I'm gonna dip my toe in…

[sleepr71]

I leave the more serious questions for the experienced,but since you HAVE to check traps every 24 hours…maybe you could lay big Landscaping/Walkway stones over them when you are gone? That & a small tree laid over the top,to camouflage it & further keep animals from digging to it? Gotta do something like that,or take them up

 

[sleepr71]

As far as leaving scent..most that I’ve talked to: wear rubber boots,carry a rubber mat(to kneel on),wear LONG rubber coated gloves(1 pair to handle & bed/cover the trap+ backing & 1 pair to handle & place baits). Each pair of gloves is dedicated to that task. Keep all the tools/sifter/anchors/traps in 1 bucket & keep scents separated in another. This cuts DOWN on scent you leave behind…but No matter what…you WILL leave some scent behind! They KNOW that dirt has been disturbed,they can smell fresh Steel..they can smell whatever skin cells & hair you shed while working there…they KNOW?. The KEY…is to minimize it,never touch with bare hands & make the site look “natural”. After that..it’s up to their curiosity & your trap placement ?

 

[gawildlife]

Wow, lots of questions. Where to start.

Well I prefer dry cat food, many like catfish food.
You're going to want a hefty metal hammer, I use a 3lb sledge, many use a traphog type hammer a small sledge with a blade welded in one side for a dual use trap bed digging and hammer tool.
The earth anchor with the retrieval boss is the finned super stake from Minnesota Trapline Supply aka MTP. I have some, don't use them. They are to big and bulky to drive in most of our hard clay. They are good to go in muck soils on a water line for beaver though. The super stakes both finned and not also have a serious problem with the driver itself. Both ends tend to mushroom badly when beaten on. The top just becomes distorted with sharp edges but the bottom will eventually wedge in the stake point making it almost impossible to separate.
If not able to check every 24 then snap off the traps. Just fire them with a stick or your foot and leave them unset and remake them on your return when you can check them.
Tap water is fine. As for rubber gloves, rubber boots, full rubber suit its your choice but having been taught that one drop of sweat fouls an entire set and has to be completely redone then going on to trap for a living this past two decades I can state that is just so much hogwash.
Fact, a canines nose is so superior that short of some sort of teleportation device the dog will know you've been there no matter what. So your going to leave scent period, just don't leave something that will arouse suspicion and/or fear.
In my experience critters don't fear us by smell. Even a deer will just stand there and blow trying to determine if the smell is an immediate threat and if there's a human attached to it.
I regularly set bare handed and in my work clothes, oh and I smoke to boot but never at a set. But I get away with alot of crap at a set because of where I trap, downtown and metro Atlanta. City coyotes are more habituated to human aromas. I have to up my game when I go out into the country but even then human scent alone isn't automatic fear factor. JMO but traps like hunting is a learned response. Remember when it was said that deer never look up? Yeah, took them what maybe a season or two to learn to do that.
Take away, don't be teaching the dogs. Get them caught on the first visit. This is probably more a factor of how you bed a trap, SOLID ZERO MOVEMENT AS IF IT GREW THERE, and pan tension 4lb coyotes/bobcats/beaver, 2lb everything else. Light pan tension leads to hair triggered firing with foot out of position leading to toe catches and possible pull outs. You want the foot centered, fully committed and falling when the trap goes off for a full pad catch.
If you do end up with a pinch or swing and a miss, and you will, now is the time for you to learn. I pick apart a set both visually and literally for the story it can tell. Never waltz up to a set knowing what your going to see. Slip up close but not on it, see how the animal approached, how it worked the set, what the ground conditions are, etc. Good trappers file away all these details and adjust accordingly.
Yes, trap shy coyotes can be caught. My most memorable was a tripod coyote I created. Pulled up on a set and my whole rig was gone, trap and stakes. Lesson learned never trust an iffy anchor. Remake or move to better dirt. I was in sand but thought crossed rebar could hold.
For a year I kept hearing about a gimpy coyote being seen and for a year I caught coyotes but never the gimpy one. A year later I pull up to find her, now missing one front leg shoulder down, in one of my double digger sets. One standard dirt hole with second trap blended in back 12"-18" from the dirt hole trap.

 

[1eyefishing]

Thanks and yeah I've seen all that, but if it's gonna have to be done in a complicated way, it's probably not gonna get get done. The videos I've seen have guys and leather boots and rubber coated gardening gloves. And my 4 wheeler is never gonna be parked more than about 10' away when I'm doing this. I feel like our dogs are numerous and bold and used to the human traffic on the 4 Wheeler trails.
I know to keep the baits separate from the traps and separate gloves for each, but I'm gonna have to start simple.
As far as vacating the trapping area for a while, I'll probably go with separating the trap from the anchor and pulling it ( Or just springing it if I don't have a quick link), and filling in the dirt hole. That way when I come back I drill and bait a new hole and set the trap and hide it.

 

[gawildlife]

Oh and don't get discouraged with tracks all over a set, dug out bait and no catch. That animal can be caught.
Odds are it stepped everywhere but the two square inches to fire the trap. Figure out just how to guide the foot next time. Or you have mechanical issues such as freeze thaw, rare for us in Georgia but a possibility. Every interaction with a trap is an opportunity to learn for both you and the animal. Just be the faster learner, lol.

 

[Doug B.]

Ok, all my answers to your questions are just what I do and after you get going and catching critters you will develope your own rhythm.

First, I personally wouldn't mess with any vinegar. Clean the traps to get the factory oil off, wax, then put them in the ground. They will get enough surface rust after being used this year to dye them next year. Tap water is fine for cleaning.

For coon bait I don't like to use anything that will gum up a DP.

The gloves you described will work fine. I just use them to keep most of the dirt off my hands. I use a kneeling pad to keep from hurting my knees and getting them wet on the ground. Neither gloves or kneeling pad will keep you from leaving your scent. I use different gloves to fool with bait and lures cause I don't want that stuff on my hands.

A rubber mallet has no place on the trap line.

Don't worry about the drill scent. It won't hurt anything.

 

[gawildlife]

If you go with superstakes you can regularly file down any mushrooming on the driver. It's just extra work I'd rather not do.
I've seen a custom driver made for them that moves the contact point from inside the point to the rim. It goes down in the point but not all the way and has a welded ring that matches the angle of the rim.

My biggest regret being a trapper is not learning how to weld.

 

[Doug B.]

Thanks and yeah I've seen all that, but if it's gonna have to be done in a complicated way, it's probably not gonna get get done. The videos I've seen have guys and leather boots and rubber coated gardening gloves. And my 4 wheeler is never gonna be parked more than about 10' away when I'm doing this. I feel like our dogs are numerous and bold and used to the human traffic on the 4 Wheeler trails.
I know to keep the baits separate from the traps and separate gloves for each, but I'm gonna have to start simple.
As far as vacating the trapping area for a while, I'll probably go with separating the trap from the anchor and pulling it ( Or just springing it if I don't have a quick link), and filling in the dirt hole. That way when I come back I drill and bait a new hole and set the trap and hide it.

It's not complicated if you don't make it that way. Don't overthink things. I wear rubber boots if its muddy. To keep mud off my leather boots. None of that stuff keeps them from knowing you were there. I had to walk a little ways to one of my traps last year because a tree was in the road. I didn't carry any of my stuff with me. My trap had been tripped. I set it back the best I could without any of my gear and sifted dirt back on it through my fingers. I had a coyote the next morning.

 

[gawildlife]

I'm old school on cleaning traps, LYE.
As for the initial coat of rust I just use them or let lay in the yard then clean up and dip when sufficiently rough.
I have wondered if I couldn't use one of the etching paint prep solutions since I'm migrating to using the rustoleum/acetone dip. I'm probably going to try that with my next batch of new steel.

 

[gawildlife]

These are the best quick links I've come across.
I have a love hate relationship with earth anchors in general. Love the ease of use, I use wolf fangs. Hate pulling them, chained superstakes the absolute worst to get back up. Also hate having a stub of cable in my trap bed.
Rebar, hate having to lug them in and drive two per set. Love being able to give them a twist to loosen and pull.
There's no perfect anchor system for all ground conditions. You learn and adapt.

Best all around for me is an 8" wolf fang.

Many just use quick links and leave the cable in the ground. I don't as I trap urban and don't want to leave something that can foul ground engaging equipment. But galvanized cable does eventually rust out and our soils are naturally acidic. That can be an issue for those who want to leave them in the ground for use the next trapping season.

I think if I trapped rural hunting property I would take a long look at drags and save myself the trouble of driving stuff into the ground.

Another tip, check every link and swivel plus anchor after each catch. Some of these yotes are tough and I've found more than one opened up jhook over the years.

 

[1eyefishing]

My 6 steel traps are in 2 gallons of vinegar. Each 1 with a stainless quick link on the terminal end of the chain and a galvanized screw between the contact points of the jaws. Had to add about a 1/2 a gallon of tap water to get them completely covered.

I take it there is no such prep necessary for the DPs. Just Lock & Load.

 

[1eyefishing]

I'm not going to try to make it back down to the hunting property until this next wet spell is over for West central Georgia. That gives me the better part of 5 days to rust the traps, dye them and wax them. Besides, I'm gonna focus on the raccoons with the DPs first...

Starting to feel like maybe I shouldn't have told my wife that the rut is over and so are my longer stays at deer camp.

 

[1eyefishing]

Q:
Can I use a small 2-3" diameter (at ground) pine tree as backing (hole set) and cable my trap to it as an anchor?

 

[canine933]

Here is what I do if I want to rust my traps quickly and wax and dye them. I take a average size spray bottle and mix 1/2 white vinegar, 1/2 peroxide and 1-3 teaspoons of salt. Put it in the spray bottle and shake. I degrease the traps with degreaser I buy from napa. Once clean I spray the mixture on. It’s like painting the rust on. They will start to immediately rust. I may spray them down again the next day. After 4 days or longer if you want to rinse of with water and dye and wax.

 

[Doug B.]

My 6 steel traps are in 2 gallons of vinegar. Each 1 with a stainless quick link on the terminal end of the chain and a galvanized screw between the contact points of the jaws. Had to add about a 1/2 a gallon of tap water to get them completely covered.

I take it there is no such prep necessary for the DPs. Just Lock & Load.

I would degrease them and dip them in acetone/rustoleum mixture at a 60/40 ratio just to keep them from rusting. Coons will rub most of the paint off of whatever kind of trap you use but it is better to try to keep them protected from rust as much as you can.

 

[Doug B.]

Q:
Can I use a small 2-3" diameter (at ground) pine tree as backing (hole set) and cable my trap to it as an anchor?

That might work if you could keep the cable where it would not pull tight around the tree and let the animal wrap up around it til it couldn't move.

 

[gawildlife]

Q:
Can I use a small 2-3" diameter (at ground) pine tree as backing (hole set) and cable my trap to it as an anchor?

I wouldn't on canines. It would work on coons though coons have a strange ability. They can and will screw up anything.

But I like my canines pinned down tight on the shortest chain possible..

 

[Doug B.]

That might work if you could keep the cable where it would not pull tight around the tree and let the animal wrap up around it til it couldn't move.

Again, yes that would work.

 

[1eyefishing]

I would degrease them and dip them in acetone/rustoleum mixture at a 60/40 ratio just to keep them from rusting. Coons will rub most of the paint off of whatever kind of trap you use but it is better to try to keep them protected from rust as much as you can.

The DPs are painted already. I have a little scent free gun oil from dead down wind (I suppose it's just mineral oil) that will maybe help keep the Spring and catch apparatus rust free..

 

[Doug B.]

The DPs are painted already. I have a little scent free gun oil from dead down wind (I suppose it's just mineral oil) that will maybe help keep the Spring and catch apparatus rust free..

You shouldn't need any oil on them.