass doesn't hold water as much and won't prevent the trap from firing if it does freeze.

If you live In farming country and your farmers green chop hay just gather It off the tops of the chopper boxes. It's already chopped fine and Is supper dry buy the time you need It.

I started packing a pair of shears/scissors and grab a tuft of grass at the trap site and chop it up quick. Seems to work good.

make more mowing than trapping these days!


This is what I use on trap in a hay set. Or cut it at 3/4 inch in a coffee can.

I just realized that decomposing manure works super good for trap covering. Now if you folks come over to my barn I will point out the stalls with the very best manure..... :-)

Half a bale of hay, mulching mower and a rake.

Look up Mark Zagger, Coyote U, Pipe Dream Set.

We use screen with grass clippings on almost all of our sets now, not just pipe sets

Same here.
As far as collecting grass, I wait until they start mowing the roads on the plantations and rake up enough to fill 3 50lb corn bags. I’ll lay it out in the driveway and let it dry out for a few hours and then bag it up and I’m ready to go for the season.

X3 on the grass clippings for most sets.
I collect lawn clippings that have dried in the yard and turned tan in color also I dry some grass clippings in the shade on a wire screen that retain their green color when dry for use in areas where the ground cover stays green throughout the trapping season, just seems to blend a little better in grassy areas versus the tan. Also in the fall I mulch up some dry leaves for use in a couple areas where I trap some woods roads.