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Post by motrapperjohn on Dec 11, 2007 16:47:02 GMT -6
Me ,I think a big reason for diging besides the dirty trap. is not haveing the trap beaded tight, and for those that use screens is not getting that little gap between the pan and screen filled. I allways try to remeber to take the back of my hand and brush lightly the first sifter full of dirt to make sure its tight. More than once I have had screens pulled out because of not being tight.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 11, 2007 17:36:44 GMT -6
oh ont he fresh sets- I thought you were commenting on my thought that remakes on coon were far less demanding. You always are going to get fresh dirt at new sets- just make extended patterns-
you need so very little polyfil- so aren't trying to cover the whole under the pan- just enough to give it some space. If it wasn't for dry dirt turning to liguid, fluid mud asap, I wouldn't use anything under the pan. I use at maximum the size of a cotton ball or a little smaller- right under the center of the pan.
What problems with polyfil? in over a decade of using it, the only time I ever had problems, was after using an bag of it that was opened and at least 10 years old that was given me. Had dig ups immediately, and changed back to fresh and can honestly say I cannot remember one problem I ever had with new polyfil.
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 11, 2007 19:10:42 GMT -6
Bob - explain please - "leaves as pan covers - compressed". Do you compress to make flat? It seems they would be hard to make flat.
I have seen some problems with polyfil - but only 5% of sets. When bedding I use a Mytling tool in trap and pack outside and inside of jaws hard - no movement. Then polyfil around jaws to form a barrier around pan - it helps to make pan cover flat or blended over the trap. Pan cover is compressed wax paper.
Perhaps the polyfil has an innate odor - undetectable to our sniffers. I have used cattail fluff with good results - but it's a moisture magnet.
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Post by Bob Jameson on Dec 11, 2007 19:19:55 GMT -6
basically I pick them in the fall and lay them between pieces of stiff window screen on plywood then screw a couple of lathe boards across them to hold in position until flat and dry. If you dont compress them they will cup and bend when drying. Once dry I bag them in baggies I place a sheet of paper towel in each baggie to catch any moisture and condensation that may form so they dont mold.They make dandy pan covers and are natural.
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 12, 2007 6:21:13 GMT -6
Nice idea - something I'll try - thank you.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 12, 2007 7:19:06 GMT -6
I've never packed polyfil around the jaws. perhaps thats where your 5% is comng.
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 13, 2007 6:32:53 GMT -6
It's possible it was the poly. I had two other variables to consider - peat and I had picked up some fresh gopher dirt at that farm. I was thinking the fresh dirt. Ground was clay like and the gopher dirt was handy - prob smelled like gopher. This yote was from the same farm - looks like he was mousing or smelled gopher? Do you pack dirt inside the jaws to bed firmly?
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Post by trappnman on Dec 13, 2007 8:36:11 GMT -6
Gopher dirt matters not at all. I not only collect it all summer, but for the first few weeks of season, Im collecting it and using the same daily.
I pack dirt inside the jaws.
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 13, 2007 9:14:34 GMT -6
This gopher dirt was fresh - prob same day. I have collected during the summer. Didn't know I was going to retire and trap - so didn't have any.
Can't figure why this yote was mousing other than smell. Maybe hump over pan
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Post by trappnman on Dec 13, 2007 10:47:13 GMT -6
ah, that stuff you never can figure out...
I like to save my dry dirt, so try to use fresh as long as I can. I can always find a few spots with lots of fresh daily mounds so we scrape off the top, drier layer and fill a few buckets- and used as we went.
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Post by ohiyotee on Dec 13, 2007 13:27:14 GMT -6
You guys seam to like to make things complicated!!!!!!!!!
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Post by bobwendt on Dec 13, 2007 13:29:53 GMT -6
I was thinking the same thing.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 13, 2007 13:35:41 GMT -6
please- tell me what baffling you with complications-
using dirt and something under the pan too high tech for ya?
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Post by ohiyotee on Dec 13, 2007 13:58:54 GMT -6
All that talk about packing inside the jaws,packing along gopher dirt, collecting leaves. Maybe I'm sloppy and inefficient or lazy or what ever , never done that and never will. Not when i can throw a bag of peat in the truck and go. In freezing weather , I can literally drop my trap of choice in the bed and in 2 seconds its ready. dust it off with peat and I'm done. No pan cover no poly fill no dry dirt ( which here in ohio would last about one night with the weather we have) no freezing down with dirt packed on the jaws and springs. To me its a no brainer the simpler the better. I won't pretend to trap the numbers that some of you do , but if that's what it takes may be i don't want to.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 13, 2007 14:13:54 GMT -6
don't make it more complicate than it is...
don't you pre dry your peat? Presift it? collecting dryt dirt is no different-
the only traps I pack inside the jaws are 1.75s- and in my opinion, if you don't you will be one singing that 1.75s cause to many misses. Packing dirt is specific to the trap.
waxed paper, toilet paper etc over the pan, no different than polyfil under the pan.
if you have rain and then feezing weather everynight, then yes, dry dirt would be of no benefit to you. But thats not a problem here- for example, right now, its been 15 days below freezing day and night.
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 13, 2007 14:27:40 GMT -6
Naw - not complicated - curious - I learned to look and ask why. It doesn't matter if it's a yote, rat or fisher - I enjoy knowing why they do what they do.
Dang yotes have been following me. Made a blind set for mink - down a steep bank to nice dry dirt under the overhang. No lure. The next day the dang yote went down the bank, in my foot steps, walked 25 feet turned around and came out in my foot steps. Makes me wonder why.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 13, 2007 14:32:31 GMT -6
you smell good and he was curous...LOL
reason I pick up dirt each day, readily available and it saves using dirt I got time into (stored dry)
I'd use coal shale if out west...
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Post by ClaytonStockwell on Dec 13, 2007 14:40:42 GMT -6
Sweetie sez I smell like chit - smoke cigars - maybe I'm onto a new lure. Cigars don't bother the yotes - they walk around my cabin all the time and there is butts laying around.
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Post by ohiyotee on Dec 13, 2007 15:52:18 GMT -6
Never used a 175, whats the jaw spread and is that why you are concerned with the packing. A # 3 double long is only 5 and 5/8 and i never have a sprung trap from improper bedding, and i never pack around the inside of the jaws . no need to. as for drying peat only if it is a heavy bale usually i don't have to and i never sift it. when I'm using it i don't even take my sifter . In fact this year with the early freezes we had i never went with out the peat and never used a pan cover. Yes unfortunarly there is nothing stable about ohio waether , i swear it is the worse place in the world to run a line.
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Post by trappnman on Dec 14, 2007 12:17:00 GMT -6
i don't know what the jaw spread is- Im not a measurer on that type of stuff-
but the packing is indeed because of the smaller size. the distance between the pan, and the jaws, is small enough, that a coyote can get a substantial portion of his foot on the pan, and still be standing on a jaw. so I want the dirt inside the jaws, packed down tight, so that the coyote needs to have a major portion of his foot on the pan, before the trap fires.
by doing so- you reduce"misses" considerably to where i don't feel they are a problem.
I hear this is overkill, I also hear many swear at 1.75s. There is a correlation here.....
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