coffee filters

Iv'e heard that some guy's use them as pan covers and i will try them this year.. I would like to know, has anyone ever used them to for bedding the trap during freezing weather.

In dry conditions they are (ok) for a pan cover. If in freeze n thaw conditions they draw in moisture like crazy an form a nice frozen pad across your trap leaving it useless in my opinion. I wouldn't use below trap for above reason also. Wax paper is cheap and works great above and below. That's my go to

I use wax paper. It doesn’t draw the moisture. As Flint Hill said I’ve never used them have been told the same thing that they wick moisture bad. Here in New England the early part of the season is a lot of the freeze / thaw cycle. I never have an issue with the wax paper. I also make quite a bit of waxed dirt.

Never used coffee filters but just don't see how they could be very efficient. They are big and they stick together. I have a hard time separating them to make my morning coffee. Can't imagine fighting with them on the line with gloves on.......

For summer wolf trapping (for collaring) I've been using unbleached coffee filters for the past 9 years. Perfect size for the MB750-Alaskan traps I'm using. No smell. Quick. No "crinkle". I revert to waxed paper in shoulder seasons and winter when frozen or with freeze/thaw cycles. Also use them in early season coyote and red fox trapping with No. 2 and 3 dogless Monty's. Like 'em.

Jack

Crinkle is one downside to waxpaper but wadding it into a tiny ball and unraveling will help. (When wet it can be a bear to unravel).

Just gently blow down the side of the stack, one will separate!

https://www.amazon.com/Square-Wax-Paper-...21649&psc=1

For people who worry about the “crinkle” by the time the coyote hears it he is caught. I have had always used it in cold weather

I've used coffee filters for the last 3 years with good results. I also use waxed sand with them. Haven't had any issues with them freezing, and we have all kinds of weather during season. I store them in a big ziplock bag, after a little bit they seperate themselves.

A couple years ago I switched from waxed paper to coffee filters. The only thing I didn't like about waxed paper was in early season with rain they would wrap around the pan and let dirt under the pan with filters the rain seamed to drain thru the filter. I cut a bunch to fit my trap at one time. You can cut about 30 or 40 at a time. Also I use waxed dirt and peat in winter so I never had any problems with filters.

Thanks for the replies guys.... I will try them this year as pan covers..But what i would like to know.. Has anyone ever used them for bedding..Between the ground and trap. I use peet and i was thinking of putting a filter over the peet then the trap.

I tried some filters a long time ago and they'd draw enough moisture from the air to be damp and freeze over night in the truck. May work fine in deserts, but I would not recommend them to any one. A $4-5 roll of wax paper will make roughly 300 pan covers at a about a penny and a half per set and it works.

Get some hamburger patty papers. The ones you use between the burgers when freezing and storing.
Or try some of those waxed cup cake forms.

I run coffee filters in all conditions.
If you use calcium chloride at your set it won't freeze.

I have had more dig outs with wax paper.
I buy filters by the 100 and cut them to size.
To remove any human or industrial smells from them I leave them in a container filled with dirt, and I store the unused filters in the same manner.

The cupcake idea is interesting; perfect size, already crinkled, just tear for dog.
Have you used these?

The wax paper is the most convenient stuff I've found, cut the new roll in half so that you have two rolls ~trap size, flatten the half rolls so that they stay rolled (actually folded now) and don't roll away, at the set just tear and use like tearing off a paper towel. Keep the flat roll in the bucket of peat or dry dirt, waxed dirt that you use at the set.
No fiddling with stuck together precut flustrators.
If you need something under the trap, either tear a longer piece and wrap it under or tear another piece. Often the wax paper can be reused on the remake.

I've used those cup cake forms for years.

Why would you need to cut down coffee filters? Lay the filter over the dog notch drag It so It makes a hole. set the trap so the dogged jaw pins down the back edge. And tuck the leading edge under the loose jaw. And you can do the same with waxed paper. Cutting a slot for the dog and the pan notch Isn't necessary. I do the same with screen.

oh, I just tear the wax paper about so big and wad and tuck; when I tried that with screen (cut-not tear) it puckered and got dig outs, I'm not a screen fan.

That what happens with screen when you make a continuous cut for the dog . If you just tear a small hole for the dog notch the screen won't move since It's pinned down with the dogged jaw. Try IT makes a difference.

You guys that use screen do you prefer the steel screen or the fibreglass screen?

There are those that believe that fiberglass screen has an odor. But then there are some that use fiberglass insulation as under all's.
I've used both steel screen and fiberglass screen and they both seemed to work. Steel screen Is just a bit harder to work with.

Hey Beav,I guess a bear didn't get you in Alaska eh?

Nope. But a neighbor called warning us that she had a black bear sow and a cub In their yard. And to keep an eye out on the kids. Never saw It.

But I had my first encounter with an ATM and not knowing what I was doing I approached It like a grizzly on a moose kill.

A good looking cougar helped me figure It out. LOL

Coffee filters do work but do not hold up to moisture at all. I switched to cheap plastic sandwich bags and will not go back. Heck I’ve tried wire filters wax paper screen and peat moss. Plastic and peat have been the best. Waxdirt is better big a pain to make. Odon Corr turned me on to the bags. A true legend in my eyes
God bless
Dustin

Dustin- how do you use the plastic bags? Do you put the entire trap in one, or cut it to make a pan cover?

Been using coffee filters for several seasons. Tried the rest multiple times. The filters work best for me. Steel screen is good but don't like working with it.

Coffee filters have worked good for me. Cut the sides down to fit the trap and go. Had sets sit for months through rain and snow and finally connect. If your freeze proofing is working the filters will do the job. When a coyote shreds them they dissolve and disapear at the catch circle.

Tried some screen last year, on the grass clipping sets. I had too many rodent problems. They must like the way it smells. Our chipmunk population is hard to believe sometimes. Also tried coffee filters a few years ago. Had a lot of washed off traps in heavy rain. I have used wax paper, blue jean material, they all work and all have their problems. The only thing I haven't had issues with so far is polyfill.

last year I used fold top sandwich bags put trap pan inside bag, worked good, bag can draw some moisture up from the ground. I wasn't bedding trap in wax dirt that could be why there was moisture under bag

I put the pan inside the bag where the sandwich would go. All the way up to the fixed jaw. Then the other side goes under the loos jaw.
Works pretty good
God Bless
Dustin

Just buy a cheap roll of wax papper. Measure your trap with and cut the roll to that measurement. Leaves the wax papper in the piece of box to pull out your lenght rip it off crumple and stick under the jaws. Much cheaper and works just as good or better than any store bought pan covers I have tried.