Can you cover wax paper with a little bit of grass covering and catch critters? If so I’m switching over to wax paper!
I use screen so my sets are still operational after 2-3” of rain we get every time a front rolls through. My dirt hole sets or any set covered in dirt seems to become a small pond and critters won’t step in it.

Lol, trapping season where I trap has freezing nights and days from the get go. I can only set on high and dry or I’ll have ice cubes for a month with that much rain, even with wax dirt. Just goes to show, there are different conditions everywhere. Do you set like the pipe dream sets with space underneath to get away with that much rain?

So the steel screen doesnt shift around like paper of fiberglass? Could use leaves like a grass covering too couldnt you?

Straight screen user here spring summer fall and winter. And dogless trap.
With say mb550 or duke 550 type trap you are better off using other types of pan coverings, a coffee filter will work also just to add to stuff used lol.

I have used used Screen, Wax paper, and polyfil. This year I experimented with the landscape fabric. It is by far in my humble opinion the best stuff I have ever used. It lays as flat as a pancake, it lets rain through, and I can use one over and over again. I can't see myself ever using anything else.

When pulling, lift the movable jaw and it lifts out. I just put them in a plastic ziplock bag and reuse. No fuss, no mess. If it wasn’t for Zaggers way of bedding and screen use my season would be a bust this year. 75% of my catches have been on the PDS. And I’m putting in a 50/50 of dirt covering vs screen. Some of my scent post and flat sets have screen as well. All depends on the location.
I will also throw in that we are having a seriously wet year. When dirt holes get flooded out that PDS or sets with screen coverings are still functioning.

For me, steel on my Pipe Dream with grass covering.....wax patty papers in my hole sets with peat moss.
MZ

What I said above:

With the Pipe Dream and grass, I need the stiff backbone of the steel screen to support my material (grass) and provide a perfect, nice, flat, low place to step to work the pipe.

Zagman

Why do you think screen would be a bad choice for dogged 550’s? It has seemed to work fine for me, but I might be missing something.

What I meant was why don't you do the hole sets the same way?

Three years ago, I tried the pipe dream set and failed miserably. Two years ago, every other day it rained. The ground was absolutely saturated. Driving on field roads guaranteed deep ruts or getting stuck so I had to walk in. Setting dirtholes meant bringing dirt in for every set so I opted for the pipe dream set and it worked flawlessly. Last fall, due to a wet opener, I used the pipe dream set with Keg Creek black pan covers I had sitting around for my #3 Montanas. Also used the not so stiff galvanized steel screen produced by John Graham for my 550s. Both provided just enough stiffness to support the grass and catch critters.

Being cheap, I didn’t buy any Keg Creek pan cover replacements and just bought several dozen of John Graham’s covers. When I set my screens they fit over the pans but under the jaws.

While finish sanding some sheet rock plaster a couple years ago, I found sanding screen was almost as thick and stiff as the Keg Creek screen covers. Now I just need to find a source for the quantity I use. Please note: it isn’t metal and I don’t know how well it holds up to moisture. If it makes it thru some experimental sets, I may be buying it for trapping purposes in the future.

Your story is similar to MANY I've heard.....tried it a few times, no success. Then, one year, incessant rain and try it again, and BINGO. The whole thing came about due to ANNUAL rains during coyote season and forcing me to let the Necessity is the Mother of All Inventions approach kick in.....

Again, I've said this a million times, I was making my T-Bones, Grass Tuft (post set), Wooden Dowel, Double Poke Holes, etc. like this for a LONG LONG time. The Pipe was added last, but gave the set its name. Everyone's hung up on the pipe, but as this thread shows, the steel screen and grass are a big part of it as well.

MZ

Frozen ground....I salt the top edge all around the trap jaws where I pinched the sod in against the jaws with my hammer. Seems to work fine......

MZ

Your story is similar to MANY I've heard.....tried it a few times, no success. Then, one year, incessant rain and try it again, and BINGO. The whole thing came about due to ANNUAL rains during coyote season and forcing me to let the Necessity is the Mother of All Inventions approach kick in.....

Again, I've said this a million times, I was making my T-Bones, Grass Tuft (post set), Wooden Dowel, Double Poke Holes, etc. like this for a LONG LONG time. The Pipe was added last, but gave the set its name. Everyone's hung up on the pipe, but as this thread shows, the steel screen and grass are a big part of it as well.

MZ