You worry too much.

Hummmm, that’s what the wife has mentioned more then a few times as well! LOL.

I have a friend that also does the same thing you mentioned, Hal. Just throws his traps in a cold barrel of dye for a week or so and they are black just like a boiled trap. He doesn’t ever change his water either, just throws a pillowcase full of walnut hulls and sumac bark in it every once in a while to steep. His barrel will have small mold spores growing on top of it sometimes in the summer. He just splashes it out before he throws his traps in. Rain keeps the barrel full of water, and you would think it would dilute the dye, but it actually doesn’t seem like it dilutes more than a few inches on the top if he doesn’t stir it.

Hal, do you use a shiny not-dyed trap for an exposed trap cat set?

Frank.

Yep, just throw a little grass over it.

Seldom---what ratio of the brewers wash do you use per gallon of water? 1/2 oz. per gallon??

Ron

I use 1TB/gal and once the water has cooled and the wax is semi-solid/solid enough, I remove it. I remove traps and rinse the traps by spraying off with a garden hose and start another boiling.

I was inspired by a friend of mine here in Kentucky who’s 82 years young and paints his traps with a thinned Rustoleum paint and catches cats and coyotes regularly. I spent quite some time last year getting all the wax off mine through several steps and layed out over a hundred coyote sized traps and sprayed with a 15.00 Harbor Freight spray gun. They dried with a hard smooth finish and look good. I did not set many land sets last season but I’m thinking they’ll work fine for me.

Excuse me Ron, I use 1Tb/gal not 2Tb. You could try 1/2Tb/gal and see how it works.

Thanks!!

Ron