Was watching instruction on him making his pipe dream set. The way he does the set is 100% opposite of all other using dirt covering. One of the biggest differences is not getting 100% coverage of pan screen and ground not flat in trap area. His sets are designed to be weather proof. They look fast to set but would like to know how hold up to freezing and frost heaving. Would hammering in mud tight to jaws for stabilizing trap cause traps not to function below freezing. If works could speed making sets.

The set works well and is super fast and easy to make after a couple made you’ll see. The hammering the sides in is just pinching the trap ever so much to stabilize it. Nice strong trap will blow out of the bed no issues in most conditions that even wax dirt can be shut down in. It’s not the answer to all but is definitely a good tip/tool to know and h e out on the line. If lots of deep freeze is expected a little salt goes a long ways!

Seems to shine as being very water resistant which tends to be in the more mild part of season at least here. Once weather starts shifting to cooler temps the sets ability to function depends on how wet soil is and how cold it’ll drop to. Here you can easily have ground frozen solid down past trap in just couple of days in those conditions It’ll need antifreeze then to operate. But when the weather is making that much of a shift to constant cold freezing you may find screen can still have some benefits but you’ll likely benefit much more using winter bedding techniques in combination with it.

If it works for our wet/hot season it should work for your freeze/thaw. Our clay when heated becomes cement, the same thing as your freeze. Traps fire.
The trap sits flush with the deck, not below it. The covering is nothing but grass or leaves. There’s very little contact with our clay. The whole concept or what I took as the concept was for it to be weather proof. The bed is deep to hold moisture. I have picked up sets on pull day with a bed full of water underneath the set, but the trap was still blended and functional.

That bed full of water will freeze into a solid block of ice with a trap in the middle of it here. I do hammer in trap beds at times here, but then I pour wax sand in them and make sure there is wax sand under everything (especially levers) and all the way around the outside of the jaws with nothing touching native dirt. I do hollow out under the trap, makes bedding solid much easier and faster.

You must not have read the deep part. If you have that much water, then no amount of waxed dirt is gonna help and your trap will be washed out anyways. When I say deep, I mean deep. Nothing but a void under that trap. After digging and before placing the trap I take my stake driver and pound a hole in the bottom to help with drainage.
This set takes me longer if it’s dry when placing them, but I only use it if I KNOW I’m going to have nothing but rain for a week or more. At least I know I’ll have some functioning sets.

What do you mean by deep? I usually go three or four inches, sometimes a little less when using waxed sand. But most of the natural soil I set in is clay and doesn't drain at all.

Deep is 8” or so. Think of a tornado. There is nothing below the trap but air. The levers are the only thing solid on the deck. At the bottom on the tornado I pound a hole as deep as I can to help with drainage.
My anchor is off to the side or front on the set with the leftover coiled in the hole beneath the trap itself.
Yes, it takes a little longer to put this set in, but it beats a washed out set or one that won’t fire after 2-3” of rain from one storm.
Generally during rainy season I’ll have a set like that and a regular flat set across from it. Like I said, I KNOW the Zagger set will fire no matter what. The other is iffy based on the amount of rain and drainage area.

Mark's set works great in the early part of the season but this time of year in Western NY, a regular trap bed, sides pounded in to stabilize the trap, generous portion of salt under and around the trap, fill with bone dry peat moss and top with waxed dirt. In the last 2 weeks we had copious amounts of rain, followed by 5" of snow that then melted followed by temps in the teens and my traps are still working and catching. The peat stayed bone dry through out. Salt and peat are cheap so I fling both around the whole set so there is not a concentrated smell in the trap bed itself.

Just watched video of Mark trapping in Illinois with snow on ground. He used table salt around jaws but went light.

I’m surprised about the salt. That seems to attract rabbits and deer down here.

You need to watch that video ,I found interesting. He was setting with snow on ground using his PVC pipe method. The other guy doing standard dirt hole sets said Mark was out producing him while they were working together.

I have used layered salt for years in my dug out bare trap bed to help stop the ground frosting from attaching to the jaws and levers. Then layered with peat as a protective barrier from the salt, bed my trap in the peat, then filled in the bedded trap with peat then waxed dirt to finish off the set to grade level.

Works well for me. You don't want it on top of the set that can cause some interest from deer and rabbits. We have lots of deer where I trap and rabbits at times. I have no more deer set offs than is typical. If I am working pastures with sheep or sections with cattle you can have issues with salt use.

Lots of rains and no draining puts most sets out of commission until things begin to dry out.

I have taken parts of his set and use it to make my own version that works well for me.

You should try different methods of bedding traps and learn from it.
Use different lure holders rocks, bones, wood, holes, etc.
For tuff winter trapping conditions I use Waxed sand or dirt or both like Bearcat2 does!!
IMHO, using pvc. pipes for a lure holder is kind of silly for a coyote trapper.

Most guys think the pipe set is all about the pipe and keep bedding their traps like they always have. To me the bedding routine is the most important part. You can do your bait/lure or post however suits the situation. I just don't like to carry more stuff than i absolutely need to.

From what Iv seen on YouTube, I had the same conclusion. I post this hoping trappers might have had negative results with bedding and save me from some poor results. Just goes against what I was always taught. Looks so fast I will need to try.

Somewhere on here is a LONG post about the set that went on and on for years.......you'd need a few hours to read it all! Like over a million hits on it or more........

No set is bullet-proof.......including this one. Heck, this week, we got three-inches of rain and within 24 hours it got down in the 20's......I had a heck of a time getting anything to remain operational.....the frost and ice was ooozing out of the ground! No amount of grass or salt was enough......

I pulled some traps yesterday that were "floating" on top of the ground, i.e, countersunk slightly below ground level, and when I pulled them, there was a puddle of water in the bed but the water was NOT touching the trap......it was mild out, so the water had not frozen.....BUT a traditional bedding method would have had that trap UNDER water (or ice). My bedding style gets it ABOVE the water (or ice). Of course, with examples like three inches of rain this week, there are times/situations that the trap IS under water...but as the water subsides, it USUALLY gets down below the bottom of the trap.

If I trapped in more arid areas, I'd NOT make such a deep bed.......but most everything else would be the same.

Like the Bottom-Edge set, this is just another tool in the tool box.......but Ma Nature hates coyote trappers, so the set (like all sets) has limits. Heck, even snares are not bullet proof after heavy ice or snow and need to be tweaked, fixed OR pulled!

Mark Zagger

Finally getting some temps in Missouri wet and below freezing. Excited to see how the hammered in sets work.

It is NOT a silver bullet but should keep you in the game......MZ