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Post by paskinner on Sept 2, 2008 18:52:46 GMT -5
The trouble with dirt trapping is that dirt freezes. Well, that's not quite true. Water freezes, so if'n your trap is covered with dirt and it absorbs water, which is pretty much going to happen any day that it gets above freezing, you have a frozen in trap if it dips much below freezing that night, and frozen in traps don't catch nothin'. There have to be hundreds of methods trappers have used to keep their land sets working. Some of my more successul ones are buck wheat hulls and just plain chopped up grass or hay. They all have advantages and disadvantages and in certain weather conditons your traps are just going to be out of commision until you remake the set. But I keep hearing how good peat moss sheds water from some very profient canine trappers so I got a bale this year. For about 12 bucks, you get over 6 cubit feet of peat moss. Looks like it'll be about three totes this size when sifted.
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Sept 2, 2008 21:10:53 GMT -5
cool tip pa. it just don't get cold enough down here to freeze the ground. i've seen that stuff at the hardware store before. it seems to be easy to get
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Post by beaudro on Sept 2, 2008 21:59:01 GMT -5
PA I had to use a little hay last year , but during the worst of the snow and ice storms i couldn't get in to check traps anyway. it was working, but because i couldn't get into run traps i finally gave up and pulled up stake. On most landsets i use a piece of canvas, and i've learned it's not bad even if i can't bury it.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Sept 2, 2008 23:32:07 GMT -5
Years ago it used to freeze my sets in pretty regular and we used peat moss and it worked well here we also would go out in August and dig dry dirt uo and save it back when August was dry .Anymore freezing aint such a problem here but rain is just as bad if you aint ready now we use a little auger and dig up out bed with it and in the middle bore a hole 4 or 5 inches deep and set your trap on top and continue as always ,when it rains you have the hole to fill up before you have any problem ,ofcorse you use a cover as always and it will keep them working alittle longer between fix ups .I know thats Trapper ligo but Boo and PA understand
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Post by paskinner on Sept 3, 2008 7:16:02 GMT -5
I think we get a lot more snow and rain here than in most of the state, at least it seems that way to me, although they get more up by Erie, we are close enough to get some lake effect. A couple years ago when it was raining almost everyday and you couldn't keep a dirt hole working to save your life I did pretty well with hay sets, but I think I miss more fox at them as they can basically step anywhere. I've never been big on pan covers, with the hulls or hay you just don't usually need them, but sure do with dry dirt. Anyway, I feel better knowing I won't have to be trying to sift mud this year.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Sept 3, 2008 9:39:22 GMT -5
Is it hard to bed your trap solid on that hay?I bet if I dug the hole in the bottom of the bed with the auger and filled it with hay insteasd of loose dirt it would work better .Im going to start useing the peat moss again like you are our dirt dont like the rain a bit.
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Post by paskinner on Sept 3, 2008 11:03:04 GMT -5
Cody, I made the hay sets by pulling a couple handfuls of hay from a round bale, then I'd make a little mound. I'd try to make it steeper on the trap side and push my lure stick into this mound, so it was up off the ground about three inches. I'd just dig out a trap bed, or more like mud it out and bed the trap right in the mud. If I thought it was going to freeze, I'd push the trap into the bed, pull it out and put just a real thin layer of hay under it. Then, I would chop hay up over the trap with scissors. I wanted the hay to lay flat, so it looked like a good place to step, plus cutting up the hay keeps it from clogging the trap. I would put pictures on, but they are on the old computer. Probably took me longer to type this then it does to make the set. The nice thing about doing it this way is that hes not digging on ground level and usually won't hook your trap out. I did have a few pull out the lure stick without getting caught.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Sept 3, 2008 21:06:59 GMT -5
It sounds alot like a cat set I make I just push up some pine straw or grass and set in front .Ill have to try covering with it too thanks PA
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