So I am looking for thoughts on blending a canine set. Do you blend back with the surrounding dirt or do you have say 2 different color soils After the set is completed.I like to blend back with the local soil with the same.color.I have seen vids that after the set was finished there were color pattern variations.Have you seen this bother the coyote causing refusals.

If you look back at some of SteelTraps pics of his sets....he is a master set blender.

I agree .He is the best I have seen.Hope he shows back up he always shares good info.

I bring in my own bedding sand/Pete moss mix then after the trap is bedded I look for duff/top soil that matches and blend everything in. I’ve heard some are using small leaf blowers to blend. I’m going to try that this year.

Also some use a pump sprayer to wet the area so when it drys it all looks the same

I see guys who make sets where the trap bed is obvious with a different color covering; and they catch stuff. But I want my sets to look like they did before I started, when I step back from a set I don't want to be able to tell where the trap is. Only time I don't blend so the covering isn't visible is when making a set when it is snowing and is going to snow my trap over.

To answer your question, I've seen refusals that I believe are from the visible difference between the trap covering and surrounding soil. Not all will be bothered by it, but some will.

X2 other than a step down dirt hole you would be able know where my trap is by looking at the set.. either big dirt pattern like 2- 3 foot or blended. Whisk broom to sweep a little duff back over set or handful of duff depending on what's there. Simple and fast with a little practice. Sandy areas are a dream come true for coyote trappers

I scratch up a 2 to 3 foot trap bed that way I'm not hauling around blending material, It seems to work for me.

Try blending in grass areas, lol. You leave a spot no matter how good you are. I try and make several “spots” that look like a trap bed up and down the travel lane with only one being lured.

Grass areas during the winter months are a lot easier to blend vs green up grasses.

Providing I can drill a hole, a dirthole set opposite a flat set seems to work. I use it almost like a food was buried here and a coyote/fox/cat marked it on the opposite side of the track. Cats hit the dirthole and coyotes hit the flat sets…generally.

Blending in sandy or even clay areas is a lot easier. Even if the dug dirt is a different color I can take top soil near the set and blend it in.

With all that said, I’ve made some sets just to get a laugh out of the manager/landowner when they drive by and have caught coyotes in them. One had 2 holes punched as eye, I left part of the pan exposed that looked like a smiley face, and put rocks around the jaws as a face. It was a just for laughs set with another for real flat set 50 yards away. I ended up with a double there one morning.

No, I don’t recommend doing that, but you never know what a coyote will do or ignore on any given day.

I rode with ST one day. He is very good at blending a set. Spraying with water is the trick.

About 90% of my dry sets these days are pipe dream sets. The traps are suspended over a hole and dry grass clippings are scattered over the screen and out a couple feet. The coyotes and fox dance quite a bit trying to get the pipe out of the ground. They’re not (dry) grass shy at all. But even if I’m using dirt, I scatter dried grass over the set to break up the pattern.

The key to blending a set in is picking a spot where you can blend a set in.

There are just spots the only way that sets ever gonna blend is to sit there for a sufficient amount of time and let nature do its thing.

I wouldn’t recommend spraying water on anything here from late October to about April.

2X

It's not always easy but try to make it look like you were not there. I made this and tried to make it look like bare dirt in a trail. it took a day to look more natural. I see refusals on things for a lot of reasons like the portable blind someone put here the day after I set this trap.




And here's a remake after a coyote catch. Do the best you can. There is a lot of ground up grass covering the dirt in the remake picture here. Try not to make a nice neat little dirt pattern. Leave it natural and blend it in as far out as you can reach while you are making the set.

The easiest way I’ve found to blend a remake is with a leaf rake . Makes no difference if it’s a grass lane or a cut bean field, the coyote kicks every thing to the outside of the catch circle. Once the set is remade just flip everything back into the catch circle with the rake . With a little practice it’s easy to blend with the rake and you don’t have to spend anymore time on your hands and knees stinking up your set , rake and go.

Excellent ideas guys for our hard frozen, half snow and ice, half grass and rocky soil in our typical Illinois conditions. We need snares!

I like where your head is Mike but you know what they say, wish in one hand .........

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