# freezing traps



## rifle6

hi
i.m a 30 year old rookie, i am useing bridger #2 with 4 coils, off set. and #3 duke offset 4 coil springs. i am after fox,coyoye and bobcat.

i have hunted just about everything that crawls here in utah i have decided to try trapping.

i have some good spots and made sets according to the books i have read, i also have a buddy who is helping me a little.

however, no fur as yet, i have had a couple missed chances, dug up trap, but today we woke up with 2-4 new inches of snow, my sets are under overhangs or ceder trees to keep the snow off them, today i checked them i had tracks on every set, a couple bobcats, a few coyotes and fox. most traps had a track right on the pan. what can i do to keep them from freezing?
the dug up trap was undoubtably my fault, sent controll probably. but what can i do about frozen traps
temp is 0-30 at night daytime up to 40, i am in utahs west desert.
i have heard about salt. what do you think?
also heard about putting a set trap in a zip lock bag, but i have doubts about that.


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## Remington 7400

More than likely the oil in the springs is freezing, bring them all in and dunk them is some turpentine. Don't worry about the scent my grandpa use to use it on his boots when deer hunting, smells kinda like fresh pine. Anyway that should degrease the traps, just remember to re-oil them after it warms up, otherwise you'll have a rusted mess.


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## smitty223

Well, sorry...there's no "nice" way to put this, but that's about the last thing you'd want to do to your traps. There's no "oil in the springs" to freeze-up, and traps dont require "oiling". New traps are boiled & cleaned to remove the oil from them. Scent control is extremely important at a set.

It isn't your trap freezing, it is the dirt surrounding it (and on top of it) that is freezing, and not allowing your trap to fire.

If it is dry in the daytime then just collect some dry dirt from somewhere (barn, cellar, under bridge, etc.) simply rebed your traps in this dry dirt. As long as it doesn't rain you'll be fine. Freezing temps won't matter as long as there's no moisture in the soil.

If it rains (or snows, then temps rise above freezing) you can simply rebed your trap again, in dry dirt.

I'll use peat at times, layered with calcium chloride, and a light covering of dry dirt. There is also buckwheat hulls, and waxed dirt which alot of trappers use.

I'll repeat....DON'T dip your traps in any solvent or oil them with the intention of resetting them. Also, be sure your traps are sollidly bedded, if you make sure they are, you'll have less dug/flipped traps. Dig your trapbed in a "bowl" shape, and tight enough to allow the jaws to be supported by the sides of the bowl. Use your hands & make sure your trap won't tip or wobble.

Smitty


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## Plowdude

If it isn't freezing rain it's the freeze/thaw cycle putting your sets out of commission. Like smitty says: it's the covering "around" your traps that is freezing. OGorman recommended coal shale which is crumbled up coal. The idea is to get the moisture to drain past the trap before it freezes too much. You should be in an area with seams of coal. Dig the bed larger than normal. Line the bottom with shale, bed the trap, put on the trap cover and finish with about 1/4" of sifted surrounding soil. He used up to a 5 quart pail full sometimes. Always set out of the direct sunlight to prevent the freeze/thaw cycle. Where I live I bed in dry dirt or crumpled leaves, chopped up dry grass,etc. I'm not a big fan of buckwheat hulls , too hard for me to use in the wind. I make my trap covers out of fiberglass screen. Keep in mind when you have a hot location it's worth the extra work to keep it operating. If you're trying to keep operating in rain and mud calcium chloride or table salt mixed in your bedding material will keep you operating but it's a mess.


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## Mongojoe

To begin, I too agree with Smitty that putting oil on my traps is not something I would care to do, for any reason. In fact, when I bought new traps I took pains to make sure all factory oil was removed before adjusting them and prepareing them for treatment......... But concerning "trap-freeze"... Different people handle "trap freeze-up" in different ways...and all are fine if they work for the trapper useing them... For myself, I have tried a number of different methods, and found that plain salt (NOT iodised) works best for me. I simply sprinkle a lite covering in my trap bed, then add dirt and bed my trap, sprinkle on another LITE covering, and then cover with dirt as normal........... Now I have had people say that would never work because the coyotes would shy away from the salt smell, or that deer and/or cattle would lick the dirt and throw the traps, but I have never had that problem, and over the last 30 or so years I can tell you of a few truck loads of coyotes and various other animals that would disagree with them............ I first "discovered" this method back in the 70's. I was trying all sorts of things to prevent "freeze-up", then happened to read an article by Ray Milligan. It showed him making a set, and a box of plain salt was setting there beside him. As I read the article he stated that plain salt is what he used...and I figured if it was good enough for Ray Milligan, it was certainly good enough for me.... And that is what I have used ever since........................ Just make sure that you rinse your traps off well as soon as possible after pulling them. And retreat them the first chance you have.

And just to toss this in.... If rain was a problem, and your sets sometimes looked like tiny, dirty, swimming holes, then here is something that I did that would help. It would not solve the problem, but it did help quite a bit... When I dug my trap bed, I would dig it VERY slightly tilted to one edge. At this edge I would hammer my stake into the ground about 10 or 12 inches, then pull it back out. I would then stuff a wad of dried grass in the top of this hole to keep dirt from filling it back in. Then put dirt in my bed, and bed my trap normally... When it rained the majority of the rain water, instead of standing in my bed, would trickle down and run into the hole... Like I said, this did not solve the problem, but it did help quite a bit.


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## flatlander

If the snow is hard enough you can use saran wrap. I live in northern minnesota and we've had a really warm winter so far. I just use a long enough piece so you can set the trap on one end and the fold it over the trap, fold it nice and small then bed the trap solid with snow. Some of my traps are right on top of ice on a river. I've caught two rabbits and had a little bird set one off so i know mine aren't freezing. I can't fool those cyotes and fox though. Maybe im leaving too much scent around.


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## Remington 7400

> Well, sorry...there's no "nice" way to put this, but that's about the last thing you'd want to do to your traps. There's no "oil in the springs" to freeze-up, and traps dont require "oiling". New traps are boiled & cleaned to remove the oil from them. Scent control is extremely important at a set.
> 
> It isn't your trap freezing, it is the dirt surrounding it (and on top of it) that is freezing, and not allowing your trap to fire.
> 
> If it is dry in the daytime then just collect some dry dirt from somewhere (barn, cellar, under bridge, etc.) simply rebed your traps in this dry dirt. As long as it doesn't rain you'll be fine. Freezing temps won't matter as long as there's no moisture in the soil.
> 
> If it rains (or snows, then temps rise above freezing) you can simply rebed your trap again, in dry dirt.
> 
> I'll use peat at times, layered with calcium chloride, and a light covering of dry dirt. There is also buckwheat hulls, and waxed dirt which alot of trappers use.
> 
> I'll repeat....DON'T dip your traps in any solvent or oil them with the intention of resetting them. Also, be sure your traps are sollidly bedded, if you make sure they are, you'll have less dug/flipped traps. Dig your trapbed in a "bowl" shape, and tight enough to allow the jaws to be supported by the sides of the bowl. Use your hands & make sure your trap won't tip or wobble.
> 
> Smitty


Oh well, always oiled my traps to keep from rusting, then when it turned cold I cleaned them with turpentine. That was many years ago, I don't fool with trapping any more, however, I'm still betting it would work.


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