Why? Why not?

I do. To get rid of those bigger pieces like you have in your hand. I've had smaller rocks get caught in the corner of the jaws and loose a catch. My thought is the same could happen if I miss getting one of the bigger pieces out of the jaw. So that's why I do it.

Nope. I just pick the sticks if any out as I go and hand crumble the big pieces.

I always did. It also helped dry any that was at the bottom of the bale.

I don't pre sift it but I sift it when I put it over my trap. When I use it.

I do. Because I carry no sifter with me making sets.

I pre-sift it with 1/4" screen.

I've bought bales (from Lowe's) that had big roots and rocks thruout the entire bale.

Really it depends on the bale. The stuff I have now doesn't seem to need it. I'll pick out anything I see as I use it but I've never had peat plug up the trap.

FYI: Now's the time to buy the stuff, store managers will practically give it away so's not to have to store it over winter.

I have always bulk sifted my peat and dried it on a large tarp on our large hardtop parking lot. Preferably on a low wind day. There is usually quite a bit of waste, sticks bark and other larger hard peat pieces in an average bale. I don't like that debris when setting traps.

I buy several large cubic bales in the Spring and put them in an outdoor building. I slice open the tops of each bag which helps them to breathe and dry some before I pre sift it in the fall.

I guy never has too much dry peat lying around. If you carry some over, all the better for the next season.

I sift it at the set with my sifter. I do dry it thoroughly

I sift and will be drying it out from here on out. I stuck a little bag of it in the freezer that I didn’t dry out. It didn’t freeze completely but if I’m carrying something around to freeze proof my sets I don’t want it to freeze at all.

Reed (my 14 year old) got really good with a sifter... He sifted 35 gallons of sand and 3 bales of peat for me this summer. Now that I think about it, he also spread it out on a tarp on our blacktop driveway and raked it around to get it thoroughly dried, too!!! I cut him a break I guess and did the waxing of the sand, hahaha. We ended up with a plastic 55 gallon drum mounded with dried/sifted peat and a metal 35 gallon trash can filled with waxed sand. We probably had between 5 and 10 gallons of wax sand left over from last year.

I sift mine by the 5-gallon bucket, as that is what is needed for most set/check days. Since we don't get many freezes here, I only use a handful of peat inside the jaws instead of a pan cover. Native dirt is sifted, packed, and blended on the outside and top.

The 2 reasons for sifting are: 1) Removes smaller sticks and rocks that are sometimes found in baled peat. I've never bought a bale that didn't have them. 2) Helps to dry the peat a little faster in my opinion. Keep in mind that most of the bales are stored outside in the rain at most of the stores.

For those of you reading this post that have never trapped with peat, be mindful that you will have coons pick at the peat on various occasions. I have confirmed this by both tracks and game camera videos in the past. Pretty sure they can smell the old grub activity in the peat from where it was originally dug.

Good luck this season!

I spread mine out on a tarp on a nice hot day rake it around a few times spreading it as thin as I can across the tarp so it drys faster plus the rake breaks up a lot of the bigger clumps by the time it drys and I’m done raking it around it’s good and dry and then I sift it into totes for storage till season comes around. I’ll fill a bucket up before going to make sets 5 gallons goes a long ways. Mainly just use it in side my jaws like a under all.

I do but once a big line is set out I think I could get by with just working with it straight at the set. For big set days it’s crucial to be sifted as it saves time.