Foot hold traps in winter

gethuntin

gethuntin

Member
Just wondering what types of problems arise in winter conditions trapping for bobcats coyotes fox. Is there problems with traps freezing i heard to put wax paper under them between the ground /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif, are there other things that arise. sorry for the broads qustions but i am new to trapping and want to get as much info and the right supplies before i set a trap.
 
When it gets real cold no problems if you already have dry dirt. The problem is when it gets wet then thaws out big trouble when it gets cold enough to freeze again. They will walk on your pan and it will be froze solid. Waxed dirt is the best, then some type of antifreeze would be my second choice. I use R.V. antifreeze. The kind they use in the sewer tanks. Waxed paper will keep the moisture from coming up from the ground.
 
30 yrs ago, befor footholds were outlawed here I,d make my fox sets under the evergreens where the dirt didn't freeze most yrs. the wax paper worked well, and
i kept buckets of dirt in the garage so I always had a supply. Never tried the antifreeze, but why not? This site brings back a lot of memories, think I'll go out back and fondle a couple #2 coilsprings,or maybe touch up my Case XX Hawbakers Muskrat special. Good luck and consider yourself lucky you can still trap !
 
two words for you if your sets are freezin, PEAT MOSS it wont freeze and if you put a thin layer of dirt over it, the dirt might freeze but the trap will still fire.

making wax dirt is a time comsuming process,

good luck, and happy trapping
 
peat moss is your best bet. put some in the trap bed, and cover with the same.you can cover the moss with dirt or just leave it exposed and scatter some around your set.try to make it look like the moss was dug out of your dirt hole. you can buy it at Walmart, and it`s not expensive.one bag will do ALOT of sets.
 
Here in Central NY over the past 10 days we had 18 inches of snow, then temps shut up to mid fifties and had rivers of water shooting out of everywhere, then all froze solid, then we got another foot of snow or so... So I spent my days doing and re-doing the sets. Carried a bucket of Peat Moss with me and watched it all getting washed off during the thaw, covered by inches of snow, frozen solid after temps went back into the single digits. So, according to my observations Peat Moss hardens when temps drop into the single digits. The bag of peat moss was hard as a rock and I had to dig with the throwell to fill my trapline bucket.
I re-dug every set out and smacked the Duke footholds against the tree and they fired, then I cleaned them thoroughly and re-made the set... covered them back with fresh peat moss... pain in the arse...
 
Waxed paper,dry dirt,peat moss,all of them are useless when you have thawing and freezing weather. Some people say to use salt,well they use salt to make ice cream don't they?Hmmm thats no good... The best thing is waxed dirt!
 
Always wondered: Does the waxed dirt have a smell to it? I mean can't be odor neutral and since the wax stays there and it doesn't wash off, the smell can't go anywhere... Not knocking, just wondering...
 
I ended up pulling since I had to redo them everyday. Hard to catch walleyes through the ice when your spending so much time on the line. I think I'm going to wait for a thaw for the coons to come out. I used wax paper in the bed and then wax paper over the pan with snow sprinkled over the wax paper and it worked, but only on rabbits. Couldn't get anything to get close to the trap after the snow fell.
 
Back
Top