Do they? you are trying to force an animal at free will to step in a 1 1/2" circle. I would rather use bait or lure to make that animal work its feet in the area of the trap.

my point is
as fur trapper, your not going to be getting them all

I know dirtholes miss a lot of coon. Can't prove it, but a dirthole against a tree is much more effective than one with a small backing. Pocket sets are great coon sets for the same reason, he has to come in from the front and you get a lot of the sniffers, not just the hungry ones.

A dirt hole set with cat food will catch almost every coon. I have put game cam video on dp - and at my place - after trapping for a few says - 90% walk by. I put out two dozen dp every couple months and will catch a dozen or so each time before they quit hitting them after three days. I can put out 2 doz dp in about 1.5 hrs from time I leave front door on ranger until I return. Would take probably three times that long to put in dirt holes. I should do it, because catch rate is so much higher - but dp so much easier.

That says a lot about the myth that coon are dumb. Seems like you could just smear bait on a post or use a fish stick on land with the bait covered to speed things up.

Ya'll must not have as many deer as we do. The only trails we have are deer trails except for a few near creeks.

We have an enormous deer population. On corn fields, there will be both coon and deer trails and often squirrel and rabbit trails. They do overlap, but aren't usually the same trails. Catching coon on deer trails isn't hard with a foot trap, just use a jump stick, and force them under. We can't use bodygrips on land here.

Lots.

Very high percentage go right past. Might stop a day or a week later though!

I really don’t care how many times they pass, they eventually get caught. I can’t explain it anymore than I can explain why one coyote walks right by my best set and the next one through makes a beeline for it. DP’s save me time setting and resetting so I utilize them more for known coon areas. When you have pics and eventually catch everything with no more pics for months afterwards, I’d say they worked.
I’m just now starting to get some coons back on camera after 4 months of no coons. And this is my feed areas.

I have no idea how many bypass a DP , but do know a feeder with a hole in it like a DP , will get a lot of coon feeding in that hole.
Many times caught coon reaching in to a hole with corn or dog food or mini marshmallows in them.
My thoughts are if you use a feeder , and pre bait a few weeks or a month, a DP will work at a very high rate, as the coon is already reaching after bait.
I used old tires, 1 3/4 in hole drilled in to them , put a metal drum lid screwed on top so only the holes were open for bait.
Used 1 1/2 dukes in side the holes , caught more coon than I could handle a day , needed to hire an Amish to skin and flesh.
This was before DP traps were reasonably priced , and hadn't become so popular.
It worked the same as a DP , but laws made them kind of questionable because there wasn't 3 swivels in them.
The point is if used with a feeder like that, DP's would work at a very high percentage .
Like anything , the set up is very important, need a bunch going to one spot regularly , like deer feeders, make a good spot for DP's.

Setting them in hog traps during summer it was shocking how many ignore them no matter what you put in them.

Grain just spread out everywhere, is a different type of feeder than some that I'm used to.
But I can see what you're saying, as why stick your paw into a hole, as to just picking it up off the ground.

I'm one of those weird people who actually enjoys bedding traps. Dps are just boring to me.
And of course, DPs don't catch fun stuff like fox and bobcats.

I’d say the first 2-3 days depending on conditions probably 40% walk past them. After a few have seen their buddies caught I say 60% and up walk past them. Just a good guess

repeat catches on the same trap is real, not sure if it is a hot spot or the trap gets hit because of the catch circle , get a skunk in it and it is hotter the next day.


trapping barns night after night I take a broom and sweep the prints out of the dust so I can see if they are avoiding. or not there at all

if nothing hit it I seldom see tracks

now if I am trapping anywhere near the chickens , if you don't make them trip over it at the bottom of the tree they pass it every time

same on sweet corn or other tasties

I would love to do that around the barns , but I have no cameras

Send me a dozen trail cameras Clay. I'll do it and if they don't get stolen I may even return the cameras to you... if you pay return shipping. LOL

What I don't catch in DPs, I catch in snares set in trails. Where I trap, I have big problems with wind blown sand ruining foothold sets.
Besides those aspects, I can set DPs 4 times faster than bedded foot traps.
I deal with coons which have an insane amount of food sources. If they are traveling from the dining room heading toward the bedroom, they will bypass everything but a snare. Eventually, over time they will be heading the other way and I will catch them in DPs.
With 4 times as many DPs set than what I would have time to set footholds, it becomes a numbers game. I do quite well in greatly reducing the raccoon population on a shorebird protection job.
Changing up bait is something I have played around with. There isn't much in the way of dessert where I trap, so I use diced apples, Grape squeeze jam and a squirt of 50% honey/50% imitation vanilla and a little bit of anise oil.

good read thanks everyone

Was about fifteen years ago, I bought my first dozen DPs. This one spot I trap has a very small creek running through it and not much of a food supply. I had made a dirthole set and also set a dp about ten feet away from it. In a week's time I caught a red fox, a coyote and a mink in the dirthole set, dp was never touched.

Caught a few coon during that season at other locations but simply wasn't impressed with them. Sold them on the Trap Shed shortly after.