How are you preparing the traps? and what kind of bait/lure are you using. Make sure the trap is free of smell in preparation and it doesnt rock any when you bed it. I have great success sticking a small pvc pipe in the ground and offseting the trap in front of it, this gives a lot of eye appeal they can't resist. put lure or bait right in pipe. hope this helps.

anthony it sounds to me like youve got a bedding problem the coons are feeling the trap shift when they step on it

Digging has nothing to do with the size trap. An animal will dig a #3 as soon as it would a 11.

No way the trap size should matter. If it would make you feel any better tack a larger pan to your 11 so there will be less room between the pan and the jaw, but I don't think that's your problem.

try 1 1/2 coilsprings...

#11s are good for one situation, coons, mink, and rats on water's edge in a drowner.

Yep those double longs are just not bedding right for you. Switch to a coil spring trap.

I grew up using long springs for coyotes, K9, they can be bedded as solid as a cs.

Anthony, there are some good videos on bedding a trap. I still don't believe it's the trap.

Same here OH, it is the bedding. If you are "packing around the jaws, why not pack inside as well? Then the only soft area is directly over the pan. I use the #11 dls and have had very little problem with it. Rather then switching traps, work on your bedding this summer so you are ready this fall. Tom

Follow tmrschessie's advice, the fresh loose dirt is an attractor, coon will investigate. I have dug test holes and loosened dirt for footprints to show and with out bait, coons made it look like a war zone and will especially when competion enters into it with multiple animals present.

I think your problem Is your not giving the coon something he Is Interested In. If the coon was Interested In your set/bait lure It wouldn't be digging In your trap bed fresh dirt or not. Make sure you don't have bait or lure on your trap bed. Give that animal something to hold It's Intreset and most of your problems will go away.

Adding a larger pan to a all ready small jaw spread trap Is couting diaster. Most If not all of the coons foot would be on the jaw as the trap went off and you will get more misses.

Trap bedding Is all way's a issue but double longs should bed more solid then coils.

I agree Ole Hawkeye that the longs can be bedded, but a guy has to pay more attention than with a coil. Lot more "tippy places" to check out and insure are packed solid.

I made a trappers cap out of a piece a exaust pipe that fits my 11 pans ya can bed them as tight as any other trap with it,

I've found for myself anyway,the smaller the trap the harder it is to bed soild on dryland.Bigger(heavier)have the weight to keep them where you put them.Don't know what soil you have,but here we have places where the dirt is spongy and is hard to bed solid.

long springs are just harder to bed than coil springs, i know i started something , but yes they are, impossible no! but harder ? yes

PM Cathryn, Im almost positive, she uses 11's for most of her coon trapping...

Why dig a hole? Just put some lure next to a tree up a few inch's to get his attention UP there not where he's walking, bed the trap under it and blend it in.

Coons see a dirthole they expect to find something buried there thus the digging.

try this and see if it helps. bed your trap as norman but when it comes to sifting your dirt over the trap make your dirt pattern extremely large like a 3' diameter. this will entice the coon to dig on the edges and when he finds nothing he will come in to the dirthole to investigate it with the digging out of his system.

That's why PVC stuck In the ground and filled with bait will get you some coon they pay no atention to anything but that pipe and the bait.