Land traps freezing

There might already be a thread on this but I wasn't able to find it. I have had the problem with the dirt and everything else freezing up at my coyote/fox sets. I have heard wax dirt is good but it is to late to make that. Any recommendations anyone?

Wax dirt or hay sets have been my go to this season and for the most part they have been working for me. You can also buy wax dirt but I've heard it's a bit spendy if you need it in bulk.

many of us use peat moss..put that in the Search bar and see if our talks come up

Use peat mixed with dirt if you can, or some salt will help, I use coal shale

I'll pick up some peat moss and try it out.

Possible you might need a little salt, trouble is they can smell salt or calcium chloride, it works decent but they can smell it and it's corrosive

I recently ran out of waxed dirt and made more in the oven. Took the driest dirt I could find. Dried it out in 300 degree oven stirring. Once dried added flake wax and stirred in until waxed.

In my experienced everything freezes... After a thaw and then deep freeze. Peat moss and wax dirt included. I had a fox step right on the pan this morning... Trap was covered with nothing but grass clippings, but still half froze over.

Yup, trapping in wet freezing conditions stinks, bone dry dirt will suck up moisture from edges of trap bed within about 5-7 days, without an anti freeze you might need to re bed traps,
Even with shale I get some frozen, even if most traps work in those conditions you could see at least a 50% drop in catches, I think because cold makes less odor level, snow covers set taking eye appeal away, add frozen traps and even lower catch rate

Would you guys recommend to pick up some flake antifreeze? Throw some on the top of the dirt and under where you'd bed your trap?

getting late in winter for canines..if your trapping for prime fur fox and coyote are starting to go backwards fur wise by the middle of January[though there are exceptions]also some of the females will be bred now....

I’ve been covering the trap with grass from around the set, as long as it is natural to the location.

yes, my experience is anti freeze will help you alot but it is super corrosive if your equipment isnt waxed.

you can sometimes get away with using the dirt right from the set/trap bed even if its a touch wet if you make the set from scratch with some antifreeze. that'll take initial night time freezes and is about all i do in the fall normally. as a step up using dry dirt/peat moss right from the start will be even better and take more cold but you'll probably still find yourself using antifreeze as the dry dirt will suck up some ground moisture and it seems that a rain is inevitable earlier in season. i tend to use dry dirt in the fall if the ground is saturated or we are getting persistent rain. that buys me a few days some times. but the wetter the conditions and cooler temps after you set, the more antifreeze you will need and the more often you will need to re-apply so you end up messing around with the set more often than i like.

when it turns super cold and the saturated ground freezes solid setting with dry dirt and some antifreeze will work out fine if it doesnt thaw or rain much. however, weather fluctuation is what causes the most havoc. a good solid day of rain turns most dry material i've tried into a wet mess and if your temps drastically drop it seem no amount of antifreeze will keep it from turning into ice block. not many days ago it was in 50's here. ground was already saturated. then it rained. night time temps now heading to teens, then single digits and then below zero. some of day time temps arent going to get out of teens. i find waxed dirt is about all that gives you a chance then. id use it more in the wet fall but if i do never fails that i;m out come this time of year. and wax dirt isnt fool proof. if the ground below and around is frozen solid and the weather warms with big rain it sometimes will pool in the waxed dirt bed as it can't drain thru ice and youll still end up frozen in place if temp quickly swings back to cold side

Yes

I trap dirt that freezes very very hard in Northern Maine. All I need is one pound salt containers. I put salt under, over and around every trap, sometimes it looks like the trap is covered with frost, but the coyotes & fox don't seem to care.

Crumpled wax paper is great.

Open the trap bed and sprinkle. Place the trap and bed, sprinkle. Sift a final layer. One set shouldn't take more than a teaspoon and a half, if that.

Wax your traps and you'll be fine.

You could buy some anti-freeze that has a rust inhibitor in it. Looks like brownish colored rock salt. Supposedly good for -30°F. I usually pound it down to a smaller size with a manual dirt tamper. Or just mix it in ahead of time with the dirt you want to use at the set. And yes. it will work with waxed dirt or waxed sand.

as far as I know salt is very corrosive to metal, so yes it probably will destroy some traps

You have it in a solid form? What is it called and where can you get it?

I've been using it since Nov the 15th and not a trap has failed nor vanishished into a pile of rust. Whatever.

If your traps are waxed you won't have any problems. But I always take my traps down to the car wash and spray t
hem down at the end of the season.

1 lb. salt containers from the Dollar store at 2 for a dollar... Sand and/or dry dirt and sifted peat moss w/ either glycol or salt mixed in. Some of my traps are over 30 years old and still work great... just rinse them soon when you pull and it shouldn't be a problem. I might replace a trap on a remake a little quicker when using salt, but for the most part it works just fine... fox walk all over it.

Tac 20, where do you get your coal shale, just ask'n

You can find it in SD,wy, se mt
I brought home about 3500 lbs of it
I got mine where I used to trap in Sheridan co. Wy

This.

Here in the Midwest we get rain, snow, freezing rain, 60* highs and -10* lows all in the same week lol. I use wax dirt and peat moss and still have to rebed traps all season. They don't freeze down tight, but a crust develops on top after freeze thaw cycles. Traps will fire, but I can feel the added pan tension and see the trap fires slower even with 4 coils. When we get an inch of rain then the temp drops to 18* the next day I rebed, only way to be 100% sure traps will fire clean and fast as they should.

Yep my peat moss has been freezing also. Nothing but rain then freeze & thaw cycles here the last 3-4 weeks.