I am in the process of cleaning my Yote traps to prep them for treatment.

I have dyed/waxed, painted, speed dipped, and Full Metal Jacketed traps over the years. Dying/waxing takes a ton of time and the first catch a coon or Yote shines them up like a new penny. Painting seems to last the longest and give the best protection. I trap alot of farm field that have fertilizer in them and the fertilizer is very hard on traps. Speed dipping just seemed like a waste of time, less protection than dyeing/waxing. Full Metal Jacketing was ok unless immersed in wet ground then the FMJ seemed to loosen and get gummy and the FMJ also isn't very durable.

So,,,,I am at a crossroads, is there anything new to explore for treating land traps?

I had a similar experience to you, I tried every method I could get my hands on and painting seems to be my favorite for durability. FMJ was ok.

My last season before I got sent overseas I tried going with no wax or FMJ. I would clean all my traps good, repaint the ones that needed it and then hang them in the open air for about 30 days. After that I put them in clean totes with peat moss. My thought was since I use peat moss to cover my traps, while in storage they would absorb the smell of the peat moss. I don't need my traps to be scent free but just to smell the same as what I'm covering the traps with.

My season trying that method did get cut really short but I caught just over a dozen coyotes and had just one get dug up. I think that was more than likely due to being lazy on bedding the trap and not the smell. When I'm back state side, I will be trying this again.

50/50 paint/ acetone dipping is what I decided to stick with

When they get to looking rough I redo them

Tried the dyeing/waxing, Zeps/FMJ and both of those were more work and didn't seem to hold up any longer

I'm going to use the 50/50 method paint/acetone as I think its more durable. Thanks for the responses.

For those of you that use the paint acetone method, are you also waxing your traps for yotes/fox?

Want to try it this year but not sure if I should wax them as well.

I e tried every treatment under the sun. Boiling, dips, paint mix, and hands down best thing I’ve done in last few years is just waxed the traps only.
Even new ones I removed the grease and waxed them.
This is all I will do now for my coyote traps. (And all my traps except conibears).
They fire fast in winter. They don’t rust. The color doesn’t matter as much as the protection to preserve the metal. Catch lots of coyotes and haven’t skipped a beat. I won’t waste my money on anything else now.
Jim

New guy but like the idea of paint/ acetone. My question for guys trapping constant freeze, thaw. Without wax do antifreeze rust traps bad. Wax seems to help sticking in ground when froze solid. Also if waxing trap how much more hassle is to die also? I really like my die/ wax traps but much work.

Can't comment on the freeze/thaw as down here it rarely get's cold enough to freeze the ground and I use a peat/dry sandy soil mix most times when it is wet

I do not wax any of my traps

I like paint and then dip in bullet proof for land traps. If I was water trapping or up north I’d do paint and wax. ADC work in the south with high temps using wax is just a mess. Wax gets everywhere!

Powder coating. Just about a lifetime protection.

Time is valuable!

I wax only for my predator footholds for protection.

BGs, beaver footholds, and snares need coloring and protection. Used FMJ for years, but the price jump ended that. Plus, I didn’t like how sometimes FMJ would peel off like a thin rubber coating and then other times it was too gummy.

Last year, tried Southern Snares' Performance "dye/wax" dip. So far, it has held up better than FMJ. It is costly too. Comes pre-mixed. Dries fast. One dip. Use next day. No odor. Not gummy. Finish looks like a hard paint finish when dry.

Well Jim, I did exactly that for a couple of years but rust-colored wax pot stopped me and I went back to Black walnut cook & wax, made me feel better. Why it made me feel better was that I could smell the rust in my red-colored wax pot and could smell black walnut nuts when I used them. I will say that my catch numbers didn’t change to I got to thinking about all the to-do about wax contamination. Yup, I believe the rust contaminated my wax pot but so did the black walnuts but WHY no change in catch numbers? The WHY of it IMHO wasn’t because I hadn’t run out of aggressive coyotes, it is that yes, if wax does pickup/absorb odors easily so why wouldn’t the wax coating pickup the odors of the soil the trap is bedded in and covered with just as easily?? So, if I were still trapping coyote I’d still boil in black walnuts solution before waxing only because I want to/like to but don’t need to!!!!

I powder coated some of my wolf traps this year and was really happy with them. If I was strictly setting bare ground (and not summer heat) I would continue to dye and wax, because I like dyed and waxed traps. And the wax really makes them smooth and fast. But I want white traps for snow, and the powder coat holds up much better than paint, plus it is slicker and faster than paint and the snow, frost and ice doesn't stick to it like paint. Almost as good as wax in those respects. And I can set white traps in the dirt just fine, they are covered with dirt anyways so it doesn't matter what color they are.

Powder coating is the most durable coating I have experience with, except the black coating that is offered on Kendall's NOBS traps.

I’m kind of the same Seldom, but I reverted back to straight wax again as of late as I was able to convince myself that the smell of rust is almost as common as dirt to them as they are continually ducking under or crossing it several times daily. As they cross fences and such. Who knows really, I am of the mind, do what you do and get good at it.

I will admit though nothing looks nicer than a dyed and waxed trap.
My newer traps are just steel colored and waxed.
Jim

A little rust is no big deal.

A lot of rust is a problem.

Than you need to have a way to clean off or neutralize that rust.


Dye and wax is still the only option I’m aware of you can use the next day, and not have issues. Everything else needs time to dry, cure, or air out.

Waxed traps also better resist freezing down.

I’m not gonna wire brush ~450 traps to clean the rust off them. They go in the dye pot and I neutralize the rust.

I can dye and wax ~450 traps in a day.

If I didn’t have that many, and wasn’t trapping year round I may consider another route. But that’s what works best for my operation.

And, a jet black trap really pops on my soil types. So when checking from a distance it’s usually really easy to see if something’s amuck.

I’m still a dye and wax guy. I tried paint and it worked well but I didn’t find it held up any better than the dye and wax. And seemed to rust quicker when set in the ground but I think that was due to the soil acidity and the fertilizer use.

I just finished dying and waxing all my traps. They’ll air out a few days then into the hinged top totes with a light layer of dried grass clippings. I can get two dozen #3 coil springs in a tote. The totes fit well on the front rack or the box on the back of the four wheeler.

I am going to go to paint on all my body grips. Wax and body grips are an effort in frustration.

Dye and wax is still the only option I’m aware of you can use the next day, and not have issues. Everything else needs time to dry, cure, or air out.

Except powder coating. I picked them up from where they were coated and set them that same day. But you couldn't afford to do 400 some traps.
And you don't need to re do them year after year.

I tumble dirty coyote/bcat traps in a cement mixer then wax annually.