Living in this part of the country, our WEATHER has a lot to do with how we can keep our traps "in working order", no matter whether it is snowing, sleeting, raining, freezing or thawing on a daily basis.
There are several things/ways that have been tried in order to keep those traps working, even under the poorest conditions - that being FREEZING & THAWING.
A feller who is well known around the trapping community had an article in the T & P magazine several years ago about this very subject. I've used it many times and return to the method as described, simply because IT WORKS!
Question - Just what happens, no matter what you're trying to use to cover your traps, when it freezes and thaws through the course of a single day/days?
ANSWER:
Moisture Moves - Up and Down - through what-ever covering you put over your traps. Moisture moves up when the temperatures are above freezing and down - back through the bed when it freezes.
That moisture will stick (like glue) to any foreign material in that trap bed, including the trap itself.
A good STRONG TRAP is capable of breaking though a crust on top of the trap, most of the time. In the case of sleet or freezing rain, MOST OF THE TIME you're going to have to remake the set and pretty much start over.
What's UNDER AND AROUND THE TRAP can make all the difference in the world!
Follow thIs:
1. Dig your trap bed at least an inch or two DEEPER than you ever did before..
2. In the very bottom of the bed, drive your anchoring devise into the ground ( I use POGOs).
3. Any excess chain etc is placed into the bottom of the bed.
3a. A VAPOUR BARRIER is then placed on top of the anchor and it covers the whole bottom of the trap bed. Plastic sheet/bag, waxed paper or anything like that works good..
4. On top of that VAPOUR BARRIER, I put a #303-sized can-full of DRY DIRT, just dump it onto the waxed paper/barrier. Spread it out evenly.
5. Sprinkle an even, but light, covering of Non-Iodized SALT over the top of the dirt.
6. Add another thinner layer of DRY DIRT on top of the salt.
7. Take your set & anchored trap and WIGGLE it down into the dry dirt.
Put the trap in so it CANNOT MOVE if you push down on the opposite side of the trap/bed. Put dry dirt INSIDE the jaws and do the same thing there.
Pack that dirt as tight as you can with your fist/knuckles.
After that, take a small twig/stick or whatever and clean any excess dirt out from under that pan of the trap (so it has plenty of room to drop and fire the trap).
8. Place the PAN COVER ( I use WINDOW-SCREEN, nothing else) onto the pan of the trap, trim to pan cover so it covers the whole area INSIDE the jaws of the trap and LAYS FLAT over the pan and the inside dirt you previously packed down. Make sure the trap is covered with a layer of dry dirt. You want to keep the salt away from your trap but still have it there to keep the surrounding dry dirt from freezing in.
9. Cover the area over the trap with a light dusting of SALT. Be sure to get it all covered, even the levers and outer edges of the jaws of the trap.
10. Cover the entire area over the trap with another covering of DRY DIRT, or what ever you want to use, MAKING SURE the center of the pan on the trap is the lowest spot in that area. If need-be, add more dry dirt around the outer edges of the trap and surrounding area to make sure the lpan-area is lower than all the rest of the set.
11. Add any Guides, clods of dirt/rocks, sticks/stalks etc to the top of the set to help guide his foot to that "sweet spot" right on the pan.
12. As a last step, I like to put something on the outer-side of the trap bed, opposite the hole itself and maybe add a piece of turd (that I picked up at some other site ) on the outside side of trap bed.
As for the very last step, i sprinkle some of my bed covering, be it dry dirt or what-ever, around the immediate area so the smell of that covering is NOT only just over the trap but over the whole area. Scratch-out my toe/knee prints in the dirt and walk away to my truck (which is parked nearby).
The Whole Idea is to LAYER VAPOUR BARRIER, THE DIRT, THEN SALT, THEN DIRT, THEN the Trap etc etc, to keep the salt from contacting the steel of the trap but still have it there to serve the purpose of keeping the surrounding dirt from freezing.
It DOES take a little more time and effort to make my dirt sets in this manner, but when the weather gets "nasty" my sets STILL WORK and Catch Coyotes, just like Mr Krause said they would
P.S. I use MB 550S for most of my Coyote trapping & 650Cs in deep snowy conditions.
I have used flake type antifreeze with some success in the past. I layered it in with dry dirt so if it absorbed moisture it wouldn't freeze. I've seen common table salt used in wendts videos, and seen liquid glycerin used in others but I haven't used them myself.
Thats a beaut!
I guess the logical way to freeze-proof K-9 sets is to run snares, but it sure is a lot more fun to put a bracelet on their foot! This trap, bedded in waxed dirt, saw almost an inch of rain Saturday, some mixed rain and snow Sunday and was 23* this morning when I rolled up on this...
