Now with spring trapping season coming close and our bounty here in SD during that time. I always make it a habit to target coons after I'm done rat trapping. Last year, we finally had some luck with them but we still had equal as much luck with dirt holes and blind sets with footholds. Is this just a regional thing? Using good bait, cat food, marshmallows, and Glo coon for lure or sometimes salmon oil/ other fish oil. I like the idea of dogproofs but I just haven't been able to get them to work as much as others have. Any ideas for this?

Some coon just won't work a DP. There's some tricks, like burying them so theyre like s dirthole, that help get around that. The thing that makes DPs great is that you can set a lot more of them to make up for what you miss.

During the Spring it’s just the opposite for me. They’ll get got in DP’s. If we have some cool temps to keep the ants at bay or I can set them in some water, I use my grape flavored dry cat food and we catch the fool out of them and possums. I can get away with grape flavored peanuts for a while too. Once the ants are active and no water, I just use regular peanuts. After the little ones come out, cage traps can produce 2-3 per catch just using an egg. Plus with a cage you can get the occasional armadillo.

To increase your luck with Dps put them right in the middle of they're trails so have to run right into them. If you have the right stuff in them they will work them.

I use DPs almost exclusively. Not because each one of them outperforms a foothold set (they do not), but because I can make 6 DP sets in the time that it takes to make a foothold set. Its a numbers game.
Even if a foothold set connects twice as often as a DP set, since I have 6 times more DP sets out there, I will be catching 3 times more raccoons for time spent setting traps using DPs.
I use a lot of snares in trails to catch the raccoons who already had dinner before they got to my DP sets.

X2 on 52Carl!

^^X3 the more steel in the ground helps increase catch chances

For me just a touch of castor on top of the cat food in the DP makes all the difference. When I say a touch I mean a match stick head. Years ago I couldn’t quit catching coons in my beaver castor mounds so I started incorporating castor into the DP sets. It’s been working for me. I even started mixing castor and bacon grease together for my cage traps. Buy these guys are 100% correct about the numbers game. More traps!!!!

Beaver is the all around predator bait.

Mark June's used to sell ground crawfish. It is fantastic for coons, otter, and mink. I put a little in the bottom of the DP, then cat food and corn on top of it. If you can find any, buy it. I'm nursing my last two pints now. I sure wish he still sold it.

Place them right under their nose ,I use mini marshmellows or cat food, I don't fill it up under the trigger and a little more and sprinkle a little on the ground but I always smear some jack mackeral mixed with oatmeal, flour , cornmeal around the top lip of the trap and catch a lot of coons this way

I grind my own crayfish up an use it in pocket sets...I do a good gallon every year if any one is interested just pm me I can throw some extra in the grinder for ya

Check with ADC. He makes a Shellfish Payback bait that I've great results with.

I sure wouldn't want to clean out your DPs of beaver meat after sitting in warmer temps for about a week....

Same with Sardines…despite being edible in a can, when they sit in “warm” temps, they get rank fairly quick. Anchoring them in a slow moving creek for a week or three will help get rid of the strong odor. A hint of it seems to add to the drawing power later on.

I have never understood the fancy baits in DP's. If two fellas went out trapping and one used cheap cat food and good fish oil and the other used a fancy bait I'd bet the catch difference would be negligible if they both set on location like they should. I'll be danged if I am putting lure and bait and all these paste bait concoctions in a dog proof

As others have mentioned, make them trip over them and you will catch them. Don't make it more complicated than it is!

Amen to that!! You said it better than I did… Jon

There are dry baits out there that I have found to outperform cat food hands down. ADC and Marty Smith both make DP baits that I will gladly spend money on because they work.

I can buy a $15 bag of cat food that lasts an entire season/year. I have access to unlimited peanuts. Haven’t found anything that doesn’t eat peanuts, that includes Coyotes and fox as well.
Not being rude, but I haven’t found a “coon bait” on the market that’s worth the money. I wish there was something that performs better than what I’m using, but when they’ll hit cat food or peanuts equal to or more than commercial stuff, it’s just not worth it too me and I only get paid for what I catch. If you have something, shoot me a PM and I’ll see if it’s on my “already tried” list.

X2!