Setting with peat moss, per Ol' Gob, furtaker, and Doug B...

[Railroader]

Went and bought a bag of peat moss today. I pre sifted me a 5g bucket full, and didn't even make a dent in the bag... ?

Set three new traps using the peat inside the jaws, and then a dusting over with peat, and then dirt.

It's pretty easy working with the peat now that I have it.

I think I am done with pan covers too, the peat "boxes in" around the pan nicely. I know they'll go off just fine, because I tapped a little hard with my whisk broom while blending, and this one blew up in my face...

Had to redo it.



We'll see how they do. Hopefully well!

I like 'em, anyway.

 

[sportsman94]

Good luck! I had awful luck with it the year I tried to use it. Don’t know if the holes in my sifter were too big or what, but hopefully it works out better for you than it did me

 

[Railroader]

Good luck! I had awful luck with it the year I tried to use it. Don’t know if the holes in my sifter were too big or what, but hopefully it works out better for you than it did me

What sort of problems did ya have???

I'm not seeing anything that could go wrong...

I do think the pre sifting could be important, because I tossed out a bunch of sticks, and clumps.

 

[furtaker]

I use a good bit of it. It helps weatherproof your trap.

The only thing I hate about it is that it's hard to bed the trap in peat. When you sift some dirt on top of it, it packs much better.

 

[sportsman94]

What sort of problems did ya have???

I'm not seeing anything that could go wrong...

I do think the pre sifting could be important, because I tossed out a bunch of sticks, and clumps.

I would bed the trap in dirt, fill the inside of the jaws with peat moss, and run my hand over it in a circular motion until it filled in the inside of the jaws. That year i was wondering why I was missing animals that seemed to be stepping on the pan. I figured out why when I went to pull them up. I could stand on the pans and not fire the traps. I’m still not really sure what went wrong as I know a ton of people use it, but I gave it a shot for a whole season trying to fix my mistakes and give it a chance. I finally wised up and went back to polyfill under the pan. I would gladly go back to peat moss if I trusted it not to cost me critters.

 

[furtaker]

Another thing I do is sprinkle just a little bit of peat around the set so the smell of the peat is not just directly over the trap. I'm not sure if this is necessary but it works for me.

 

[Doug B.]

Another thing I do is sprinkle just a little bit of peat around the set so the smell of the peat is not just directly over the trap. I'm not sure if this is necessary but it works for me.

That's not a bad idea. I don't do that and I haven't had any trouble with them getting suspicious because of the peat smell, but if everything smells the same then that's a cheap insurance so to speak.
I pre-sift my peat moss. When I make a set I usually put a little dirt from digging my trap bed around the outside of the trap. Then I put peat moss on the trap and using the back of my hand I brush the peat off of my pan and keep packing around the outside. Peat moss don't pack as good as dirt but I keep on until I get it as tight as I can. I do put polyfil under my pan, and after I get the outside good and tight I start packing inside the jaws around the pan with my finger. I keep packing until i get the peat inside the jaws as tight as i can.

Like i said, it won't pack like dirt but if it is tight as you can get it then it won't wash out and it won't be soft around the pan to make a critter skittish.

 

[Railroader]

After a pretty good rain yesterday my three sets made with the peat moss look like nothing happened to them.

Maybe even a bit better...