If you trap farms, look along tractor trails where the farmer has driven recently you can sometimes find areas along the trail that is out of the weather or where the wind blows the snow off the ground so its bare or has a light dusting (keep traps out of the road). Trap in the woods if possible, I have a location of mostly hemlock that will hold snow at bay for the most part. You can also look to roundbales left in the field, many farmers place their bales along the edge of fields to retrieve through out the winter, these too can provide breaks. Of course there are also times when you just need to dig out the set from feet of snow and try again its just part of northern trapping.

Last week I did catch a nice Red Fox using a hay set. It was a farm lane through a wooded section with about 18" of snow. I dug down to dirt, which was not frozen, and double staked my #2 Duke. I replaced about a foot of snow, packed it in hard and dug a trap bed. I put hay in the trap bed, under the trap, and made a circle of hay the size of a small tire around the trap. In the center of the circle, the hay was only about a half inch thick over the trap. I put tainted venison in the circle of hay and a few drops of pure skunk essence. I had a first night catch and I have a picture of it. As soon as I figure out the "photo bucket" procedure, I will be able to post some pictures.

Ron

urine posts, trail sets, buried bait sets, & even mound sets are good winter sets for canines but like mentioned earlier foothold sets can be hard to maintain in snow conditions, I can and do snare but I still add foothold sets to the line and they are effective.

After our deer season, because there a unfound shot deer available, trapping becomes very challanging.

iam having the very same problem here in Va we got 14 good Coyote & Fox sets made & then 2 days later they got 4-6 inches of snow on them .Now what do i redo them all or what iam open for suggestions

What's your weather for the next few days? Are your traps 4 coiled? Is it a fluffy or crusty snow? What are your traps bedded in?

All these variables are important. 4 inches of dry fluff on a 4 coiled #3 should still produce a catch.

If a serious warm up is coming and your traps will not freeze in, don't touch them.

A half inch of crusty snow could mean that your trap does not fire or that it fires too slowly.

Your safest bet is to carefully brush away as much snow as possible off the set. Try not to track up the location too much.

As long as you are confident that the sets are in working order you can leave them alone.k-9's can find them easily though that amount of snow.Nothing wrong with putting in a few sets that will be a little more visible.

In my area trapping k-9's after the major deer hunt is always problematic. There is a great deal of food scattered at different locations. Normal behavior has also been disrupted by the influx of hunters in the woods.In a week or so things will calm down and they will establish more regular patterns. Breeding season is about to start so take that into account with you set choice

Dated for search.