Hey guys,

My bobcat season here in Wisconsin starts December 26th. Its my first year trapping and I have a few questions on setting traps in frozen ground. I made 20ish gallons of waxed dirt, but being paranoid, I'm worried I'll run out. I have 36 coil springs, and can always make more waxed dirt but am curious about other options. The ground should be plenty froze and stay that way for the duration of my season, so I won't have to worry about the freeze/thaw cycle hopefully. How do you guys deal with bedding traps in frozen ground? Is there an alternative to waxed dirt/peat moss? What else am I missing to make sure my traps don't freeze? I will also be running cable restraints.

Thanks

I dont use a lot of footholds in winter,but when I do,I do it the old way.I use DLS traps. First I pack down the snow,dig a hollow for the trap,line the bed with spruce tips,then run a spruce branch thru both springs and under the trap to stabilize in the bed,then fill up inside and around the trapjaws with spruce tips,then sift snow over the whole lot,just a little snow to blend.Then use stepping sticks and guidesticks to make the animal step where the traps are.
Doesnt take long to set-i use a drag on a long chain.
You can use coilsprings but the LS stabilize better on the hard snow.

Also, if the long spring freezes the springs and the base plate down, they still go off. Only thing you have to keep from freezing down are the jaws, unlike a coilspring which has the springs underneath and the levers also laying flat to the ground. Setting in snow I often put wax paper under the trap, and then more over the trap, no dirt, spruce/fir limbs or anything. Also if it is snowing or supposed to snow, don't sift snow over the trap, just let it snow over naturally. Any time you move snow it tends to freeze.

I don't trap cats, but you don't have to cover traps for them, and if you leave them exposed you don't have to worry about your cover freezing. If you want to pick up any incidental coyotes along the way I would suggest covering and blending your traps though. Waxed dirt or sand are your best options if setting in frozen ground, IMHO. But you can do other stuff if you don't have it available, dry, rotten sawdust, or tamarack needles under and over trap, antifreeze, etc. I have never liked the wet spot left by antifreeze, most are very corrosive and cause bad rust issues with traps if they aren't very well treated, and I've had enough issues with canines avoiding the wet spot that I haven't used any in fifteen years. Also, any salt based antifreeze will have hooved game tromping all over your sets.

Cover hulls can help

I am struggling with this myself, especially the past few weeks. I am also from Wi.

The waxed dirt should be a good item to prevent a lot of the problems. A guy thats been helping me says you can also bed your traps in waxed sand though I have not tried it. He said if you bed in sand the waxed dirt goes a lot further because your only using it for the top layer. He said sand is easier to prepare because it doesn't hold as much moisture as dirt so you don't have near as much work.

I use both waxed dirt and cover hulls. Both seem to work especially if it stays cold.

Waxed sand works fantastic

Waxed sand will work great. It's all I use in the winter any more. The only thing that can happen is a thin crust over the waxed sand if you do have a day that melts some snow then freezes at night. Just flip the crust off and good to go.

I just chop a bed out with the digger on my hammer. A lot of my trap beds are dug before it freezes in locations that are good year after year but things do change.

All waxed sand for me, ant hill duff to blend or now it's snowing about every other night to cover.
4coiled traps help also.

I use waxed dirt here because it matches our soil better than sand does, but both work. I make mine with more wax than I probably should but it works better if I do add more when I make it in summer.
Putting in new sets in frozen ground is a PITA so I try to chop out trap beds and dig dirt holes earlier in season wherever I think I might want a set.
I have a railroad pick I use for beds when I don’t get one predug before the hard freeze. Our soil here turns to a solid rock in winter, frozen absolutely hard. Rebar pounds in OK for staking, I cross stake, and rebar is very retrievable too. Turn em back out with a locking pliers, maybe a small crowbar rod get em started back out too. If I’m using disposable stakes I have a cooled rolled driver and always have to beat in a pilot hole first as deep as I want the anchor then pound in the anchor. Bullet stakes hold up best. I can’t always get one back so I cut cables when I pull and just get new ones next year. Rebar is heavy to carry but much easier to retrieve after I’m done and it’s still frozen.
If I can’t get a dirt hole set I. I get creative.
A pile of soybean chaffe in a picked beam field works well. Kick a pile together and put bait under the pile and on side where trap is bedded. Cornstalks work too. You can also bend over a single cornstalk bed a trap under it and take you knife and hollow out the soft material in center of the stalk. Put bait in that stalk end and it’s just over the trap or in front of it and pointing down at the trap. I’ve caught a lot of late season coyotes in stubble with that set. Cats too. Use skunk for cats, beaver castor too.
Snares are great after freeze up. I snare a lot of weedy ditches and small frozen stream no wider than a couple feet. Those get a lot of coyote,fox, and cat traffic around here. Very easy to find some pinch points or make your own with some weed stems and or a little brush material.
Late winter trapping is just plain work, but I never get a blue hide.
Don’t forget to carry a cheap flat snow shovel and broom in the truck too. After a fresh snow clean off the set and it has a ton of eye appeal. Throw the stuff you take off top back in a big pattern behind the set, too.
Also, I make my sets behind something on shady side so they stay cold and not thaw out in sun. Freeze-thaw is killer for freezing down traps on my line. Setting on shady side of a weedy ditch, or shaded corner of a timber line in cornfield, backside of hay bales, or make sets in the timber where not much sun gets through, etc. keeping the sun off seems to keep the set cold, dry, and operating longer. Overnight frosting after sun on them during day can really crust over a trap even with freeze proof materials used to bed them.
Jim

I use a lot of flat sets and post sets in frozen ground. You may need 1/2 gallon of that dirt per trap to start. A pulaski will help you a lot. They will freeze. Sometimes nature is tough and you will have to just deal with it the best you can. For 36 traps a good start for dirt is 2 trash cans full. Each re-set you will need more dirt.

I do almost exactly like the soybean chaff set mentioned above. Only I sprinkle cracked corn under it for mice to find. Our dirt is variable from sand to clay. I use a lot of drags. If you use a big rock drag you can make a flat set out of it. Some of the hardest sets to make for me have been in blow sand areas where I have had to us a chisel to get a trap bed in - but the up side is that after you set the trap in waxed dirt the blow sand blows it clean like someone swept it. Traps are super hard to find but they work and if you use a little bigger backing or trash pile you can find them. Some drill a hole and insert a tall weed so you can see if the set has been disturbed. That way you don't have to go real close to it and risk leaving tracks.

This was a cow path with a flat set on it and turds. I got a nice cat here a couple days later.



It's more work with frozen soli but it's not so bad. Just blend things in. You can use regular dry dirt to save your waxed dirt.



If snow is predicted go over all your sets before the snow so they are all working well and then the snow will help you see how the animals reacted to what you did.

Found some set pics in frozen late season ground.

Here is that bent over cornstalk. Ground was too hard to drill a hole so used end of the corn stubble stalk to smear full of bait and a shot of pee at the base.



Here is a trash pile set in bean field. Trap bed hacked out and trap needed with waxed dirt. Bait under that pile and shot of call lure on top.



Here is a coyote in frozen set blind trail up this weedy and brushy rise up out of the corn field below. He has the waxed dirt scattered all over the catch circle and in his fur. I didn’t use bait or lure here just a blind set with some sticks either side of trap to break up stride and give spot to step.



Here is a blind trail set in first row of field along edge of field and thick timber. Cat tracks in snow in this outside row, marked with red arrows. Made a nice bedded trap with waxed dirt and nice flat spot to step. Really had to chip the bed out in frozen ground. Snow really helps show where they are going. In frozen ground they don’t leave much for tracks without snow.

There's no need to bed/cover a cat trap at all. If you're using coils just put a handful of waxed dirt down as a pad and set the trap right on top and block it in. Use a shingle or something on the pan to give them a spot to set. Lots of stuff in the archives.

[quote=Jumperzee]There's no need to bed/cover a cat trap at all. If you're using coils just put a handful of waxed dirt down as a pad and set the trap right on top and block it in. Use a shingle or something on the pan\[quote] Secure it to the pan with a paperclip?

Yeah, that would work. There's many ways to affix it. Again lots of good threads in the archives and some pretty creative solutions - paperclips, staple a "pouch" that slips over pan, glue, etc. Personally I use spray adhesive for all my dedicated cat traps.

https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/160550/all/bobcats-the-exposed-cat-set

Try the above link, also if you haven't seen snipers trapperman search it's way better than trying to search the archives directly on here. Just Google "snipers trapperman search" open the link and enter your keyword. Happy archiving

Lots of good info here. Digging a trap bed may be the toughest part so get comfortable with that whether you use a mattock, an axe, a Rotary hammer, splitting maul etc., etc.,,,,, as small a bed as you can get away with, with your size trap.. If you run out of what you made in waxed dirt and there is no freeze thaw cycle, you can use just dry sand. Get that at any sand pit, Menards//lumber yards and/or where they sell sand weights for cars. Using a bedding medium to keep the base of your trap level and as steady as possible is paramount for me. Hulls, and peat and zonolite are a little to light for me so I stick with the waxed soil/sand but dry sand will work in the conditions you describe. Mix it with your waxed material if you think you will run short. Send us a picture when you connect.......................................... the mike

For bobcat, I might just set the trap right on the ground

Most of sand i bought from menards was damp. Had to dry before use.

If you're chopping trap beds out of frozen ground or chopping holes in ice, its a good idea to have safety glasses on, even a neck gaiter to help keep ice and frozen mud from getting on your eyes and mouth