Educate me on snow trapping

I’ll be headed to a dead pit and I’m all out of snares. I have a couple dozen footholds that I plan on blind setting some on the trails. We have fairly deep snow already(knee deep) how do you bed it on the trails do you need to dig a hole like in dirt trapping or just slide it underneath the track? Any other advice offered would be appreciated

The fellow who was my mentor packed a spot on the trail, cut out as if in dirt, then layer in long pine needles to set the trap on. Sift over with snow.
He liked the needles as a common smell that would cover nearly all else.
He cabled off to a nearby tree or drag of cut log.
He worked from the side, not on.
Maybe a version of this will work for you.

Osky

Work from the side or from a sled behind your snowmobile if your still able to use your truck you can make a turn around set,all that is make a set or sets at the end of your tire tracks then drive up to your set to cover your tracks while making the set.Urine sets work really well this time of year as for bedding push the trap down on there track wax paper under the trap and wax paper inside the jaws for a pan cover if it's staying cold sift snow from about a foot or two above the set it will dry out the snow better.For baited flat sets lured sets urine post you can make a trap bed if you don't use snow snow covering you can bed in coal shale waxed dirt/sand like regular late fall trapping you can cover trap with shale,waxed dirt sand then cover light with snow or make a blow up set with eye appeal with dirt thrown all around the set looks like a catch circle both work well I prefer the snow covering when you know it's going to stay well below freezing,good luck.

When pushing the trap down over top of the track how concerned are you with it being bedded solid?

Get it nestled in on the track they seem to step in their same tracks even after a snow it's amazing I think they can still feel the old track hole kinda of like us walking in the same track because it's easier when we can still see the original track.

Cold dry snow and steady cold temps is what you want. A couple fresh inches and you'll be in business. Plus when its good and cold they'll be fighting to get in the chow line.

Good post...Osky can you comment on how your mentor used the needles? My question is did he BRING THE NEEDLES WITH HIM to the set? As I could see walking back and forth to gather needles might disturb the area.
Thanks

If you got freeze thaw condition you trap coyotes just like you would trap a cat big conifers for cover .
Dry cold conditions bed on grass straw or needles wax dirt what ever wax paper sifted snows for cover .good to go dead pits set back from them a bit you will catch better.

On the way in or close to the set up he snapped off a branch and brought it. I remember him dusting the site over with the end of the branch when done. I think short needled spruce would work as well maybe better, long white pine needles and Norway needles were what we had the most of in his area or so I recall. White pine are nice and soft/ long and not as stiff as red pines and Norway’s.
Sorry if I’m a little gray on it, he passed in 94 and so many questions come up here that rattle my memory of his tricks from back then.
Osky

Here’s a couple pics trail set and a flat set

The first two trail sets they were forecasting a little snow so I let mother nature finish off the set we got 4" two days later the coyote return and ended up wearing a Jake other trail set and flat set has a Sterling MJ 600 waiting to grab a coyote.

Hope these photos help,Happy New Year!

Have no advice, but many questions? Would it not work to walk tracks w-snowshoes on & set to the side of trail, bedding the best way experience has to offer, Keeping in mind I have no experience at all in snow trapping. Only seeing pics. HNY.

You can't imagine how this looks to a middle of the continent kind o guy, heavenly, tracks leading you to the fur. Hope you figure this out you are truly in trapping heaven.
Case

No freeze thaw here today -32 with a high of -14,heat wave coming tue 10 to 15 above.

When you make these sets were do you stand to keep from tracking everything up? This has always totally intrigued me!

From the side usually try to make a set when they are forecasting a little snow to cover your tracks better a broom works to cover your tracks or a tree brow.If you have good snow covering on the smaller trees you can shake them to cover your tracks as well.

Plugged the truck in awhile ago plan on making the short loop in an hour -33 last night so I don't think there was much movement,but you never know.Warms up starting tomorrow so I would guess the critter's will have to move.

All good advise. When your snow is that deep they will mostly be stepping in their same tracks when they have a focal point like a dead pit or crossing a road. It's best to approach that trail through thick brush or from behind a tree. I then digging from the side, dig under their paw print and slide the trap in. Take a stick and from above, pop out his print so you can see the pan directly where his foot is going to land. Easiest is to have your trap on a long chain with a drag. Use a spruce bough or whatever to sweep your tracks out a bit. This set I'd deadly and very easy to set. I don't use much pan tension or worry much about stabilizing the trap. No wax paper or anything. Good luck.

Here the snow hardens if you crumble it and move it, I have placed a #3 in a track in 4-6" snow, then gently place a thin drift crust over the trap, so far they step on it in stride

Your first line Sask hunter says it all; dead pit
stay at least 400 yards away because of ravin problems and holstein pheasants
find a fence row and look for a pee post or make one
nice little hand trowel and carve out a snow drift to bed your trap
wax paper cover and just a skiff of snow
your winds and conditions you are probably walking on the drifts for the next two weeks
anchor= new pressure treated fencepost, remember the 1/3 attachment rule and dig into the snowbank = spot for a pee location on the butt end

Buried bait set is another good one for deep snow trapping,agree with staying back aways from the dead pit for the flying scavenger's.

Adult ravins this time of year just like to pluck some fur and use it is aerial displays with their mates. They do return back to their nest with it and start lining it for their new season.
Fresh unfrozen coyotes seem to be a magnet. Learned that from a bird bander who would spend hours tracking to find nest
they know where the livers are and the fat reserves there.

Agree on the buried bait set-another one is a mound set.P-post too is good in winter for footholding canines.
I think your best producer would be to find their trails to and from your bait pile and slip a trap from the side under a track.They step in their old prints when on a trail in deeper snow.
Lots Of Mink(thats his handle) I believe posted of some good catches using that set,either on here or on the CNTA forum.

In many years trapping deep snow country in Northern Wisconsin I had my greatest success trapping trails as others have suggested. Locate coyote/fox trails crossing roads or snomo trails. Approach from the side behind a down log if possible. Slip trap under track as others have stated. Brush your trail as you back out. Due to near nightly snow falls, for checking from a distance, I would run a natural but unusual item such as a goldenrod stem with gall bulb through the chain and standing vertically in order to tell when the trap was gone.

The golden rod stem,I have used that method many times.

I have came in from the side of a trail before and dug in under a track and set under the hole in the snow I would not even cover the pan I doubt they could see down the hole. This worked were a yote was going to a deer that fell in a creek through thin ice moving snow is tricky to keep it from packing after the move.

Yup it worked for me

Sask Hunter have you had a chance to put out winter footholds around that dead pit?