I see a lot of guys who traps right of ways talk about bridges and culverts funnle animals under the bridges and culverts but i wonder if thats regional i live in the Ozarks and have lived on the same dirt road all my life. Been trapping it 15 years there are 3 low water crossing on it in a 3 mile section none of them show much animal sign under the bridges however I regularly see sign or actual animal movement over the top of the road ive seen several times an otter climb out of the water cross the road then go back in the water same for mink and coon obviously im not there 24/7 but just curious what others think?

I think around here (East Texas) culverts and bridges are places to consider for setting but I think animals cross whenever and wherever they feel like.

I have seen beavers and otters run over over on the road AT bridges and these have considerable banks to traverse to get up on the road. Path of least resistance was not the road for sure

Not sure anyone would mess with anything on ROW here but also not enough money in fur from around here to risk losing a single trap either

That would make it all the better. Set both the crossovers and the culverts/bridges just in case.

Some animals are afraid of crossing under a bridge or culvert as it's a good way to get trapped by predators.

Go to Billingsleybrandlures.com and watch his videos on heavy setting. He explains that sometimes animals go over bridges and sometimes they go under. That said, he heavily sets upstream, downstream, under the bridges, and the high bank trails on both sides of the bridge. Granted, he has the fur to catch. But, not everything goes under a bridge or thru a culvert.

Still do put pockets at them but have yet to catch anything under the bridge yet anyway could be lower population thing the rocky hill county doesn't produce as many animals as the flat fertile county most of these row trappers are in

Set more on sign and less on location. Tracks are good!
Check your bridges a couple times pre-season to see if the bridges are getting any activity.

Set the high bank trails on both sides of the bridge/culvert.

To much rock here hardly see tracks

There must not be any animals there if you been coming up shy for 15 years. PA has decent bridges and culverts, not like Iowa but good. I have never encountered a dead one but some are much better than others. Try baited sets nearby maybe?

i can catch them on either side but never under. No sign really shows they go under although rocks dont show much sign ive seen them go up and over a lot but we dont have the food for a lot of animals a good holler coming down to a creek might produce 4 -5 coon in a week's time

Thats wild... I have pretty much caught all furbearers PA has under bridges and in culverts. I have no clue why they aren't using them.

Could traffic cause it ? We dont get hardly any traffic maybe 10 cars a day and thats mostly us coming and going to work

I would think not.

Bridges are a bottleneck for water animals. That doesn't mean that they will always go under them, it means that to go up or down stream the critters have to either go under them or up and over the road. It narrows their choices of travel routes and they have to cross your travel route(the main reason they are so popular to trap). It is up to you to determine which route they actually use and set accordingly.

I operate equipment and have built many bridges. I was on a large job last year thru the winter and not only did I see fresh tracks most days, it was mink, coon, fox, coyote, and house cats, and nearly all of them left sign near the crane I was operating. There were coon that climbed all over the crane, mink that went between the track and under it, and one coyote (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) on a piece of prominent concrete rubble. Our activity did not stop the critters from travelling thru after hours. If you have a bridge, critters are travelling there.

You are either setting wrong or have no animals to catch to start with. I would bet it is the former. In low country where the bridges have little rise animals will go over the top more often but I have never seen where they avoid going through altogether.

most bridges will have some activity underneath really depends on the local population of whatever your trying to catch also have noticed if you can check the banks 15-20 yds up or down stream from the bridge that animals going over the road will usually have a trail back to the creek also some trails are not defined as others ive seen coon trails that you could spot doing 60 mph down the road and others you can barely see while standing on them and produce the same amount of fur

I can catch them in pockets near the bridges just not under it bottom edge sets or blind sets on the walls never produce but I can set blind sets other places and catch them

Based on what im seeing they just go right around the bridge i set one night coon hunting and watches a mink hunt a pool of water at a bridge he never went under the bridge hed go over the top work to the other side come up around a whistle cross over the top hunt the other side he crossed back and forth 3 or 4 times while I was there. Ive watch an otter do the same thing at the same spot